Wythenshawe Hall

File:WH Plaque.jpg

Plaque commemorating the gift to the city

Wythenshawe Hall is a 16th-century timber-framed historic house and former manor house in Wythenshawe, Manchester, England, Template:Convert south of the city centre in Wythenshawe Park. Built for Robert Tatton, it was home to the Tatton family for almost 400 years. Its basic plan is a central hall with two projecting wings.

In the winter of 1643–44, the house was besieged by Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War. Despite the stout defence put up by Robert Tatton and his fellow Royalists, the defenders were overwhelmed by the Roundheads' superior weaponry.

Rebuilding work was carried out at the end of the 18th century, and various additions made in the 19th century, including a walled garden, an ice house, glass houses and a tenant's hall.Template:Efn Wythenshawe Hall and its surrounding parkland were donated to Manchester Corporation in 1926, and in 1930 it was opened to the public as a museum.

The building was badly damaged in an arson attack in March 2016; the hall finally reopened to visitors in September 2022 after extensive repairs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

History

A pre-1300 charter mentions an enclosed deer park in Wythenshawe where the Tatton family owned land in 1297.<ref name="EHWP"/> Around 1540, Robert Tatton of Chester<ref name="BBC_15Mar16" /> built Wythenshawe Hall as the Tatton family residence.<ref name="mc_parkhistory" /> The timber-framed Tudor house<ref name="pastscape" /> was the home of the family for almost 400 years.<ref name="BBC_15Mar16" /> and may originally have had a moat.<ref name="EHWP"/>

The hall was besieged during the English Civil War over the winter of 1643–44 by Robert Duckenfield's Parliamentarian forces.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was defended by Royalists led by Robert Tatton until the Roundheads brought two cannons to the hall from Manchester, leading to the Royalist surrender on 27 February 1644.<ref name="mc_parkhistory" /> The Parliamentarians subsequently confiscated Wythenshawe Hall, but it was returned to the Tatton family on payment of a fine of just over £700. After recovering the estate, the family expanded it to about Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Damage to Wythenshawe Hall following suspected arson attack.jpg

Damage to Wythenshawe Hall after the 2016 fire

In 1924 Robert Henry Grenville Tatton inherited the Wythenshawe estate. There was interest from Manchester Corporation, who wanted land to build a garden suburb,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> ostensibly to rehouse tenants from slum clearance. By April 1926 Wythenshawe Hall and Template:Convert of its surrounding estate had been sold to Ernest Simon, 1st Baron Simon of Wythenshawe and Shena Simon, Lady Simon of Wythenshawe, who donated them to Manchester Corporation "to be used solely for the public good".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Later that year, the corporation purchased the rest of the estate,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="RileyP22" /> and went on to build one of the largest housing estates in Europe on the land.

Repairs were made to the hall in the 1950s,<ref name="MEN_8Nov16" /> and it was designated as a Grade II* listed building on 25 February 1952.<ref name="NHLE" /> Its former stable block, to the west of the hall, was Grade II listed in 1974.<ref name="NHLE1255038" />

The roof of the hall and an upper floor were severely damaged by a fire that started at around 3:30 am on 15 March 2016; the clock tower was also damaged.<ref name="BBC_15Mar16" /> On 23 March, Jeremy Taylor of Wythenshawe was charged with arson in connection with the fire.<ref name="MEN_8Nov16" /><ref name="men_23Mar16" /><ref name="bbc_23Mar16" /> In July 2017, after changing his plea and admitting guilt,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.<ref name=BBCsent>Template:Cite news</ref> The hall was added to the Heritage at Risk Register in October 2016.<ref name="MEN_21Oct16" /> A planning application to restore the building was submitted in November 2016, with the intention of keeping as much of the original material as possible;<ref name="MEN_8Nov16" /> the repairs were completed at a cost of £6.7 million and the building reopened to the public in September 2022.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Architecture

File:Wythenshawe Hall August 2016 012.jpg

Wythenshawe Hall in August 2016, with protective scaffolding and the tower removed

The hall was partially rebuilt between 1795 and 1800 by Lewis Wyatt.<ref name="EHWP"/><ref name="NHLE" /> It was altered around 1840 possibly by Edward Blore.<ref name="EHWP"/> Additions included a walled garden, an ice house, and glass houses.<ref name="mc_parkhistory" /> In the Victorian era the dining room was refurbished and a tenant's hall was added.<ref name="mc_antiroom" />

The timber-framed manor house has a hall with two projecting wings, and a porch and dais bays.<ref name="pastscape" /><ref name="Pevsner" /> The entrance hall (also known as the ante-room) is thought to have previously been a chapel, which was subsequently turned into a billiards room, before becoming an entrance hall in the 1870s.<ref name="mc_antiroom" />

Museum

In 1930 the hall was turned into a museum and art gallery.<ref name="pastscape" /> Most of the hall's original furniture was removed by the Tatton family in 1926 when they moved out, and most of the furniture and paintings displayed in the hall during its time as a museum were from the Manchester City Galleries collection.<ref name="mc_antiroom" />

Until 2007 a re-enactment of the 1643 siege of Wythenshawe Hall by Cromwell's troops was staged every July.<ref name="MEN_axe" />

By 2004 the hall was only open once a week for four months in the year<ref name = "MEN 8 May 2004" /> and in 2010 closed completely<ref name="pastscape" /> as a result of council spending cuts.<ref name="mc_hall" /> One proposition was that Manchester City Council could sell the building to the National Trust.<ref name="men_wythenshaw" /> In summer 2012, the hall re-opened for 10 days for the Wythenshawe Games.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A friends group was established in September 2012 to hold monthly open days and regular events at the hall.<ref name="pastscape" /><ref name="friends" /> Furniture installed by the friends group (including a four-poster bed engraved with the Tatton family crest) was not damaged by the fire.<ref name="mcc_22Mar16" />

Park

File:Wythenshawe Hall with Cromwell statue.jpg

The statue of Oliver Cromwell in front of Wythenshawe Hall

Wythenshawe Park occupies Template:Convert of land surrounding the hall in Northern Moor. The park contains a mix of woodland, bedding, borders, grassland and meadows,<ref name="mc_park" /> sports and games facilities, and Wythenshawe community farm and a horticulture centre<ref name="mc_facilities" /> North Lodge, the Grade II listed gate lodge on the park's northern boundary was built in the Tudor style in the mid to late 19th century.<ref name="NHLELodge"/>

Facing the hall stands a Template:Convert-tall bronze statue of Oliver Cromwell on a granite plinth and pedestal, sculpted by Matthew Noble in 1875. Now Grade II listed, it was moved from its original location on Deansgate to the park in 1968.<ref name="NHLEStatue"/><ref name="Cromwell" /><ref name="MCC_statue" />

See also

• Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester
• Listed buildings in Manchester-M23

References

Notes Template:Notelist

Citations Template:Reflist

External links

• Template:EHbarName