Mere Old Hall is a 17th-century country house which stands to the west of the village of

Mere Mere may refer to: Places * Mere, Belgium, a village in East Flanders * Mere, Cheshire, England * Mere, Wiltshire, England People * Mere Broughton (1938–2016), New Zealand Māori language activist and unionist * Mere Smith, American television ...

and the junction of the A566 and

A50 road The A50 is a major trunk road in England between Warrington and Leicester; historically it was also a major route from London to Leicester. Route The current A50 runs south-east from Warrington via Junction 20 of the M6 motorway, M6, Knu ...

s in

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. The house was constructed in brick and stone that has been whitewashed and rendered, roofed with tiles and slates, and is in two and three storeys. Its architectural style is

Regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

. The house 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 ...

. Also separately listed at Grade II are the kitchen garden walls and attached sheds.

History

An earlier house on the site was rebuilt in the 17th century by Sir Peter Brooke MP, a member of the Brooke family of Norton Priory, who had bought the house in 1652 from the Mere family. It was extended in stages, and by the early 18th century had become a large brick house with eleven

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

by nine bays. Later a

bow window A bow window or compass window is a curved bay window. Like bay windows, bow windows add space to a room by projecting beyond the exterior wall of a building and provide a wider view of the garden or street outside than flush windows, but combine ...

with a dome was built as an entrance, and later still pavilions were added. During the 19th century the house was reduced in size to an L-shaped building. Sir Peter's grandson, Peter Langford-Brooke, built Mere New Hall in 1834 and let the Old Hall. Among the tenants were merchants and manufacturers from

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, including 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, whose son John Macleod Campbell Crum was born there in 1872.England and Wales census (1881), Mere Old Hall, piece 3511, folio 77, p. 21. In 1914 William Princep Langford-Brooke decided to move back to the Old Hall after renovating the interior in the

Adam style The Adam style (also called Adamesque or the Style of the Brothers Adam) is an 18th-century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practised by Scottish architect William Adam and his sons, of whom Robert (1728–1792) and ...

. The last male heir, Colonel Ronald Langford-Brooke, died in 1980. Following the death of his widow in 1993, the Old Hall and its contents were sold in May 1994.

External links

William Princep Langford-Brooke

References

{{coord, 53.33058, -2.41574, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Houses completed in the 17th century Houses completed in the 18th century Country houses in Cheshire Grade II listed buildings in Cheshire Grade II listed houses

History

See also

External links

References