Interactive Tours of Adlington Hall

Caroline Staircase

The Caroline oak staircase is a paricularly fine example of 17th century craftsmanship. Although the walls and windows to the right are part of the Elizabethan black & white structure, the staircase has been dated to the Charles II period. The twisted balustrades and newels surmounted by fircones and artichokes were introduced to this country during that monarch's reign. Amongst the pictures on the wall is a portrait of Mrs Broughton Legh O.B.E (1896-1983) by W.G. de Glehn R.A.. The windows at the top of the stairs, dating from the older Elizabethan period, afford a particularly excellent view of the quadrangle.

Chapel

A small Chapel can be found in the north east corner of the Hall. Since 1398 there has always been a Chapel attached to, or forming part of the house, for in that year a license was granted to Sir Robert de Legh and his wife, from Lichfield "for celebration of Divine Sevice within the precincts of the Manor". The present Chapel replaced the Georgian Chapel which was pulled down in 1928. It was adapted by the late Mrs Legh in 1936 and dedicated to the memory of her husband. A particular feature is the Legh family crest immediately above the entrance to the chancel.

Chinese Room

A small room typical of the Caroline period, featuring and angle fireplace and wallpaper based on an 18th century Chinese design.

Deed Room

A small room typical of the Caroline period, featuring a small selection of deeds which prove of particular interest to visitors; relating as they do to various episodes in the family's history. They form part of Adlington Hall's extensive selection of documents, all of which have been carefully archived for the use of historians and researchers.

Dining Room

The centre of Hall life in times past, with a commanding view over what used to be the Deer Park.

On the west side of the room are four sash windows commanding a fine view over the former Deer Park. This handsome room, like the adjoining staircase, is decorated with the utmost simplicity. The ceiling has only the plainest of plaster patterns and the panelled walls are correspondingly austere. The only form of decoration is the Grinling Gibbons style carved foliage in the overdoors and Charles Legh's monogram in the overmantel to the Adam style marble fireplace.

The large Jacobean sideboard was made from oak grown in Adlington Park. The two tables each carved with the Legh crest date from 1870. Portraits include a full length of Colonel Thomas Legh (the Younger) with his wife Mary, daughter of Thomas Bolles of Osberton. Other portraits are of Charles Legh who built this part of the Hall, his wife Hester and their son Thomas. There are also companion portraits of Judge Newnham, his wife and child. Their daughter married Sir Thomas Legh in 1812.

Drawing Room

The epitome of Georgian elegance with exquisitely elaborate décor.

The Drawing Room is a spacious, well-proportioned and highly decorated room. Although the ceiling features a simple, yet elegant geometrical pattern egg and tongue mouldings, the oak panelling, designed by a little known craftsman named Daniel Sephton, is particularly elaborate. The walls are divided into Corinthian columns which stand on pedestals formed by the projection of the dado moulding. The mouldings of the door panels, entablatures and pediments are enriched and each of the four doorways has a carved overdoor depicting Neptune, Bacchusm Juno and Ceres. The Neptune overdoor merits closer examination, featuring the sea god's bearded mask and seaweed locks with beautifully carved conches, scallops and oyster shells on either side, all carved in pearwood.

The focal point of the room is the chimney-piece and overmantel on the east wall. The statuary marble chimney-piece relies for effect more on its proportions than its ornament, which consists mainly of swags of fruit and floiage flanking the medallion of Minerva's head in the frieze and hanging below the bulbous consoles. However, the overmantel is highly ornamented. Again made from pearwood, the pediment features Charles Legh's monogram while in the frieze beneath it and superimosed over the entablature below are freely handed swags of fruit and festoons of foliage, which are said to have been carved by Grinling Gibbons and incorporate his favourite split pea-pod motif.

The room contains five portraits of Sir Urian Legh, Colonel Thomas Legh (the Elder), his wife Ann and at either side of the fireplace Lady Essex Robartes and Lady Isabella Legh.

Great Hall

Completed in 1505, this Hall is the centre from which the house grew.

The Great Hall was built by Thomas Legh and his wife Catherine Savage, daughter of Sir John Savage of Clifton. An inscription on the canopy reads, "Thomas Legh & Caterina Savage uxor ejus Ao Dni MCCCCCV, RRH, VII, XX". Referring to the twentieth year of Heanry VII's reign. The style of the architecture indicates that the building work started somewhere around 1480 and as the inscription shows it was completed in 1505. Although there have been a number of alterations since that date.

