Haughton Hall, Cheshire
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Haughton Hall is a country house to the east of the village of Haughton, Cheshire, England. It was rebuilt between 1891 and 1894 for the shipowner and art collector Ralph Brocklebank. The architect was J. F. Doyle, the design being influenced by the Old English picturesque style of Norman Shaw. The house was altered in about 1950, reducing it from three storeys to two, and replacing tile-hanging with roughcast.[1] It is constructed in red brick, some of which has been roughcast, and has red tiled roofs. The house has an L-shaped plan. The garden front is in two storeys and has five bays; there is a single-storey five-bay wing to the east, and a three-storey three-bay service wing to the north. In the garden front are three bay windows, a Venetian window and a door. Above the door is a sundial. The house is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.[2]
Ralph Brocklebank (1840–1921) built the house in about 1891. It was erected on the site of the previous Haughton Hall which was owned by the Garnett-Botfield family. He bought the whole estate from the Rev William Bishton Garnett-Botfield in 1889.[3]
Ralph was a partner in the family shipping company The Brocklebank Line formally called T&J Brocklebank.[4] He later became a Director of the London and North Western Railway Company. He was born in Liverpool in 1840. His father also named Ralph Brocklebank (1803–1892) was a very wealthy shipping magnate and when he died in 1892 Ralph inherited a large sum of money which undoubtedly assisted with the building of Haughton Hall.
He did not marry and consequently was able to spend his inherited fortune on his personal interests. He had a very large collection of valuable paintings which were kept in the hall. In 1904 he published a book called “Pictures and engravings at Haughton Hall, Tarporley in the possession of Ralph Brocklebank”.[5]
He also invested his money into the Haughton Hall Estate. He was often commended for his assistance to his tenant farmers. One agricultural magazine commented.
"Mr Ralph Brocklebank, Tarporley one of Cheshire’s best landowners who in re-establishing old homesteads and equipping them with up-to-date dairies has done much towards assisting his tenantry."[6]
When Ralph died in 1921 the 1500 acre estate was advertised for sale. The farms were split into separate lots and many of the tenant farmers bought their own farms. The cover of the sale catalogue is shown at this reference.[7] The Dunn family bought the Haughton Hall lot.
John Robertson Dunn (1876–1940) was the owner of a large shipping company in Liverpool.[8] His father was Charles George Dunn who foundered the company. In 1900 he married Minerva Handred (1866–1943) who was an American heiress. Her father John Wills Handren was a partner in the Brooklyn shipping firm called Hendren & Robins. When he died in 1892 Minerva who was his only child became his sole heir. The couple had no children so when John died in 1940 he left his property to his wife and when she died in 1943 she left her estate to two friends.[9] The house was sold and by 1950 bought by the Dean family.
