SITE NAME: Rookery Hall (formerly Worleston Rookery) Address (main house) Rookery Hall Hotel and Spa, Main Road, Worleston, , CW5 6DQ Unitary East Authority: (formerly Crewe and ) Parish: Acton Location: North of Nantwich between B5074 and A530 Grid Ref: SJ 659 559 Owners: Rookery Hall and grounds, Handpicked Hotels Rest of estate and parkland in multiple ownership, see Additional notes Recorders: SL and Date of initial site Winter Date of report: 21/8/12 MJL visit 2011

Summary Grade-II listed building: Rookery Hall1. Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM): medieval watermill Buckley Mill next to parkland east of Weaver2. Parks and Gardens UK database 15.2 hectares (= the hotel grounds?)3

Early 18th-century parkland and grounds further developed during the late 19th-century, surrounding a hotel in the much enlarged main house. Former stable block converted to a spa, and walled kitchen garden to a car park. Site of or relict ice-house east of the walled garden. Home Farm quadrangle of brick shippons north of hotel converted to residential and in separate ownership. Parkland extends east over the as far as the A530, apparently in separate ownership and used for show jumping. Entrance drives from B5074 and A530 each have a 19th-century lodge, the latter with a significant entrance gateway. Parkland to south of hotel degraded with enclosures.

Principal remaining features 2 lodges Jacobean and Queen Anne styles, with gate piers, ball finials, railings and gates. Parkland, mature tree clumps, belts and woodland. Pond and shrubbery. Late 19th century cast iron veranda, grills and stone edgings. Terrace. Sunken lawn. Stone walls of late 19th century conservatory. Kitchen garden.

History

1816. Worleston Rookery4 was built by William Hilton Cooke, a plain late Georgian house in brick5. The Cooke’s wealth was in part derived from a sugar plantation in Jamaica which was named ’ Castle’6. The Worleston estate comprised around 500 acres7.

A portrait of the young Cooke family hangs in the dining room of the hotel; they are depicted standing east of the junction in the Weaver with their land and house in the background. The painting appears to date from the early 19th century and is an important historical record of the original house, the parents and 5 children, current fashion, and the landscape. There is woodland near the river, the house sits in grassland with belts of mature trees to the rear. This is corroborated by the Tithe map, see below.

1828-9. Wm. Cooke, listed under ’Nobility, Gentry and Clergy’ in Pigot’s Directory resident at Rookery8.

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1829. William Hilton Cooke dies7.

1842. Tithe map and apportionments, land owned by Elizabeth Cooke4.

1851. Eliza Cooke Head of Family, Widow, Landed Proprietor, at Worleston, with unmarried daughter Mary, daughter Matilda and son-in-law John Roylance Court, 4 grandsons and servants9.

1861. John Roylance Court, Head of Family, Landed Proprietor, at Rookery Hall with his wife Matilda, 6 sons and 7 servants9.

1867. Baron William Von Schroeder purchased the estate, living there until his death in 1912. Son of Baron John Henry Von Schroeder of the banking firm, William became a Justice of the Peace, Lord Lieutenant of the County and High Sheriff (in 188810) and was a keen sportsman, being Master of the Tarporley Hunt Club or Green Collars11. He is buried in Worleston churchyard. His late 19th-century alterations to the hall made it more grandiose, with ashlar cladding and vaguely Elizabethan details, including a Corinthian porch, mullioned windows and a tall Loire-type pavilion roof over a corner tower5.

1871. William von Schroder Justice of the Peace, his wife, daughter and 19 servants at Rookery9.

1896. Baron William junior marries Judith Hopwood of Hopwood Hall, Middleton, Manchester12.

1901. Gardener resident at bothy, Stanley Hughes9.

1912. Baron William junior inherited the estate13.

1918. Baron William junior changed his name to Hopwood as a beneficiary of the settlement of the Hopwood family estates14.

