Adlington Hall

Adlington Hall is a manor house in Cheshire dating back to Saxon times. It has been the home of the Legh family since 1315. It is a Grade I listed Building. [http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?pid=1&id=58181 Images of England] , accessed 17 July 2007]

Origins and background

Adlington started as a large manor held by the Saxon Earl Edwin. After the conquest it passed to Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, a nephew of William the Conqueror. The Domesday Book listed it as “Edulvintone”.

Early in the thirteenth century, the manor passed to the de Corona family, who lived there for four generations. In 1315 Thomas de Corona granted it to his sister Ellen who had married John de Legh of Booths, with remainder to Robert, their second son and his heirs. Except for a twelve year period after the Civil War, the Legh family has lived there ever since.

The Hall and Gardens

Adlington Hall was originally surrounded by a moat. It is quadrangular in shape, though the west side might have been open, whilst on the south side there might have been a detached gatehouse with a bridge over the moat.

is known to have played on it while staying at Adlington in 1741-2 and again in 1751. It was restored in 1958-9.

After the Great Hall had been built, the rest of the house was built by another Thomas Legh, the tenth in succession, in 1581, probably in the Cheshire black and white style.

The north front appears to have been rebuilt after the Civil War during the lifetime of yet another Thomas Legh, the thirteenth in succession.

Charles Legh, the sixteenth in succession, carried out extensive improvements to the house which transformed it from a medium-sized Tudor house into a large Georgian Manor. A West Wing was added containing a staircase, dining room and drawing room with a number of rooms at the north-west corner. These were completed in 1749. The west side of the quadrangle was then filled in or rebuilt with a ballroom occupying the whole length of the first floor. Buildings on the south side of the quadrangle were demolished and replaced by a Georgian South Front with a portico with four columns, connecting the new West Wing with the Elizabethan East Wing. There were projecting bays at either end of the South Front. Bricks were burnt in kilns in the park and roofing flags were from the quarry at Kerridge. The work was completed in 1757.

While rebuilding his house, Charles Legh also built stables and a brew house to the east. A large brick barn, which forms the present Hunting Lodge, was added in 1817.

In 1928 much of the west side of the quadrangle was demolished. The staircase, dining room and drawing Room were left intact but the ballroom was replaced by a narrow gallery above an arcade built round the west side of the quadrangle. The projecting bays at either side of the South Front were pulled down.

To the south of the house there is a Yew Walk originally planted in 1650 and a Lime Avenue planted in 1688 to celebrate the accession of William and Mary to the throne.

In the middle of the eighteenth century the gardens were landscaped in the style of Capability Brown. Some of the original features remain, including the “Wilderness” which has the domed circular “Temple to Diana” and the “Shell Cottage”, whose internal walls are decorated with shells, pebbles and coloured mirrors. There is a Chinese bridge across the River Dean. To the north of the house there is a maze of English yew planted in 1996, with a unicorn (emblem of the Leghs) at the centre. The gardens are on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens and are graded II*. [cite web |url=http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/arch/landscapes/ukpg/sites/adlingto.htm |title=U.K. Database of Historic Parks and Gardens: Adlington Hall |accessdate=2008-03-11 |publisher=University of York ]

There were deer at Adlington until the outbreak of the First World War. The Deer Park was to the south west of the house.

The Leghs of Adlington

* Robert de Legh (1308-1370)
* Robert de Legh (1330-1382)
* Sir Robert de Legh (1362-1408)
* Robert de Legh (1386-1415)
* Robert de Legh (1410-1478)
* Robert de Legh (1428-1487)
* Thomas Legh (1452-1519)
* George Legh (1497-1529)
* Thomas Legh (1527-1548)
* Thomas Legh (1547-1601)
* Sir Urian Legh (1566-1627)
* Thomas Legh (1593-1644)
* Thomas Legh (1614-1687)
* Thomas Legh (1644-1691)
* John Legh (1668-1739)
* Charles Legh (1697-1781)
* Elizabeth Rowlls Legh (1728-1806)
* Richard Crosse Legh (1754-1822)
* Thomas Legh (1795-1829)
* Charles Richard Banastre Legh (1821-1888)
* Caroline Mary Florence Legh (1873-1940)
* Cynthia Combermere Legh (1896-1983)
* Charles Francis Legh (1922-1992)
* Camilla Jane Corona Legh (1960-

The first Legh of Adlington, Robert de Legh, was a descendant of Gilbert de Venables, who had come to Britain with William the Conqueror. He was a Riding-Forester of the Forest of Macclesfield, Bailiff of the Hundred of Macclesfield, “Lieutenant” to Sir Thomas de Ferrers, Justice of Chester and for many years “Lieutenant of the Prince’s Bachelor”. He also sat as Justice in Eyre.

Robert de Legh, the second in succession, was one of the Black Prince's Esquires. Robert de Legh the third in succession was knighted during the reign of Richard II. He was twice (High) Sheriff of Cheshire. Robert de Legh the fourth in succession was preparing to take part in the Battle of Agincourt but died of pestilence ten days before the battle.

Some years after the dissolution of the monasteries, Thomas Legh the tenth in succession acquired the rights of the Manor of Prestbury, together with the advowson of the Church and the tithes. Leghs became Patrons of the Living and Lay Rectors of Prestbury as they still are. Thomas Legh was appointed High Sheriff of Cheshire in 1588.

Urian Legh was knighted for his services in taking Cadiz in 1596. He was High Sheriff in 1613.

Thomas Legh the twelfth in succession was twice High Sheriff of Cheshire and a Colonel in the Royalist Army during the Civil War. He lost Adlington Hall in December 1642 but regained it later. In February 1644 the house was again besieged. This time it had to be surrendered to the Parliamentarians in order to prevent severe damage. It was not returned to the family until 1656 after heavy fines had been paid.

Thomas Legh the thirteenth in succession was gazetted Colonel of Militia and appointed High Sheriff in 1662 in recognition of his services to the Stuarts. The next three in succession were also Colonels of Militia and High Sheriffs. On the death of Charles Legh in 1781 the direct male line of succession failed but the succession continued through Charles' niece Elizabeth Rowlls who assumed the surname of Legh by Royal Sign Manual.

Notes

References

Charles Legh, “Adlington Hall”, English Life Publications Ltd. 1987, ISBN 0 85101 257 4

J.P.Earwaker, "East Cheshire: Past and Present" Volume II, London: Printed for the author, 1880

George Ormerod, "History of Cheshire" vol III, second edition, revised and enlarged by Thomas Helsby, London, George Routledge, 1882

Brochure, Adlington Hall

External links

* [http://www.adlingtonhall.com/home.htm Adlington Hall official website]
* [http://www.thornber.net/cheshire/htmlfiles/adlington.html More photographs of Adlington Hall and details of Legh family history]
* [http://www.baroque-music-club.com/Adlington.html Adlington Hall and Handel]
* [http://www.prestburycheshire.com/cartmell.htm History of Prestbury]