Haigh Hall

by Edward Haytley (active 1740–1764)]] Haigh had a timber framed manor house from the late 12th century when Hugh le Norreys was lord of the manor. Its easily defended position was on or near the elevated site of Haigh Hall. The earliest recorded inhabitants were the Le Norreyses, who lived there in 1193. Between 1220 and 1230, the manor was part of the Marsey fee and was sold to the Earl of Chester. The hall was home to the Bradshaighs from 1298 until 1780 when Elizabeth Dalrymple, great niece of Sir Roger Bradshaigh, inherited the estate as a result of the failure of the male line in her maternal family. Sir Roger had lived at the hall frugally from 1742. In 1745 the hall was occupied by…

The five-storey hall has a square plan round a central light well and is built of brick faced with sandstone ashlar. The south-east entrance façade is symmetrical and has 11 bays, of which four project. The façade has a top cornice and parapet. At ground-floor level is a central half-glazed door and 10 tall casement windows, designed by the earl, which open from the inside and have a small upper sash. The first floor has eight tall 15-pane sash windows and above the porch, two shorter nine-pane sash windows and a central casement, while the second floor has 11 nine-pane sash windows. Over the door and adjacent windows is a Tuscan porch with paired columns at each end and columns either side…