Summary
House, late C18, enlarged in the early C19. A small scullery extension to the service range was added before 1846, and a small rear elevation extension in mid-C19.
(The attached 1890s billiard room, extended to provide a school room between 1920 and 1934, altered and enlarged with the addition of a second storey in the 1980s, the 1980s two-storey blocks built to the rear of the original house, and the semi-circular conservatory 1995 are not included in the listing.)
Reasons for Designation
Belmont, 57 Schools Hill, Cheadle, a late-C18 villa enlarged in the early C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a small neo-classical stucco villa built in the late C18 with double-height bows flanking the central doorway, extended and partially refurbished in the early C19;
* the villa layout survives largely intact and includes two bow-fronted reception rooms, a grand top-lit staircase hall flanked by two rear rooms, a west service range and a large, early-C19 morning room;
* the bow-fronted drawing and dining rooms retain late-C18 fixtures and fittings of a high quality of craftmanship, including delicate enriched cornices and ceiling roses, rococo-style wall paintings in the drawing room, and an eared mantelpiece and delicately framed buffet alcove in the dining room;
* the villa fixtures and fittings also include a cantilevered stone staircase lit by a circular coved lantern, modillion cornices to public spaces, most doorways have early-C19 moulded architraves with moulded corner blocks and six-panelled doors, and the service range retains a simple timber mantelpiece and built-in cupboards.
Historic interest:
* Belmont typifies the late-C18 and early-C19 popularity of the compact detached villa with a fine interior with well-crafted fixtures and fittings and set within private grounds which, even when built in a suburban location, was seen as an ideal of a rural retreat.
History
The small suburban villa now known as Belmont appears to have originally been built in the late C18. Burdett’s survey of the County Palatine of Chester of 1777 shows open fields to either side of the road called Schools Hill to the south of the village of Cheadle. The first documented record is of a Mrs Catherine Darby (or Darbey) paying land tax as owner and occupier from 1798 to 1825, though it is possible that her husband had done so prior to this date. Certainly photographs (of around 1983 and June 2021) of the drawing room show that the walls, including the curved bay, were originally painted with delicate rococo-style panels (mostly wallpapered over and no longer visible), and the two front reception rooms have delicate foliate enriched cornices and ceiling roses which suggest that the house may have been built before 1798. The property was initially known as Belle Vue, the name used in an advertisement announcing its auction placed in the Manchester Mercury on 19 April 1823; Bryant’s map surveyed in 1829-31, published 1831 also labels it Belle Vue, although it may have changed name by this time as W F Hutching’s map surveyed in 1828-29, published 1830, labels it as Bell Mount.
The 1823 auction advertisement described dining, drawing and breakfast rooms, two kitchens, cellars and bedrooms, a yard, coach house, stables, shipon, piggery, cart house, granary, large and productive garden and orchard, and ten acres of land. A further advertisement of 24 May 1823 referred to the house 'having undergone considerable alterations by the present proprietor'. Much of the interior decoration, such as modillion cornices, moulded architraves with square corner blocks, a Greek key pattern to an archway, are typical of the early-C19 Regency period, indicating a refurbishment of the principal rooms and public spaces. The original house also appears to have been extended. Two opposing doorways with square corner block architraves were inserted from the entrance hall into the bow-fronted drawing and dining rooms to either side; the drawing room doorway (now blocked) was inserted through the rococo wall paintings. The rooms had originally been entered by doors in their rear walls. The drawing room door opened off the large staircase hall to the rear. Adjacent is a spine corridor which leads east into a full-depth breakfast or morning room; externally the front elevation bay of this room has quoins to both sides. The corridor linking the room to the staircase hall appears inserted as it used space from the rear room, meaning that the chimney breast in the outer side wall was not central as it would have been if the corridor was not present. The chimney breast in the rear west room is not central either due to the narrower west spine corridor. It is unlikely though that the dining room doorway originally opened into the rear room, suggesting that this corridor, which leads through to the service range, was original. The service range projects to the rear of the main house. It may have been remodelled or enlarged as part of the alterations, though this is not easily discernible; externally the front elevation bay has quoins only to the outer corner. The L-shaped footprint is visible on Bryant’s 1831 map, together with the detached stable block and coach house to its west.
