Building record 6395 - Sandy Brow, Tarporley Road

<1> Vale Royal Borough Council, 2006, Vale Royal Borough Council's List of Locally Important Buildings (Report). SCH5487.

CRITERION E: BUILDINGS INCLUDED IN THE VALE ROYAL BOROUGH COUNCIL HISTORIC BUILDINGS SURVEY 1977 - 79.

<2> Vale Royal Borough Council, 1977-79, The Vale Royal Borough Council Historic Buildings Survey Index Card, DEL/HB 34 (Paper Archive). SCH5481.

<3> Peter de Figueiredo (Independent Consultant), 2017, Sandy Brow, Tarporley, Cheshire: Conservation Statement, R4726 (Client Report). SCH9502.

Conservation statement produced in 2017 for Sandy Brow Stables (recorded separately, CHER 6395/2), prior to conversion and redevelopment of the complex.

Sandy Brow was bought by Colonel William Hall Walker (1st Baron Wavertree, 1856-1933) in 1896, when he also became MP for Widnes. At the time of purchase, Sandy Brow was a small house with stables close to the Tarporley Race Course, administered by the prestigious Tarporley Hunt Club. William was a son of Sir Andrew Barclay Walker, founder of Walker’s Brewery, who donated funds for the construction of the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

Colonel Walker achieved distinction as a breeder of race horses in England and Ireland. In 1900, he bought land at Tully in County Kildare, Ireland, where he began breeding horses. He was a convert to astrology, believing that horses should be bred and raced based on information revealed in their birth charts. When a thoroughbred foal was born, he would record the time of birth and draw up a birth chart and, if he didn’t like what the chart revealed, the foal would be sold. Although his methods were treated with scepticism by many, they achieved impressive results, with his horses consistently winning at major competitions.

At Sandy Brow, Walker commissioned the Chester Architect, Richard Thomas Beckett, to design a stable complex. This was built, c.1905, in vernacular style with timber-framing. Beckett also developed a prefabricated system which was specially adapted for stabling horses. 'The Soarer', the legendary racehorse that won the Grand National in 1896, was stabled here, along with four other British Classics. Apart from a period during World War II when Sandy Brow was requisitioned for use by the engineering company Vickers Limited, it remained in the family and continued to be used for race horses.

In 1915 Colonel Walker gave his bloodstock to the British Nation. At the time, the country was desperately in need of cavalry horses for World War I, and in turn the government purchased Walker’s stud farm in Tully, County Kildare and a training stable he owned at Russley Park in Wiltshire. In recognition of his gesture, Walker was given the title of Lord Wavertree, and the property and horses became the first National Stud for Great Britain. In 1943 the National Stud was moved from Ireland to Newmarket and, two years later, the Tully property became the Irish National Stud.