Manor House, Hale

Coordinates: 53°20′01″N 2°47′47″W / 53.3336°N 2.7964°W / 53.3336; -2.7964

Manor House, Hale
Manor House, Hale
Location:	Church End, Hale, Cheshire, England
OS grid reference:	SJ 470 821
Built:	Mid 17th century
Rebuilt:	Early 18th century
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name: The Manor House
Designated:	28 May 1958
Reference #:	1330339
Location in Cheshire

The Manor House, Hale is a house in Church End, Hale, a village in the borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.^[1]

History

The house was first built, not as a manor house, but as a vicarage. It was originally built in the middle of the 17th century. In the early 18th century, when the incumbent was Rev William Langford, it was refaced and partly rebuilt.^[1][2] During the 19th century the building was used as a farmhouse and was known as Manor Farm. The last lord of the manor of Hale was Peter Fleetwood-Hesketh, who was also an architectural historian.^[2] In 1947 he moved into the house with his family.^[3]

Architecture

The manor house is built in brown brick with red sandstone dressings. The façade is symmetrical with two-and-a-half storeys and five bays. Both lateral bays and the central bay are flanked by rusticated Doric pilasters. The central bay contains a door with Corinthian columns on each side. Above the door is a scrolled pediment containing the arms of Rev Langford. The upper storey of the central bay contains a sash window on each side of which are Corinthian pilasters on large brackets. Above the window is another pediment containing carving. The other bays each contain a sash window in both storeys while the top half-storey contains four blind oval windows; all these windows are in moulded stone frames. Across the top of the façade is a cornice and a balustraded parapet. Behind the façade the house is two-gabled, the north gable being higher than the south.^[1][2]

Internally the entrance hall is panelled with fluted pilasters. There are two staircases, the main one having twisted balusters and the secondary one having flat balusters.^[1]

Culture

John Betjeman wrote a poem about the house entitled The Manor House, Hale, Near Liverpool.^[4]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "The Manor House, Hale", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1330339, retrieved 2 May 2011 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Pollard, Richard; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006), Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 189–190, ISBN 0-300-10910-5 
3. ^ The Manor House, Visit Hale Village, http://visithalevillage.co.uk/#/the-manor-house/4546883919, retrieved 8 March 2011 
4. ^ Poetry Landmarks, Poetry Society, http://more.poetrysociety.org.uk/landmark/display.php?id=185, retrieved 14 October 2009