Eaton Hall
Eaton Hall is the country house of the Grosvenors. It is on the River Dee 1 mile (2 km) south of the village of Eccleston. The house is surrounded by its own formal gardens, parkland, farmland and woodland. The estate covers about 10,872 acres (4,400 ha).
Development
The first substantial house on the site was built in the 17th century. It was constructed for Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet. He inherited the estate at the age of 8 when he succeeded his grandfather, Sir Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Baronet, who died in 1665. The new owner commissioned the architect William Samwell to design the house. Building started in 1675; much of the stone used was brought from the ruined Holt Castle in north Wales.
During the early 19th century it was replaced by a much larger house designed by William Porden. Building started in 1803 and Porden (later assisted by Porden's son-in-law Joseph Kay) estimated it would take three years to build at a cost of £10,000 (equivalent to £1,020,000 in 2023). In the event it took just under 10 years and cost over £100,000 (equivalent to £8,240,000 in 2023). The hangings for the state bed included 97 yards (89 m) of purple damask and 103 yards (94 m) of sarsenet (fine silk) trimmed with gold lace. When the future Queen Victoria visited in 1832 at the age of 13, she wrote in her journal: "The house is magnificent". Others described it as being "as extravagant and opulent as the very latest upholsterer-decorators could make it". A critic found it "the most gaudy concern I ever saw" and "a vast pile of mongrel gothic which ... is a monument of wealth, ignorance and bad taste".
This in turn was replaced by an even larger house, with outbuildings and a chapel, designed by Alfred Waterhouse. Its construction started in 1870 and concluded about 12 years later. Again the core of the previous hall was retained; parts were refaced and re-modelled, other parts were completely rebuilt. A private wing was built for the use of the family, and this was joined to the main part of the hall by a corridor. Waterhouse also designed the chapel and a clock-house, and rebuilt most of the stabling. Pevsner wrote that it "was an outstanding expression of High Victorian originality", and added "this Wagnerian palace was the most ambitious instance of Gothic Revival domestic architecture anywhere in the country".
During both World Wars, parts of the hall were used as a hospital. In 1943, the Britannia Royal Naval College moved to the hall from Dartmouth when the college there was bombed. It moved back to Dartmouth in 1946, after which the hall was used as an officer cadet training unit until the end of National Service in 1958.
By 1960 the fabric of the house had deteriorated and, like many other mansions during this period, it was demolished, although the chapel and many of the outbuildings were retained. A new house was built but its design was not considered to be sympathetic to the local landscape, and in the late 1980s it was re-cased and given the appearance of a French château. The result has not been widely praised; the 2011 Cheshire Pevsner describes the building as "Château style, (Waterhouse's) Eaton style, but also Tesco style".
From 1896 until 1947, the estate was served by the 15 in (381 mm) gauge Eaton Hall Railway. The line ran from the hall to a depot at Balderton on the Chester-Wrexham line, and a spur went to Cuckoo's Nest, where there was a repair yard. Part of the old railway route was re-opened in 1996: it is open when the estate is open to the public.
Eaton Hall is now a private residence and is not open to the public, but the gardens are open three days each year to raise money for charity. In the past the house was open to the public. In the mid 19th Century Gresty's Guidebook noted:
- "Tickets to view Eaton Hall can be had at the Grosvenor Hotel, at 2s. for one person, 5s. for three, and 7s. 6d. for five To the Gardens only, Is. 6d. for one person, 8s. for three, and 5s. for five."
Sources and Links
Related Pages
Online
- Eaton Hall: on Wikipedia;