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Welcome to the new website for Wythenshawe Hall, the home of the Tatton family for over 600 years, which is now owned by Manchester City Council.

The Hall and the surrounding 250 acres of park land, were given to the city by Lord and Lady Simon in 1926 to be enjoyed by the people of Manchester and beyond.

The Hall served as an art gallery and museum until its temporary closure in 2010.

Creating a website from scratch has been a massive learning curve so please be patient as the website develops. There is lots more to share with you.

About us

Friends of Wythenshawe Hall volunteer group formed on September 10th 2012.

Up until the fire in March 2016, we worked in partnership with Manchester City Council to open the Hall on a regular basis. Each month our open days featured different themes such as Easter, Jack ‘O’ the Green, Halloween and Christmas amongst others. We also joined up with the Big Lunch to host a community picnic in the gardens with over 1,000 visitors.

During this four year period we welcomed over 40,000 visitors to the Hall, including children from local schools who enjoyed Victorian and Tudor themed class visits.

After the fire

Our determination to carry on despite not having access to the Hall led to us using the Tenant’s Hall for six months until the repair and restoration work began. We then joined forces with a variety of other groups and formed new links while continuing to promote Wythenshawe Hall.

In 2018 we celebrated the Centenary of the Suffragettes by singing and telling stories of individual members of the Suffragette movement at events throughout Manchester. We were invited to recreate the iconic 1908 photo when tens of thousands of female suffrage activists gathered in Heaton Park to stop the tram. There they were addressed by the Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst who reminded onlookers that Manchester was the birthplace of the Women’s Social and Political Union. We were also invited to take part in the unveiling of the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in St Peter’s Square.

Be Proud Award

The fact that the volunteers had given so much time to the Hall was acknowledged when we were nominated in December 2016 for the Manchester Be Proud Award.

We were incredibly proud to win the ‘Volunteer of the Year’ Group section. This category highlights the exceptional contribution made to communities by volunteers, who give their time to improve the lives of others.

Re-opening Wythenshawe Hall

Friends of Wythenshawe Hall are again working in partnership with the Council to open the Hall to the public. We celebrated the official re-opening on October 15th 2022 and are currently hosting open days on a monthly basis.

Please see our social media for information on the theme for each event.

What’s On

Entrance to the Hall is £2 per person (cash only please) with free entry for under 10’s
There will also be a charge of £1 for talks and presentations in the Tenant’s Hall

There is no need to book, just turn up and enjoy your visit!

History

Wythenshawe Hall History

The first mention of the Tatton family dates back to 1290, when Robert de Tatton was living in the hamlet of Kenworthy, approximately one mile from the site of the current Wythenshawe Hall.

The first known reference to Wythenshawe is in 1316, in a charter with Thomas de Mascy staying at Wythenschawe in the township of Northworthin. The Mascy family were the Lords of the manor and lived in a small, moated manor house, probably built before the end of the 13th century.

The name Wythenshawe originated as ‘Witenscawe’ and means ‘Willow Wood’. The spelling varied greatly as it was based on what was heard. Standardised spelling was not introduced until somewhere between 1475 and 1630.

Early Tatton’s

In 1370 Robert de Tatton of Kenworthy received a grant of land in Wythenshagh. He married Alice the daughter and heiress of William de Mascy of Wythinshagh, and was given all of her lands and tenements, rents and services as part of the marriage settlement. Robert is the first of a long line of Tatton’s linked to Wythenshawe Hall.

As the family gained money and prominence their property developed to reflect this and in the reign of Edward III (1312-1377) a larger building replaced the small, moated manor house. This building is believed to have burned down during the 1530’s.

The current Wythenshawe Hall

The oldest section of the current building was reputedly built “around” 1540 and incorporated some of the less damaged timbers from the previous building. This theory is supported by the sections of medieval wall art that have been found in various locations over the years.

These are small sections, rather than full panels which face into the fabric of the building. This would fit with them being damaged or unfashionable at the time of the new building. There are also cut out sections in the timber that don’t correspond with anything currently in the structure, so again it suggests that the pieces of wood had been salvaged and reused.

Civil War Siege of Wythenshawe

Between 21st November 1643 and 25th February 1644 Wythenshawe Hall was surrounded by several dozen Parliamentary soldiers led by Colonel Robert Duckenfield.

Robert Tatton recruited a group of more than 50 defenders from among his staff, tenants and Royalist friends, including his neighbours from Baguley Hall. At one point during the siege the attackers almost took possession of the house. In the battle three men on the roundhead side including Captain Adams and six defenders of the house died.

