Building record 1298/3/30 - Mere Lodge, Tatton Landscape Park

<1> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol.I p.444 (Book). SCH1389.

The approaches to the house of Tatton arc from three lodges in the directions of Knutsford, Mere, and Rosthorne.

<2> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 58466 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Gate lodge, 1822. By Lewis Wyatt. Ashlar and rendered brick, lead and slate roofs. Octagonal, two-storeyed with nineteenth century one storey addition to north. South west facade; covered colonnade supported on baseless Tuscan columns at angles of building. Entablature above without cornice,lead roof to colonnade. Arched door to ground floor. First floor has rectangular window of three by three lights. Central chimney stack. The other facades are similar save that there are ground floor windows with arched heads under the colonnade and blind windows to the south and south east at first floor level. Later insertion of buttress pieces under the colonnade from angles of west and south west walls and east and south east walls and connecting to the corresponding columns of the colonnade. One storey outhouse to west with plasters. Interior: Central open string staircase with 1/4 circular winders.

<3> English Heritage, 2001, Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, GD1477 (Report). SCH2822.

Mere Lodge (listed grade II) a two-storey octagonal building of ashlar and rendered brick, was designed in 1822 by Lewis Wyatt (1777-1853).

<4> Higham N.J., Aylett P,. Smith J.H., 2001, The Tatton Park Project, Part 3: The Post-Medieval Estate and Halls; Grandeur to Decline, p.112 (Article in Journal). SCH4938.

Bbuilt 1822 by Lewis Wyatt

<5> Parklands Consortium Ltd, 2002, Tatton Park Survey, Knutsford, Cheshire: Historic Landscape Appraisal. Volume 1, 2.6.1.7.1. (Report). SCH4977.

Mere lodge was the first of the Tatton Park lodges to be built. It runs off Ashley Road, formerly Salter’s Lane on the north western perimeter of the estate and for a long time was the principal entrance. It was originally built c.1780, possibly for Samuel Egerton or his nephew William Egerton and was probably designed by Samuel Wyatt. Originally, a two storey octagonal building of brick with gothic fenestration it also had wooden buildings at its rear. Railings and gate posts were added in 1782 and in 1822 it was altered to the design of Lewis Wyatt with the addition of a stone veranda and the fenestration changed to plain sashes on the ground floor and semi-circular headed sashes on the first floor and the brickwork was rendered. The outbuildings were rebuilt and the interior enlarged. The lodge then comprised a main room with pantry and wash house with bedrooms on the first floor, whilst the single storey attached outbuildings were a fuel store, pig sty, shed and shippon. At this time the boundary adjoining the lodge was changed from wooden pailings to a wall in rusticated ashlar. This wall, part of the upgrading of the park boundary ran for a considerable distance either side of the lodge, giving emphasis to the importance of this entrance as the majority of the boundary wall was of brick. The lodge was modernized in 1961 by Cheshire County Council, and the entrance is not in public use.

<6> Broad, Thomas, c.1800-1816, A Map of Tatton Park, The Property of William Egerton Esq.. (Maps and Plans). SCH4964.

<7> Hartwell C, Hyde M, Hubbard E & Pevsner N, 2011, The Buildings of England: Cheshire (2011 revision), p.630 (Book). SCH7059.