Broxton Old Hall (or Broxton Higher Hall) is in Old Coach Road west of the village of Brown Knowl, in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Broxton,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The site has been occupied since before 1327. The oldest surviving part of the present house dates from 1595, when it was built for Thomas Dod. In 1873 the house was extended, incorporating fabric from the older house, by the

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

architect John Douglas. This was commissioned by Sir Philip de Grey Egerton of

Oulton Park Oulton Park is a hard surfaced Race track, track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England, from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection a ...

as a

dower house A dower house is usually a moderately large house available for use by the widow of the previous owner of an English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish estate (house), estate. The widow, often known as the "dowager", usually moves into the dower house fr ...

. Late-19th century occupants of the Hall included the

calico Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...

printer William Graham Crum JP (son of the Scottish chemist

Walter Crum Walter Crum FRS (1796–1867) was a Scottish chemist and businessman. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1844. Life He was born in Glasgow, the second son of Alexander Crum of Thornliebank, a merchant there, and of Jane, the eldest da ...

and father of John Macleod Campbell Crum). It was purchased by Malcolm Walker, owner of the Iceland Food Store Chain, in 1985 for £750,000, and re-modelled and extended for him by The Carnell Green Partnership in 1987–88.

Architecture

The house is

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

with oak frames and

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

panels. The roofs are of stone slates and have ornate

bargeboard A bargeboard or rake fascia is a board fastened to each projecting gable of a roof to give it strength and protection, and to conceal the otherwise exposed end grain of the horizontal timbers or purlins of the roof. The word ''bargeboard'' is pr ...

s and

finial A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...

s. The chimneys consist of detached diagonal

flue A flue is a duct, pipe, or opening in a chimney for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, furnace, water heater, boiler, or generator to the outdoors. Historically the term flue meant the chimney itself. In the United States, they a ...

s. The house is in two storeys. The original part of the house has four bays and two

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s and a gabled porch. To the left of this part of the house is a recessed wing with one gable and to its right is a projecting wing with one gable. To the sides of each of these are further recessed wings, that to the left having a further gable. The windows are of oak; those in the upper storey have

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

s and those in the lower storey have mullions and transoms. The architectural historian

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

described it as being "an ornate gabled black and white house". The lodge to the hall is also listed Grade II. It is dated 1873, is a timber-framed building on a brick

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

and was designed by John Douglas. It has one storey and is in

Jacobethan The Jacobethan ( ) architectural style, also known as Jacobean Revival, is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the Engli ...

style.

Gardens

The grounds of the hall contain a formal garden, garden terraces, lawns, a lake, follies and a yew avenue. The grounds are not open to the public. In the garden is a structure cut into a cliff and partly lined with blocks of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. It dates from the early 19th century or before. Its base measures around 6m square and it is 4m high. On the floor are stone flags and the ceiling slopes to a central ridge. To its right is a shallow partly natural cave. The structure is a Grade II listed building. It has been described variously as a "stone parlour", a grotto, or King James' Parlour.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Houses completed in 1595 Houses completed in 1873 Grade II listed houses in Cheshire Country houses in Cheshire John Douglas buildings Gardens in Cheshire Timber framed buildings in Cheshire

History

Architecture

Gardens

See also

References