Building record 31/2 - Leighton House, Parkgate

<1> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, p.26 (Report). SCH1934.

Early C18th Farmhouse (with C19th and C20th additions) of coloured rougth cast brick and a painted stone plinth and rusticated quoins. Salte roof with rendered stacks. 2 storeys and attic. Now subdivided into two dwellings. 2 groups of farmbuildings are simple and later in date.

<2> Historic England, 2011, The National Heritage List for England, 1387676 (Web Site). SCH6528.

House now subdivided as 2 dwellings. Early C18, probably with earlier origins; C19 and C20 alterations and extensions. Coloured roughcast brick with painted stone plinth and rusticated quoins; slate roof with rendered stacks. EXTERIOR: entrance front: 2 storeys and attic; 5-bays. Oak door on strap hinges, refixed in a single-storey canted porch which contains a half-glazed door. Windows are sashes with horizontal sliding sashes to attic; C20 stormguard and top hung casements. Rear has gable end wall of 2 storeys and attics, 2 windows; 2-storey 3-bay extensions to right, right end extension set forward. Gable wall has one canted bay and one square bay window on ground floor; extension at right end has square bay. Square bays have French doors, canted bay tall casements with glazing bars. First floor and attic windows are recessed sashes with stone sills and glazing bars. Right return of 2-storey 2-window front. To left is wide 2-storey square bay window with small pane casements; to right, one sash window on each floor. Raised first floor and eaves bands, moulded eaves cornice and parapet, all of painted stone. INTERIOR: earlier part has 6-panel doors, cornice in west room of fruits and foliage, staircase with splat balusters and refixed C17 chimneypiece in lounge. Later part has C19 staircase with formed balusters, 4-panel doors. On first floor, hob grate in oak chimneypiece on landing: 4-panel doors with centre lock rail and raised and fielded panels.

<3> Various, Written Communication to the HER, G.W. Place Notes, 07/01/1978 (Written Communication). SCH3756.

The river end of Leighton has become part of Parkgate; its Chester High Road end is linked to Heswall. Leighton Hall Farm and Leighton House are the only remains of Leighton as a distinct settlement. Founded on clay rather than sandstone, unusual for this area which is predominantly sandstone, this may have been done to facilitate the construction of fishponds. The Domesday Book records two fisheries at Leighton. These fisheries are thought to be fish yards or flood yards. The fisheries are mentioned again in C13th, C15th and C16th. The settlement may never have been more than a group of farmhouses. In 1672 the heiress of Leighton, Bridget Savage married Sir Thomas Mostyn, and from that time there was no longer any resident landlord at Leighton Hall. This may have created the impetus for the community to disintegrate. A map of 1732 shows a few houses, now gone, on Boathouse lane near its junction with the road to Neston. Apart from the fisheries, the other known resource of the settlement was Leighton Wood. The wood originally stretched from the boundary with Great Neston, to or almost to the boundary with Gayton.

<4> Various, Written Communication to the HER, Written Communication to the HER, Hoey P 07/04/1999 (Written Communication). SCH3756.

Summary assessment of the buildings at Leighton Hall Farm, dated 9th May 1997. The farmhouse has elaborate drip moulds above the windows that seem older than the house. Located to the north of the farmhouse is a single storey building, believed to have been kennels. The sandstone mouldings around the windows seem too large and elaborate for the windows they surround and could have been reused from the 19th century Hall or even the earlier Manor House. To the north-west of the farmhouse is a late 19th stable with groom quarters and hay byre over.

<5> AAA Archaeological Advisors, 2006, Leighton Hall Farm, Parkgate, Cheshire; Report on an Archaeological Watching Brief, R2622 (Client Report). SCH4677.

A watching brief was undertaken at Leighton Hall Farm in 2006. The site was developed c.1870 by the Mostyn Estate as a 19th century 'state of the art' model farm.