It has been suggested that the architect Richard Lane was responsible for the remodelling of the house, though this is on stylistic similarities with known examples of his houses rather than any documentary evidence. Full-height curved bow windows are seen on houses designed by him, such as Lane Court, Victoria Park, Manchester, though it is known that the bow windows at Belmont pre-date the newly-qualified Lane moving to set up practice in Manchester in 1821. The early-C19 corner block architraves are also typical for their date, rather than exclusive to houses designed by Lane.
The house and estate were subsequently purchased by the Lane family, who are first recorded as living there in the History Directory and Gazetteer of the County Palatine of Lancaster in 1825, stating 'Cotton manufacturer – Joseph Lane, Belle Vue'. The Lanes later renamed the house Bell Mount, then Belmont. Joseph Lane (1772-1847) ran New Bridge Lane Mills in Stockport with his father, also Joseph, and had been Mayor of Stockport in 1816. His older brother, William, with whom he was later in partnership, lived in Brook Lodge opposite his brother at Belmont. In 1834 Joseph’s wife, Mary Jane, died and the estate was advertised for sale in the Manchester Courier on 2 August 1834. The house details describe a 'handsome vestibule, entrance hall, with a handsome hot air stove and stone staircase, breakfast or morning room, thirty-four by fifteen feet, with a small conservatory adjoining, dining room, twenty-three by fifteen feet, drawing room, twenty-three by fifteen feet, housekeeper’s room, store room, butler’s pantry, servants’ hall, fitted-up with cooking apparatus, large kitchen, with fire-proof laundry, brewhouse, and other excellent conveniences'. There were also seven bedrooms, two dressing rooms, a study, a water closet, housemaid’s closet, and good bedrooms for servants. The house and estate did not sell and the partnership between the brothers was dissolved in 1835. Subsequently in 1841 Joseph Lane was declared bankrupt and in 1842 the estate was advertised for auction.
It appears that Belmont was actually tenanted to Ebenezer Robert Le Mare (1797-1881) shortly before Joseph Lane’s death in 1846 and was then purchased by him following Lane’s death. The Le Mare family were Huguenot silk manufacturers and Ebenezer had moved from Spitalfields, London, to Manchester to set up a new silk manufactory in 1829. The house footprint is shown more clearly on the tithe map of around 1846, with the two curved bow windows to the front north elevation clearly visible, together with a small rectangular conservatory projecting from the east side of the morning room, the longer service range on the west side with a small scullery extension projecting into the rear courtyard, and the separate long rectangular stable block and coach house to the rear. In front of the house is a turning circle and a long drive runs northwards parallel to Schools Hill, with the entrance and lodge close to its junction with Wilmslow Road. Le Mare later moved away from the Cheadle area and in 1851 the Belmont estate was again advertised for auction, but did not initially sell. The contents and the houses and estate were then auctioned in late 1853.
The estate was purchased by James Milne, who co-founded the renowned Manchester department store of Kendal, Milne & Faulkner in 1836, subsequently Kendal Milne & Co. The family moved there in 1854 and although he died in 1866, the family continued to live at Belmont until 1910 when his eldest son, John Dewhurst Milne died. The official plan and deeds of estate dated 1854 show that the house footprint had not changed since the 1846 tithe map. A sketch of the house is also shown which depicts the front elevation with a parapet, rather than the outer triangular pediments now present. It is likely that these were added to the outer bays during the 1850s or early 1860s. The 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map published in 1875 shows that the small conservatory had also been replaced by a large rectangular conservatory attached to the south-east corner of the house. A small extension had been built in the centre of the rear elevation, which contained a WC and bathroom on the ground floor and a mid landing. A new block also connected the stable and coach house block to the rear of the service range. By 1898 the 1:200 OS map shows that the south-east conservatory had been replaced by the billiard room, with a small glass structure attached in the north-east corner of the courtyard.
