Thomas Mainwaring Penson

Thomas Mainwaring Penson (1818–64) was an English surveyor and architect who is credited with pioneering the revival of half-timbered (black-and-white) architecture in Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

 in the 1850s.

Penson was born in Oswestry

Oswestry

Oswestry is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, and A495 roads....

 and educated at Oswestry School

Oswestry School

Oswestry School is a co-educational independent school, located in the town of Oswestry, Shropshire, England. Founded in 1407 by David Holbache and his wife Guinevere Holbache, it is the second oldest non-denominational school in England....

, the younger son of Thomas Penson

Thomas Penson

Thomas Penson was the County Surveyor of Montgomeryshire from 1817, and designer of a number of masonry arch bridges over the River Severn and elsewhere....

, architect and bridge-builder. He became County Surveyor of Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

 and Flintshire and moved to Chester.

Main works

{|style="width:100%;border:0px;text-align:left;"
|-valign="top"
|
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;"
! style="width:128px" |Works
! style="width:128px" |Location
! style="width:256px" |Comments
! style="width:64px" |Dates
! style="width:32px" |Ref.
! style="width:32px" |Listing
|-
|Bridge
|Overleigh Cemetery, Chester
|Pevsner states the cemetery was laid out by Penson but a contemporary newspaper states it was laid out by a Mr Lister.
|c. 1848
|
!II
|-
|Gates and gate piers
|Overleigh Cemetery
|
|1848–50
|
!II
|-
|Railway Stations
|Shrewsbury and Chester Railway
|Shrewsbury station and notable stations at Baschurch, Gobowen and Rednal
|c. 1849
|
|-
|22–24 Eastgate Street
|Chester
|Black-and-white revival. Restoration.
|1852
|
!II
|-
|34–36 Eastgate Street
|Chester
|Black-and-white revival.
|1856
|
|
|-
|Tomb and monument
|Overleigh Cemetery
|To Henry Raikes

Henry Raikes

Vicar Henry Raikes was Chancellor of the diocese of Chester.He was the son of Thomas Raikes, a London banker and merchant, and Charlotte Finch, daughter of Henry Finch, Earl of Winchelsea....

. Sculpture by Thomas Earp.
|1857
|
!II
|-
|26 Eastgate Street
|Chester
|Black-and-white revival.
|1858
|
!II*
|-
|Crypt Chambers

Crypt Chambers

Crypt Chambers is at 28–34 Eastgate Street and 34–40 Eastgate Row, Chester, Cheshire, England. It has bee designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building and incorporates a section of the Chester Rows.-History:Crypt Chambers is built on the site of a medieval...

|Chester
|Early example of High Victorian Gothic

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

.
For Browns of Chester, drapers.
|1858
|
!I
|-
|Queen Hotel
|Chester
|Italianate

Italianate architecture

The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...

. Rebuilt by Penson to the same plan in 1862 after a fire.
|1860–61
|
!II
|-
|East window
|St John the Baptist's Church, Chester

St John the Baptist's Church, Chester

St John the Baptist's Church, Chester is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It lies outside the city walls on a cliff above the north bank of the River Dee. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese...

|Manufactured by Clayton and Bell

Clayton and Bell

Clayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient workshops of English stained glass during the latter half of the 19th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton and Alfred Bell . The company was founded in 1855 and continued until 1993...

|1863
|
|
|-
|Grosvenor Hotel

Chester Grosvenor and Spa

Chester Grosvenor and Spa is an hotel in Chester, England. The Grade II listed building was built between 1863 and 1866 and is owned by the Duke of Westminster...

|Chester
|Completed after his death by R. K. Penson & Ritchie.
For 2nd Marquess of Westminster

Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster

Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster KG, PC , styled Viscount Belgrave from 1802 to 1831 and Earl Belgrave from 1831 to 1845, was an English politician, landowner, property developer and benefactor....

|1863–66
|
!II
|-
|}