1947. Baron William junior sold the estate. After a series of private owners, including Ralph Midwood a Liverpool cotton warehouse owner, it was converted to a restaurant with a small number of letting bedrooms13.

1984. Purchased by the Marks family and continued to develop into a country house hotel13.

1990. Addition of the west wing to the house which included the reception and further bedrooms13.

2007. Extension to north of the house with conference suites. Conversion of stables to spa with retention of brick exterior and clock tower. The land owned (?) by the hotel is around 38 acres13.

Description

1831 Bryant map15 Hall, stables and home farm shown surrounded by parkland, coloured green, west of the river Weaver. Woodland belts against the western boundary with Worleston Lane, north of the farm and on the river bank. The parkland does not extend east of the river. East of the Weaver, ’Leather or Buckley Mill’ (SAM) is shown on Valley Brook at the same location as 2 ponds on the current OS. Wood Farm to the north of the brook is accessed from a lane near the Rising Sun and via a bridge over the brook.

1842 Tithe map4 Woodland belts (apportionments 71 and 72, ’plantation’) against the west boundary of Worleston Lane extend eastwards as far as stables. The drive cuts through the woodland Rookery Hall Page 2 of 5 crossing ’73 lawn, mowing’ which contains a rectangular pond. There appears to be garden between the stables and house, and to rear of the latter, but this area is smaller and with curved boundaries compared to later maps. Square enclosure to north of hall (kitchen garden) and pond. Woodland belts on the north boundary, the south against Valley Brook and the east against the Weaver.

1875 Ordnance Survey (OS) map16 Lodge on Worleston Lane with woodland to north and south, well-treed parkland (deciduous and evergreen), stable courtyard and house to east. The drive passes a circular pond in an enclosure. Lawn with summerhouse to the rear/east of the hall. Wooodland and grounds separated from grassland/park by fencing (not shaded as park). Pond, individual trees, clumps and lines to the south between the grounds and the stream (Weaver?). Kitchen garden north of the hall divided into rectangular beds by paths with glasshouses, and building to rear of north wall. Small trees (fruit?) shown in kitchen garden and between it and the farm. Woodland belt against the Weaver with a footbridge to the north and weir to the south.

1905 postcards17 Front of hall with mature tree to north. Rear of hall with stone balustrade to roof. Veranda almost invisible due to amount of climbers and vegetation in garden. Lawn separated from terrace by low hedge, and planted with generously-sized beds of herbaceous/bedding with an urn focal point.

1910 OS map16 ’The Cottage’ is added south of the Lodge on Worleston Lane. The garden at the rear of the hall has been extended and its boundary squared off. Further glasshouses, a tank and ice-house have been added to the kitchen garden. The park extends to a field north of the kitchen garden. The largest extent of parkland is shaded, east and west of the Weaver. A straight drive between an avenue runs from the Road past an entrance lodge and an intermediate lodge south of the mill. Woodland belts within the park are not shaded on the map; they screen most of the southern boundary on the east side of the Weaver and the road on the west side. There are individual trees and clumps throughout the park, with the occasional pond and enclosure. All the parkland is fenced from the river/brooks except the eastern section.

2012 OS map and site visit Parkland and lodges Parkland with mature tree groups and pond near hotel entrance. Woodland between hotel and river Weaver. Parkland with mature tree groups and woodland continue on east side of Weaver. 2 lodges; western one on B5074 standard Jacobean style18. Woodland to north and south, thinning to well-treed parkland and pond on the north. Open view to brook and tree clumps to the south. Beyond the brook towards The Cottage the parkland is degraded with enclosures. East of the Weaver the parkland appears more intact but is interspersed with horse jumps. East lodge on A530 much more impressive Queen Anne with tall gate piers with ball finials and fine [late-19th century] wrought-iron [railings and] gates18. Gardens Parking and building extensions immediately north and west of hall over some of garden. Principal garden remains to east of the hall with significant late 19th century cast iron veranda, grills and stone edgings, but modern railings and stone flags. Terrace extended by sunken lawn surrounded by modern planting on low stone walls. Modern (?) fountain in centre of lawn. Stone walls of late 19th century conservatory remain on south side of hotel. Working areas Kitchen garden converted to a car park; majority of walls remain except for a section of the south one. No working buildings on the north kitchen garden wall, bothy or glasshouses remain. Site of ice-house not seen on initial visit, overgrown by scrub and woodland. The Home Farm farmhouse is demolished, but the rectangle of shippons remains and is now residential. Original access to the farm on the north drive from B5074 remains with a second access for additional properties to the north.

