Hough End Hall, 400 years old and about to start a new adventure

Hough End Hall, 2014

Now the romantic in me would like to see Hough End Hall as it once was surrounded by fields and pretty much as it had been  in 1596.*

And if that wasn’t possible then I could settle for it in the middle of the 19th century when it was the home and farm of the Lomas Family.

True by then the communal areas were partitioned off into smaller rooms and there were farm buildings at the rear but it was still recognizable an Elizabethan country home.

Sadly of course today it is sandwiched between two tall functional and rather ugly office blocks and there is nothing left of the interior.

In the 20th century its fate seemed uncertain despite calls for its restoration.

The Hall circa 1900 from the south

At various times the Corporation entertained plans to take it over but these came to nought and in the 1920s it was nearly demolished when Mauldeth Road West was being extended.

And it has been subject to horrendous acts of vandalism including the decision by the Egerton’s to strip out some of its period features.

Finally in 1965 a property company undertook to save the hall and restore it while building two office blocks on either side.

Not everyone was pleased with the restoration which the secretary of the Ancient Monuments Society described as “botched.”**

So this was not the best outcome for a much loved building but given the fate of many other even finer buildings at least the hall survived.

Our own record doesn’t stand well in the balance.  As the Manchester Guardian observed “Manchester’s curious attitude to its historic houses is well known.  Baguley Hall, until taken over by the nation in the late sixties, served as a wood store; Clayton Hall, now restored was used as a garage for motor mowers with a Tudor writing desk a handy worktop for cleaning spark plugs; Sharston Hall, tried out as a youth club, had its orginal doors burnt for firewood; Peel Hall, protected by statutory listing stands empty and vandalised.”**

In the garden sometime around 1900

So given that no one wanted Hough End Hall and the then owner found it too expensive to retain the offer by developers to take it on in return for building two office blocks might have seemed a plan.

But the very plan was bedevilled by a succession of developers who in turn took over the project and as we have seen were less than kind in the way they “restored” the old hall.

And there were warning signs at the time over the future use of the Tudor building.

The Manchester Guardian in the same article noted that “the main dilemma seemed to be who would finally take the hall on, and in what interior form,” there was talk of one night club owner showing an interest and “talk of a restrained, refined dinning out place with Cromwellian decor.”**

The Hall in 1933

And since the story was run in the paper back in 1973 the hall has undergone various different uses all of which seem to have had limited success.

So perhaps it is time for something entirely different, and as the place is up for sale there are plans "to bring it into community ownership and make it a hub for our meetings, exhibitions, functions and other exciting cultural activities in Chorlton.

This is a the Grade II listed, former family home of the Mosley family is up for sale. This would be a great opportunity for us to buy it and keep it in the community for use by the community.

The building has a long history, being built in 1596, and said to be 'the best, the only major Elizabethan mansion of Manchester red brick…with mullioned and transomed windows and gables.'

The Hall today

A group of us from Chorlton, backed by the Civic Society think we should try and raise the money to buy the Hall and then to run it as a community centre.

We are looking for anyone with a passion for preserving our heritage to join us and make it work for our community.”***

Now as often happens this story began as a way of giving a context to what the developers did to the hall and the surrounding land and if I am honest was a tilt against those who shout whenever an old building goes through a new phase of development.

But even given that careful and measured way I try to approach the history of our township I have to say what was done was done badly.

So now there is a chance to make it right.  The two blocks may remain a blot on the landscape but at least it may be possible to prove the Guardian wrong which back in 1973 it concluded  “Dead duck or developers’ albatross, it might be better to put the old fellow out of his misery.”

The hall deserves much more than that.

*Hough End Hall,  http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Hough%20End%20Hall

**Hall or Nothing, Robert Waterhouse, the Manchester Guardian, 1973

*** Hough End Hall Lets Make it Ours, https://www.facebook.com/groups/houghendhall

And if you follow the link through.in www.gladtobe.in you can fill in the survey and have your say as to what it can be used for now.

Painting, Hough End Hall © 2013 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintinsfrompictures.co.uk

Pictures; Hough End Hall circa 1900 from the collection of Philip Lloyd  and the Hall in 1933, by F. Blyth, from A Short history of Chorlton-cum-Hardy by J.D. Blyth, 1933