Manor House, Hale

The house was first built, not as a manor house, but as a vicarage. It was originally built in the middle of the 17th century. In the early 18th century, when the incumbent was Rev William Langford, it was refaced and partly rebuilt.[1][2] During the 19th century the building was used as a farmhouse and was known as Manor Farm. The last lord of the manor of Hale was Peter Fleetwood-Hesketh, who was also an architectural historian.[2] In 1947 he moved into the house with his family.[3]

The manor house is built in brown brick with red sandstone dressings. The façade is symmetrical with two-and-a-half storeys and five bays. Both lateral bays and the central bay are flanked by rusticated Doric pilasters. The central bay contains a door with Corinthian columns on each side. Above the door is a scrolled pediment containing the arms of Rev Langford. The upper storey of the central bay contains a sash window on each side of which are Corinthian pilasters on large brackets. Above the window is another pediment containing carving. The other bays each contain a sash window in both storeys while the top half-storey contains four blind oval windows; all these windows are in moulded stone frames. Across the top of the façade is a cornice and a balustraded parapet. Behind the façade the house is two-gabled, the north gable being higher than the south.[1][2]

Internally the entrance hall is panelled with fluted pilasters. There are two staircases, the main one having twisted balusters and the secondary one having flat balusters.[1]

John Betjeman wrote a poem about the house entitled The Manor House, Hale, Near Liverpool.[4]

• Grade I and II* listed buildings in Halton (borough)
• Listed buildings in Hale, Halton