Arderne Hall
Cheshire
| Location | Tarporley | ||
| Year demolished | 1958 | ||
| Reason | Replaced by a new house | ||
| See all images: | Gallery |
Text kindly provided by, and © of, Andrew Lamberton
The present Arderne Hall was completed by John Lilley, replacing a Victorian neo-gothic house designed by the Manchester church architect Joseph Crowther and erected in 1863 for George Baillie-Hamilton-Arden. This was demolished in 1958. The building itself replaced an earlier white building called Eaton Banks and it was here that General Richard Egerton, who won considerable fame at the Battle of Waterloo was a tenant.
The Victorian house was designed in the 1860s by J.S. Crowther in full Gothic style. Red brick with stone dressings, it incorporated many elements including oriel windows, ogee windows, turrets, all crowned with a high-pitched stripy roof. The interiors matched the exterior Gothic with moulded plasterwork, timber ceilings, marble chimneypieces and Minton tiles.
Arderne was the seat of the Utkinton estate which had been passed down the centuries sometimes through the female line. The original holders were the Done family who held the ancient hereditary title of the Master Forestership of Delamere from the thirteenth century. On the death of Sir John Done in 1630, with no direct male heir, the estate eventually passed to the descendants of Eleanor Done who was married to Ralph Arderne of Harden and the estate then came into the possession of the Arderne family with whom it remained.
George Bailie-Hamilton-Arden married Katharine Warrender, heiress and granddaughter of Richard Arden, 1st Baron of Alvanley. His eldest son, George, predeceased him by a few months, dying in 1917 and so the title passed to his grandson George-Baillie-Hamilton, who in turn was succeeded by his son John George Baillie-Hamilton, 13th Earl of Haddington.
[Matthew: the new house was commissioned by the last owner but sold as a brickwork shell to John Lilley and completed c.1976 and is now a hotel]