Atherton Hall, Leigh

Atherton Hall was a country house and estate in Atherton historically a part of Lancashire, England. The hall was built between 1723 and 1742 and demolished in 1824. In 1894 this part of Atherton was incorporated into Leigh, Greater Manchester. Christopher Saxton's map shows there was a medieval deer park here in the time of Elizabeth I.

Atherton Hall replaced the moated Lodge Hall as the seat of the Athertons who had been lords of the manor of Atherton since the township emerged in the Middle Ages. In 1723, Richard Vernon Atherton, "Mad Richard", began building a new mansion to designs by William Wakefield at a cost of £63,000. (equivalent to £2,400,000 in 2015), The hall's construction was described by Lunn as, "A testimony to his pride, vanity and insanity". It was unfinished at the time of Richard Atherton's death in 1726 and completed by his son-in-law Robert Gwillym in 1743.

The hall's façade was 102 feet wide supported by Ionic fluted pillars and pilasters. Its Great Hall measured 36 feet by 45 feet. The hall is described in "Vitruvius Britannicus" vol.iii p. 89.

The Atherton family's long association with the township ended with Richard Atherton's death in 1726. His daughter Elizabeth Atherton married Robert Gwillym who completed the hall. Their son Robert Vernon Atherton married Henrietta Maria Legh. They had five children; their sons died young, the second daughter Elizabeth married her cousin George Anthony Legh Keck of Bank Hall and a third daughter, Esther, married John Hornby, rector of Winwick. Their eldest daughter, Henrietta Maria Atherton, married Thomas Powys, 2nd Baron Lilford. His father was ennobled by Pitt the Younger in 1797, taking the title of Baron Lilford. Thomas Powys, 2nd Baron Lilford, left his estates to his son, Thomas Atherton Powys.

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