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Title: Cragg Hall and Gardens - ALC05998
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Title
Cragg Hall and Gardens - ALC05998
Description
Old Cragg Hall still exists whereas new Cragg Hall shown here was destroyed by fire in August 1921.
The hall was the centre for many social events. It is interesting to note that Miss Clara Butt stayed at Cragg Hall when she sung at the Victoria Hall in Halifax. Henry Ainley the actor stayed there more than once. Melbourne Inman the billiard champion was also a guest. It is reported that on one occasion Mr Simpson Hinchliffe got him drunk and then had him a game of billiards. Afterwards he was always able to say he had beaten Inman at billiards. Thousands of public also enjoyed visits to the halls ornamental gardens. Sam Hellowell remembers visiting with other Sunday school Scholars at Whitsuntide to sing a few hymns at Cragg Hall. Afterwards they each received 3d and a piece of orange.
From Milltown Memories Issue 6 Winter 2003-4
A Tale of Two Halls - By Issy Shannon
Nearly three centuries separated the building two Upper Calder Valley homes - the first dating back to the Jacobean age and the second erected at the beginning of the 20th century.
Both have strange tales to tell - but only one has survived to the present day:
Old Cragg Hall is easy to miss, standing modestly on Cragg Road behind a curtain of trees.
Built in 1617, it is a splendid example of Elizabethan architecture and would have been one of the finest homesteads in the township of Erringden, in estate-agent speak of 50 years ago "boasting gables surmounted by stone balls, windows in the old diamond-shaped leads, while the quaint double-storeyed porch at one end and another porch between the two front windows add further distinction."
Little is known of its early history but it is reputed to have that one essential feature of any self-respecting ancient property - its very own ghost in the form of a servant girl, alleged to have been murdered in the porch chamber.
The murderer was said to be the son of the house and legend has it that she haunted the house for 40 years, the remaining span of her life had she lived.
The cynically-inclined, however, have always denied her existence, notably Sam Bentley, of Bolton Brow who, in the 19th century, it is said, often slept alone in the Hall when the owners were away. He declared he never saw a ghost and lived to be over 90! There were those, though, who would not have stayed at the Hall for love nor money.
The Hall also had associations with the notorious Cragg Vale Coiners, adding to its reputation for dark deeds.
It had fallen into serious disrepair when it was purchased by Mr Christopher Rawson, of Halifax, in the 1830s, who restored to it and used it as a shooting lodge. Mr Rawson was succeeded as owner-occupier by local manufacturer Mr Hinchliffe Hinchilffe, whose family were to build the impressive, but ill-fated, "new" Cragg Hall nearby.
Intended to be the most magnificent house ever seen in the area, the splendid mansion was to enjoy only a short reign, however, as the Valley's leading stately home.
Cragg Hall was erected in 1904 by Mr William Algernon Simpson-Hinchliffe and his wife Helen, who were nothing if not keen to impress the neighbours.
Elizabethan in style, local stone and labour were used in the building of what locals called the "lower" hall, to differentiate it from Old Cragg Hall, which stood on the well-wooded hillside above. But disaster struck on August 11, 1921, when fire broke out in the showpiece mansion.
According to press reports of the day, the delay in calling out the fire brigade contributed substantially to Cragg Hall being reduced to "a blackened ruin with a few gable ends sticking gauntly to the sky" within a matter of hours.
Mr Simpson-Hinchliffe had returned home at midnight and soon afterwards smelled burning. He immediately alerted two maids sleeping in the house and hurried them outside. By this time the upper rooms were full of dense smoke.
He then tried to ring the fire brigade in Halifax - "one can easily picture the galling anxiety of Mr Hinchliffe as he twirled the handle of the instrument, his treasured house burning fiercely at his back," the press sympathetically reported, but evidently the fire had put the phone out of action.
The chauffeur was sent by car to fetch help and the alarm bell rung, summoning estate workers, who came running to the scene. By then it was too late, however. The fire was burning fiercely, every room in the house engulfed in flames, and all that was saved from the conflagration were six dining room chairs.
By the time the fire brigade arrived Cragg Hall had virtually burned to the ground. Together with the furnishings, losses were estimated at £150,000. Also destroyed were the jewellery and furs which had belonged to the late Mrs Simpson-Hinchliffe; "the most poignant loss," noted the press.
Mr Simpson-Hinchliffe "struggled to face the situation with as bright a look as possible (but) it was possible to detect the grief as he gazed upon the remains of his home."
Cragg Hall estate was offered for sale six years later, then withdrawn, apart from Broadwood Cottage which was sold to the tenant. Mr Simpson-Hinchliffe moved to Wetherby Grange, North Yorkshire, and the estate was eventually purchased by Coun J. W. Sutcliffe, who lived at Old Cragg Hall until his death in 1953.
"New" Cragg Hall was rebuilt by Mr Philip Sutcliffe in 1959, the name having reverted simply to Cragg Hall as there was no longer any need to draw a distinction with its showy neighbour.
Part of the beautiful gardens still survive to this day, a reminder of a curiously ill-omened mansion that graced the Valley for less than 20 years but still lives on in romantic legend.
