Tabley House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tabley House |
|
|---|---|
South front elevation
|
|
| Type | Country house |
| Location | Tabley Inferior, Cheshire |
| Built | 1761-69 |
| Architect | John Carr |
| Architectural style(s) | Palladian |
| Owner | University of Manchester |
|
Invalid designation
|
|
| Official name: Tabley House | |
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
Tabley House is a beautiful old country house in Tabley Inferior, Cheshire, England. It's located about 3 kilometers (1 mile) west of the town of Knutsford. This house is very important, so it's listed as a Grade I building on the National Heritage List for England. This means it's protected because of its special history and design.
The house was built between 1761 and 1769 for Sir Peter Byrne Leicester. It was designed by a famous architect named John Carr. Tabley House was built to replace an older family home nearby, called Tabley Old Hall. Today, the University of Manchester helps showcase the amazing collection of art and furniture inside Tabley House.
In the early 1800s, some rooms on the west side of the house were changed to create a large art gallery. After Sir Peter died, the main entrance of the house was moved from the south side to the north side. The Leicester family owned Tabley House and its land for a very long time, until 1975.
After the last family owner passed away, the house was offered to the National Trust, but they couldn't take it. So, the Victoria University of Manchester took over. For a while, the house was even used as a school! Since 1988, a healthcare company has leased the house. The huge estate around the house, which is about 3,600 acres, was sold in 2007 to the Crown Estate.
Contents
Design and Features of Tabley House
Tabley House has a balanced and grand design, known as Palladian style. It's made of brick with stone details. On the south side, there's a large sandstone portico, which is like a big porch with columns. On the east and west sides of the main house, there are smaller pavilion wings connected by curved hallways.
Near the house, to the west, is St Peter's Church. This church is also a Grade I listed building. It was actually moved to its current spot in 1927 from next to the old Tabley Hall. You can also find other historic buildings on the grounds, including the ruins of the original Tabley Old Hall.
Today, the ground and top floors of the main house, along with the side wings, are used as homes for elderly people. But the beautiful reception rooms on the first floor are open to the public at certain times. You enter through the original stairway on the south side. These rooms are filled with amazing paintings and furniture collected by the Leicester family over many years. Some items were always here, while others were moved from different parts of the house. You can even rent the first floor for special events like weddings or meetings! A special trust manages the house, helped by volunteers and a group called "Friends of Tabley."
History of Tabley House
The Old Tabley Hall
The first house, Tabley Old Hall, was built around 1380 by John de Leycester. It was on an island in a lake called Nether Tabley Mere. The old house had a "Great Hall" with huge wooden beams that looked like stone arches.
In the 1500s, Adam de Leycester made changes to the hall. He added a half-timbered gatehouse to the bridge that crossed to the island. Later, in 1619, Peter Leycester added a fancy fireplace to the Great Hall.
In 1671, Sir Peter Leycester, a historian, made the house even bigger. He added a staircase and another floor. He also had the outside covered in brick in the Jacobean style, with different kinds of windows and a porch with lion statues. In 1674, Sir Peter rebuilt the chapel next to the hall, and a tower was added to it in 1724.
Even after the new Tabley House was built in the 1760s, the Old Hall was still used and furnished. The chapel was used for family worship. However, in 1927, part of the Old Hall collapsed because of ground sinking from nearby salt mining. The building was left to become a ruin. The chapel was moved and rebuilt near the new Tabley House, and it's now known as St Peter's Church. The fancy fireplace from the Old Hall was also moved and put into a room in the new house.
Building the Present House
The current Tabley House was built by Sir Peter Byrne Leicester. He inherited the estate when he was just 10 years old, in 1742. One rule of his inheritance was to keep the Old Hall in good shape. But Sir Peter thought it was "old and not comfortable." So, when he turned 21 in 1753, he decided to build a new house.
He chose John Carr of York as the architect. Building started in 1761 and finished around 1769. Carr designed the house in the Palladian style, even though this style was starting to go out of fashion. His design included a rectangular building with three floors, a large porch (portico) on the south side, and two smaller buildings (pavilions) on each side, connected by curved hallways.
The house had a central staircase and three rooms on the south side. The middle room was the entrance hall. To its west was the drawing room, and to its east was the dining room. The house was built with very high-quality craftsmanship. The plasterwork was done by Thomas Oliver, and the wood carving by Mathew Bertram and Daniel Shillito. Much of the furniture was made by a famous company called Gillow of Lancaster. Sir Peter also ordered many paintings, including portraits of himself and his wife, and beautiful landscapes of the grounds by artists like J. M. W. Turner and Richard Wilson.
.jpg)
The family's love for art continued with the next generation. Sir John Fleming Leicester, the 1st Lord de Tabley, collected many modern British artworks. He was known as "the first important patron of British art." In 1823, he even offered his collection to form the basis of the new National Gallery, but his offer was not accepted. After he died in 1827, the best paintings were sold, and the rest were moved to Tabley House.
Between 1808 and 1810, three rooms on the west side of the first floor were combined to create a large art gallery. More work was done on this room between 1840 and 1845, giving it the look it has today.
After Sir John's death, the house was changed again for George Warren, 2nd Baron de Tabley. The main entrance was moved to the north side of the house. The north side, which used to be simple, was made much grander. This included adding rustication (a rough stone finish) to the bottom floor and quoins (corner stones) to the central parts. The family's coat of arms was added to the front, and a small porch was built in 1915. The old south entrance became just an entrance to the garden.
