Eaton Hall (Cheshire) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Eaton Hall is the country house of the Duke of Westminster

Duke of Westminster

The title Duke of Westminster was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster. The current holder of the title is Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster....

. It is set within a large estate 1 miles (2 km) south of the village of Eccleston

Eccleston, Cheshire

Eccleston is a civil parish and village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, and close to Chester...

, in Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

, England . The house is surrounded by formal gardens, parkland, farmland and woodland. The estate covers an area of about 10872 acres (4,399.7 ha).

The first substantial house was built in the 17th century. In the early 19th century it was replaced by a much larger house designed by William Porden

William Porden

William Porden was a versatile English architect. Born in Kingston upon Hull, he trained under James Wyatt and Samuel Pepys Cockerell....

. This in turn was replaced by an even larger house, with outbuildings and a chapel, designed by Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse was a British architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. He is perhaps best known for his design for the Natural History Museum in London, and Manchester Town Hall, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the...

. Building started in 1870, and took 12 years to complete. By 1960 the fabric of the house had deteriorated and, like many other mansions during this period, it was demolished, although the chapel and many of the outbuildings were retained. A new house was built but its design was not considered to be sympathetic to the local landscape, and in the late 1980s it was recased and given the appearance of a French château

Château

A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...

.

The house has been surrounded by formal gardens since the 17th century, the design of which has changed over the centuries in accordance with current ideas and fashions, as has the surrounding parkland. A variety of buildings are included in the estate, some decorative, others built for the business of the estate; many of these are listed buildings. The house and estate are not normally open to the public, but the gardens are open on three days a year to raise money for charity, and some of the estate's buildings can be hired for charitable purposes.

Halls

Eaton Hall has been the country house of the Grosvenor family

Duke of Westminster

since the 15th century. There is evidence of a two-storey house on a moat

Moat

A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...

ed site in the estate in a 17th-century estate map and an 18th-century engraving. A survey undertaken in 1798 showed that the building was still present.

Samwell Hall

The first substantial house was built for Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet

Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet

Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet was an English Member of Parliament and an ancestor of the modern day Dukes of Westminster...

. He inherited the estate at the age of 19 when he succeeded his grandfather, Sir Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Baronet

Sir Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Baronet

Sir Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Baronet was an ancestor of the modern day Dukes of Westminster. He was the son of Sir Richard Grosvenor, 1st Baronet and spent his childhood at Eaton Hall, Cheshire...

, who died in 1664. The new owner commissioned the architect William Samwell

William Samwell (architect)

William Samwell was an English architect. He was born in Dean's Yard, Westminster, to Anthony Samwell, son of Sir William Samwell, Auditor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth I....

to design the house. Building started in 1675; much of the stone used was brought from the ruined Holt Castle

Holt Castle

Holt Castle was a medieval castle in the town of Holt, Wrexham Borough, Wales. Work began in the 13th century during the Welsh Wars, the castle was sited on the Welsh-English border by the banks of the River Dee....

in north Wales. By 1683 the cost of building the house had risen to over £1,000 (£ as of ). An engraving of the time shows it to have been a substantial square house with three storeys and dormer

Dormer

A dormer is a structural element of a building that protrudes from the plane of a sloping roof surface. Dormers are used, either in original construction or as later additions, to create usable space in the roof of a building by adding headroom and usually also by enabling addition of windows.Often...

s. The entrance front had nine bays

Bay (architecture)

A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...

and a portico

Portico

A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...

. The engraving also shows the earlier moated house to the south of the new house.

Porden Hall

By the time that Robert Grosvenor

Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster

Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster, KG was the son of the 1st Earl Grosvenor, whom he succeeded in 1802 as 2nd Earl Grosvenor. He was created Marquess of Westminster in 1831. He was an English Member of Parliament and an ancestor of the modern day Dukes of Westminster...

