Worsley New Hall is a former mansion and gardens by the

Bridgewater Canal The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was opened in 1761 from Wor ...

Worsley Worsley () is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 10,090. It lies along Worsley Brook, west of Manchester. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there is evi ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, England, west of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. The gardens were renovated by the Royal Horticultural Society and opened as

RHS Garden Bridgewater RHS Garden Bridgewater is the Royal Horticultural Society's fifth public display garden. It is located in the village of Worsley in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. Gardens Bridgewater Gardens has been created in of the former Worsley Ne ...

in 2021.

Construction

In the 16th or early 17th century, Worsley Old Hall was constructed as the manor house for the Worsley estate. The estate was inherited by

Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (21 May 1736 – 8 March 1803), known as Lord Francis Egerton until 1748, was a British nobleman from the Egerton family. He was the youngest son of the 1st Duke. He did not marry, and the dukedom expire ...

in 1748 and he commissioned the construction of the so-called Brick Hall, a classical-style building, which was built in the 1760s. The Brick Hall was replaced by Worsley New Hall, which was built for

Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere, (1 January 1800 – 18 February 1857), known as Lord Francis Leveson-Gower until 1833, was a British politician, writer, traveller and patron of the arts. Ellesmere Island, a major island (10th in size am ...

. It was one of the biggest houses designed by Edward Blore. The foundations of the building were started in 1839, with the first stone laid in April 1840; the building was completed by 1846 at a cost of just under £100,000. The Brick Hall was demolished between December 1844 and August 1845, and Leigh Road now runs over the former site of the building. Worsley New Hall was an Elizabethan Gothic-style mansion, faced with Hollington stone. The Hall was three stories high and had a symmetrical main block, with a wing for the family on one side and a servant wing and a tower on the other side. The plans are held at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

Notable visitors

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

visited the hall twice. The first visit was in October 1851, and was the first royal visit to the area in 150 years. Queen Victoria, accompanied by

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...

, arrived at the New Hall by specially-built barge which had travelled from Patricroft station along the Bridgewater Canal. During the visit she met

James Nasmyth James Hall Nasmyth (sometimes spelled Naesmyth, Nasmith, or Nesmyth) (19 August 1808 – 7 May 1890) was a Scottish engineer, philosopher, artist and inventor famous for his development of the steam hammer. He was the co-founder of Nasmyth, ...

at the New Hall. Queen Victoria's second visit was between 29 June and 2 July 1857, whilst she was attending the

Art Treasures Exhibition, Manchester 1857 The Art Treasures of Great Britain was an exhibition of fine art held in Manchester, England, from 5 May to 17 October 1857.North American giant redwood tree in the New Hall's lawn in memory of the Duke of Wellington, and Princess Frederica Maria of Prussia planted an

English Oak ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native plant, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus ...

at the same time. However, the redwood did not grow well in the British climate.

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

and

Queen Alexandra Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 t ...

visited when Edward was Prince of Wales in 1869. On 6 July 1909 they visited the hall to inspect the Territorial Army's East Lancashire division on hall grounds to the south of the Bridgewater Canal, after they had opened the

Manchester Royal Infirmary Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) is a large NHS teaching hospital in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, England. Founded by Charles White in 1752 as part of the voluntary hospital movement of the 18th century, it is now a major regional and nati ...

20th century

During World War I,

John Egerton, 4th Earl of Ellesmere Lieutenant-Colonel John Francis Granville Scrope Egerton, 4th Earl of Ellesmere, MVO, K.StJ (14 November 1872 – 24 August 1944) was a British peer and soldier from the Egerton family, known as Viscount Brackley before 1914. Early life and bac ...

lent the hall to the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more ...

, and it was used as a hospital for injured soldiers. The grand rooms of the New Hall were used as wards, with food provided by the kitchen gardens and the terraced gardens and parkland used for recreation. The hospital closed in 1919. In 1920,

death duties An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an es ...

led the 4th Earl to start auctioning off various items of furniture and fittings from the New Hall. Other furniture, and paintings, were relocated to Mertoun House, Stetchworth Park and

Bridgewater House, Westminster Bridgewater House is a townhouse located at 14 Cleveland Row in the St James's area of London, England. It is a Grade I listed building. History The earliest known house on the site was Berkshire House, built in about 1626–27 for Thomas Howa ...

, which were also owned by the Earl. The hall's library, and surplus furniture, were sold at auction in April 1921. In 1923, the Worsley estate including the New Hall was sold to Bridgewater Estates Limited, a group of Lancashire businessmen, for £3.3 million. Attempts were made in the 1920s and 1930s to sell the New Hall which had been empty since the end of World War I, but no purchasers were found. During World War II, the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

requisitioned parts of the New Hall and the grounds. The 2nd and 8th Battalions of the

Lancashire Fusiliers The Lancashire Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that saw distinguished service through many years and wars, including the Second Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, and had many different titles throughout its 28 ...

occupied the site in 1939 and 1940, with around 100 troops based at the site, using the Hall's basements as air raid shelters, and digging training trenches in the grounds. In 1941 and 1942 the 42nd and 45th County of Lancaster Home Guard Battalions used the site, practising street fighting in the hall, and storehouses for explosives were constructed in the grounds. The lake and other parts of the grounds were used for scouting, and were known as Middlewood Scout Camp. The hall also housed Dunkirk evacuees, and in 1944 American soldiers were based at the hall, preparing for D-Day. In September 1943, a fire badly damaged the top floor of the New Hall. The building had also been damaged during the military occupation, with windows broken, interior furnishings used for firewood, and the Leigh Road entrance gates damaged. The house was also suffering from

dry rot Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resul ...

and subsidence due to mining.

