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Wythenshawe Hall. (2023, December 3). In Wikipedia By Dave Smethurst, CC BY-SA 2.0, image here

The Tatton family had a deer park in Wythenshawe, then Cheshire, as far back as 1297. However, the present Hall dates to about 1540 when Robert Tatton was the head of the family.

The Tattons were relatively minor Cheshire gentry. However, after the manner of such families, they intermarried with their peers. Tatton brides included a Booth, a Fitton, a Warren, a Leycester, a Brereton and a Hyde – all very much what one would expect. Their lands ultimately included property in Wythenshawe, Northenden, Etchells, and Macclesfield, as well as Altrincham, High Legh, Knutsford, Bowdon, Bredbury and Romiley.

The marriage of William Tatton (1540-1611) to Mary Fitton meant that, among other ancestors, future Tattons were descended from Sir William Stanley, the one executed in 1495. (Stanley blood in a Cheshire gentry family is all but inevitable. Indeed, a subsequent marriage doubled the descent.)

During the Civil War, Robert Tatton (1606-69) held the Hall for the King and there was a brief siege in 1643/44. However, this ended when two cannon were brought up from Manchester, which made the Hall untenable and forced surrender. The Tattons lost their lands but soon redeemed them by paying a fine of just over £700.

Subsequently, the family built up their estate to about 2,500 acres. However, the last Tatton (Robert Henry Grenville Tatton) sold the estate to Ernest Simon (later Lord Simon of Wythenshawe) in 1926. Simon donated the house and park to Manchester Corporation and sold the rest of the estate to Manchester for housing development. Though the park and Hall remained intact, the rest gradually turned into the vast Council estate of Wythenshawe.

The Hall today.

The Hall was severely damaged by arson in 2016. It has been restored, but although the park can be visited daily, the Hall itself is now only open on certain dates. It is well worth a visit if you have the chance. Wythenshawe Park is a stop on the Manchester Victoria to Manchester Airport tram route. This is probably the best public transport option for potential visitors.

Ghosts of the Hall. This link gives details of several ghosts allegedly present in the Hall and its surroundings.

(As an aside, the present author can claim two links to the Hall. His aunt was born a Tatton, and research traced her line back to the Robert Tatton who defended the Hall in the Civil War. Secondly, Lady Simon was a Governor of his school, and would sometimes visit it, though by that time Shena Simon was in her late 80s.)