, then the 2nd Earl Grosvenor, and later the 1st Marquess of Westminster, inherited the estate in 1802, the Samwell Hall had become old-fashioned and in need of renovation. Grosvenor appointed William Porden

William Porden

William Porden was a versatile English architect. Born in Kingston upon Hull, he trained under James Wyatt and Samuel Pepys Cockerell....

to plan the improvements. Building started in 1803 and Porden estimated it would take three years to build at a cost of £10,000 (£ as of ). In the event it took just under ten years and cost over £100,000 (£ as of ). The previous house was encased and surrounded by "every possible permutation of the gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

style"; including turret

Turret

In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...

s, pinnacle

Pinnacle

A pinnacle is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire...

s, arched windows, octagonal towers, and buttress

Buttress

A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...

es (both regular and flying

Flying buttress

A flying buttress is a specific form of buttressing most strongly associated with Gothic church architecture. The purpose of any buttress is to resist the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards by redirecting them to the ground...

). Two new wings were added in the first stage, and in the 1820s more wings were added, by this time under the direction of Benjamin Gummow. The interior of the house was as lavish as the exterior, with more Gothic detailing. The hangings for the state bed included 97 yards (89 m) of purple damask

Damask

Damask is a reversible figured fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin weave and the ground in weft-faced or sateen weave...

and 103 yards (94 m) of sarsenet (fine silk) trimmed with gold lace. When the future Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

visited in 1832 at the age of 13, she wrote in her journal: "The house is magnificent". However others described as being "as extravagant and opulent as the very latest upholsterer-decorators could make it". It was described it as "the most gaudy concern I ever saw" and "a vast pile of mongrel gothic which ... is a monument of wealth, ignorance and bad taste". Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster

Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster

Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster KG, PC , styled Viscount Belgrave from 1802 to 1831 and Earl Belgrave from 1831 to 1845, was an English politician, landowner, property developer and benefactor....

succeeded his father in 1845 and commissioned the Scottish architect William Burn

William Burn

William Burn was a Scottish architect, pioneer of the Scottish Baronial style.He was born in Edinburgh, the son of architect Robert Burn, and educated at the Royal High School. After training with the architect of the British Museum, Sir Robert Smirke, he returned to Edinburgh in 1812...

to make alterations to the house. Burn raised the centre of the south front to make it look like a tower, and changed some of the external Gothic features. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner

Nikolaus Pevsner

Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...

described this house as a "spectacular Gothic mansion".

Waterhouse Hall

The 2nd Marquess died in 1869 and was succeeded by his son Hugh Lupus Grosvenor

Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster

Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster KG, PC, JP , styled Viscount Belgrave between 1831 and 1845 and Earl Grosvenor between 1845 and 1869 and known as the 3rd Marquess of Westminster between 1869 and 1874, was an English landowner, politician and racehorse owner.He inherited the estate of...

, initially the 3rd Marquess and from 1874 the 1st Duke of Westminster

Duke of Westminster

. He appointed Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse

to design another new hall. Again the core of the previous hall was retained; parts were refaced and re-modelled, other parts were completely rebuilt. A private wing was built for the use of the family, and this was joined to the main part of the hall by a corridor. Waterhouse also designed the chapel and a clock-house, and rebuilt most of the stabling. The work began in 1870, took 12 years to complete, and cost £803,000 (£ as of ). The library was 90 feet (27 m) long, the dining room with its ante room was 105 feet (32 m) long, and the octagonal great hall contained an organ. For the interior, Henry Stacy Marks

Henry Stacy Marks

Henry Stacy Marks was an English artist who took a particular interest in painting birds.-Life:Henry Stacy Marks was born in London as the fourth child of John Isaac Marks and Elizabeth née Pally. His father was a solicitor who later became a coach builder...

painted a frieze

Frieze

thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...

of the Canterbury Pilgrims for the morning room, Gertrude Jekyll

Gertrude Jekyll

Gertrude Jekyll was an influential British garden designer, writer, and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the USA and contributed over 1,000 articles to Country Life, The Garden and other magazines.-Early life:...

painted panels for the drawing room, and in other rooms were paintings by Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...

, Stubbs

George Stubbs

George Stubbs was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses.-Biography:Stubbs was born in Liverpool, the son of a currier and leather merchant. Information on his life up to age thirty-five is sparse, relying almost entirely on notes made by fellow artist Ozias Humphry towards the...

and Reynolds

Joshua Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...

