Lost Heritage

Location		Appleton
Year demolished		Mid-1960s
Reason		Surplus to requirements, replaced by school and housing
See all images:		Gallery

Text kindly provided by, and © of, Andrew Lamberton

Appleton Hall was built in 1820 for Thomas Lyon on land that one time had belonged to the Warburtons of Arley. Thomas Henry Lyon succeeded in 1859 and was the squire for 55 years until his death in 1914. In the 1840s and 1850s the family lived with eighteen servants, but by the end of the century this number had declined to six as the others were housed in cottages on the estate. The Cheshire Hunt met regularly at the Hall. Local coverts were drawn first before the riders galloped off as far afield as Stretton, Grimsditch and Whitley on the outskirts of Warrington. On one occasion in 1865, the hunt met a horse and trap. The horse bolted, the wheel came off the trap and both passengers landed in the mud! At the time of his death, Thomas Henry Lyon was the oldest member of the Cheshire Hunt. The meet was cancelled when he died and the Master attended his funeral. The flag at the Hall was lowered to half-mast and the golf club opposite the estate was closed for three days.

The Lyon family left Appleton in 1931 and there is a record of the then Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) visiting Appleton Hall in 1932 when it was a Domestic Training Centre for sixty girls. The Hall was also later used as a Home Office Approved School. It was demolished in the mid-1960s. A comprehensive school built in 1968, occupies the site of the old Hall and the estate is now covered with housing. There still remains however, a substantial sandstone wall to be seen along the London Road.