Adlington Hall

Adlington Hall is a Manor House in Cheshire dating back to Saxon times. It has been the home of the Legh family since 1315.

Background

Adlington started as a large manor held by the Saxon Earl Edwin. After the conquest it passed to Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, a nephew of William the Conqueror. The Domesday Book listed it as “Edulvintone”. Early in the thirteenth century, the manor passed to the de Corona family, who lived there for four generations. In 1315 Thomas de Corona granted it to his sister Ellen who had married John de Legh of Booths, with remainder to Robert, their second son and his heirs. Except for a twelve year period after the Civil War, the Legh family has lived there ever since.

The Hall and Gardens

Adlington Hall was originally surrounded by a moat. It is quadrangular in shape, though the west side might have been open, whilst on the south side there might have been a detached gatehouse with a bridge over the moat.

The earliest part of the house is the Great Hall on the north side of the quadrangle. It had been built by Thomas Legh the seventh in succession between 1480 and 1505, probably of timber. Later its south wall was refaced with brick and stone and partly plastered over. It is forty-five feet long and twenty-six feet wide: the walls twenty-five feet high and the ridge of the roof thirty-eight feet high.

The outstanding feature of the Great Hall is the organ on the east side, supported between two oak trees which are all that remains of Earl Edwin’s hunting lodge. The organ was probably built in the late seventeenth century incorporating the console of a pre-Cromwellian instrument. Handel is known to have played on it while staying at Adlington in 1741-2 and again in 1751. It was restored in 1958-9.

After the Great Hall had been built, the rest of the house was built by another Thomas Legh, the tenth in succession, in 1581, probably in the Cheshire black and white style.

The north front appears to have been rebuilt after the Civil War during the lifetime of yet another Thomas Legh, the thirteenth in succession.

Charles Legh, the sixteenth in succession, carried out extensive improvements to the house which transformed it from a medium-sized Tudor house into a large Georgian Manor. A West Wing was added containing a staircase, dining room and drawing room with a number of rooms at the north-west corner. These were completed in 1749. The west side of the quadrangle was then filled in or rebuilt with a ballroom occupying the whole length of the first floor. Buildings on the south side of the quadrangle were demolished and replaced by a Georgian South Front with a portico with four columns, connecting the new West Wing with the Elizabethan East Wing. There were projecting bays at either end of the South Front. Bricks were burnt in kilns in the park and roofing flags were from the quarry at Kerridge. The work was completed in 1757.

While rebuilding his house, Charles Legh also built stables and a brew house to the east. A large brick barn, which forms the present Hunting Lodge, was added in 1817.

In 1928 much of the west side of the quadrangle was demolished. The staircase, dining room and drawing Room were left intact but the ballroom was replaced by a narrow gallery above an arcade built round the west side of the quadrangle. The projecting bays at either side of the South Front were pulled down.

To the south of the house there is a Yew Walk originally planted in 1650 and a Lime Avenue planted in 1688 to celebrate the accession of William and Mary to the throne.

In the middle of the eighteenth century the gardens were landscaped in the style of Capability Brown. Some of the original features remain, including the “Wilderness” which has the domed circular “Temple to Diana” and the “Shell Cottage”, whose internal walls are decorated with shells, pebbles and coloured mirrors. There is a Chinese bridge across the River Dean. To the north of the house there is a maze of English yew planted in 1996, with a unicorn (emblem of the Leghs) at the centre.

There were deer at Adlington until the outbreak of the First World War. The Deer Park was to the south west of the house.

The Leghs of Adlington

The first Legh of Adlington, Robert de Legh, was a descendant of Gilbert de Venables, who had come to Britain with William the Conqueror. He was a Riding-Forester of the Forest of Macclesfield, Bailiff of the Hundred of Macclesfield, “Lieutenant” to Sir Thomas de Ferrers, Justice of Chester and for many years “Lieutenant of the Prince’s Bachelor”. He also sat as Justice in Eyre.

Leghs have played a distinguished part in national and local affairs. Robert de Legh, the second in succession, was one of the Black Prince’s Esquires. Robert de Legh the third in succession was knighted during the reign of Richard II. Robert de Legh the fourth in succession was preparing to take part in the Battle of Agincourt but died of pestilence ten days before the battle. Urian Legh was knighted for his services in taking Cadiz in 1596.

Some years after the dissolution of the monasteries, Thomas Legh the tenth in succession acquired the rights of the Manor of Prestbury, together with the advowson of the Church and the tithes. Leghs became Patrons of the living and Lay Rectors of Prestbury and still are. In 1588 Thomas Legh was appointed High Sheriff of Cheshire. Later Leghs also held that post.

Thomas Legh the twelfth in succession was a Colonel in the Royalist Army during the Civil War. He lost Adlington Hall in December 1642 but regained it later. In February 1644 the house was again besieged. This time it had to be surrendered to the Parliamentarians in order to prevent severe damage. It was not returned to the family until 1656 after heavy fines had been paid.

Later members of the family have continued the tradition of public service in various ways right until the present.

References

Charles Legh, “Adlington Hall”, English Life Publications Ltd. 1987, ISBN 0 85101 257 4

Brochure descriptive of Adlington Hall

See also

Historical Houses in England

Adlington

External links

• Adlington Hall official website

• History of Prestbury