. Pevsner wrote that it "was an outstanding expression of High Victorian originality", and added "this Wagnerian

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

palace was the most ambitious instance of Gothic Revival

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

domestic architecture anywhere in the country". The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

described it as "one of the most princely and beautiful mansions that these islands contain".

During both World Wars, parts of the hall were used as a hospital. In 1943, the Britannia Royal Naval College

Britannia Royal Naval College

Britannia Royal Naval College is the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy, located on a hill overlooking Dartmouth, Devon, England. While Royal Naval officer training has taken place in the town since 1863, the buildings which are seen today were only finished in 1905, and...

moved to the hall from Dartmouth

Dartmouth, Devon

Dartmouth is a town and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the banks of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes...

when the college there was bombed. They moved back to Dartmouth in 1946, after which the hall was used as an officer cadet

Officer Cadet

Officer cadet is a rank held by military and merchant navy cadets during their training to become commissioned officers and merchant navy officers, respectively. The term officer trainee is used interchangeably in some countries...

training school until the end of National Service

National service

National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...

in 1960. During this period of use by the army there were many barracks huts in the grounds.

Dennys Hall and the present hall

By 1960 the hall needed repair and decoration, and dry rot

Dry rot

Dry rot refers to a type of wood decay caused by certain types of fungi, also known as True Dry Rot, that digests parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness...

was found in the roof. Robert Grosvenor, 5th Duke of Westminster

Robert Grosvenor, 5th Duke of Westminster

Lieutenant-Colonel Robert George Grosvenor, 5th Duke of Westminster DSO TD JP DL , was a British soldier, landowner, businessman and politician. In the 1970s he was the richest man in Britain....

, decided to demolish the main part of the Waterhouse building and the private wing, retaining the chapel, clock tower and stables; this took place in 1963. A new building was commissioned by the Duke who appointed John Dennys, his wife's brother-in-law, as architect. Dennys had earlier worked on Saighton Grange

Saighton Grange

Saighton Grange originated as a monastic grange. It later developed into a country house and the building is now used as a school . The building is located in Saighton, Cheshire, England...

on the Eaton estate. The intention was to build a modern, manageable home. The result was a rectangular, flat-roofed building, faced with white Travertine marble

Travertine

Travertine is a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs. Travertine often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, and cream-colored varieties. It is formed by a process of rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate, often at the mouth of a hot...

, its "whiteness [being] a stark contrast to the softness of the Cheshire landscape". Its construction began in 1971, it took less than years to build, and cost £459,000 (£ as of ). The exterior had a central porte-cochère

Porte-cochere

A porte-cochère is the architectural term for a porch- or portico-like structure at a main or secondary entrance to a building through which a horse and carriage can pass in order for the occupants to alight under cover, protected from the weather.The porte-cochère was a feature of many late 18th...

on the entrance front. The house followed an asymmetrical plan, with two storeys plus a basement containing a swimming pool. A central two-storey hall gave access to the principal rooms, with the main reception rooms being on the first floor. The decor included wall coverings in silk and woodblock floors.

As the hall was considered to be unsympathetic in appearance to the local countryside, it was decided to change its exterior. This was designed by the Percy Thomas Partnership

Percy Thomas Partnership

Percy Thomas Partnership was a trading name of the award-winning British architectural practice originally set up by Percy Thomas in Cardiff, Wales in 1911/12. Percy Thomas and his practice put their name to a number of landmark buildings in the United Kingdom including the Wales Millennium...

. Work on recasing the Dennys Hall to make it look more like a French château

Château

began in 1989 and was completed in 1991.

Associated structures

Adjacent to the hall are the remaining structures designed by Waterhouse. To the north is Eaton Chapel

Eaton Chapel

Eaton Chapel is a private chapel to the north of Eaton Hall in Eaton Park, near the village of Eccleston, Cheshire, England. It is designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.-History:...

; this, with its clock tower, is a Grade I listed building. The decorative scheme of the interior of the chapel is based on the 'Te Deum

Te Deum

The Te Deum is an early Christian hymn of praise. The title is taken from its opening Latin words, Te Deum laudamus, rendered literally as "Thee, O God, we praise"....

'; it involves stained glass and stone mosaic

Mosaic

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...

, and was developed by Frederic Shields

Frederic Shields

Frederic James Shields , was a British artist, illustrator and designer closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites through Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown.-Early years:...

