Eaton Hall

Eaton Hall stands in the Cheshire countryside one mile south of Eccleston village. The estate covers nearly 11,000 acres of formal gardens, parkland, farmland and woodland around the present house. A moated site from an earlier house still lies to the south of the gardens. The family has owned the land since the 15th century, and the first substantial house appeared in the 17th century. The house has been rebuilt several times, each phase reflecting changing tastes and fortunes. William Samwell’s square three-storey house of 1675 used stone from ruined Holt Castle. William Porden’s Gothic extravagance of the early 19th century cost over £100,000 and drew Queen Victoria’s praise. Alfred Waterhouse’s High Victorian mansion added a 90-foot library and decorations by Marks, Jekyll and major British painters. Visitors who gain access find a rectangular white Travertine building with a porte-cochère and asymmetrical plan. Inside, the principal rooms occupy the first floor around a two-storey hall. The chapel, clock tower and stables survive from earlier phases and remain part of the estate. Formal gardens designed since the 17th century frame the house, while the wider parkland stretches across the gently rolling Cheshire landscape.