Walton Hall, Cheshire

Walton Hall

Walton Hall, east front
Location Walton, Warrington, Cheshire, England
Coordinates 53°21′36″N 2°36′08″W / 53.3599°N 2.6023°W / 53.3599; -2.6023Coordinates: 53°21′36″N 2°36′08″W / 53.3599°N 2.6023°W / 53.3599; -2.6023
OS grid reference SJ 600,849
Built 1836–38
Built for Gilbert Greenall
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated 23 December 1983
Reference no. 1139355
Location in Cheshire

Walton Hall is a country house in Walton, Warrington, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.[1] The hall and its surrounding garden and grounds are owned and administered by Warrington Borough Council.[2]

History

The house was built in 1836–38 for Sir Gilbert Greenall, 1st Baronet, brewer and Member of Parliament.[3] The local authority website states it was designed by the Lancaster architect Edmund Sharpe.[4] However this is not confirmed by any authoritative source.[3][5][6][7][8] When Sir Gilbert died in 1894, the house was inherited by his son, Gilbert Greenall, 1st Baron Daresbury, who lived there until his death in 1938.[4]

In 1869–70 the house was extended and offices were added by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin.[8] The extension included a new wing with a tower, containing a billiards room and rooms for guests, and a new entrance on the east front.[3][8] The house and grounds were purchased by Warrington Corporation in 1941. The gardens were opened to the public in 1945.[4] Most of Paley and Austin's extension was demolished in about 1990, but the tower was retained.[8]

Architecture

The house is built in brown brick with stone dressings and slate roofs. The east front has 2½ storeys and two wide bays with bay windows, two crow-stepped gables and three pinnacled octagonal buttresses. The entrance (north) front has a projecting porch. The clock tower to the west has four stages, the top stage containing the clock, and surmounted by a lead-roofed cupola and large weather vane. The south face has a mullioned and transomed window and three crow-stepped gables.[1]

External features

The retaining wall, balustrades and steps between the lawns east of the hall are listed at Grade II.[9] Also listed at Grade II are the former lodge to the hall,[10] and its associated gates, gatepiers and screens.[11]

Present day

The gardens and grounds are open to the public. Close to the hall are formal gardens,[4] and in the grounds are facilities for pitch and putt, crazy golf, and bowls,[2] and a children's zoo.[12] A group known as the Friends of Walton Estate assist in the care and management of the estate.[13] Each year the Warrington Disability Partnership organise a Disability Awareness Day in the grounds.[2] Inside the hall, function rooms are available for hire, and there is a concert room.[14] The Friends of Walton Hall Music Society organises a series of chamber music concerts in the concert room.[15] The hall is also available for weddings.[16] The property was used for the exterior shots in the filming of the BBC drama series Our Zoo.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Historic England, "Walton Hall, Warrington (1139355)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 16 June 2012
  2. 1 2 3 Walton Hall and Gardens, Warrington Borough Council, retrieved 7 May 2011
  3. 1 2 3 Pollard, Richard; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006), Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 628, ISBN 0-300-10910-5
  4. 1 2 3 4 History of Walton Hall and Gardens, Warrington Borough Council, retrieved 7 May 2011
  5. ↑ de Figueiredo, Peter; Treuherz, Julian (1988), Cheshire Country Houses, Chichester: Phillimore, p. 278, ISBN 0-85033-655-4
  6. ↑ Price, James (1998), Sharpe, Paley and Austin: A Lancaster Architectural Practice 1836–1942, Lancaster: Centre for North-West Regional Studies, ISBN 1-86220-054-8
  7. ↑ Hughes, John M. (2010), Edmund Sharpe: Man of Lancaster, John M. Hughes
  8. 1 2 3 4 Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, pp. 131, 224, ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8
  9. ↑ Historic England, "Retaining wall, balustrades and steps between lawns east of Walton Hall, Warrington (1136083)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 16 June 2012
  10. ↑ Historic England, "Walton Hall Lodge (now lodge to crematorium), Warrington (1139351)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 16 June 2012
  11. ↑ Historic England, "Gates, gatepiers and screens at Walton Hall Lodge (now lodge to crematorium), Warrington (1136025)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 16 June 2012
  12. ↑ Walton Hall Zoo, Warrington Borough Council, retrieved 7 May 2011
  13. ↑ Friends of Walton Estate, Warrington Borough Council, retrieved 7 May 2011
  14. ↑ Hiring Walton Hall, Warrington Borough Council, retrieved 7 May 2011
  15. ↑ Friends of Walton Hall Music Society, Warrington Borough Council, retrieved 7 May 2011
  16. ↑ Weddings at Walton Hall, Warrington Borough Council, retrieved 7 May 2011
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