Capesthorne Hall is set in 100 acres of picturesque Cheshire countryside. A magnificent property containing between it's walls nearly 1,000 years of English History!

Driving along the A34 between Alderley Edge and Congleton one can not help and notice the remarkable sight of Capesthorne Hall nestled across the Cheshire fields. Its distinctive facade protrudes from enchantingly through the trees surrounding this picturesque estate.

Roman legions passed through it's lands, titled Norman families hunted on it's terrain, and during the Civil War, a Royalist ancestress aided Charles II to escape after the Battle of Worcester.

The Jacobean-style Hall dates from 1719. It was originally designed by the Smiths of Warwick. The property has fine collections from various parts of the Globe including Europe, America and the Far East.

These collections include amongst others fine art, marble sculptures, furniture, tapestries and antiques.

The property was altered by Edward Blore in 1837. The oldest part of the current house is a Georgian building of 1722, part of which still survives at the back. Edward Blore considerably enlarged and altered this part of the house.
Several years later in 1861 came the disastrous fire that destroyed a large part of the house and led to the rebuilding of the entire center portion. It was Anothony Salvin that undertook this great work. Capesthorne is thus a showpiece of two generations of architects who developed the same theme.

The current Squire is Sir William Bromley Davenport, Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire. His family has governed the estate since Domesday times when they were apponited custodians of the Royal Forest of Macclesfield. Along with his American wife Miss Elizabeth, they are the latest of eight generations to live on the Capesthorne Estate.

The Bromley-Davenports can trace their descendency in an uninterrupted male line to Ormus de Davenporte. He was a Saxon that lived during the era of the Norman Conquest.

The family crest is a felon's head with a halter of gold around his neck. It served to denote the power of life and death without trial or appeal.

On a closer look around the property one can see the thief's head still carved in stone on many of the farms and cottages of the estate. As well as on the courtyard gates and on the walls of the house itself.

The driveway provides a breath-taking entrance to Capesthorne Hall with it's immense facade which is even longer than Buckingham Palace.

On finally reaching the property and stepping through it's doors one can only feel that one has stepped back centuries in English History and grateful that the Bromley-Davenports have kept a close link with their ancestors and past for all visitors to admire.