Twemlow Hall

Twemlow Hall is a 17th-century country house standing on a former moated site in the ancient parish of Goostrey, and the civil parish of Twemlow, Cheshire, England.^[1]

History

The Revd Preb. Charles Everard Booth (seated) with Capt. Walter Griffith Booth and Thomas Bache playing billiards at Twemlow Hall, painted by John Hamilton Mortimer circa 1770

Twemlow Hall was owned by the Booth family, cadets of the Booths of Dunham Massey, from the 16th until 19th century.^[2]

The third son of Sir William Booth (died 1519), High Sheriff of Cheshire,^[3] was Edward Booth who was demised the manor of Twemlow as a dowry by his second marriage in 1519 to Mary Knutsford, daughter and co-heiress of medieval local landowner Roger Knutsford.^[4]

Originally timber-framed built in the Tudor architectural style for William Booth (1526–1591),^[5] Twemlow Hall was rebuilt in the late 17th century for his grandson, John Booth (1584–1659), who became known as the Cheshire Genealogist^[6] and dying unmarried was completed by his younger brother, Lawrence Booth (1599–1662).^[7] His grandson, Thomas Booth (1695–1786), High Sheriff of Cheshire for 1737/38,^[8] was last of the male line seated at Twemlow which he demised to his elder sister's son, the Reverend Prebendary Charles Everard Booth JP DD (1726–1792),^[9] who bequeathed the family estate to his nephew, Captain Walter Griffith Booth RN (1750–1810),^[10] whose father Ralph Griffith was elder brother of the distinguished Captain Walter Griffith.

His kinsman, William Bache Booth (1793–1830),^[11] inherited Twemlow Hall in 1810 which he "much altered" in 1817^[12] after marrying Mary Ann Fox. Their surviving son, Walter Booth (1822–1880), of Frimley Park, Surrey (whose only child, Mary Booth married William Jones, of Pool Park, near Ruthin, Denbighshire),^[13] sold the lordship of the manor of Twemlow and its estate in 1862 to Colonel Egerton Leigh JP DL MP,^[14] author of Ballads and Legends of Cheshire (1867) and of A Glossary of Words Used in the Dialect of Cheshire (1877). A major county landowner, Colonel Egerton Leigh was principally seated at nearby Jodrell Hall and Broadwell Manor in Gloucestershire,^[15] also owning the Cheshire estates of West Hall, High Legh and Kermincham House,^[16] and Bulcote Lodge in Nottinghamshire.^[17] His son, Captain Egerton Leigh (1843–1928), who married Lady Elizabeth White (1847–1880) sister of Lady Ardilaun, sold the estate in 1924 to Sir Edwin Stockton.

Twemlow Hall was renovated again in 1974.^[18]

Architecture

Booth arms

Twemlow Hall is constructed of red brick on a stone plinth with flush stone quoins and a slate roof. It has two storeys with a symmetrical façade of five bays, three of which are gabled, and recessed sash windows. Its ovolo-moulded doorway is surmounted by stone tablet with the Booth family coat of arms.

Recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II-listed building,^[19] three outbuildings on each side of the former stable yard are also listed Grade II.^[20][21][22]

See also

• Listed buildings in Twemlow
• St Luke's Church, Goostrey
• Booth baronets