Visit to Little Moreton Hall

Little Moreton Hall

Outside Little Moreton Hall

We are staying here today and are off to Little Moreton Hall. There is a footpath by the bridge which takes you through the fields to the Hall, it is about a mile each way and is on the flat not like yesterday!

The Great Hall

Bill is coming with us today so we set off on the footpath and soon we were at the Hall.  It is a lovely building. 

The long gallery

Little Moreton Hall, also known as Old Moreton Hall, is a moated half-timbered manor house which used to be owned by the Moreton family.  The earliest parts were built about 1504-08 and the reminder was constructed in stages by successive family members until about 1610.  The hall remained in the family for nearly 450 years and transferred to the National Trust in 1938.

The Loo!

Winky Wonky fireplace

We went on one of the guided tours which was really interesting and they take you around the ground floor rooms and tell you about the Moreton family and the history of the hall.  We then had a look in the upstairs rooms where there was a toilet (just a hole!) and a room with a small door, we managed to squeeze through!

We squeezed through here

We then went and sat in the gardens and had a cup of tea and a sandwich.  There was a tent in the garden and they were making gingerbread and other things for Lammas which is the festival of the wheat harvest and is the first harvest festival of the year.  In Tudor times, Gingerbread was made with fine breadcrumbs, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and honey which was all mixed together and pressed into a mould then turned out and decorated sometimes with gold leaf, hence the name Gingerbread.

Koi Carp in the Moat

Tudor wall covering

There is a knot garden in the grounds and a moat going around the Hall so we had a walk around and there was koi carp in the moat.

View of Mow Cop from footpath

We then walked back to the boat via the foot path through the fields and you got a nice view of Mow Cop in the distance, just think we were there yesterday.

Knot Garden

We really enjoyed our visit to Little Moreton Hall and the sun shone as well so what more could you ask for!

Just along the canal from where we are moored is Ramsdell Hall, built for the aristocratic Lowndes family in the mid-19th century.. It is set in some 18 acres of gracious parklands which which sweep right down to the canalside.  Opposite the house, ornate cast iron railings separate the towpath from the adjoining fields.  Thought to have been installed to appease the Lowndes at the time of the canal's constructions, they add a touch of Cheshire style to the view.  Ramsdell Hall is presently owned by Peter Coates, a Potteries boy made good, currently chairman and major shareholder of Stoke City Football Club.

We are staying here for one more night then off we go tomorrow morning.  

Ramsdell Hall Railings

Ramsdell Hall