. Immediately to the north of the chapel is the Stable Court; this is listed Grade II*. The buildings in the Stable Court are in brick, red stone, and half-timbering, with red tile roofs. The west range has a half-timbered upper storey with two gables, and a central gatehouse

Gatehouse

A gatehouse, in architectural terminology, is a building enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a castle, manor house, fort, town or similar buildings of importance.-History:...

with turret

Turret

s which are polygonal at the base and circular higher up and have conical roofs. On each side of the gatehouse are two-storey arcades

Arcade (architecture)

An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....

with gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

s above. In the courtyard is a statue of a horse by Joseph Boehm

Joseph Boehm

Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, RA was a medallist and sculptor, best known for the Jubilee head of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner.-Biography:...

, which is listed Grade II. At the southeast corner of the stable yard is a postillion's house, dated 1873 and listed Grade II*. In a lobby between the stable yard and the chapel is an artificial grotto

Grotto

A grotto is any type of natural or artificial cave that is associated with modern, historic or prehistoric use by humans. When it is not an artificial garden feature, a grotto is often a small cave near water and often flooded or liable to flood at high tide...

, listed Grade II. In the area around the Stable Court are further structures listed Grade II. To the north is the Coachhouse Court, which consists of a coach-house, a covered court and a riding school. These were designed in the 1870s for the 1st Duke. To the north of this are Eaton Hall Cottages, four attached cottages, which were designed about the same time. In the forecourt between the Coachhouse Court and the cottages is a lodge, with gates, piers and screens. Near to the cottages is the former engine shed of the Eaton Hall Railway. To the east of the stable yard is a chapel-like sandstone game

Game (food)

Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...

pantry

Pantry

A pantry is a room where food, provisions or dishes are stored and served in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen. The derivation of the word is from the same source as the Old French term paneterie; that is from pain, the French form of the Latin panis for bread.In a late medieval hall, there were...

dating from the 1870s.

From 1896 until 1947, the estate was served by the gauge Eaton Hall Railway

Eaton Hall Railway

The Eaton Hall Railway was an early gauge narrow gauge estate railway built in 1896 at Eaton Hall in Cheshire.It was built for the Duke of Westminster by Sir Arthur Percival Heywood, who had pioneered the fifteen inch gauge with his Duffield Bank Railway, and connected the hall to the GWR...

. The line ran from the hall to a depot at Balderton on the Chester-Wrexham

Wrexham

Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...

line, and a spur went to Cuckoo's Nest, where there was a repair yard. Part of the old railway route was re-opened in 1996.

Grounds

The estate covers an area of about 10872 acres (4,399.7 ha), within which about 1235 acres (499.8 ha) of parkland and about 50 acres (20.2 ha) of formal gardens. These are listed at Grade II* on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens

National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens

In England, the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by English Heritage under the provisions of the National...

. The boundaries of the estate generally follow field boundaries but on the east side they follow the line of the River Dee

River Dee, Wales

The River Dee is a long river in the United Kingdom. It travels through Wales and England and also forms part of the border between the two countries....

History

In the 17th century, formal gardens were created around the Samwell Hall; these included such features as parterre

Parterre

A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...

s and canals. However they were costly to maintain, and in the later part of the 18th century fashions changed to favour a more informal type of garden layout. Credit for designing the informal gardens at Eaton Hall has been given to Lancelot "Capability" Brown. Although one of Brown's documents dated 1764 shows that payment was made to him by the estate, it also notes that a plan for the garden had been drawn up by William Emes

William Emes

-Biography:Details of his early life are not known but in 1756 he was appointed head gardener to Sir Nathaniel Curzon at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. He left this post in 1760 when Robert Adam was given responsibility for the entire management of the grounds. During his time at Kedleston he had...

. From this, Marion Mako concludes that, as Brown was an engineer as well as a landscape gardener, the payment was for an engineering project rather than for landscaping. Emes had been influenced by Brown, although he had not been his pupil. With his clerk of works, Thomas Leggett, Emes worked in the estate for the next ten years. When Robert Grosvenor (later the 1st Marquess) inherited the estate at the beginning of the 19th century, it had become run-down. The marquess appointed John Webb

John Webb (landscape designer)

John Webb was an English landscape designer, who also trained as an architect. He studied under William Emes between 1782 and 1793, and then established his own practice. He worked mainly in the Midlands and the north of England. In Staffordshire he was commissioned by Josiah Wedgewood to work...

