Brereton Hall

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Brereton Hall before 1829 showing the cupolas which were later replaced by battlements
Brereton Hall before 1829 showing the cupolas which were later replaced by battlements

Brereton Hall is a country house to the north of the village of Brereton Green, adjacent to St Oswald's Church, in the civil parish of Brereton, Cheshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

The manor of Bretune is listed in Domesday Book. The house dates from 1586, the date inscribed over the entrance.[2] It was built for Sir William Brereton (1550-1631), created Baron Brereton of Leighlin, Co. Carlow in 1624.[3] A portrait of Sir William, dated 1579, with a cameo of Queen Elizabeth in his cap, is at the Detroit Institute of Arts.[4] William, 3rd Lord Brereton (1631-1679) was a distinguished man of letters and a founder of the Royal Society.[citation needed] His younger son, Francis, 5th Lord Brereton, died a bachelor in 1722, ending the Brereton family male line.[5]

The house passed to the Bracebridge family,[6] and as Bracebridge Hall resited in Yorkshire, it featured in a historical fiction of Washington Irving.[7] In 1817 it was purchased by a Manchester industrialist, John Howard. He made alterations in 1829 to the exterior and interior in Regency style.[6] Further alterations were made in the late 19th century.[1] In the 20th century it was a girls' boarding school. After this closed in July 1992,[8] it was the retreat of a pop star who built a recording studio at the back.[6] Since 2005 it has been a private family home and is not open to the public.[9]

[edit] Architecture

The house is one of a genre of splendid Elizabethan and Jacobean houses built for dynastic display called "prodigy houses".[6] It is built in brick with stone dressings, formerly in a E-plan, of which the central wing has been demolished and replaced with a 19th century conservatory. The front range has a lead roof; the cross-wings are roofed in slate. The front range has a basement and two storeys with a turreted central gateway. The octagonal turrets are linked by a bridge and are embattled (before 1829 they were surmounted by cupolas).[1]

Over the entrance are the royal arms of Elizabeth I in a panel, which are flanked by the Tudor rose and the Beaufort portcullis. Beyond the entrance is a lower hall and a grand staircase leading to a long gallery which runs along the front of the house. This leads to the drawing room which contains a frieze with nearly 50 coats of arms and a chimney piece carved with the Brereton emblem, a muzzled bear. Two fireplaces elsewhere are carved in a Serlian manner. The former study of the 2nd Lord Brereton contains a richly carved alabaster fireplace.[6]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Images of England: Brereton Hall. English Heritage. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
  2. ^ A history of the house by A. L. Moir, The Story of Brereton Hall, Cheshire was published in Chester.
  3. ^ Bernard Burke, A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Titles ..., s.v. "Brereton - Baron Brereton".
  4. ^ Sir William Brereton, 1579. Detroit Institute of Arts. Retrieved on 2008-03-17.
  5. ^ Thornber, Craig (2005). Brereton. Cheshire Antiquities. Retrieved on 2008-03-17.
  6. ^ a b c d e Binney, Marcus (2005-08-12). The Tudor show home. TimesOnline. Times Newspapers. Retrieved on 2008-03-17. Brereton Hall was for sale at the time, at £6.5 million.
  7. ^ Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists. A Medley, by "Geoffrey Crayon, Gent." [Washington Irving], rev. ed. 1867. Irving's 'Bracebridge Hall' is itself a medley of seventeenth-century English houses of the gentry.
  8. ^ Brereton Hall School Website. Zoe Davies. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
  9. ^ Brereton Hall. Alsager.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 53°10′48.07″N, 2°19′31.73″W