The hall was the centre for many social events. It is interesting to note that Miss Clara Butt stayed at Cragg Hall when she sung at the Victoria Hall in Halifax. Henry Ainley the actor stayed there more than once. Melbourne Inman the billiard champion was also a guest. It is reported that on one occasion Mr Simpson Hinchliffe got him drunk and then had him a game of billiards. Afterwards he was always able to say he had beaten Inman at billiards. Thousands of public also enjoyed visits to the halls ornamental gardens. Sam Hellowell remembers visiting with other Sunday school Scholars at Whitsuntide to sing a few hymns at Cragg Hall. Afterwards they each received 3d and a piece of orange.
From Milltown Memories Issue 6 Winter 2003-4
A Tale of Two Halls - By Issy Shannon
Nearly three centuries separated the building two Upper Calder Valley homes - the first dating back to the Jacobean age and the second erected at the beginning of the 20th century.
Both have strange tales to tell - but only one has survived to the present day:
Old Cragg Hall is easy to miss, standing modestly on Cragg Road behind a curtain of trees.
Built in 1617, it is a splendid example of Elizabethan architecture and would have been one of the finest homesteads in the township of Erringden, in estate-agent speak of 50 years ago "boasting gables surmounted by stone balls, windows in the old diamond-shaped leads, while the quaint double-storeyed porch at one end and another porch between the two front windows add further distinction."
Little is known of its early history but it is reputed to have that one essential feature of any self-respecting ancient property - its very own ghost in the form of a servant girl, alleged to have been murdered in the porch chamber.
The murderer was said to be the son of the house and legend has it that she haunted the house for 40 years, the remaining span of her life had she lived.
The cynically-inclined, however, have always denied her existence, notably Sam Bentley, of Bolton Brow who, in the 19th century, it is said, often slept alone in the Hall when the owners were away. He declared he never saw a ghost and lived to be over 90! There were those, though, who would not have stayed at the Hall for love nor money.
The Hall also had associations with the notorious Cragg Vale Coiners, adding to its reputation for dark deeds.
It had fallen into serious disrepair when it was purchased by Mr Christopher Rawson, of Halifax, in the 1830s, who restored to it and used it as a shooting lodge. Mr Rawson was succeeded as owner-occupier by local manufacturer Mr Hinchliffe Hinchilffe, whose family were to build the impressive, but ill-fated, "new" Cragg Hall nearby.
Intended to be the most magnificent house ever seen in the area, the splendid mansion was to enjoy only a short reign, however, as the Valley's leading stately home.
Cragg Hall was erected in 1904 by Mr William Algernon Simpson-Hinchliffe and his wife Helen, who were nothing if not keen to impress the neighbours.
Elizabethan in style, local stone and labour were used in the building of what locals called the "lower" hall, to differentiate it from Old Cragg Hall, which stood on the well-wooded hillside above. But disaster struck on August 11, 1921, when fire broke out in the showpiece mansion.
According to press reports of the day, the delay in calling out the fire brigade contributed substantially to Cragg Hall being reduced to "a blackened ruin with a few gable ends sticking gauntly to the sky" within a matter of hours.
Mr Simpson-Hinchliffe had returned home at midnight and soon afterwards smelled burning. He immediately alerted two maids sleeping in the house and hurried them outside. By this time the upper rooms were full of dense smoke.
He then tried to ring the fire brigade in Halifax - "one can easily picture the galling anxiety of Mr Hinchliffe as he twirled the handle of the instrument, his treasured house burning fiercely at his back," the press sympathetically reported, but evidently the fire had put the phone out of action.
The chauffeur was sent by car to fetch help and the alarm bell rung, summoning estate workers, who came running to the scene. By then it was too late, however. The fire was burning fiercely, every room in the house engulfed in flames, and all that was saved from the conflagration were six dining room chairs.
By the time the fire brigade arrived Cragg Hall had virtually burned to the ground. Together with the furnishings, losses were estimated at £150,000. Also destroyed were the jewellery and furs which had belonged to the late Mrs Simpson-Hinchliffe; "the most poignant loss," noted the press.
Mr Simpson-Hinchliffe "struggled to face the situation with as bright a look as possible (but) it was possible to detect the grief as he gazed upon the remains of his home."
Cragg Hall estate was offered for sale six years later, then withdrawn, apart from Broadwood Cottage which was sold to the tenant. Mr Simpson-Hinchliffe moved to Wetherby Grange, North Yorkshire, and the estate was eventually purchased by Coun J. W. Sutcliffe, who lived at Old Cragg Hall until his death in 1953.
"New" Cragg Hall was rebuilt by Mr Philip Sutcliffe in 1959, the name having reverted simply to Cragg Hall as there was no longer any need to draw a distinction with its showy neighbour.
Part of the beautiful gardens still survive to this day, a reminder of a curiously ill-omened mansion that graced the Valley for less than 20 years but still lives on in romantic legend.
Source
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
Date
No date yet
Rights
PHDA - Alice Longstaff Collection
Relation
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
Identifier
ALC05998.tif
Collection
Citation
“Cragg Hall and Gardens - ALC05998,” Pennine Horizons Digital Archive, accessed April 25, 2024, https://penninehorizons.org/items/show/17574.
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