Monument record 14928/7 - Dorfold Hall, Gate in Wall South-West of Hall

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 1330151 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

GV II gate and piers built circa 1824 to give access from the Hall to the walled garden. The structure is of stone dressed brickwork and a wrought iron gate. High standing flush stone dressed square piers with moulded plinths and moulded projecting caps supporting stone eagles. The opening has a single wide tall gate flanked by tall narrow metal infill panels: these have a serpentine zig-zag motif but the basic gate design is of square bars with spears to top rail and dog-bar. The overthrow has the Tollemache fret device flanked by scrolls and with a cross finial based on spears and scrolls.

<2> Worlledge Associates, 2018, Dorfold Hall, Acton, Cheshire: Statement of Significance, R4293 (Client Report). SCH8675.

A Statement of Significance was produced in 2019 for Dorfold Hall and gardens in support of a proposal for its development as a wedding venue. The proposal is to re-develop the former service yard and stable area, including re-furbishing the existing coach house and a garden building in the walled gardens. The following information is taken from the report.

In 1849, William Andrews Nesfield was commissioned to provide a report on Dorfold Hall and produce plans for a re-design of its grounds. However, Nesfield's plans were not implemented until after 1861 due to family opposition to the scheme; they were eventually undertaken by Wilbraham Tollemache. The works undertaken included altering the pool in front of the house to provide for a straight access carriage drive, a gate lodge, elaborate entrance gates, a new entrance court with carriage sweep and a bronze statue of a mastiff and her pups, all enclosed with a low wall and gates, a coach house with clock tower, and a pleasure garden to the south with parterres. Trees were removed to open up views of the house, and to the south, to create a view to St. Mary's Church, Acton. It is suggested that the statute of the Mastiff and the entrance gates to the drive were bought from the Paris Exhibition of 1855. It has also been suggested that the ornamental gateway with lions was also installed as part of this work. Much of the Nesfield work survives, with the exception of the parterres to the south lawn, which were apparently removed during the Second World War.