Building record 4549/1/0 - Backford Hall

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 55390 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

The house (1863) was designed by John Cunningham for E.H.Clegg in exuberant Elizabethan Jacobean and Bohemian Rococco styles. It is located on the site of the earlier 1565 hall. 2 blocks joined by corridor. Constructed of red brick with diaper work, stone plinth, quoins and dressings and graded slate roofs. The hall wing has elaborately moulded and panelled ceilings, friezes and architrave in the ground floor rooms and the ground floor doorcases have broken pediments and panelled doors. There is an open string stair in a seventeenth century style and a heavily moulded and glazed canopy over the stairwell.

<2> de Figueiredo P & Treuherz J, 1988, Cheshire Country Houses, p.214-5 (Book). SCH785.

Over decorated neo-Elizabethan house of 1863 designed by John Cunningham in bright red brick with plenty of diaperwork and much showy ornamental stonework, curly gables, twisty chimneys, obelisks and fancy window surrounds. The house was built for Lt.-Col. Edward Holt Glegg and replaced a brick mansion, which in turn replaced the sixteenth century hall of the Birkenhead Family.

<3> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol.2 p.366 (Book). SCH1389.

A part of this site is occupied by a handsome brick mansion (see CHER 4549/2/0), built by the father (John Glegg b.1732 d. 1804,) of the present proprietor. This structure was removed by Lt.-Col. Edward Holt Glegg, and a handsome brick mansion, in the Elizabethan style was erected on its site in 1863.

<4> Cheshire Gardens Trust, 2011 onwards, Research and Recording Report, Backford Hall (Report). SCH6655.

A contract between John and William Walker of Birkenhead (builders) and Edward Holt Glegg of Backford Hall, June 1st 1845, was drawn up for the erection of a mansion at the cost of £10,000. The new hall in the neo-Elizabethan style was designed by John Cunningham and is dated 1863, as is the lodge built in the same style. The coach house is dated 1853. It is believed that Cunningham’s original house was destroyed by fire and rebuilt which would account for the discrepancy in dates. Beneath the forecourt is a large brick lined tank, which collects rainwater drained from the front of the hall. It is believed to have been constructed after the fire.

<5> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Edwards R 09/08/2012 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

There is a marked discrepancy between the style and build quality of the hall’s cellar and the building above. The sandstone used is more pink in colour, tooling finer and the style is less ostentatious. Little of this stonework is visible in the building above, except in one small part of the service wing. This discrepancy is mirrored in the coach house, suggesting a construction date of 1853 and that this is the only surviving element of the first Cunningham House. The house has a complex internal guttering system which drains water from the roof, some of which fills the brick reservoir to the front of the hall. During the repair and refurbishment of the roof in 2008, hand shaped timbers sawn and reused as rafters, were observed.

The Ordnance Survey first and third edition maps (see sources 6 & 7) show a small number of connected buildings to the immediate northeast. These buildings included the caretakers house, demolished in the 1970s.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

<7> Ordnance Survey, 1909-1912, Ordnance Survey Second Revision County Series (Epoch 3) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire (Maps and Plans). SCH4361.

<8> RSK ENSR Environment Ltd, 2013, Backford Hall, Backford: Historic Environment Desk-based Assessment (Client Report). SCH7576.

Desk-based assessment compiled in 2013 for the hall and its immediate surroundings.

<9> Peter de Figueiredo (Independent Consultant), 2014, Backford Hall, Backford, Nr Chester: Heritage Statement, R4137 (Client Report). SCH8422.

Heritage assessment compiled in 2014 for Backford Hall in advance of its conversion into residential apartments.

<10> Jenny Wetton Conservation, 2017, Backford Hall, Unit 50 Void: Archaeological Building Recording (Client Report). SCH8388.

Archaeological building survey (Historic England, level 3) undertaken in September 2017 at Grade II Listed Backford Hall (Unit 50 Void, Backford Park, CH2 4DG). The hall is undergoing conversion from office to residential use and the survey was done in support of a condition of the Listed Building Consent for works covering a void in an external courtyard located at the east end of the north-west facing side of the building. The survey also included an assessment of significance for the affected area.

The Hall mainly dates from 1863 although one of the doorways in the area of interest at basement level may date from the first phase of construction ten years earlier. The rooms enclosing the yard at ground floor level appear to be from a later phase of construction. The void and basement corridor are considered to be of medium significance overall although the southern doorway at basement level is considered to be of high significance, in keeping with the internal central corridor.