The estate was again advertised for sale in March 1918, mentioning the handsome billiard room. It sold on 29 September 1920 to the Chairman of Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Children’s Aid Society for £6,250 for use as their new children’s home. The Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Homes had been founded in 1870 in Strangeways, Manchester, to care for orphans, destitute and crippled children. It quickly outgrew the city centre premises and the rural Belmont estate was purchased so children could be relocated away from the industrial centre. Belmont officially opened as a children’s home on Saturday 2 October 1920. Plans were drawn up to develop a residential 'garden village' scheme in the grounds with ten homes each accommodating 20 children, a matron or master and an assistant. The plans were never fully realised and only two new buildings were constructed, together with a sanatorium built in 1927 within the former walled garden. The official opening brochure mentioned fund raising to convert the stables and coach house into a gymnasium and recreation room. The first few years of the Refuges’ ownership of Belmont saw large fund-raising garden fetes within the grounds, which were opened by the Mayor of Manchester. During the 63 years it was based at Belmont few alterations were made to the original house. The largest alteration was the extension of the billiard room, doubling its length to form a long school room. The extension, two separate blocks and sanatorium are shown on the 1:200 OS map revised in 1934-35, published in 1937. During the 1950s or 1960s a first-floor corridor was formed through two former bedrooms to link the main house internally to the former coach house and stable block.
On the 17 August 1983 the Boys’ and Girls’ Welfare Society sold the house and a small parcel of land. The sale came with covenants, including the requirement to remove the main gates to the original drive and erect a wall in their place. The house was converted to a residential care home for the elderly. The former coach house and stable block was demolished and the present two-storey extensions were built to the rear and east side of the original courtyard to provide further accommodation. The 1890s billiard room and 1920s extension on the east side of the house were also altered and enlarged with the addition of a first floor. In 1995 a semi-circular conservatory was constructed against the east elevation of the house.
The care home closed in 2018 and the property has remained empty since then.
Details
House, late C18, enlarged in the early C19. A small scullery extension to the service range was added before 1846, and a small rear elevation extension was added in the mid-C19.
(The attached 1890s billiard room, extended to provide a school room between 1920 and 1934, altered and enlarged with the addition of a second storey in the 1980s, the 1980s two-storey blocks built to the rear of the original house, and the semi-circular conservatory 1995 are not included in the listing.)
MATERIALS: brick with stucco, slate roofs.
PLAN: the building is two storeyed with a central main entrance to the north elevation of the villa flanked by two curved bay windows and a former service range on the west side which projects to the rear.
EXTERIOR
The villa stands on the east side of Schools Hill with the front elevation facing north (formerly overlooking the main drive running north-south through its estate).
The front elevation is of two storeys and five bays and is faced in incised stucco (painted) with a plinth, alternating vermiculated quoins and a modillion eaves cornice. It is symmetrical with a central doorway flanked by large, full-height curved bows and outer pavilion bays with triangular pediments with modillion cornices. The doorway has two curved stone steps and a wide, moulded architrave incorporating a fluted door architrave with bulls-eye corner blocks and narrow side panels with lower panels with a moulded frame and an upper round-headed niches. Overarching is a basket-arched overlight with a moulded frame with a diamond-pointed keystone. The door is (2021) boarded up. Immediately above is a small semi-circular balcony supported on two console brackets with relief-carved heads. The balcony has a decorative cast-iron balustrade (now partially broken) and glazed double doors with a moulded architrave and shallow canopy supported on shaped, moulded console brackets. The curved bows have square-headed tripartite windows on both floors with pilaster architraves and shallow canopies supported on enriched shaped consoles. The wider central windows have two-over-two pane unhorned sashes and the outer windows have one-over-one pane unhorned sashes. The outer pavilion bay to the left-hand side has alternating vermiculated quoins to both sides and the outer pavilion on the right-hand side has similar quoins only to the outer corner. Both floors have a vertical rectangular window with similar pilaster architraves and shallow canopies on enriched shaped consoles. The windows have two-over-two pane unhorned sashes.
The rear elevation is largely obscured. It is built of brick as is the projecting two-bay extension (mid-C19). The extension has square-headed windows with stone sills on both floors, with modern window frames.
