Gawsworth Old Hall

The original house on the site dated from the Norman era. The earliest documentary reference is the granting of a licence for the administration of a chapel within the house in 1365. The house was then owned by Thomas Fitton, who had inherited it by marriage in 1316, and it remained in the possession of the Fitton family until 1611. The original house was replaced in the 15th and 16th centuries. Building started in 1480, the estate passed to Charles Gerard, later the first Earl of Macclesfield. The estate remained with the Gerards, until it was bought by William Stanhope, who later became the first Earl of Harrington, and it remained with this family until 1935. The house was owned by the…

Four structures in the grounds around the hall are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed buildings; Grade II listing means that a building or structure is considered to be "of special interest". The 17th-century gatehouse is constructed in brick with ashlar dressings and a stone slate roof, in two storeys and three bays. The gate piers date from the late 17th or early 18th century. They are in painted ashlar surmounted by 20th-century ball finials. The garden walls were built in the 16th century, with later additions and alterations. They are constructed in brick with ashlar dressings. At the southern end is a large rectangular enclosure. In…

Gawsworth Old Hall is south of the village of Gawsworth, 3 mi southeast of Macclesfield. Immediately to the west is the Grade I listed Church of St James, to the north beyond a fish pond is the Grade II* listed Gawsworth New Hall, and nearby is the Grade I listed Gawsworth Old Rectory. The Old Hall was listed Grade I on 25 July 1952. Grade I listing is granted to buildings of "exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important", and encompasses only 2.5 per cent of all listed buildings. Designation as Grade II* means that the site is "particularly important, of more than special interest". The hall is open to the general public at advertised times. There is a…