Haslington Hall

Haslington Hall is a mansion in open countryside 1km to the east of the village of Haslington, Cheshire, England (gbmapping|SJ748560). It is a Grade I listed building.cite web |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?pid=1&id=56718 |title=Images of England: Haslington Hall|accessdate=2008-03-30 |publisher=English Heritage ]

Early history

It is difficult to trace the early history of the hall, because all early documents relating to the hall were kept in a bank vault in Manchester. They were destroyed in 1940 during World War Two bombing of Manchester. [Green, D. (2007). page 51.] The house was built by Admiral Sir Francis Vernon in 1545, and contains parts of the original medieval manor house,cite web |url=http://www.cheshire.gov.uk/countryside/Walking/crewe_nantwich/haslington/home.htm |title=Haslington |accessdate=2008-03-30 |publisher=Cheshire County Council ] which are said to date back to 1480. Additions and alterations were made to it in the 16th, 17th and 19th centuries. It is claimed that some of the timbers used in the early phase of construction were salvaged from ships of the Spanish Armada in 1588.fact|date=March 2008 In the late 19th century it was a farmhouse. [cite web |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/gaztext_page.jsp;jsessionid=E09A3BD48E85E0FC1F6CA56E41AEE7BD?u_id=10216369&c_id=10001043 |title=Descriptive gazetteer entries for Barthomley |accessdate=2008-03-30 |last=Bartholomew |first=John |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year=1887 |month= |format= |work=Gazetteer of the British Isles |publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time |pages= ]

Architecture

The house is built partly in timber framing and partly in brickwork, with a slate roof. It has two storeys and six bays. The timber framed areas are decorated with herringbone bracing, quatrefoils and cusped concave-sided lozenges. [cite book | last =Pevsner | first =Nikolaus | authorlink =Nikolaus Pevsner | coauthors =Edward Hubbard | title =The Buildings of England: Cheshire |edition= | publisher =Yale University Press| date =2003| origyear=1971| location =New Haven & London| pages =235 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn =0 300 09588 0 ] The rear elevation is mainly in brickwork.

Recent history

Previous residents include Margaret Rose Watt, who played an important part in setting up Women's Institutes in UK. She was a Canadian who lived in England between 1913 and 1919. [Moyse, Cordelia, ‘Watt, Margaret Rose (1868–1948)’, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004; [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36780] , accessed 31 March 2008] After the first World War Air Commodore Dame Felicity Peake, the first director of the Women's Royal Air Force, spent much of her youth living in the house. [cite web |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/nov/11/guardianobituaries.military |title=Air Commodore Dame Felicity Peake |accessdate=2008-03-30 |last=Condell |first=Diana |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=2002-11-11 |year= |month= |format= |work=guardian.co.uk |publisher=Guardian News and Media |pages= ] The house was bought in 1970 by the millionaire Tony Vernon who established Murray Vernon, one of the largest independent dairy companies in the country. He restored the house over the next thirty years.cite web |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/13/db1303.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2004/04/13/ixopright.html |title=Tony Vernon |accessdate=2008-03-30 |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=2004-04-12 |year= |month= |format= |work=Telegraph.co.uk |publisher=Telegraph Media Group |pages= ] Following his death in 2005 the house was sold for £3m. [cite web |url=http://www.countrypropertyforsale.co.uk/uk_country_estates.html |title=Top 100 UK Country Property Sales |accessdate=2008-03-30 |publisher=Sands Home Search ] It is now available to let for self-catering holidays. [cite web |url=http://www.english-country-cottages.co.uk/uce/ecc?view=details&action=readDetails&cottageId=427573&holidayPark=N&sleeps=9&propertyTypeId=&complexId= |title=Haslington Hall |accessdate=2008-03-30 |publisher=Holiday Cottages Group ]

Notes and references

Notes

Bibliography

*cite book|last=Green|first=D.|date=2007|title=Haslington and Winterley remembered: A pictorial journey down memory lane|publisher=David Green|location=Sandbach, Cheshire, United Kingdom