, a pupil of Emes, to improve the garden and the landscaping. Among Webb's innovations were new terrace walls behind the house, the levelling of Belgrave Avenue and the planting of 130,000 trees along it, and a serpentine

Serpentine shape

Serpentine refers to the curved shape of an object or design which resembles the letter s, a sine wave or a snake; the latter is the derivation of the term.- Examples :* The Serpentine River...

lake to the east of the house alongside the River Dee. He also arranged for the construction of greenhouse

Greenhouse

A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...

s and a kitchen garden

Kitchen garden

The traditional kitchen garden, also known as a potager, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden - the ornamental plants and lawn areas...

.

Fashions changed again, and in the 1820s William Andrews Nesfield was employed to design new parterres. He also built more terracing and a balustraded

Baluster

A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...

wall. Statues, stone urn

Urn

An urn is a vase, ordinarily covered, that usually has a narrowed neck above a footed pedestal. "Knife urns" placed on pedestals flanking a dining-room sideboard were an English innovation for high-style dining rooms of the late 1760s...

s and vases on pedestal

Pedestal

Pedestal is a term generally applied to the support of a statue or a vase....

s were added to the garden. In 1852 the Camellia

Camellia

Camellia, the camellias, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalaya east to Korea and Indonesia. There are 100–250 described species, with some controversy over the exact number...

House was built; this was extended in 1870 to its final size of 385 feet (117 m) long, 10 feet (3 m) wide, and 18 feet (5 m) high. The present kitchen garden was created the same year; this provided the food not only for the hall, but also for Grosvenor House in London. More greenhouses were built and, by about 1880, 56 gardeners were employed. There were other building works in the grounds. Waterhouse created a grotto

Grotto

between the chapel and the stable yard, and designed the Parrot House and a loggia

Loggia

Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...

(now known as the Temple). The Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

architect John Douglas

John Douglas (architect)

John Douglas was an English architect who designed about 500 buildings in Cheshire, North Wales, and northwest England, in particular in the estate of Eaton Hall. He was trained in Lancaster and practised throughout his career from an office in Chester, Cheshire...

designed the Dutch Tea House

Dutch Tea House, Eaton Hall

The Dutch Tea House is in the grounds of Eaton Hall, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building....

in the Tea Garden, and a number of service buildings in the estate. In 1897–98 Edwin Lutyens

Edwin Lutyens

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...

started to improve what had been known as the Italian Garden (and is now the Dragon Garden).

Work continued in the gardens and grounds during the 20th century. The 2nd Duke commissioned Detmar Blow

Detmar Blow

Detmar Jellings Blow was a British architect of the early 20th century, who designed principally in the arts and crafts style. His clients belonged chiefly to the British aristocracy, and later he became estates manager to the Duke of Westminster...

, a pupil of Lutyens, to re-design parts of the gardens. With Fernand Billerey, he removed the parterres, built a canal leading away from the house, added hedged compartments to the terraces, and a pond at the base of the terraces (now the Lioness and Kudu Pond). During the Second World War, part of the parkland was requisitioned as an airfield, and in 1940 some of the garden buildings were damaged by a cluster of incendiary device

Incendiary device

Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus....

s. After the war, improvement of the gardens did not resume until the 1960s, when the wives of the 4th and 5th Dukes worked with the designer James Russell

James Russell (garden designer)

James Russell was an English garden designer. He was educated at Eton College and then went to Cambridge University. His education was interrupted by the Second World War, in which he served for three years. He was invalided from the army and then managed Sunningdale Nurseries; this had been...

. Since the early 1990s, the gardens have been further developed under the 6th Duke and his wife, Natalia, working with the garden designers Arabella Lennox-Boyd

Arabella Lennox-Boyd

Arabella Lennox-Boyd , Lady Lennox-Boyd is an Italian-born English garden designer.-Background:Born in Rome as Arabella Parisi, she is a daughter of Piero Parisi and a granddaughter of a Marshal of Italy, General Armando Diaz, 1st Duke della Vittoria...

and Vernon Russell Smith.

