Site Event/Activity record ECH6695 - Eaton Hall, Congleton - Research and Recording

Summary: There is nothing left of the grand residence of the Antrobus family. The 1831 house and stable block by Lewis Wyatt, the walled garden, icehouse and the pleasure gardens (8 acres) and parkland (200 acres) have all disappeared (since the 1970s), under the excavations and industrial buildings of a large sand-quarry, now flooded. Yet Eaton Hall Congleton is important for Cheshire’s garden history: the development of its grounds is well documented from 1777. Documents include a very rare plan dated 1808 by the landscape designer John Webb, a contemporary of Humphrey Repton. Between the 1790s and 1820s, Webb worked for many Cheshire clients, but little documentary evidence of his actual designs has been discovered so far. Principal features remaining: None. Report documents the layout of the landscape park and gardens using maps and aerial photography. 2016 aerial photography shows very little appears to remain of the former parkland: • ‘Kennel Wood’ and the gamekeeper’s cottage • a small plantation • individual parkland trees