The east side elevation (the former morning room) has two original two-storey bays to the right-hand side with incised stucco (painted) and alternating vermiculated quoins to the right outer corner, with a parapet above the modillion eaves cornice. At ground-floor level there is a tall square-headed doorway to the right with a shallow canopy on enriched, shaped consoles. It is boarded with a two-pane rectangular overlight. To the left is a square-headed window, also with a canopy on enriched shaped consoles, with two similarly detailed windows at first-floor level with two-over-two pane unhorned sashes.
The west side elevation (the former service range) is of two storeys with a basement and five bays with a plinth and incised stucco (painted). The second and fifth bays have square-headed doorways with shallow canopies with shaped consoles. The first, third and fourth bays on the ground floor and all the first-floor bays have square-headed windows with slightly projecting stone sills and eight-over-eight pane unhorned sashes (ground-floor windows boarded). Beneath the stone step of the second-bay doorway is a flight of steps down to the cellar. The rear elevation is built of brick and is largely obscured by a modern range* to the left, with only the small mid-C19 extension visible. On the ground floor there are two basket-arched windows with three square-headed windows on the first floor with stone sills and two-over-two pane horned sashes.
* The modern range obscuring the rear elevation of the west service range, the semi-circular conservatory inserted on the ground floor of the east elevation of the villa and the brick extended and heightened east range incorporating the former billiard room and school room are not of special interest.
INTERIOR
The original villa and service range retain their historic layout (with some modern lightweight partition walls inserted); the secondary staircase in the service range has been removed, but the position is clear. Many fixtures and fittings remain. These include modillion cornices to the entrance hall, staircase hall and east spine corridors and the majority of doorways in the villa have moulded architraves with square moulded corner blocks to both sides, panelled reveals and soffits and six-panelled doors, with some in less prominent positions having moulded architraves with panelled reveals.
The entrance hall has a timber screen with moulded architraves with moulded corner blocks incorporating the front door (damaged) and panels to each side with a modillion cornice below the overlight. The ceiling has a plaster acanthus leaf ceiling rose. The hall leads into the staircase hall through a wide, square-headed archway with similar moulded architraves with moulded corner blocks, panelled reveals and soffit. The large, square staircase hall is top-lit by a circular glazed lantern with coved panelling with flower bosses. The open well staircase is cantilevered with shaped stone steps and a curtail step and a wrought-iron balustrade with a swept mahogany handrail. At ground-floor level is a circular, cast-iron hot air stove (mentioned in 1834 sales particulars).
The two principal reception rooms have bowed outer walls. The original drawing room to the left of the entrance hall has a delicate enriched cornice and oval ceiling rose featuring ribbons, dolphins, acanthus leaves, flowers and an outer frame of oak leaves and acorns. There are delicate wall paintings of shaped, decorative panels and acanthus leaves (now mostly covered by wall paper). The tripartite window has a timber frame with moulded mullions with square moulded blocks, panelled reveals, soffit and apron. The original dining room to the right of the entrance hall also has a delicate enriched cornice and an acanthus leaf ceiling rose. The chimney breast in the centre of the west side wall has painted timber mantelpiece with an eared fireplace surround, bolection moulding and central fluted block below the mantelshelf. In the centre of the rear wall is a shallow buffet alcove with the rear doorway to the left. It has a painted timber frame with delicate fluted pilasters and a fluted and acanthus-leaf wrapped basket arch and panelled reveals and soffit. The rear room to the left of the staircase hall has an originally external doorway in the rear wall with a moulded architrave with moulded corner blocks incorporating a rectangular overlight above the six-panelled door.
The north room on the ground floor of the service range has a wide chimney breast to the inner, east wall. It has a simple painted timber mantelpiece, the lintel continued to the right with contemporary inbuilt cupboards above and below with panelled double doors. The outer doorway has a four-panelled door and a bottom-hinged, four-pane overlight.
On the first floor the archway between the staircase hall and the east spine corridor has shaped and fluted pilasters and capitals and a moulded basket arch. The archway between the west spine corridor and the service range has pilasters with an incised Greek key pattern, moulded capitals and a basket arch. The tripartite windows in the rooms with the bowed outer walls have panelled aprons and moulded cornices. The narrow central room with the balcony (former dressing room) retains a moulded cornice.
