Abney Hall

Abney Hall is a Victorian house surrounded by a park in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, England, (grid reference SJ85958923) built in 1847.

It was originally called 'The Grove' after the print works and was going to have been the home of a mayor of Stockport, Alfred Orell, but he died in the year of its completion.

However, the work by Travis and Magnall was hardly complete, when James Watts was inspired to engage the architect and designer A. W. N. Pugin and his colleagues, who had created the Gothic Court at the 1851 Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace, to make further substantial alterations.

[2] In the 1890s, Abney Hall was further altered and substantially extended by the architect and interior designer George Faulkner Armitage (1849–1937).

[4] During filming for BBC drama series Our Zoo in April 2014, flagstones surrounding Abney Hall were accidentally damaged.

Vanessa Wagstaff writes, Abney became Agatha's greatest inspiration for country-house life, with all the servants and grandeur which have been woven into her plots.

Abney Hall 1913
Sir James Watts' great grandson, James Watts , was the last private owner of Abney Hall and the only nephew of Agatha Christie . He was elected as Member of Parliament in 1959, but died in office two years later, aged 57.
The Terrace Room, 1913
Wetlands in the grounds of Abney Hall