One of those killed was the fiancé of Mary Webb, a young woman who had been brought up by the Tatton’s and remained in the house. Towards the end of the siege Mary saw the man who had led the attack, Duckenfield’s second-in-command Captain Adams, sitting on a wall near the house. Legend has it that in revenge she took a musket from one of the defenders and shot him dead.

The Parliamentarians refused a truce to allow a proper burial, necessitating their burial in the garden behind the house. Six skeletons have since been excavated near the Hall.

The siege ended on 27 February 1644 after the Parliamentarians brought two cannons from Manchester. By then the defenders had virtually exhausted their ammunition and had very little food left. Robert Tatton was ejected from his house and eventually brought before Parliament & declared a delinquent. An inventory taken after the surrender valued its contents at almost £1650 which was equivalent to about £300,000 in 2021.

In order to get his house back, Robert paid a fine of £707 13s 4d in December 1646, two years after the Hall had been confiscated. As he did not have the money to pay the fine, he borrowed it from his friend Humphrey Chetham of Clayton Hall

Robert Tatton the Royalist was at the siege of Chester in 1644-46 and was appointed High Sheriff of Cheshire by King Charles I in 1645/46.

The Tatton Connection

Tatton Park takes its name from Tatton the place. The old village of Tatton was in the parish of Rostherne in Cheshire. The name comes from the amalgamation of two old English words, the name of an Anglo-Saxon man “Tata” and the word “Tun” which meant an enclosure or settlement, thus giving us “ Tata’s Tun”.

The use of surnames originated as a way to identify people from a particular area. Early settlers in the village of Tatton were of French origin and in the Middle Ages the people of Tatton village would have been known as “de Tatton”, eg Robert de Tatton. During medieval times Tata’s Tun thrived and by 1490 a Manor House had been built near the village boundaries by Sir William Stanley.

The Egerton family

The Egerton’s are a British aristocratic family who owned many large houses all over the country. Various branches have links with the Tatton’s.

In 1598 Sir Thomas EgertonLord Chancellor of England acquired the Tatton estate from his half-sister Dorothy Brereton. This began 360 years of ownership by the Egerton family, which ended with the death of Maurice, 4th Baron Egerton of Tatton. Maurice did not marry so on his death in 1958 the barony became extinct, and Tatton Park was given to the National Trust

Sir John Egerton, 3rd Baronet of Wilton, became the owner of Heaton Park when he married Elizabeth Holland in 1684.

Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater resided at Worsley Old Hall. He was also known as The Canal Duke as he commissioned the building of the Bridgewater Canal from Worsley to Manchester.

Ordsall Hall was probably most notably owned by the Radclyffe family. Samuel Hill of Shenstone, Staffordshire bought it in 1756. It came into Egerton ownership on his death two years later when it passed to his nephew, Samuel Egerton of Tatton.

Egerton’s of Tatton

Arms commemorating the 1747 marriage of William Tatton & Hester Egerton

A 1787 entry in the Topographer refers to Wythenshawe as a small house in the time of William Tatton the elder, who lived between 1703-1776. In 1747 William married Hester Egerton of Tatton Park, thus connecting the two estates.

Following the death of her brother Samuel Egerton in 1780, Hester inherited Tatton Park, and reverted to her maiden name of Egerton. She was the only female to inherit the Tatton Estate during 360 years of Egerton ownership.

Unfortunately she died just two months later and her son William Tatton then assumed the surname Egerton by Royal Licence making him the master of both Tatton Park and Wythenshawe and the estates were run jointly.

William Tatton Egerton married four times and had eight children altogether. The surname of the first three was Tatton, as they were born before his change of surname in 1780, the rest had the Egerton surname. Only three of the children actually outlived their father.

The eldest son, described as William Tatton the younger for ease of identification, was probably given Wythenshawe as his country residence prior to his intended inheritance of Tatton Park.

Expansion and Development

Wythenshawe Hall was expanded in the Georgian and Victorian eras as the family gained money and status through well placed marriages. Wealthy families took every opportunity to demonstrate their importance, with the building and decoration of expensive and elaborate homes. The home is the most obvious visual expression of who you are.  It says something about your taste, lifestyle and relationship with the local community.

During the 1790’s William Tatton (the younger) initiated a major programme of expansion and improvements. The room thought to have previously been the Chapel, mentioned on the Civil War inventory, was remodelled as a billiard room and a new staircase was added in the room behind.

William may also have been responsible for creating the two wings at the south of the hall. The rear section had a substantial number of bedrooms spread over three floors.

 

The servant’s wing at the front included rooms such as a dairy, larder, wash house and even a potting shed. Senior members of staff had their own bedrooms, while junior staff shared a dormitory in the attic. The footman slept behind the library and the butler had a suite of rooms at the back of the building including the butler’s pantry, plate room and his own bedroom. William Tatton the younger died suddenly at Wythenshawe Hall in 1799 at just 25 years of age.

