The former Town Hall and Market Hall dated 1871, is now the premises of The Lost & Found pub, located on Princess Street in the centre of Knutsford.
The Grade II listed building was designed by the architect Alfred Waterhouse and built in 1871. It was financed by the Egerton family of Tatton Hall who were Lords of the Manor. The relief Egerton Coat of Arms can be seen below the date on the front of building.
The buildings last use under the Egerton family was as a boy’s club.
The description given by British Listed Buildings reads as follows;
"SJ7478 TOFT ROAD
792-1/3/109 (East side)
15/01/74 Former Town Hall
GV II
Town hall, now in commercial use. 1871. Alfred Waterhouse. Red
brick with blue brick dressings and plain tiled roof with
scalloped bands and ridge cresting. Main range and lower
staircase block to NW, parallel rear range.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with attic. arcaded ground floor of 5
bays, with blue brick squat cylindrical columns on red brick
bases and with red brick stiff-leaf capitals. Projecting
gabled entrance porch to the left, with deeply moulded arched
entrance. Blue brick bands and rosette frieze to ground floor,
upper 3-light Gothic windows with blind terracotta panels with
interlace decoration below, and terracotta hoodmoulds. Arms in
low relief panels each side. Triangular corbelled eaves
cornice. 3 gabled dormers in the roof, with quatrefoil lights
and decorative brick cornice. Leaded spirelet to roof.
Staircase block to left, with stepped windows to stair.
Parallel rear range presumably built to house offices, of 3
storeys, with subsidiary entrance tower at SW angle. Axial and
end stacks.
INTERIOR: lofty main hall at upper level, with cambered
trusses to roof, braced with wrought-iron ties. Panelled
gallery projects from north wall, carried on paired struts.
Stone staircase with heavy newels and wrought-iron rails.
Listing NGR: SJ75173785402
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The Egertons of Tatton Park
Sir Thomas Egerton
Tatton Park had been in the ownership of the Egerton family from 1598 when it was bought by Sir Thomas Egerton of Ashridge estate in Hertfordshire from his half sister Dorothy Brereton. Sir Thomas (c.1540–1617) had served in senior office at the court of Queen Elizabeth I and in 1603 became Lord Chancellor of England in the reign of King James I. Tatton became the home of a junior branch of the Egerton family, at the head of which were the Earls and Dukes of Bridgewater.
During the time of Sir Thomas’s ownership of the estate the principal house was the medieval Old Hall which was let to tenants. It was not until the end of the 17th century that John Egerton (1679-1724), great-great grandson of Sir Thomas, came to inhabit the estate. It was John who built the first house on the site of the present Mansion around 1716.
The Egertons continued in their ownership, despite serious financial difficulties in the early 18th century when Elizabeth Egerton (née Barbour), her husband having died at 45 and her oldest son dying prematurely at the age of only 28, was forced to contemplate the sale of the estate.
In 1758 Elizabeth’s son, Samuel, was to inherit a legacy so large, that it was to secure the future of Tatton Park for the next 200 years. During the 19th century Tatton flourished, reaching the height of its status during the ownership of
Wilbraham Egerton in the late Victorian period.
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Coat of Arms Description:
Arms: Argent a Lion rampant Gules between three Pheons Sable.
Crest: On a Chapeau Gules turned up Ermine a Lion rampant of the first supporting an Arrow Or feathered and headed Argent.
Supporters: Dexter: a Horse Argent ducally gorged Or; Sinister: a Griffin Or ducally gorged Azure.
Motto: Sic Donec (Thus until).
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