Harden Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Arden Hall

In the civil parish of Stockport.
In the historic county of Cheshire.
Modern Authority of Stockport.
1974 county of Greater Manchester.
Medieval County of Cheshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ91879331
Latitude 53.43648° Longitude -2.12359°

Harden Hall has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are uncertain remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Harden Hall north of Stockport was defendable (Emery).

Harden Hall of C16 architecture, bears a resemblance to Poole Hall in Wirral (SJ 37 NE 1) and the two may have been designed by the same architect. The hall is situated on wooded ground overlooking the Tame. The original part of the building is of grey stone with a turret behind, rising above the rest. In front of the mansion, are gables, unusually large bay windows, and a flight of steps leading to the great hall. The hall has been allowed to fall into decay, but the moat still remains. At the sides of the mansion are two small brick buildings, projecting at right angles, and stuccoed, one of which appears to be an addition of late date. 'On a leaden spout in front of the hall, there existed, a few years ago, an ornament representing a portcullis, with the initials R.A.and the remains of E.A. and the date 1597, representing RALPH ARDERNE and his wife ELLEN .... several years ago the eastern portion .... a black and white building, apparently older than the hall, was used as a granary' (Heginbotham). In 1331, Arden Hall came into possession of the Ardernes and remained their home for nearly 500 years. The hall is now in ruins, but the old watch tower, castellated walls, roofless remains of the state rooms and the dry and half filled moat remain. The south arm of the moat- partly water filled - is contained within revetment walling, which is in good condition and headed by modern coping. The moat here has a maximum depth of 1.8m. The east arm is water-filled and has a maximum depth of 1.3m. The north arm has been recently filled in but a small retaining bank still remains. The west arm is now dry and is contained by a revetment wall on its east side only. It has a maximum depth of 1.8m. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1259976
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 78569; 78602.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 477
  de Figueiredo, P. and Treuherz, J., 1988, Cheshire Country Houses (Chichester: Phillimore) p. 237
  Walker, J.S.F. and Tyndall, A.S. (eds), 1985, Country Houses of Greater Manchester p. 103-4 online copy
  Pevsner, Nikolaus and Edward Hubbard, 1971, Buildings of England: Cheshire p. 113
  Middleton, T., 1932, The history of Hyde and its neighbourhood, with reminiscences of, and notes on, the antiqueries, traditions, folk-lore and history of Denton, Haughton, Dukinfield, Mottram, Longendale, Bredbury, Marple and the adjoining townships (Hyde: Higham Press) p. 440-445
  Middleton, T., 1899, Annals of Hyde and District (Manchester: Cartwright and Battray) p. 206-9 online copy
  Heginbotham, H., 1892, Stockport Vol. 2 p. 145-6
  Taylor, H., 1884, Old Halls of Lancashire and Cheshire p. 142-46 (plan) online copy
  Ormerod, G., 1819, History of the County Palatine and city of Chester (London) Vol. 3 p. 399 online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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