Portal:Cheshire/Selected article/32



Little Moreton Hall is a moated half-timbered "black and white" manor house near Congleton. The earliest parts of the house were built for prosperous Cheshire landowner William Moreton in about 1504–08 on the site of a medieval building. The remainder was constructed in stages by successive generations of the family until about 1610. The house remained in the possession of the Moreton family for almost 450 years.

Highly irregular, with three asymmetrical ranges forming a small, rectangular cobbled courtyard, the house has been described as being "lifted straight from a fairy story, a gingerbread house". Its top-heavy appearance, "like a stranded Noah's Ark", is due to the Long Gallery that runs the length of the south range's upper floor. The building is listed at grade I, and the site is also a Scheduled Monument.

The house has been owned by the National Trust since 1938, and is open to the public. The gardens were recreated in the 20th century, and include a knot garden, planted to a 17th-century design.

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