Radbroke Hall is a white French chateau-style former

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 ...

Peover Superior Peover Superior is a former civil parish, now in the parish of Peover Superior and Snelson, in the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is described by the Office for National Statistics as ...

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 takes its name from the Red Brook stream that runs through the grounds.

History

Radbroke Hall was built between 1914 and 1917 for Manchester businessman Claude Hardy and his wife Olga. The architect was

Percy Worthington Sir Percy Scott Worthington (31 January 1864 – 15 July 1939) was an English architect. He was born in Crumpsall, Manchester, the eldest son of the architect Thomas Worthington (architect), Thomas Worthington. He was educated at Clifton Colleg ...

. Originally from

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Claude Hardy had a successful textile manufacturing business in

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 ...

. Unfortunately, Claude's death in 1916 left his widow to oversee the completion of the building work alone. The hall is built of

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

which was brought by train to a local railway station from Weymouth. Main features of the hall include a white marble staircase, a music room, and an oval dining room. Around the hall were some twenty acres of grounds including attractive rose gardens and areas given over to a large variety of

Rhododendrons ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan region, b ...

. The main hall driveway is flanked by large old beech trees. The house and parts of the gardens are 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 designated Grade II

listed buildings 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, H ...

The Nuclear Power Group

With Radbroke Hall being left mainly unoccupied during the 1920s and 1930s, it was sold by the Hardy Family in 1956 to the Nuclear Power Group who built offices and a testing tower on the grounds. Rear view Radbroke Hall - Oct 2023

Barclays Technology Centre

The site was purchased by

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

from The Nuclear Power Group in 1972. Approximately 1,400 staff were relocated from London to the new site. Today the site is home to the Barclays Technology Centre and mainly focuses on supporting the bank's IT infrastructure.

References

External links

Virtual tour
{{Coord, 53.27105, -2.34961, display=title, type:landmark_region:GB Country houses in Cheshire Buildings and structures completed in 1917 Grade II listed buildings in Cheshire Grade II listed houses

History

The Nuclear Power Group

Barclays Technology Centre

See also

References

External links