Belmont House in Cheadle .......... a house with a history

Belmont House

This is Belmont House in Cheadle and as you would expect it has a history.

Now I don’t know much about its early history but it was there by 1875  just south of Cheadle and a little to the north of Bruntwood House.

In time I will go looking for that early period of its existence but for now I am content with its time as a children’s home run by the Together Trust.*

The house came up for sale in 1918 and according to the Trusts’ blog** “was bought for £5,700 and included the house and 22 ½ acres of land. A description of the house still resides within the Together Trust archive showing the extent of the house and grounds in 1918: 

The billiard room

'Belmont is a compact family home situated in nicely laid out grounds approached by a carriage drive and entrance lodge, from the main road, from Cheadle to Wilmslow.'

The house itself contained an entrance hall, morning room, drawing room, dining room, billiard room, kitchen, scullery, cellars, 11 bedrooms, 2 dressing rooms and two bathrooms. Heating was installed throughout.”

All of which makes the house an interesting place for anyone interested in how the charity cared for young people in their trust.

“The house, of course, was adapted in order to accommodate the 40 girls who transferred over to Cheadle from Manchester. Many of the outside features were removed although the kitchen garden was kept. The bailiffs' cottage was used to house the gardener who maintained the 22 1/2 acres of land the charity held until the 1980s.”

Belmont set in some of its grounds, 1910

Now at this point I must own up and declare that much of the information for the post comes from the charity’s own blog and so never one to steal another’s research I shall just point you towards, Belmont House from Getting Down and Dusty where there are heaps more about the house and the work undertaken by the charity.

Pictures; Belmont House, and the Billiard Room courtesy of the Together Trust and map showing Belmont House in 1900 from the OS Map of Cheshire 1900-1910, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*The Together Trust, http://www.togethertrust.org.uk/

**Belmont House, http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/