Harden Hall

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Arden Hall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

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)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ91879331

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 78569; 78602
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website, or elsewhere.

• Books
  • Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p477
    de Figueiredo, P. and Treuherz, J., 1988, Cheshire Country Houses (Chichester: Phillimore) p237
    Pevsner, Nikolaus and Edward Hubbard, 1971, Buildings of England Cheshire p113
    Heginbotham, H., 1892, Stockport Vol2 p145-6
    Taylor, H., 1884, Old Halls of Lancashire and Cheshire p142-46 [plan] http://www.archive.org/details/oldhallsinlanca00taylgoog