Building record 697/1 - Winnington Hall

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 57640 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Hall, "oak wing" circa. 1600 and stone wing and link to oak wing 1775 by Samuel Wyatt; restored by Darcy Braddell circa. 1920. Oak-framed entrance wing; brick staircase bay; ashlar wing; grey slate roofs. Oak-framed wing of two storeys plus attics and five gabled bays has small-framing with chevrons on rendered stone plinth; plaster panels; nineteenth century oak-framed porch with double three-panel oak doors; replaced casements; three-storey bay with spire added right, with service wing with no features of special interest beyond; through its courtyard the three-storey end-gable of the oak wing is visible. Brick stair bay, expressed as three storeys, has nine-pane recessed sashes. Rear of stone wing (formerly an orangery) has looped radial-bar lunettes and a venetian window. Stone wing of two storeys taller than those of oak wing has five bays, canted ends, plinth, fifteen-pane recessed sashes to lower storey with recessed panels containing festoons above and nine-pane recessed upper sashes. Miscellaneous chimneys. Interior: The oak wing is partly relined in manner of Wyatt's stone wing. Hall has Tuscan screen with two paired columns and antae; pilasters in corners; six-panel mahogany doors; nineteenth century (?) stone fireplace with iron grate in semi-circular alcove. Billiard room right has altered posts and ceiling; open well stair probably by Braddell leads to oak-panelled corridor and one oak-panelled room upstairs; the other rooms are altered, with coved ceilings. Behind hall in oak wing, lobby leads to former orangery in stone wing, octagon room and apsed dining and drawing rooms, all excellently proportioned and detailed; notable are the lunettes and vault in orangery, the apses and the octagon room. Left from lobby is stairwell containing geometrical stair with superimposed semicircular flights to first and second landings; the first communicates (now through bathroom) to upper storey of oak wing; the second to upper storey of stone wing.

<2> de Figueiredo P & Treuherz J, 1988, Cheshire Country Houses, p.197–203 (Book). SCH785.

<3> Hartwell C, Hyde M, Hubbard E & Pevsner N, 2011, The Buildings of England: Cheshire (2011 revision), p.677-9 (Book). SCH7059.

<4> MacCarthy, F, 2011, The Last Pre-Raphaelite: Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination, p.157–160 (Book). SCH8972.

<5> Aeon Archaeology, 2022, Land at Winnington Lane, Northwich, Cheshire, CW8 4DU: Archaeological Watching Brief, R4558 (Client Report). SCH9148.

Winnington Hall is one of the oldest buildings still standing in northern Cheshire. The original timber-framed house was built in the late 16th or early 17th century for a member of the Warburton family of Warburton and Arley, Cheshire. This was a three-bay house, which was extended by another two bays for Thomas Warburton, whose wife Anne was joint heir to the Penrhyn estate near Bangor in North Wales. A red-brick service wing was added to the north of the house in the early 18th century. Thomas' son, Hugh, had only one child, a daughter, Anne Susanna. In 1765 Anne Susanna married the other heir to the Penrhyn estate, Richard Pennant, who later became the 1st Baron Penrhyn. In 1775 Pennant commissioned Samuel Wyatt to design what became the larger stone extension to the house. In a possible attempt to harmonise the older part of the house with the stone extension, in the early 19th century the timber-framed wing was coated with roughcast and castellated. In 1809 the Winnington estate was sold to John Stanley.

However, Winnington Hall fell out of constant use by the Stanley family and was used as a girls' finishing school under Miss Margaret Alexis Bell and Miss Mary Jane Bell. Sir Charles Hallé often visited to give recitals and John Ruskin gave lectures. Ruskin became involved with the financing of the school. In 1863 Ruskin invited Edward Burne-Jones to the school, and they developed a concept to produce an ornate tapestry based on characters from Chaucer's poem The Legend of Good Women. However, the work proved to be too ambitious, and the project was abandoned. Later, during the 1870s, the school became bankrupt, and closed.

In 1872 the estate and hall were bought by John Brunner and Ludwig Mond. Brunner and Mond had been searching for land on which to to build a chemical factory (see CHER 2515/34/0). They paid £16,108 (equivalent to £1,470,000 as of 2020) for the whole estate, including the hall and the woodland. Their initial intention had been to demolish the hall, but they then decided to live in it. The Brunners moved out of the house in 1891 and the Monds at a later date. Brunner and Mond began manufacturing soda ash using the Solvay ammonia-soda process at the site which has resulted in widespread pollution, the waste was transported through a network of cranes and rails to the produce limebeds. After the First World War the building was converted for use as the Winnington Hall Club for the use of the staff of Brunner Mond, (later Imperial Chemical Industries - ICI). The building was restored in about 1920 by Darcy Braddell. More latterly the hall is used as office accommodation.

<6> Pegasus Group Ltd, 2021, Winnington Works, Northwich. Technical Appendix D: Cultural Heritage, R4561, p.39-44 (Client Report). SCH9155.

A manor at Winnington is documented by the Domesday Survey of 1086 although no trace of the any hall or manor prior to the 17th century is known to survive. The 17th-century parts of the Hall date from the time of the Warburton Family but the late 18th-century additions by Samuel Wyatt arose following the marriage of Anne Warburton to Lord Penrhyn. As part of these works the 17th-century south front was stuccoed and embattled to harmonize with the Wyatt extension (this was later removed by John Brunner in 1873). By 1807 the Hall was put up for sale with the Manchester Mercury (Tuesday 17th November, 1807) describing it as:-

“the Mansion House and Offices called Winnington Hall”…”with appropriate attached and detached offices, stabling for 50 horses, coach house, green houses, excellent kitchen gardens, with hot walls, mushroom house, cold baths, ice house, a poultry house upon a superior scale, and every necessary building for agricultural purposes, dove house, entrance cottage lodges with shrubbery plantations sloping to River Wever, at a convenient distance from the house, which is well situated on a very highly ornamental ground, and surrounded by six hundred and forty acres of land.”

The Hall was sold to Lord Stanley of Alderley in 1808 who occupied the Hall until the middle of the century when it was leased out to Miss Bell and with her partner Miss Bradford who established a finishing school for young ladies. Between 1859 and 1868 John Ruskin was a regular visitor to the Hall where he took semi-permanent residence. While at the academy Ruskin took the opportunity to teach the girls and experiment with systems of education. Ruskin also brought his artist friends including Edward and Georgiana Burne-Jones and Frederick Shields. In the same year, 1863, Charles Hallé also visited the Hall,where he met Ruskin and gave recitals. By this time Hallé orchestral concerts were already being performed in Manchester at the Free Trade Hall.

The Hall was sold by public auction in 1870 to Mond and Brunner who were attracted by the prospect of the lucrative salt works included with the sale. The Mond family occupyied the Wyatt wings and the Brunner family the 17th-century parts of the Hall. In 1926 Brunner Mond’s ownership ceased when ICI took over the site but the Hall remained as a Social Club. By 1990 the Club had 1900 members, most of whom were employees of ICI plc.

<7> Freda Burton, Ray Day and Jack Eastaway, 1998, Winnington Manor - A history of Winnington Hall and Winnington Hall Club (Book). SCH9748.

History of Winnington Manor from Saxon through to the 20th century. Extensive research from archive sources.