Bolesworth Castle is a

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

south of the village of

Tattenhall Tattenhall is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Tattenhall and District, south-east of Chester, in the unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. In the 2001 cens ...

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

Bolesworth Castle was built for George Walmesley, a

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 ...

businessman, to a design by William Cole in 1829, on the site of an older house dating from 1750. In 1856 it was bought by Robert Barbour, a Scottish businessman who founded a

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

business in

. It has remained in the Barbour family since. In 1920–23 the castle was partly remodelled by

Clough Williams-Ellis Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Military Cross, MC (28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate architecture, Italianate village of Portmeirion in North ...

Architecture

The house is built in

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

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 ...

and is

castellated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

. It is mainly in two storeys with wide canted

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 ...

in the centre and on the right, and a wide round bay on the left. At the centre, and recessed, is a three-story tower with

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

s. Around the house and in the grounds are a number of structures which are listed Grade II. These are the wall and steps of the upper and middle terraces, the wall of the lower terrace, a temple with a statue of

Diana Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997), ...

, the park gates, gate piers and wing walls on the north drive, gate piers on the drive from Chowley Lodge, an open shelter, a bridge over the fishpool, and a boat house.

Recent history and present day

The house and estate of were inherited in 1989 by Anthony Barbour, making him one of the largest landowners in

. He developed the estate as a centre for small businesses, restoring redundant buildings and modernising its 16 farms, thereby supporting some 800 jobs. Barbour also replanted the garden with over 350 varieties of trees. In 1998 he was awarded the Bledisloe gold medal by the

Royal Agricultural Society of England The Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) promotes the scientific development of English agriculture. It was established in 1838 with the motto "Practice with Science" and was known as the English Agricultural Society until it received i ...

for the work he did on the estate. Barbour died in 2007. Since then the estate has been cared for by his wife, Diana, and by his daughter, Nina, who is the director of the estate. Today Bolesworth is known for hosting a variety of major equestrian, family and action sport
events
both on-site and around the country. The Bolesworth International Horse Show takes place each summer, as well as the Al Shira'aa Bolesworth Young Horse Championships, alongside the iconic Christmas at Bolesworth lights trail and many more.

References

External links

Bolesworth EstateBolesworth International
{{Authority control Country houses in Cheshire Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire Houses completed in 1829 Buildings and structures completed in 1923 Castles in Cheshire Grade II* listed houses

History

Architecture

Recent history and present day

See also

References

External links