Tatton or Egerton?

When William Tatton Egerton died in 1806, the properties were left to his two surviving sons.

Wilbraham, the eldest, inherited the Egerton estates. He lived at Tatton Park and became known as Wilbraham Egerton of Tatton.

 

His younger brother Thomas William (1783-1827) inherited the Wythenshawe estate, changed his name by Royal Licence and assumed the arms of Tatton. He was then known as Thomas William Tatton of Wythenshawe.

Although the bloodline was actually the same, it meant that there were still Egerton’s at Tatton Park and the Tatton’s were back at Wythenshawe.

The surname not in use was often given as a middle name for Example Alan de Tatton Egerton was the third Baron Egerton of Tatton. Thomas Egerton Tatton was the grandson of Thomas William Tatton of Wythenshawe.

Royal Connections

In 1807 Thomas William Tatton married Emma Grey of Dunham Massey. Emma was the daughter of the Honourable John Grey, 3rd son of Harry who was the 4th Earl of Stamford.

The Grey’s were a family of some importance with links to Royalty. They were descended from Sir John Grey of Groby and his wife Elizabeth Woodville via their eldest son Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset.

Elizabeth was also known as Dame Elizabeth Grey, and became Queen of England from her marriage to King Edward IV on 1 May 1464

The Tatton’s of Wythenshawe

In the mid to late 1800’s, the eleventh owners of the hall, the second Thomas William Tatton (1817-1885) and his wife Harriet Susan carried out a major remodelling of the house over some forty years. They were the last people to make any substantial structural alterations to Wythenshawe Hall.

Between 1857-67 William Tatton’s billiard room was remodelled as an ante-room, the screen passage leading from the front door was removed, the dining room extended and a porch was created going from the main entrance into the ante-room.

 

Thomas William Tatton and Harriet Susan quite literally made their mark on all of the main rooms within the building. Not only did they add their coat of arms, they also left their initials and the date that the work was carried out on the beam above the window in the dining room alcove.

Thomas William Tatton was responsible for constructing the North Lodge on Wythenshawe Road. The carved barge boards show the date 1878 and initials TWT.

In 1879 the final phase of extension began on the north end of the hall, when a Tenant’s Hall was constructed, with access to the Smoking and Billiard rooms .

The Last Tatton’s of Wythenshawe

By the turn of the century when Thomas Egerton Tatton and his wife Essex Mary (formerly Cholmondeley) owned Wythenshawe Hall, the building had reached its largest size.

Thomas built a three storey extension at the back of the staircase around 1894 and a conservatory to the rear of the building. He was also responsible for rebuilding the estate offices in 1898-99.

The Tatton’s are one of the oldest families in Cheshire. They have the distinction of being one of the few families who preserved an unbroken line as owners of a large estate from as early as the fourteenth to the twentieth century. Their wealth came from land ownership and they were later referred to as typical Cheshire squires.

Change is in the air

Following the First World War the housing situation in Manchester was truly dire. Thousands of people were living in old, unsanitary and overcrowded homes, and new space was desperately needed by the Council to build new dwellings.  Garden City architect Raymond Unwin called for new working-class houses to be well-spaced apart, well-lit by sunlight and with good ventilation. He also recommended they should have their own garden and bathroom.

In December 1918 Manchester-born David Lloyd George was elected Prime Minister on a pledge to build ‘Homes Fit For Heroes’. His government introduced the Addison Act 1919 which gave local authorities such as Manchester City Council the means to build houses for the working class.

William Turner Jackson was the Chair of the Sanitary Committee and worked with Ernest and Shena Simon to create municipal maternity centres and combat air pollution.

They played a pivotal role in the formation of Wythenshawe, Manchester’s Garden City.

Garden City Plans

In March 1920, town planner Patrick Abercrombie identified Wythenshawe as the only undeveloped land suitable for building a housing estate close to the city. He wanted to create a garden city, separated from Manchester by a stretch of green belt. In December that year, the Manchester Corporation decided to purchase 2,500 acres of land. They approached Thomas Egerton Tatton, but he refused to sell his land, so eventually the Corporation abandoned the housing plans.

In December 1924 Thomas Egerton Tatton died, leaving the Wythenshawe estate to his son Robert Henry Grenville Tatton. Death duties forced RHG Tatton to consider selling and Ernest Simon approached him with a plan.

In a letter to The Lord Mayor dated April 8th 1926, Ernest Simon said that he and his wife Shena had entered into a contract to purchase Wythenshawe Hall and 250 acres of surrounding land. He asked the Corporation if he were to purchase Wythenshawe Hall and donate it to them, would they accept it as a gift.

