Rookery Hall is a Georgian style mansion located off the B5074 road near the village of Worleston 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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Dating originally from 1816 but extensively altered in the late 19th century, the hall is listed at grade II. Since 2001 Rookery Hall has been owned and managed by Julia Hands, Hand Picked Hotel Group. The Conference centre and Health Club and Spa were added in 2011.

History

The hall dates from 1816, and was originally a plain late Georgian house in brick known as "The Rookery, Worleston".Latham FA, ed. ''Acton'', pp. 101, 120–1 (The Local History Group; 1995) ().de Figueiredo P, Treuherz J. ''Cheshire Country Houses'', p. 268 (Phillimore; 1988) (). The first owner was William Hilton Cooke of Chester, who owned a Jamaican sugar plantation. The estate was purchased in 1867 by Baron William Henry von Schröder, a merchant banker and son of J. Henry Schröder, the founder of

Schroders Schroders plc is a British multinational asset management company headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1804, it employs over 6,000 people worldwide in 38 locations around Europe, America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It is traded on ...

. It was extended and extensively altered into an

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

style for von Schröder in around 1900.Pevsner N, Hubbard E. ''The Buildings of England: Cheshire'', p. 391 (Penguin Books; 1971) ().Robinson JM. ''A Guide to the Country Houses of the North-West'', p. 61 (Constable; 1991) (). The estate was sold by von Schröder's son in 1947. Rookery Hall was also owned by Ralph Midwood who was a cotton Merchant and race horse owner who added the stable block. The hall became a hotel and restaurant in around 1975. A further 29 further bedrooms and a function room were added in 1990, and in 2007 the former stable block was converted into a health club and spa. Further expansion during 2007 included the building of a conference and banqueting centre and 39 executive bedrooms.

Description

The hall is neo-

in style. It is constructed on an asymmetrical plan consisting of two storeys and five bays, of yellow sandstone ashlar cladding with a slate roof. The corner tower has a wedge-shaped pavilion roof, reminiscent of a

Loire Valley The Loire Valley (, ), spanning , is a valley located in the middle stretch of the Loire river in central France, in both the administrative regions Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about . It is r ...

château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...

; it is tiled in shaped green

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

slates. The projecting entrance porch is Corinthian in style, featuring a

semi-circular arch In architecture, a semicircular arch is an arch with an intrados (inner surface) shaped like a semicircle. This type of arch was adopted and very widely used by the Romans, thus becoming permanently associated with Roman architecture. Termi ...

and fluted

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s supporting a first-floor balcony with ball

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 to the balustrade. There is a similar balustraded balcony to the drawing room to the south of the porch. The porch windows feature metal grilles with scroll and leaf decoration. To the north of the porch is a two-storey

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 ...

ed and transomed window flanked with pilasters, and most of the windows to the main façade are also mullioned and transomed. The service wing features a single-storey octagonal bay. The rear façade features two full-height bay windows, a balustrade at roof level, a cast-iron verandah with a glass roof and a balustraded terrace. The south-east corner has a wall

sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

. The hall is set in of parkland by the

River Weaver The River Weaver is a river, navigable in its lower reaches, running in a curving route anti-clockwise across west Cheshire, northern England. Improvements to the river to make it navigable were authorised in 1721 and the work, which included ...

, including gardens, woodland, a fountain and a small lake. The gardens are included in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.

Interior

The main reception rooms feature wood

panelling Panelling (or paneling in the United States) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity ...

and panelled ceilings. The dining room ceiling is vaulted with

quatrefoil A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...

s, coronets and shields, including the von Schröder coat of arms; the

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

features winged cherubs. The walnut panelling of the dining room features reeded pilasters. The panelling in the sitting room originated in Calveley Hall, now demolished; it is Jacobean in date and features a fluted frieze. The salon has a deep cornice with foliage decoration, and foliage and scrolls ornament the ceiling. The

Meissen Meissen ( ), is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden and 75 km (46 mi) west of Bautzen on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, th ...

corner fireplace in the salon is in marble and dates from 1880. A large stone Jacobethan fireplace with pilasters stands in the dining room; the sitting room has a small stone Jacobean-style fireplace. The staircase is in oak with twisted balusters, panelled newels and a panelled spandrel.

Modern hotel

As of 2001, Rookery Hall is owned and managed by the Hand Picked Hotels group as a seventy-bedroom hotel, restaurant, conference centre, health club and spa. The hotel has four red AA stars and the restaurant two AA rosettes. It is licensed for civil wedding ceremonies.

David Beckham Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...

and Victoria Adams got engaged at Rookery Hall in 1998. The hotel management gave the couple an engagement cake depicting Rookery Hall with the couple sitting on top of it, which was later auctioned to benefit Goostrey Primary School.

References

{{Reflist, 33em Houses completed in 1816 Grade II listed buildings in Cheshire Grade II listed houses Hotels in Cheshire 1816 establishments in England

History

Description

Interior

Modern hotel

See also

References