Bricks and Chester

Now how are we going to mow the lawn?

Cycling along the back roads south of Chester on a Sunday morning - these are quiet roads at this time of the week all I seem to see are other bike riders scooting between the delightful villages. Many of these villages  are within the Duke of Westminster's Eaton Hall estate and are full of listed buildings - this row of cottages is at Aldford and I was rather taken with the audience of gnomes, small animals, etc., who populate the garden of the cottage in the middle. These buildings are better known for the decorative pargetting or plasterwork on the front of the upper storeys. Many of the cottages and churches in these villages were designed by John Douglas, a noted local architect, who was also responsible for many of the brick buildings in Chester plus many of the half timbered buildings which most people think are medieval but, in fact, some of them actually date from the mid 19th century.

Is it easier having teeth out in a nice building?

This is 6-11 Grosvenor Street, also built by Douglas, and the end building with the turret houses our dentist's surgery! Nicklaus Pevsner described this as "a brilliant group of brick houses." I'd started to write this post before the recent death of the Duke of Westminster, who was held in high regard by folk in these parts, and many of the works of John Douglas in Chester and the surrounding area were commissioned by the previous Dukes of Westminster.

Still on the subject of landed gentry, this is Abbeystead House, near Lancaster, which was owned by the Earl of Sefton and built by - guess who? John Douglas or more correctly the Chester firm of Douglas and Fordham! On the death of the 7th Earl of Sefton in 1972 and in the absence of any heirs the House was sold and in 1980 it was acquired by the then Duke of Westminster. And sadly this is where the 6th Duke died last week.

As a bit of a postscript the main residence of the Earls of Sefton was Croxteth Hall, which is in Liverpool and is also the venue for a Parkrun - so we'd better go and give it a go!