He said “My wife and I would like to present Wythenshawe Park to the Corporation to be kept for ever as an open space for the people of Manchester.”

Building the Garden City started in earnest after 1931 when Wythenshawe, originally in Cheshire, was redesignated as part of Manchester

The sale of Wythenshawe Hall was not popular with the older residents, especially the tenant farmers, as the Tatton’s were known for being good landlords. During an Interview with Maud, RHG Tatton’s widow, it was quite clear that she and the family were sad to have sold the land that had been owned by the family for hundreds of years. It was also seen as quite presumptuous of the Simon’s to take the title Lord and Lady Simon of Wythenshawe when they were not “of Wythenshawe” at all, they actually lived in Didsbury.

 

Regardless of whether it was popular or not though, what we have today would not have been possible without the forward-thinking generosity of the Simon’s in purchasing Wythenshawe Hall. We would not have access to the hall, park and community facilities that we often take for granted.

Wythenshawe Hall as an Art Gallery & Museum

When the hall passed into the control of the City of Manchester the central portion became a museum, the bedrooms behind the withdrawing room were converted into one large exhibition room, the bookcases in the library turned into display cases and the old servant’s hall and outbuildings on the southern end of the house were turned into a café serving light refreshments to visitors.

The ivy which had been planted sometime around 1839 had caused complete decay of the rendering on the front of the building. This led to a major programme of demolition and reconstruction from 1947-52. Wet rot, dry rot and death watch beetle was found in the servant’s wing. As that section of the building was not of any architectural importance, it was sacrificed to prevent the spread of rot into the rest of the structure. Salvageable sections were used to carry out necessary repairs in other parts of the building. There was no evidence of the external appearance of the building in the 16th century, so the pattern of the black and white timbering recreated on the central section of the building pattern was completely made up, by copying the style of other buildings of a similar age.

A Surprising Discovery

Tatton Heraldry depicted on the frieze in the Withdrawing Room

An outbreak of dry rot and death watch beetle infestation following a water leak in the Withdrawing Room in 1978, meant the hall was closed for repair until 1983. When the wooden panelling in the Withdrawing Room was removed it revealed the exposed timber construction of Robert Tatton’s original hall which was decorated with fabulous Tudor wall art. The style is called “Trompe l’oeil” which means “deceives the eye” as it gives the impression of wooden panelling being painted directly onto the wall.

While he was carrying out restoration work at Bramall Hall, art historian Dr David Bostwick came to visit Wythenshawe Hall. He says the quality of our artwork suggests that it would have been created by someone highly skilled. They probably came from London and could well have done work for the Royal family. The fact that it depicts the heraldry of the Tatton family means that the hall is likely to have been built in time for the marriage of Robert Tatton and Dorothy Booth in 1539. Luckily David took detailed, high definition photo’s of all the sections of the frieze, as the fire of 2016 almost completely destroyed the artwork.

A Silver Lining

Although the fire was absolutely devastating and did a massive amount of irreparable damage, it taught us that dwelling on the negative aspects was not an option. Initially the group really struggled to come to terms with the amount of damage to the building, but we had an unprecedented amount of support from the community.

On the day of the fire we had members of the council staff from all levels on site, as well as local councillors and MP Mike Kane to name just a few. We as the friends group were all treated with such compassion and respect by everyone.

The fact that we were volunteers who had given so much time to the hall was acknowledged and we were included in everything. It was made quite clear that we were all part of a team, regardless of who we were and how we fitted in to the hierarchy, everyone was equal that day. We all suffered the same devastation and feeling of loss and we would face it together. We went to the front of the hall together to look at the damage and literally every single one of us cried at what we saw.

Repair and Restoration

We were exceptionally lucky to have had such a great team working on the repairs. Conlon Construction who managed the hall during the repairs made sure that we were kept up to speed with every stage of the work and allowed us regular access to the building. We formed great relationships with all of the heritage experts from the many different specialist companies and have literally thousands of photo’s documenting every stage of the work.

During the repairs we were able to see parts of the building that probably have not been seen for at least 100 years, if not more. This enabled us to find out in depth how the construction of the hall had changed over the years and have a much better knowledge of how to care for it to ensure it has the best possible future.

Contact Us

Follow us

Facebook: Friends of Wythenshawe Hall

Twitter: @WythenshaweHall

Hiring the Hall

For enquiries about hiring Wythenshawe Hall, please contact Manchester City Councils Parks Events Team at parksevents@manchester.gov.uk

Friends of Wythenshawe Hall are not involved with taking bookings so will be unable to deal with your enquiry.

Thank you.

Weddings

Unfortunately Wythenshawe Hall does not currently have Wedding facilities. Manchester City Council  are considering this as an option for the future but have no immediate plans.