Records of a visit to the ancestral lands, 12 December 2005
The settlement of High Legh appears to be an anonymous group of houses off the A50.
It is announced by the usual road side sign but has only the extensive High Leigh Garden
Centre to register its presence. Modern buildings, masked by trees, hint at the position
of the settlement, but there are no obvious signs pointing to ‘The village’ Across the
road, from the garden centre, is a gate house and the sweeping stone entrance to a modern
house. There is a village hall, nursery and a church but no shop, and it appears no pub.
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The sandstone boundary wall continues to the west skirting the road and leads to a
second gate house, ornamental gates and drive to The Chaplain’s House and a ‘modern’ black
and white mock Tudor house set in delightful ground.
Beyond this a modern estate of mixed design, burglar alarmed, two garaged, bungalows
and houses, built since the 1970 is set in trees that were established long before the
development. Two well established Douglas Firs and other trees, not only shade gardens
but mark the passage of an old drive way.
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Above: Ordnance Survey map of High Legh |
It appears, from local knowledge, that this development was built on the site of
the old West Hall, home of the Leigh family, and East Hall, home of the Legh family,
estates: the same Halls that appear in the various books of pedigrees associated with
the branches of the original Legh/Leigh families. The Elizabethan Hall, it is said,
was destroyed by fire and demolished in 1781. Henry Cornwall-Legh had an attractive
Georgian Cheshire brick hall, designed by John Hope of Liverpool, built to replace it.
In 1791 George Legh had many of the village buildings removed in order to extend High
Legh Park during the landscaping by Humphry Repton.
Right: The Georgian East Hall circa 1960 |
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There were several marriages which bonded the great Cheshire estates. A relatively
minor branch of the powerful Egerton family, which owned vast tracts of land in Cheshire,
Lancashire and Staffordshire, lived at Tatton Park and owned a quarter of High Legh parish.
Their family married into the Leighs of West Hall and from the late 17th century family
became known as the Egerton-Leighs. The Leghs of East Hall also extended their family
name in the 1700s with the marriage of George Legh to Anna-Maria Cornwall of Burford,
Shropshire.
The turn of the last century brought devastating changes to the parish: first with
the Egerton-Legh family selling off all their properties and lands to the Cornwall-Leghs,
and then in 1932 Maurice, Lord Egerton sold the remaining land. The great sale of
1919 by Colonel Hubert Cornwall-Legh saw 48 properties sold off in the south and
south-westerly portion of the parish.
1066 Info 5, sheet 2
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During the Second World War the Ministry of Defence compulsory purchased both
buildings as an army training camp for units which included the Queen Alexandra’s Royal
Army Nursing Corps and 79 and 56 HAA Regiments and the parish became part of an
extensive military camp and an aerodrome for fighter squadrons. The estate gardens
and park were full of Nissan huts and assault courses, NAFFI and canteens. But the Army
didn’t look after its properties and they both showed signs of wear and tear. Mr Charles
Cornwall-Legh, later Lord Codnor moved across the A50 to what is now High Legh House.
The Woodlands Crescent estate was built to house married officers, and later prisoner
personnel from nearby Risley.
Right: Woodland Crescent 2005 |
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Both the Tudor West Hall and the Georgian East Hall were demolished in the 1960s
after a recent history of neglect. There now only remains a set of marble stairs hidden
in the undergrowth of the village playground, which is also shaded by extensive tree growth.
There also remains, between two modern houses, a section of high red-bricked ‘kitchen wall’,
now covered with a Wisteria whose truck suggests an age of 300 years. Beyond this, and in
a later development of detached houses, are some of the low, red-bricked estate cottages.
Right: Estate cottages in 2005
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At the centre of the first stage modern development stands a small single storey
externally well maintained, but deconsecrated St. Mary’s Catholic Chapel, dating from
1581, where the Legh family worshipped. This is thought to be the oldest building in
the village, but a building has stood on the spot since Domesday. The clear storey has
two dormer windows; a carved monolith stands in the churches grounds, which are surrounded
by a black painted iron rail. A path connected St Mary’s to the Chaplain’s House, a John
Nash building, which served as the home for the Legh’s chaplain and later as Misses Legh’s
school for young ladies. Freemen of the village worshiped at St. John’s, the Anglican Church
which, with vicar and lay-reader, now serves the village.
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Above: St Mary's Church in 2005 |
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Right: High Legh school, which is now the Village Hall and Nursery School.
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1066 Info 5, sheet 3
Right: St. Mary's Catholic Church
Below: St John's Anglican Church
Undated - from the 2000 pamphlet.
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The history of the settlement, its connection with the Domesday Book and the reason
for the Gilbert of Venables acquisition of the estate is probably linked to the discovery
of Bronze Age burials, in the Saxon deer park, during the 1995 construction of the golf
course. Aerial photographs, discovered in the 1950s, revealed an unrecorded site of Hales
Field, where excavations have discovered Roman links. An undated cobbled yard and long
house have been discovered. High Legh’s long acquaintance with the past, and with Gilbert, its once Norman lord,
is recognised and commemorated by Venables Road and Kinderton Drive. |
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Above: Commemorative road signs |
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Right: High Legh House - the home of Lord Codnor of the
Cornwall-Legh family |
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1066 Info 5, sheet 4
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Right: Detailed map of High Legh
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Additional source: A Souvenir of High Legh 2000 Cheshire Archives Ref: pamphlet 212955
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This page was created by Richard Crompton
and maintained by Chris Glass
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Version A.2
Updated 11 November 2006 |