Formal gardens

To the east of the house a series of terraces leads down to the Fish Pond. The retaining walls at the southern end of the upper terrace are listed Grade II, as are the retaining walls at the end of the upper terrace and the steps leading down to the middle terrace. Stretching along the middle terrace is a long rectangular pool containing a three fountains. The retaining walls of this pool are listed Grade II, as are the railings on the north and the south side of the terrace. On each side of the pool are two compartments framed by yew

Taxus baccata

Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be now known as the English yew, or European yew.-Description:It is a small-...

hedges. Between these compartments, on each side, is a statue by Raymond Smith. Both of these were made in 1852 for the 2nd Marquess and are listed Grade II. The one to the north depicts a stag at bay, and that to the south a hunter on a rearing horse.

From the end of the pool, steps lead down to a smaller rectangular pool at right-angles to the first. The steps and the retaining wall at the end of the terrace are listed Grade II. The retaining walls of the pool are also listed Grade II. This area contains two statues by Jonathan Kenworthy. From this pool a path, known as the Broad Walk, stretches to the north and the south. At each end of the Broad Walk is a building designed by Waterhouse for the 3rd Marquess. At the north end is the Parrot House, dating from 1881–83, which is built in yellow terracotta

Terra cotta

Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...

. It is the form of a round colonnade

Colonnade

In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....

d Ionic

Ionic order

The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...

temple with a shallow domed roof. Above the colonnade and the inner drum are concentric

Concentric

Concentric objects share the same center, axis or origin with one inside the other. Circles, tubes, cylindrical shafts, disks, and spheres may be concentric to one another...

balustrades

Baluster

. A flight of eleven steps leads up to the south entrance. The Parrot House is listed Grade II. At the south end of the Broad Walk is a loggia

Loggia

, dating from about 1880. This is built in buff and red sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

. At its front are three arches between Ionic columns. The loggia was built to enclose a Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

altar

Altar

An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...

which was found in 1821 at a spring near Boughton

Boughton, Cheshire

Boughton is a neighbourhood to the east of Chester city centre, part of the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England...

and brought to Eaton in 1822. The loggia is listed Grade II. To the east and west of the loggia are reconstructed Roman columns, each of which is listed Grade II.

South of the loggia is the Dutch Tea Garden, which was laid out by C. E. Mallows

Charles Edward Mallows

Charles Edward Mallows , often known as C. E. Mallows, was an English landscape architect. He was born in Chelsea, London and spent his childhood at Flatford Mill, East Bergholt, Suffolk where his uncle ran the mill. He studied in Bedford and London...

in about 1905. The garden contains the Tea House

Dutch Tea House, Eaton Hall

The Dutch Tea House is in the grounds of Eaton Hall, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building....

which was designed by John Douglas

John Douglas (architect)

. This has a cruciform

Cruciform

Cruciform means having the shape of a cross or Christian cross.- Cruciform architectural plan :This is a common description of Christian churches. In Early Christian, Byzantine and other Eastern Orthodox forms of church architecture this is more likely to mean a tetraconch plan, a Greek cross,...

plan and is a half-timbered

Timber framing

Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...

building on a sandstone plinth

Plinth

In architecture, a plinth is the base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument or structure rests. Gottfried Semper's The Four Elements of Architecture posited that the plinth, the hearth, the roof, and the wall make up all of architectural theory. The plinth usually rests...

. The roof is of red tiles, and sweeps upwards to a small spire surmounted by a weathercock

Weather vane

A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....

. It is listed Grade II. In the centre of the garden is a statue of Mercury

Mercury (mythology)

Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...

and in front of the Tea House are two stone Talbots

Talbot (dog)

The talbot was a white hunting dog which is now extinct because of its lack of purpose and need for constant care, but it has been credited with being an ancestor of the modern beagle and bloodhound...

