Tytherington Old Hall | Langley Hall, December 2002 | |
Sutton Hall | Sutton Hall, now an hotel |
Ormerod traces the family of Tytherington with various spellings from Sewall de Tuderinton in the time of Henry III (1216-1272). Sewall was roughly contemporary with Jordan de Worth whose family had land at Upton in Macclesfield. Their families were united when Robert de Worth married Anable de Tiderinton. Robert exchanged lands with his wife's relatives and became Lord of Tytherington. The Worth family remained until the end of the 17th century when Jasper Worth, the heir apparent died in 1693. The succession then went via his grandfather's sister, Ann Worth, who had married William Heath of Newcastle under Lyme, to their son Samuel Heath of Dublin. He sold Tytherington in 1695 to William Abnett who in turn sold it to Humphrey Pery in parcels between 1695 and 1712. In the 18th century the property passed to Pery's nephew, William Robins of Stafford, then John Robins who left it to John Hicken of Stafford. It was then sold by his trustees to Mr. Acton in 1768 who conveyed it to his son-in-law, William Brooksbank, in 1769. William's daughter, Ann, the wife of Sir Edward Hardinge Stracey then succeeded to the manor. She died without issue in 1832 and on the death of her husband, who was life tenant, in 1851 the Tytherington estates passed to the Rev. Edward Hawke Brooksbank and his son Edward who sold the land in the middle of the 19th century. The major portion, known as the Old Hall Estate, including the manor house, was sold to Thomas Brocklehurst of Fence, in Macclesfield, who was a banker. His son, Thomas, sold it to Peter Pownall Brocklehurst of Hurdsfield House, who was the proprietor at the time of the 2nd edition of Ormerod's, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester. De Figueiredo and Treuhertz in Cheshire Country Houses give few details of the hall beyond the fact that it was built for the Worth family with parts dating from the late 16th century.
Langley Hall was for many years the property of the Clowes family of Langley, who were descended from the Clowes family of Whiteleigh in Wincle. They acquired Langley when William Clowes married Katherine, the daughter of Robert Yeveley of Langley in 1651. The current house was built in 1696. William's grandson, Robert Clowes married Hannah, the daughter of George Salt of Betley in Staffordshire and had three sons. These three sons, Robert, William and George married the three daughters and co-heiresses of John Daniell of Daresbury. Langley passed from Robert, the eldest son to his son, also named Robert, who left it to his brother, William. The latter left it to his eldest son Charles Clowes who about 1808 sold it to Mr. David Yates, who was the proprietor in 1817 when Ormerod produced his The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester.
Source: Ormerod's, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, 2nd Edition.
The Sutton Hall estate, or manor of Sutton, was granted by the Norman Earls for the performance of certain duties within the Forest of Macclesfield. There were nine subordinate foresterships. Sutton was originally two manors, Sutton and Downes, both of which gave names to local families. Hugh Kevelioc (1153-1181) granted some of the land in Sutton to Adam son of Onyt, whose family assumed the name of Sutton. The Suttons may have acquired the remainder of the manor in the 16th century. Adam de Sutton, probably son or grandson of the Adam who first obtained possession of land was master serjeant of Macclesfield Hundred before 1266 but either gave up the post or was deprived of it to make way for Vivian de Davenport, whose family retained this title for many generations.
In 1399, the abbot and convent of the monastery of Chester was granted a royal licence by Richard II to fortify the manor by crenellation. This was the year that Richard was usurped by his cousin Henry (the son of John of Gaunt) and who then became Henry IV. He confirmed the licence in 1410 for a fee of 13 shillings and fourpence, a sum which was in those days called a mark. It was two thirds of a pound which in modern terms would be 67 pence.
The Sutton family ran out of male heirs in 1601. Richard, the eldest son was killed in Chester and his issue died young. Richard's younger brother, John, died in infancy. Richard and John had four sisters, Margaret, Mary, Ann and Joan. The latter died unmarried in 1598. Margaret was already dead when the inquisition post mortem took place for her brother in 1601 and her share went to her son Francis, the son of Philip Monckton of Cavill in Yorkshire. Mary, born about 1574, married Sir Humphrey Davenport, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer who was a younger son of the Davenport family of Bramall. Ann, born about 1581, married Rowland Moseley of Hough in Lancashire, who became Lord Mayor of London.
De Figueiredo and Treuhertz in Cheshire Country Houses state that the hall is 16th or 17th century, with many alterations. There is behind the house a small chapel, chaplains, house and burial ground which probably date from the 16th century which was restored in 1950.
Sutton Hall was the birth place of Ralph Holinshed whose historical chronicles were used as the basis for fourteen of Shakespeare's plays. As a young man, he worked for Reginald Wolfe who, in 1548, planned to prepare a history of the world. Wolfe died in 1573 with the book incomplete and his heirs gave Holinshed the task of completing a less ambitious work covering only what is now the United Kingdom. Shakespeare did not always follow the historical facts set out by Holinshed.
In due course, Sutton Hall became part of the estate of the Earls of Lucan. George Charles Bingham, the 3rd Earl (1800-1888) was a Field Marshal at the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War when Britain and France combined to counter Russian advances against the Ottoman Empire. It was in this battle that the famous charge of the light-brigade occured when British cavalry charged heroically but tragically against Russian cannon. It occured because the commander, watching from high point, did not realise that the men in the valley could not see all that he could. He intended the cavalry to charge against men who were towing guns away and they could see only those facing down the valley. The geographical situation was compounded by Lucan's overbearing manner and the fact that he had been promoted over more competent officers through social connections. Moreover, he was at loggertheads with his brother-in-law, Lord Cardigan, the head of the Light Brigade, such that their staffs did not cooperate.
As Alfred Tennyson wrote in the second stanza of his famous poem:
"Forward the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply
Theirs not to reason why
Theirs but to do and die
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
It is ironic that the Crimean War is now known largely for giving rise to two types of knitwear - the balaclava and the cardigan.
The 7th Earl of Lucan disappeared on 7 November 1974 after the death of the family nanny. He was never found and there were rumours that he had fled abroad. It was not until the 3 February 2016, that a High Court Judge issued a death certificate for the 7th Earl, allowing his son, George Bingham, to succeed to the title as 8th Earl. On the 12 Dec 2015, The Telegraph reported a story claiming that the 7th Earl had killed the nanny by mistake when intending to kill his wife and had subsequently drowned himself by jumping off his boat into Newhaven Harbour.
Sources:
The King's England - Cheshire
by Arthur Mee, published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1938, fourth impression
1950.
The History of the County Palatine
and City of Chester, by George Ormerod, 2nd Edition.
An information sheet obtained from the hotel
Macclesfield Page 1: Town Centre
Macclesfield Page 2: Town Centre
Macclesfield Page 3: Halls
Macclesfield Page 4: The Canal
Macclesfield Page 5: Christ Church
Macclesfield Page 6: St. Michael's, the the
Exterior & Nave
Macclesfield Page 7: St. Michael's the Savage
Chapel
Macclesfield Page 8: Nonconformist Chapels
Macclesfield
Page 9: Some Macclesfield Mills