Tatton Old Hall is a historic building in

Tatton Park Tatton Park is an historic estate in Cheshire, England, north of the town of Knutsford. It contains a mansion, Tatton Hall, a medieval manor house, Tatton Old Hall, Tatton Park Gardens, a farm and a deer park of . It is a popular visitor attr ...

near Knutsford, Cheshire, England. It is designated by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

as a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

which is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

and administered in conjunction with

Cheshire East Council Cheshire East Council is the local authority of the Borough of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government ...

. It is also known as one of the most haunted houses in Britain and is home to The Haunted Hunts official haunted collection. Paranormal investigations take place on a monthly basis under the guidance of The Haunted Hunts team. Its site is a

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

History

The hall stands on a site near the village of Tatton, which has since disappeared. It was built as a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

around the start of the 15th century by either the Stanley family or Sir Richard Brereton. By 1585 a two-storey wing had been added at a right angle to the original house by Sir Thomas Egerton,

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

of England. In the 1770s a new hall was built on the site of the present

Tatton Hall Tatton Hall is a country house in Tatton Park near Knutsford, Cheshire, England. It is designated as a Grade I-listed building and is open to the public. History The original manor house in Tatton Park was Tatton Old Hall. Around 1716 ...

and the old hall was used as a farmhouse and then a century later converted into three estate cottages. It remained in the possession of the Egerton family until 1958 when it was given to the

Architecture

The hall is built in red brick with a stone slate roof. It was originally

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...

, but this was replaced by brick in the late 17th or early 18th century. The hall is L-shaped and externally appears to have two storeys. Internally the floors which were added to the older hall have been removed, exposing the complex wooden roof. This has a carved

wall plate A plate or wall plate is a horizontal, structural, load-bearing member in wooden building framing. Timber framing A plate in timber framing is "A piece of Timber upon which some considerable weight is framed...Hence Ground-Plate...Window-plat ...

, carved beams and three tiers of quatrefoil wind braces. The hall contains a gallery which was added in the 20th century. The newer wing retains its two floors and is divided into separate rooms.

Cruck barn

In the grounds of the hall is a

cruck A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which support the roof of a building, historically used in England and Wales. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally naturally curved, timber members that lean inwards and ...

barn dating from the beginning of the 17th century which was originally in a farm at

Frodsham Frodsham is a market town, civil parish, and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Its population was 8,982 in 2001, increasing to 9,077 at the 2011 Census. It is s ...

, Cheshire. In a dilapidated state, it was removed from its original site in 1976 and rebuilt and restored at Tatton. The barn is long and contains four crucks on

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

s. The long walls of the barn are

with brick infill on a stone base and the short sides are in plain brick. The roof is

thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * ...

with

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

on the ridge. On the southeast front are two double doors and one single door; on the northwest front is one single door. Internally, cambered

ties TIES may refer to: * TIES, Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science * TIES, The Interactive Encyclopedia System * TIES, Time Independent Escape Sequence * Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science The ''Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science' ...

have been inserted between the crucks. The barn is listed at Grade II.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Country houses in Cheshire Tourist attractions in Cheshire National Trust properties in Cheshire Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire Grade II* listed houses Scheduled monuments in Cheshire

History

Architecture

Cruck barn

See also

References