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Additional notes

Ownership The parkland as shown on the 1910 OS map is now divided and in separate ownership - West of the Weaver: Handpicked Hotels, Rookery Hall Farm, Rookery Park Stud, The Cottage. East of the Weaver: majority appears to be part of Rookery Park Stud, the lodge on the A530 may be in different ownership.

Access The north-western quarter of the estate is available to the public visiting the hotel. The rest of the estate is in separate and private ownership of at least 3 properties with no access. Apart from the roads which form the short western and eastern boundaries, there are no public rights of way through or near the estate. However, Access Land created under the Countryside Rights of Way Act 2000 abuts the southern boundary of the ex-parkland east of the Weaver19.

Paintings As described, a large, rather naïve-style oil painting of the Cooke family in the parkland east of the Weaver hangs in the hotel dining room. There are also copies of 2 portraits of the Cookes.

Sources not inspected Victoria County History

Please note that this report contains the research and recording information available to Cheshire Gardens Trust at the time. It does not purport to be the finite sum of knowledge about the site as new information is always being discovered and sites change.

Copyright notice © All rights reserved. This work is part of ongoing research by Cheshire Gardens Trust. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission from Cheshire Gardens Trust.

1 Listed Buildings Online http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=1136513&resourceID=5

2 Cheshire Historic Environment Record http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MCH5617&resourceID= 1004

3 Parks and Gardens UK database http://www.parksandgardens.ac.uk/component/option,com_parksandgardens/task,site/id,2838/It emid,292/

4 Tithe Map 1842, CALS EDT 444/2. Cheshire Tithe Maps website http://maps.cheshire.gov.uk/tithemaps/LargeMap.aspx?srch=&singleplot=&hlt=&hlp=&e=36597 4&n=355894&scale=2.54&tabL=L1&tabR=R1

5 De Figueiredo, P. and Treuherz, J. 1988. Cheshire Country Houses. Chichester: Phillimore

6 Slavery records. www.ancestry.co.uk

7 The Cooke Family of Chester, www.genealogy.com

8 Pigot and Co.’s Directory of Cheshire 1828-9. Cheshire Archives and Local Studies

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9 1851-1901 Census. and Wales. www.ancestry.co.uk

10 Cheshire Archives and Local Studies. Cheshire Quarter Sessions Records. Enrolment Registration and Deposit Appointments QDA 12/57

11 Fergusson, G. (1993). The Green Collars. London: Quiller Press

12 Middleton Guardian, www.menmedia.co.uk/middletonguardian

13 Handpicked Hotels. 2012. History of Rookery Hall.

14 London Gazette 26 March 1918, www.1914-1918.invisionzone.com

15 Cheshire Archives and Local Studies via the Cheshire Association for Local History, www.cheshirehistory.org.uk

16 Ordnance Survey, 25“ Maps. 1st edition c.1875, 2nd edition c.1910. Cheshire Archives and Local Studies

17 Barington, G., Edge, B., Finch, H., McLean, C. and Sexton, W. (1987). Nantwich, Worleston and A Portrait in Old Picture Postcards. Loggerheads nr Market Drayton: Brampton

18 Hartwell, C. and Hyde, M. (2011). Hubbard, E. and Pevsner, N. (1971). The Buildings of England Cheshire. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 690

19 Ordnance Survey Explorer Map . 1:25,000 No. OL257. Southampton: Ordnance Survey

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