Designers elevated farms into classics
WHEN I was young, my librarian friend John had taken it on himself to educate the uncultured masses of which I was a prominent member. The architectural style of houses was pointed out – classical porticos, windows and doorways, so called because their design features came down from ancient Greece and Rome.
Strawberry Hill near Roman Bridge in Marple is a good example of how a plain farm building expanded in the 18th and early 19th centuries to become an elegant example of understated classical taste, and one he particularly drew my attention to.
It sits on a knoll above Windy Bottom, as the sinuous curl of the River Goyt is known, and enjoys a southerly aspect down the valley.
One tiny corner is the oldest part, to which was added an 18th century Georgian farmhouse with flush mullioned windows still visible round the back.
A taller frontage with fine reception room and gracious hallway, lit by a wide fanlight with porticoed entrance was built in the early 1800s.
Much earlier, in the 1470s, a dispute over inheritance between the Ainsworth and Pilkington families hereabouts drew in Sir John Savage of Macclesfield and up to 100 armed retainers.
The Pilkingtons were thrown out and Ainsworths took possession.
There was an attempt to poison Robert Pilkington at Sir John’s castle which made him swell up ‘until his clothes no longer fitted’.
One of Pilkington’s tenants at ‘Windleybothom’ William Rowbotham was pillaged of cattle and horses, and Sir Peeres Legh of Lyme came and helped himself to timber to fence his park.
Everything is much more peaceful today as only a bumpy track leads down past Roman Lakes with dog walkers and horse riders the likliest passers-by.
Strawberry Hill is on the market with nine acres of private land and gardens, history and classical architecture, for a mere £950,000 – how Sir John Savage would have drooled in his castle at that figure!
Sadly my classically aware friend John ended up in a lop sided caravan on Werneth Low where he died of cold one winter. Being aesthetically cultured and knowing how to manage money are quite different disciplines.
Insights into little known aspects of heritage or information on Sir John Savage and my friend John the librarian are available in back issues of Stockport Heritage Magazine, on sale at St Mary’s Heritage Centre, or online stockport heritage magazine. co.uk or phone me.