. To the north of the Tea House, on the path leading to the Broad Walk, is a pair of wrought iron

Wrought iron

thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...

gates made in 1913 for the 2nd Duke. The gates and their overthrow

Overthrow (structure)

In wrought ironwork, the overthrow, particularly popular in the Baroque era commencing in the 17th century, refers to the crowning section of ornamental wrought ironwork which forms a decorative crest above a wrought iron gate; the overthrow provides some stabilizing structure tying together...

are listed Grade II.

To the south of the hall is a formal garden known as the Italian Garden. This contains a pool at the centre of which is the Dragon Fountain. The fountain is listed Grade II. In the Italian Garden are two statues, also listed Grade II, which were taken from the old hall when it was demolished; these are a statue of Joan of Eaton, and of the Norman Bishop Odo.

Leading from the north of the house is the Spring Walk, leading to the Kitchen Garden, in which food is grown for the family. To the east of the Kitchen Garden is the Camellia Walk, a long greenhouse

Greenhouse

A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...

filled with camellia

Camellia

s. This is 388 feet (118 m) long and is believed to be the longest glass corridor in the world. It is listed Grade II. Some of the gates in this garden are believed to have been designed by Lutyens, and are listed Grade II. Other walls and gates around the garden were designed by Waterhouse in about 1870, and are listed Grade II*.

To the east of the house is the forecourt

Forecourt

In architecture a forecourt is an open area in front of a structure's entrance.In archaeology, forecourt is the name given to the area in front of certain types of chamber tomb...

, which has as its centrepiece a pool containing an equestrian statue of the 1st Duke. This depicts the Duke on horseback holding aloft a falcon

Falcon

A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....

. It is in bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

and was made between 1870 and 1879 for the Duke by G. F. Watts. It is listed Grade II*. The retaining walls of the pond are listed Grade II. To the west of the forecourt are the Golden Gates

Golden Gates, Eaton Hall

The Golden Gates at Eaton Hall, Cheshire, England, stand at the eastern end of Belgrave Avenue . The gates with their overthrow, the screens at their sides and the associated wing lodges have been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. The gates stand in front of what...

which, together with their screens and lodges, are listed Grade I. The other listed building in the gardens is a large stone urn

Urn

on the east side of the Fish Pool dating from about 1880. This is richly carved, is 10 feet (3 m) high, and stands on a circular pedestal

Pedestal

Pedestal is a term generally applied to the support of a statue or a vase....

which forms the final feature of the eastern view from the hall. It is listed Grade II.

Other features

The grounds can be entered by a number of approaches, each of which contain structures of architectural importance. Belgrave Avenue, some 1.75 miles (3 km) long, is a straight drive which leads from the Wrexham

Wrexham

Road (B5445) to the Golden Gates and the forecourt on the east of the hall. Belgrave Lodge, on the south side of the avenue was built in 1899 to a design by John Douglas for the 1st Duke. It is built in red bricks with yellow stone plinths, bands and other dressings and is listed Grade II. The associated lodge gates, piers and wing walls were designed at the same time by Douglas and are also listed Grade II. Part way along the avenue, on its north side, is Upper Belgrave Lodge

Upper Belgrave Lodge

Upper Belgrave Lodge is a house situated at the east end of Belgrave Avenue, the road connecting the B5445 road between Chester and Wrexham, and Eaton Hall, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building....

. This was also designed by Douglas for the 1st Duke, it is dated 1877, and is Grade II listed. Further along the avenue is a Grade II-listed obelisk

Obelisk

An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...

in red sandstone with a copper cap, dated 1890, designed by Douglas & Fordham.

The Aldford Approach leads from the village of Aldford

Aldford

Aldford is a village and civil parish in the county of Cheshire, England, south of Chester . It has a population of 213.The village lies on the east bank of the River Dee...

and crosses the River Dee by the Grade I-listed Aldford Iron Bridge

Aldford Iron Bridge

Aldford Iron Bridge is a bridge crossing the River Dee north of the village of Aldford, Cheshire, England, linking the village with Eaton Hall, forming part of the Buerton Approach to the hall . It is a Grade I listed building....

, which was built in 1824 by William Hazledine

William Hazledine

William Hazledine was a pioneering English Ironmaster whose talent for casting structural ironwork helped to realise the designs of engineers such as Thomas Telford and architects including Henry Goodridge and Charles Bage...

for the 1st Marquis. Iron Bridge Lodge

Iron Bridge Lodge, Aldford

Iron Bridge Lodge is a house on the Aldford Approach to Eaton Hall, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the banks of the River Dee and is close to Aldford Iron Bridge...