Demolition

Excavated cellar chamber and fire place, Worsley New Hall

Calls for tenders to demolish the building were sent out in 1944 and the hall was sold to a scrap merchant from Ashton-in-Makerfield, Sydney Littler, for £2,500. Demolition started in 1946, and by 1949 the hall had been demolished to ground level, with debris used to fill in the basements. 800 tonnes of stone from the New Hall was used to construct council houses in Southfield, Yorkshire. A footbridge over Leigh Road which had connected the Old Hall and New Hall estates was demolished at the same time.

Later use of the site

In 1951, the War Office again requisitioned part of the New Hall site, and built a reinforced concrete bunker as an Anti-Aircraft Operations Room (AAOR) where the servants' wing had been, along with two anti-aircraft radar masts. In 1956, the War Office purchased the site of the bunker and it was used by the Royal Navy as a food store. In 1961, the bunker was sold to Salford Corporation, and was used by them and Lancashire County Council as a control centre. In 1968, ownership of the bunker passed to Greater Manchester Fire Service; in 1985 they leased it to a local gun club as a shooting range. The site of the New Hall and gardens remained in the ownership of Bridgewater Estates Ltd until 1984 when the company was acquired by Peel Holdings, now Peel Land and Property. Over the years there have been various ideas about how the site can be regenerated and put to new use, including a racecourse, hotel and spa. In 2011, an archaeological excavation of the site of the New Hall, funded by Peel and carried out by the

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

, revealed that some of the basement of the house and its foundations were still in existence. Between March and December 2012, Peel also funded a community dig on the site and an archive and outreach project at the University of Salford which generated a number of oral history recordings and a guide to historical sources about the New Hall.

Gardens

Worsley New Hall's formal landscaped gardens were set out in the early 1840s, with further developments over the next 50 years. Landscaping included terrace gardens constructed by

William Andrews Nesfield William Andrews Nesfield (1793–1881) was an English soldier, landscape architect and artist. After a career in the military which saw him serve under the Duke of Wellington, he developed a second profession as a landscape architect, designing so ...

, who started work on the gardens in 1846. Six terraces existed by 1857, separated by stone balustrades, and linked with steps and gravel paths. The top two terraces were set out in a Parterre en Broderie style. The second terrace was a copy of a design by Dezallier d'Argenville; at the centre of this terrace was a bronze fountain designed by Val d'Osne that was previously displayed at

The Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took p ...

in 1851. This fountain, along with two others on the fifth terrace, used water from Blackleach reservoir. A croquet lawn and tennis court were near to the terraces. To the south of the terraces was landscaped parkland and a boating lake. The lake was enlarged by 1875, and featured an island grotto accessible by a footbridge. To the west of the terraces, woodland separated the grounds of the New Hall from the gardener's cottage and

kitchen garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

s. The walled kitchen gardens were laid out in the early 1840s to provide vegetables, fruit and flowers to the residents of the New Hall. The kitchen garden was approximately ten acres in size and its perimeter walls were heated by flues using the Trentham wall case design, in order to create a warmer micro-climate. The kitchen gardens also featured potting sheds, and glasshouses containing cucumber plants, melons, grape vines and peach trees. The cottage to house the head gardener for the New Hall estate was constructed in 1834, and was designed by Edward Blore. The Bothy was built in the late 19th century to house unmarried gardeners; a boiler in the cellar of the Bothy provided heating to the kitchen garden glasshouses. Both the cottage and the Bothy are still standing. After the New Hall was abandoned by the Earls of Ellesmere in 1914, the gardens fell into disrepair, with the formal gardens becoming overgrown, and

weathering Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with water, atmospheric gases, and biological organisms. Weathering occurs ''in situ'' (on site, with little or no movement) ...

damage to the fountain.

Royal Horticultural Society

In October 2015 it was announced that the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

would renovate the 156-acre garden at Worsley New Hall, with a planned opening date of 2019 (now May 2021) under the name "RHS Garden Bridgewater". It will be the RHS's fifth garden, and is in size. The renovation will cost £30 million, of which £19 million is from

Salford Council The City of Salford () is a metropolitan borough within Greater Manchester, England. The borough is named after its main settlement, Salford. The borough covers the towns of Eccles, Swinton, Walkden and Pendlebury, as well as the villages a ...

, and it aims to be visited by around 1 million people per year once completed. The new gardens are being designed by Tom Stuart-Smith. Initial plans include a new visitor building at the south end of the gardens; a new lake; a perennial meadow entrance garden set out as a web; a water garden; a new learning centre; and a café terrace. Additionally, the plans include the reconstruction of the walled garden, which will feature therapeutic, vegetable and flower gardens. Terraces between the ornamental lake and the former hall will be reinstated, as well as the tree-lined approach to the estate.

References

{{coord, 53.4999, -2.3988, type:landmark, display=title Tourist attractions in Salford Buildings and structures in the City of Salford