The house and estate stayed with the Leicester family until 1975. The last owner, Lt. Col. John Byrne Leicester Warren, wanted the National Trust to take care of it, but they couldn't. So, it went to the Victoria University of Manchester. The family had owned the land for almost 700 years! From the late 1940s until 1984, the house was used as a school. In 1988, the university leased the house to Cygnet Health Care. They agreed to keep the first-floor rooms and their contents preserved.
Between 1988 and 1990, the healthcare company fixed damage from dry rot and death watch beetles. The ground and top floors, and the wings, were turned into nursing accommodation. But the outside of the house still looks almost the same. In 1990, the first floor opened to the public, managed by the Tabley House Collection Trust. The original entrance on the south side was used again for visitors. In 2007, the university sold the estate (but not the house) to the Crown Estate for over £35 million.
Inside Tabley House
The entrance on the south side leads to a room now called the Portico Room. This was the original entrance hall. Over time, it was used as a billiard room, a drawing room, and even a school library. Since 1990, it has been restored as the entrance hall. It has a white fireplace and beautiful mahogany wood carvings. The plasterwork was done by Thomas Oliver. You can see plaster figures of Isis and the Capitoline Flora in special alcoves, and plaster pictures of the four seasons on the walls. Many of the furniture pieces in this room were moved from other parts of the house. The breakfast table was made by the Gillow company. The fancy light hanging from the ceiling was made around 1770 and restored in 1998.
To the east of the Portico Room is the Drawing Room. This room was originally designed as the dining room. It has a white marble fireplace designed by Carr himself. The plasterwork is also by Oliver. The furniture and paintings in this room are original to the house. Paintings include a portrait of John, 1st Baron Byron and a very important painting called Tabley, the Seat of Sir J. F. Leicester, Bart: Windy Day by J. M. W. Turner.
The room north of the Drawing Room is now called the Octagon Room. It used to connect the public rooms on the south side to the more private rooms on the north. It has china cabinets in its angled corners and five paintings of Tabley by Anthony Devis. The ceiling has beautiful Rococo plasterwork. This room leads to the Dining Room on the north side, which is filled with portraits of the Leicester family. These include paintings of 3rd Lord Tabley, and other family members by famous artists like Frank Holl and Thomas Lawrence. The fireplace in the Dining Room is made from Anglesey marble.
In the center of the first floor is the Oak Hall. It's named after the oak trees that used to grow where the house now stands. It has a grand mahogany staircase with triple balusters (the decorative posts that support the handrail). The plasterwork is by Oliver. More family portraits hang on the walls. You can also see a hobby horse, an old man trap, and an 18th-century sedan chair (a covered seat carried by people). There's also a special display about Tabley House School.
The other room on the north side is the Marble Hall. It was created from Carr's original rooms during the 19th-century changes. It has five carved pictures (reliefs) on its walls, one showing the nine muses.
The west side of the first floor holds the gallery, which is considered one of the most impressive rooms in Cheshire. It contains most of the house's finest furniture. You can see mirrors and marble tables possibly made by Thomas Chippendale, and sofas linked to George Bullock. There's also more furniture by Gillow, a very rare 17th-century English virginal (an old musical instrument), and an Italian spinet from around 1598. The gallery also has many important paintings by artists like Joshua Reynolds, James Northcote, J. M. W. Turner, and Lawrence.
Tabley House Grounds
The grounds around Tabley House cover about 240 hectares (590 acres). They are listed as Grade II on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens.
The remains of Tabley Old Hall are a three-story brick shell. These ruins are listed as Grade II*, and the old moated site and gatehouse are protected as a scheduled monument. Near Tabley Mere, there's a boathouse made of brick and stone, but it has no roof. It's in the Gothic style and is listed as Grade II. On an island in the lake, there's a circular brick folly tower from about 1780. It has three stories with battlements at the top, and it's also listed as Grade II.
To the north of Tabley House, off Chester Road, are two entrance lodges, both listed as Grade II. The White Lodge, from around 1770, was likely designed by John Carr. The Red Lodge is from the late 1800s. St Peter's Church to the west of the house is a Grade I listed building. It's connected to the house by a linking building built in 1927–29, which is listed as Grade II.
South of the house, there's a sundial from the early 1800s, listed as Grade II. Further south is a low wall, about 1 meter (3 feet) high, with stone balls on top, also listed as Grade II.
North of the house is the old stable block, designed by John Carr around 1760. It was changed and expanded in 1995–96, but it's still listed as Grade II because it's important to the look of Tabley House. North of the stable block is an octagonal dovecote from about 1760, also listed as Grade II.
Tabley House Today
The ground and top floors of Tabley House, along with the wings, are now used as the Tabley House Nursing Home, run by Cygnet Health Care. They have a separate entrance. The Tabley House Collection, which includes the amazing paintings and furniture, is showcased by the University of Manchester.
The rooms on the first floor, with their collections, have been open to the public since 1990. You can visit these rooms during advertised times in the summer months. The tea room in the Old Hall Room is also open. Tabley House is licensed for civil weddings and can be rented for conferences and meetings. Special events are sometimes held there. The Tabley House Collection Trust manages the house, supported by "The Friends of Tabley" group and many volunteers.
See also
- Grade I listed buildings in Cheshire East
- Listed buildings in Tabley Inferior
- List of works by Thomas Harrison