, adjacent to this bridge, was designed by Douglas and Fordham in 1894 and is listed Grade II. Also on this approach is Coachmore Hill Lodge which was designed in the 1880s by Douglas; it is listed Grade II. On the approach, near the Dutch Tea Garden are gates with an overthrow, and piers dating from about 1870 in Classic Revival

Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...

style, listed Grade II.

From the north of the hall are two further approaches. The Eccleston Approach goes to the village of Eccleston, and slightly to the west, the Chester Approach bypasses the village, going through Eccleston Hill. Associated with these approaches are further listed buildings. Of these, the major structure is Eccleston Hill Lodge

Eccleston Hill Lodge

Eccleston Hill Lodge is a gateway and lodge near the village of Eccleston, Cheshire, England. It stands at the entrance of the Chester Approach to the estate of Eaton Hall. The structure has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.-History and critique:The building...

which was designed in 1881–82 by Douglas for the 1st Duke and is listed Grade II*. This is a three-storeyed gatehouse tower with multiple attached smaller towers and a steeply hipped roof

Hip roof

A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...

. The other structures are listed Grade II and comprise Eccleston Lodge which was designed by Douglas and Fordham in 1894, its associated gates, piers and wing railings, a sandstone balustered causeway

Causeway

In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated, usually across a broad body of water or wetland.- Etymology :When first used, the word appeared in a form such as “causey way” making clear its derivation from the earlier form “causey”. This word seems to have come from the same source by...

south of the lodge carrying the drive, a house called Eaton Boat

Eaton Boat

Eaton Boat is the name of a house on the Eccleston Approach to Eaton Hall, Cheshire, England. It was originally called Gas Works Cottages...

, designed by Douglas about 1880, Garden Lodge designed by Waterhouse in 1881–83, a pair of gates, railings and screen walls adjoining the lodge dating from 1881–83 by Waterhouse, Stud Lodge storehouse and domestic offices, designed in 1883 by Douglas, the Stud Riding School, the Stud Stables, the house east of Stud, Eaton Estate Office, designed by Waterhouse in 1880, the North Lodge of 1881 by Waterhouse, the North Lodge gate and post from about 1881 also by Waterhouse, the Garden House of 1893 by Douglas and Minshull, and gates and gate piers to the south of Garden House.

Present day

Eaton Hall is a private residence and is not open to the public, but the gardens are open on three days each year to raise money for charity. In the area of the Stable Court are a number of rooms which are used for exhibitions. The Carriage Museum holds the Westminster Collection of Carriage

Carriage

A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...

s. The Exhibition Room houses a collection of items relating to the Grosvenor family, and the History Room contains items about the history of the family and illustrations of the hall at various stages in the past. The Stables include items relating to the family's horses. In the garden, the Parrot House contains an exhibition of paintings by the Victorian

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

artist Henry Stacy Marks

Henry Stacy Marks

.

Some of the areas in the stable court are available for hire for charitable fund raising. The Long Room, which was refurbished in 1992 and now has the character of a large country house drawing room

Drawing room

A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained. The name is derived from the sixteenth-century terms "withdrawing room" and "withdrawing chamber", which remained in use through the seventeenth century, and made its first written appearance in 1642...

, can hold 150 people. The former saddle room is now a dining room. The carriage room and adjoining buildings have been converted into the Wolf Room, which has a movable stage and audio-visual facilities. It can seat 200 people and contains eight black-chalk pictures of birds by Joseph Wolf

Joseph Wolf

Joseph Wolf was a German artist who specialized in natural history illustration. He moved to the British Museum in 1848 and became the choice of illustrator for numerous explorers and collectors. He depicted animals accurately in life-like postures and has been considered one of the great pioneers...

. The chapel is usually reserved for the family but in December each year it is used for carol concerts to raise money for charity.

External links

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Halls

Samwell Hall

Porden Hall

Waterhouse Hall

Dennys Hall and the present hall

Associated structures

Grounds

History

Formal gardens

Other features

Present day

See also

External links