It isn’t very often that a criminal act can contribute to the realisation of a building as “a national treasure”. Yet, on the outskirts of Middleton near Manchester in the township of Hopwood such a story can be told. Andy Marshall continues…

Tied and bound with a steel coat of vandal proof window guards the building I was about to enter was permenantly cast in darkness. After stepping over the threshold, it took me a few minutes to adjust my eyes to allow me to switch on the small torch that I had thankfully remembered to bring along.

The south elevation. The central section is the oldest part of the building.

Somewhere in the north west corner of the room, the wet and dank atmosphere was enlivened by the sound of dripping water. It was then that I realised that the building had been open to the elements for quite some time. The room I had entered was reputed to have a C17th interior. The first foray with my torch revealed a decorative panel encompassing the remains of a wooden statue snapped off at the legs. Vandals had been at work.

The Oak Room

The lack of light, the dripping water, and the linear fashion of discovery via torchlight, made this visit feel like it was a Carteresque C19th expedition. As I moved along the wall panels, several bands, full of floral motif’s revealed themselves, crowned with winged cherubs. I felt my way around the room in anti-clockwise fashion, and each elevation revealed (via a combination of fingertip and Duracell), the thickly undercut and singly beautiful forms of the Jacobean period.

The Oak Room

Jacobean carving in the Oak Room

Further investigation revealed a diverse mix of statuary, including the sinister form of a mascaronic male thrusting a pitch fork into a severed head.

The fulcrum and climax of my discovery was a Jacobean fireplace, with a brace of resplendently rude and crude caryatid like creatures bearing fruit from every angle. Natural forms were braided, strapped and adorned in every crevice. One of those marvellous juxtapositions of time had occured at the centre of the fireplace where a later owner had added a polite country scene in ceramic tiles (perhaps with a civilising role in mind).

The Jacobean Fireplace in the Oak Room

The fireplace was inserted in the C17th at the heart of a room which was originally part of an open hall. The spere-truss still survives, and over subsequent centuries a rare courtyard plan has evolved with the hall at its centre. The principal additions were made in the Georgian and Victorian periods. A library was added in 1755 to the east, and a C19th Billiard room replaced a chapel of 1690 to the north. Additions were organic and piecemeal and much research is still required. The II* listing says that “the extent to which the timber frame exists has not been fully explored.”

The Spere Truss still survives (part of the original Open Hall House)

Beyond the story etched within the walls, one more curious event must be noted. In the year of 1811 the house was visited by the poet Lord Byron, who stayed there for several days and completed the poem “Childe Harold”. Of his stay, he wrote ” I have been this two days past in the palace of propriety with a picture of Lucretia in the act of suicide over the chimney and a tome of Pamela lying on the table; the first as a hint, I presume, not to covet the mistress of the house, the last as a defensive treatise on behalf of the maid.”

The most recent history of Hopwood Hall is less poetic. It became a De La Salle school in 1946 until the 1990′s when Rochdale MBC (RMBC) took over ownership of the building (whilst the college continued to keep ownership of the grounds). Council ownership heralded the decline of the building during a period when policy ignored the local built heritage. Significant buildings such as Edgar Wood’s grade II* listed school at Durnford Street, Middleton were lost. During this time, Hopwood Hall languored behind its metal security shutters.

Courtyard plan

In July this year it was discovered that most of the lead waterproof coverings to the Hall had been stolen in a planned and meticulous way. This had occurred some months earlier and because of the muddled ownership of the site, the theft had gone unnoticed. The Hall had become a security blindspot.

Subsequently, water had ingressed into significant areas of the building, including the C17th interior adorned with Jacobean oak carved decoration. Vandalism had taken its toll with the theft of statuary and oak floor boards to some of the rooms and stairways. In September, local people’s concern and interest culminated in the SPAB being notified about the plight of the building. A case worker was dispatched and it wasn’t until further research was carried out that the full national significance of the building was realised.

Hopper Head to the South Elevation

Neglect of the building may have been due to a curious set of circumstances, but to their credit RMBC has responded quickly to Hopwood Hall’s plight. They have made security and remedial repairs possible out of an impossible set of circumstances, caused by the encroachment of the recession and inevitable stripping back of budgets. Over £60,000 has been made available from Council resources.

UPDATE: This article originally appeared in the Society of the Protection of Ancient Building’s Cornerstone Magazine. The core parts of the historic hall are now fully waterproof. A security fence has been installed around the perimeter of the hall.

More images below:-

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