This is a rant, one of those almost illogical rants from the heart for a lost building.
Now I say lost but that is not strictly so for Hough End Hall is still there over 419 years after it was built.
But if the building stands nothing of the interior remains, which pretty much means everything which you could touch to connect with its past has been wiped away.
Added to this the open fields which allowed the hall to be seen at its best have also gone along with all the later farm structures which make it difficult to get an understanding of how the Hall worked when it was a farmhouse.
And today the Hall is sandwiched between two ugly office blocks which both dwarf and hide it from all sides.
Back in 1973 one journalist reflecting on what had been done to the place wondered if it were better to just knock it down.
And since then the slow elimination of anything which could really tell the story of the Hall and those who lived there has also gone.
I mourn that destruction more so because in the 1960s there was an understanding that the Hall would be restored and nothing taken out or put in.
Alas that has not been the case.
So at its worst we have a grade II listed building which has lost its interior, had its exterior much knocked about and sits surrounded by modern buildings which do nothing to either enhance or help explain its history.
All that said I don’t share that journalists pessimism.
The current campaign to buy it and put it to community use will be a wonderful opportunity to explore and rediscover the Hall’s long history.
In 1938 the Egerton Estate commissioned a survey of the Hall which showed the internal arrangements and these fit well with anecdotal evidence from the 1950s and 60s.
I am optimistic that other sources will surface in time especially as the campaign gathers pace and more people become aware of the Hall’s potential future.
There must be written accounts of visits to the place when it was a farmhouse and someone must have taken at least one photograph of the interior. All that needs now to happen is for these to come to light and we will be able recreate more of the hall when it was a farmhouse.
And of course there will also be some Elizabethan homes of the same design which has not been gutted and these will help with reconstructing what Hough End Hall looked like in its early years.
What is particularly exciting is the plan by the campaign organisers to involve the community in the history of the hall and these could include an archaeological dig of the surrounding area, a call for more recollections of the building as it was in the middle decades of the last century and clearer understanding from new surveys of the building.
These should show the extent to which the outside has changed over the last 400 years and in particular since 1960.
And so the rant has turned into a bit of a call for action and in turn from a rant it has evolved into one of those positive reflections on what could be.
Now that I think is well worth the effort.
Pictures; the Hall in July 2014 from te collection of Andrew Simpson
But if the building stands nothing of the interior remains, which pretty much means everything which you could touch to connect with its past has been wiped away.
Added to this the open fields which allowed the hall to be seen at its best have also gone along with all the later farm structures which make it difficult to get an understanding of how the Hall worked when it was a farmhouse.
And today the Hall is sandwiched between two ugly office blocks which both dwarf and hide it from all sides.
Back in 1973 one journalist reflecting on what had been done to the place wondered if it were better to just knock it down.
And since then the slow elimination of anything which could really tell the story of the Hall and those who lived there has also gone.
I mourn that destruction more so because in the 1960s there was an understanding that the Hall would be restored and nothing taken out or put in.
So at its worst we have a grade II listed building which has lost its interior, had its exterior much knocked about and sits surrounded by modern buildings which do nothing to either enhance or help explain its history.
All that said I don’t share that journalists pessimism.
The current campaign to buy it and put it to community use will be a wonderful opportunity to explore and rediscover the Hall’s long history.
In 1938 the Egerton Estate commissioned a survey of the Hall which showed the internal arrangements and these fit well with anecdotal evidence from the 1950s and 60s.
I am optimistic that other sources will surface in time especially as the campaign gathers pace and more people become aware of the Hall’s potential future.
There must be written accounts of visits to the place when it was a farmhouse and someone must have taken at least one photograph of the interior. All that needs now to happen is for these to come to light and we will be able recreate more of the hall when it was a farmhouse.
And of course there will also be some Elizabethan homes of the same design which has not been gutted and these will help with reconstructing what Hough End Hall looked like in its early years.
These should show the extent to which the outside has changed over the last 400 years and in particular since 1960.
And so the rant has turned into a bit of a call for action and in turn from a rant it has evolved into one of those positive reflections on what could be.
Now that I think is well worth the effort.
Pictures; the Hall in July 2014 from te collection of Andrew Simpson
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