Building record 1255/1/1 - Toft Hall

<1> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, Vol 2, p.111 (Report). SCH1934.

Toft Hall, Off Holmes Chapel Road. Country House. Late 17th century with 18th, 19th & 20th century additions & alterations. Rendered brick with stone dressings & slate roof. 2 storeys with attic & 4 storey towers. Rear (original entrance front): originally a shallow E in plan with a 2 storey porch projection & lateral projecting wings. Central 4 storey tower with projecting quoins to cornice. Central doorway, 1 bay to either side. To either side of this are projecting late 18th century wings with semi-octagonal ends. To the right & left are the original gabled wings of 2 bays. To the right is an addition of c.1870 with projecting quoins. Present entrance front-central projecting 4-storey tower, 4 bays to either side, projecting wings to extreme left & right with projecting quoins. Interior: late 17th century staircase of 4 flights. Some early 18th century small framing to upstairs wall. The blue room has 19th century Neo-Classical decoration. Full arch description.

<2> de Figueiredo P & Treuherz J, 1988, Cheshire Country Houses, p.186-188 (Book). SCH785.

Hall built of brick in late 17th C to an old-fashioned layout, perhaps that of the house which preceded it. Many of the roof timbers were re-used from an earlier building. Plan was H-shaped. House probably erected for George Leycester whose family had held the manor of Toft since the early 15th C. Major improvements took place in the early 19th C, with extra rooms being added, exterior was stuccoed and twin towers were added. In 1850 a new wing was added and a service wing, now demolished. Toft remained in the Leycester family until 1977, but has recently been extensively remodelled as offices.

<3> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, vol.I p.506 (Book). SCH1389.

“Toft Hall, the seat of this branch of the Leycester family, stands about one mile south of Knutsford, at the end of a venerable and spacious avenue, formed by triple rows of antient elms: the ground slopes gradually behind the mansion to the great vale of Cheshire, over which there is a rich and extensive prospect. The principal front of the Hall, which closes up the avenue, is brick-built, and of two stories, excepting the projecting wings, which are of three, and terminate in gables, and a square tower of four stories, which rises from the centre : a few years ago the whole was coated over with stucco, the original form being strictly preserved. The annexed engraving, taken from a point in which the side of a corresponding turret in the second front also is visible, will give a better idea of the mansion than can be attained by verbal description.”

<4> Twycross E, 1850, The Mansions of the County Palatine of Chester, 2, p.54 (Book). SCH3208.

<5> Garry Miller: Architectural Historian, 2019, Proposed Conversion of Stables at Toft Hall, Toft, Cheshire: Preliminary Heritage Assessment, R4309 (Client Report). SCH8694.

A heritage assessment, including photographic survey, was produced in 2019 for the stables at Toft Hall prior to proposed re-development, see 1255/1/2 for further detail.

<6> JWRC, 2008, Toft Hall, Toft: An Appraisal of its Architectural and Historical Significance, R4711 (Client Report). SCH9477.

Desk-based assessment produced in 2008 for Toft Hall to assess its historical significance.

<7> Peter de Figueiredo (Independent Consultant), 2008, Toft Hall, Knutsford: Heritage Impact Assessment, R4727 (Client Report). SCH9503.