Old hall is a bargain at £300,000
APART from local historians and the neighbours few realise that a perfectly preserved Elizabethan black and white hallhouse survives surrounded by modern housing in an unpretentious Cheadle side street.
Moseley Old Hall lies off Cuthbert Road and is currently on the market with Reeds Rains for a knock-down £300,000.
Historians argue about its origins, some claiming it dates to the 1660s because of some misleading datestones, others believe it is older and could have been the original Cheadle Hall of the medieval Bulkeley family, lords of the manor.
Its name derives from the Moseleys, who acquired the manor when it was confiscated by Parliament during the mid 17th century Civil War, and are credited with having built it. But they let it out to Robert and Mary Sidebotham who left their initials over the porch with the date of 1666.
It once had many acres and was surrounded by fields, a brewhouse, dovecote and large barn. Inside it is incredibly well preserved and listed two star, with heavy timbers, three inglenook fireplaces, baluster staircase, mullion windows and original heavy iron doorlocks and latches.
In Victorian times it was a famous stud farm and one St Leger winner came from here. The land now consists of a rear walled garden.
In the 1900s it was sub-divided into three rented cottages and became rather run down. But Reginald Booth, a keen antiquarian, acquired it in 1929 and set about restoration.
He found it standing ‘amidst a tangle of rank grass and overgrown bushes, the walls patched with sheets of iron painted black and white’.
In the 1940s a later owner, Mrs Hodgkinson, wanted to dismantle the hall and re-erect it on the banks of the River Dee in Cheshire, but the plan came to nothing. For 40 years the hall and land were used for caravan storage. Then in 1992 Leon Mazurek bought the house and lovingly began a restoration programme. He patched it up, using original materials and preserved its antique features, even including the Victorian central heating system.
When Mr Mazurek died in 2011 his brothers decided to sell the historic house and put it on the market for £500,000, two years later this had dropped to £375,000 and has been reduced since.
Now the garden is tangled again and the upstairs needs some attention, but it is still an absolute gem of a building for someone with taste.
Lots more fascinating details about heritage properties and local legends in Stockport Heritage Magazine available at newsagents, bookshops and Co-op magazine shelves in Stockport and surrounding areas stockportheritagemagazine.co.uk.