The roof is of the hammer-beam type, moulded with embattlements and with carved angels holding shields at the terminals of the six hammer-beams, while the posts are enriched with cusped panelling and the roof arches are finley moulded. The floor is of wood, with a surrounding stone surface. Hidden underneath the floor is a cock-fighting pit used by Richard Crosse Legh whose love of the sport earned him the sobriquet "Cockfighting Dick".

The two oak trees which support the east end of the Hall are all that remain of the original hunting lodge. These trees have part of their roots in the ground and they have been carved with an adze so that they are now octagonal in shape. The lower part of the Hall walls were panelled in 1744 and at this date, the large fireplace was installed, covering an earlier Elizabethan one. The Hall is lit by high windows on the south side. Their sills are six or seven feet from the floor, designed for privacy, possibly protection at time of war; and also to cast light on the mural paintings on the north and west walls. The largest window, nearly sixteen feet tall and dated 1480, was restored pane by pane in 2002 to reveal its glorious array of subtle colours.

The murals on the west and north walls of the Great Hall represent Hector taking leave of Abdromache with the walls of Troy in the background, Andromache offering presents to Ascanius and Venus presenting armour to Aeneas. They are undated and unsigned and opinions differ as to when they may have been painted. They were covered by lathe and plaster at a later date and in 1859 a family member playing shuttlecock against the wall damaged the plaster and saw the colours underneath. When the plaster was taken off the murals were revealed. Family tradition has it that they were painted in the late 16th or early 17th century and covered over to prevent damage during the Civil War. At the west end of the Hall is an elaborate canopy under which the Lord of the Manor would sit on a dais at mealtimes, while others would eat along tables on trestles.

The canopy takes the form of a cove or quadrant and is divided into sixty panels by moulden oaken ribs. Above these panels are the heraldic insignia of the seven Norman Earls of Chester and of the eight Barons (including the shield of Gilbert de Venables, Baron of Kinderton and ancestor of the Leghs); in the panels is a set of armorial shields representing the chief Cheshire families which were painted in 1581. The shield-bearing angels carry the arms of Belgrave, Arderne and Corona on the south side and Venables, Venables (for Legh of Adlington) inpaling Warburton of Arley and two ovals bearing Venables and Rowlls quarterly on the north soide. These last two were place there in 1781. In the roof are three shields: England, the Prince of Wales and Scotland.

Minstrels' Gallery

The Minstrels' Gallery gives an especially impressive view of the Great Hall in all its glory. A particular feature of this small gallery is the two sash windows of the type introduced from Holland in about 1670. They take the form of a double square, eash sash divided vertically by three glazing bars and horizontally by two, forming twelve panes, some of which are original. The two portraits of Arthur John Robertson of Inshes, Co. Inverness and of his wife were painted around 1830.

Number 10 Bedroom

Capturing the spirit of a bygone age, with its elegant design and craftsmanship

The principle feature of the Number 10 bedroom is a set of four paintings attributed to Thomas Bardwell (1704-1767). These show the Hall as it looked in the mid-18th century, following the building of the Georgian South Front. In each painting Charles Legh is seen accompanied by a large number and variety of dogs. The large cabinet-on-stand is veneered with mulberry wood (c.1690). The room is dominated by a Jacobean oak half tester bed (c.1860) which features a mask of Queen Elizabeth I. The ceiling was possibly painted at a date between 1800 and 1825 and is composed of oval and square panels depicting idyllic scenes of cottages, castles and follies nestling by the waterside. It was expertly restored to its former glory by Julia Boddington. The window, replacing two sash windows shown in one of the Bardwell paintings, may have been inistalled at the same time.

Oak Staircase

Before entering the Dining Room there is the Oak Staircase. This leads to the Drawing Room and Minstrels gallery. As you climb the stairs, there is an arch window that offers a magnificent view of the Deer Park and The Ha Ha that runs from North to South beside the west Range.

Writing Room

The Writing Room is situated in the North Front of the Hall. Here the panelling and overmantel are excellent examples of the Caroline period. Particularly noteworthy is the mahogany longcase clock which was originally presented to Thomas Wyatt in appreciation of the role he and his brother William played in foiling a highway robbery in 1848. The two robbers had ambushed a local provision dealer, Thomas Ernill, when the brothers attempted to save him. During the incident William was fatally wounded and Thomas was shot in the arm. However, others came to the rescue, apprehending the theives and saving Mr Ernill who spent the night at Adlington Hall. A plaque on the clock commemorates the incident and the heroic deeds of the brothers.