The History of Stockport in 100 Halls Part 1 : Woodbank Hall

Woodbank Hall stands folorn and abandoned in Woodbank Park in Stockport. It isn’t in a great state of repair, Stockport council appear to have abandoned it.

The Hall was built in 1812 by Thomas Harrison in the Greek revival style for Peter Marsland a local cotton manufacturer.

Peter Marsland

Peter’s father, Henry started a textile mill in Bullock Smithy (now Hazel Grove) in 1770. The lack of water power meant it was hard to make a success of it, so in 1783 he leased Park Mill in Stockport. He transferred the lease to his sones in 1792, dying 3 years later. Peter made a great success of the business his steam woven woolen was praised in the press, and a piece of his cloth woven for His Majesty George IV was said by the King’s tailor to be superior to French cloth worn by the Emporer Alexander, adding that claims that England could not match the quality of French and Dutch materials “Mr Marsland has answered it, and he is proving more and more that the industry of Manchester is far from its climax”

He had decided to move to Woodbank after his house on Heaton Lane was attacked by Luddites so in 1812 he purchased land and a farmstead at Woodbank and had it demolished so his estate could be built.

The estate surrounding the Hall was made into a typically English lanscape with natural contours and grouped trees, with steep banks down to the river Goyt, wooded with rhodedendra and bluebells.

Peter also supplied water to the town from springs in Woodbank Park and the River Mersey (as it then was, in those days the start was marked by the confluence of the Etherow and the Goyt) to public standpipes and later private houses. His son, Henry established the Stockport Waterworks drawing water from a 45 metre deep well in the town centre to a reservoir in Woodbank Park. The well is now the site of Sainsbury’s in the town centre.

He also installed gas lighting into the Hall, paid for a fever ward at the local hospital

The Hall itself has two storeys, three bays with three sided ground floor windows under segmental arches and a segmental four column Ionic porch. It has a top lit staircase hall with relief panels, and relief panels over the doors. Pevsner is especially fond of the staircase.

Woodbank Hall

Peter died in 1829 and was buried in the Mausoleum in a private burial ground on the edge of the estate, along with his wife Phoebe. Ten other members of the family are buried in surrounding graves, the last one being interred in 1907

In 1920 the 185 acre park and estate was purchased by Sir Thomas Rowbotham, the estate covered not only Woodbank Park and Hall, but a local farm, the burial ground and some local houses. The following year he gifted the land and buildings (bar the Hall, reservoir, mining rights and houses to Stockport town “in honoured memory of the men of Stockport who fought and died for their country in the Great War of 1914-1918.. for the purpose of being laid out and used as a public park of leisure ground… to be know as Woodbank Memorial Park”.

He gifted the Hall to the town in 1924. The Hall had been standing empty for many years so in 1930 a renovation was undertaken , Sir Ralph donated £2,000 towards the cost of this (2020 £130,000). The renovation encompassed a structural repair, removal of fireplaces, additional grecian friezes and some alterations to room layouts.

The newly refurbished Museum of Rural Life and Fine Art was opened to the public in 1931. However after the second world war the use of the Hall declined and it was used by sundry council departments. Most recently the council have considered selling the Hall to be converted to apartments, but more recently Stockport Building Preservation Trust have been considering how to best renovate the building

Woodbank Hall Postcard

Woodbank Hall

Why ?

Sources:

https://www.freewebs.com/savewoodbankpark/

The Buildings Of Cheshire Ed Pevsner Yale University Press 1971

© Allan Russell 2020