Site Event/Activity record ECH6795 - Manor House, North Rode - Research and Recording

The sites 200 years of development can be divided into Four phases. 1810-22: Acquisition of the North Rode .Township by J.S. Daintry, a silk manufacturer and banker of Macclesfield in 1810. Soon after, Daintry commissioned the building of a 16 acre pool/lake, the site's most distinctive historic feature still extant. Its rare circular weir points to landscape gardener John Webb as the most likely designer and builder of the lake. Daintry never built a country house at North Rode. By investing in the estate's agriculture instead, he created a future living for his eldest sons. C.1830 – 1962: His second son T.R. Daintry settled at 'Toothill Lodge' on the W bank of the lake. After a fire he replaced the 'Lodge' with a villa in the Regency-Gothic style named 'The Cottage' (1840), the present Manor House. The grounds of 48 acres included the lake, meadows pastures and woodlands. Over the next 25 years, T. R. Daintry and his wife Jane created pleasure grounds with flower beds, shrubberies, winding paths, a rockery and fernery, and a walled kitchen garden with 6 glasshouses. These gardens won acclaim in horticultural journals (1858, 1863). The layout of these early Victorian gardens remained largely unchanged until 1962. • 1962-2006: Sales of land, the walled kitchen garden, stables and utility buildings reduced the Manor House property to 24 acres including the lake. • 2009-19: Since acquiring the property, the present owners have created new gardens designed by Chris Moss: a series of predominantly green spaces that incorporate elements of the historic layout, features and planting. Principal Historic Features remaining Lake with circular weir (1814-18) Two drives on historic route (1822) Manor House (1840) Garden Ornament (former porch; 1840) 'Jacob's well (pre-1840) Small building with battlements (1840) Stone enclosure of spring (c.1850) Ice house and retaining wall (c.1850) Mature Rhododendrons and trees (1850s?) Layout of paths in gardens and knoll (1912)