Eaton Hall, Cheshire

A new house was built but its design was not considered to be sympathetic to the local landscape, and in the late 1980s it was re-cased and given the appearance of a French château.

He inherited the estate at the age of 8 when he succeeded his grandfather, Sir Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Baronet, who died in 1665.

[2][4] The previous house was encased and surrounded by "every possible permutation of the gothic style";[5] including turrets, pinnacles, arched windows, octagonal towers, and buttresses (both regular and flying).

A critic found it "the most gaudy concern I ever saw" and "a vast pile of mongrel gothic which ... is a monument of wealth, ignorance and bad taste".

[7] Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster, succeeded his father in 1845 and commissioned the Scottish architect William Burn to make alterations to the house.

Burn raised the centre of the south front to make it look like a tower, and changed some of the external Gothic features.

[12] Pevsner wrote that it "was an outstanding expression of High Victorian originality", and added "this Wagnerian palace was the most ambitious instance of Gothic Revival domestic architecture anywhere in the country".

[13] In 1902 the 2nd Duke gave the large alabaster, porphyry and green serpentine chimneypiece from the Ante-Drawing Room as a wedding present to his sister Lettice, Countess Beauchamp.

[14] In 1910 it was carefully dismantled and re-erected at her house, Madresfield Court, Malvern, by the architect Randall Wells, to become the focus of his new top-lit Staircase Hall, where it survives.

It moved back to Dartmouth in 1946, after which the hall was used as an officer cadet training unit until the end of National Service in 1958.

In 1963 Gerald Grosvenor, 4th Duke of Westminster, decided to demolish the main part of the Waterhouse building and the private wing whilst retaining the chapel, clock tower and stables.

The decorative scheme of the interior of the chapel is based on the 'Te Deum'; it involves stained glass and stone mosaic, and was developed by Frederic Shields.

The west range has a half-timbered upper storey with two gables, and a central gatehouse with turrets which are polygonal at the base and circular higher up and have conical roofs.

[38] In the 17th century, formal gardens were created around the Samwell Hall; these included such features as parterres and canals.

[39] However they were costly to maintain, and in the later part of the 18th century fashions changed to favour a more informal type of garden layout.

[41] Although one of Brown's documents dated 1764 shows that payment was made to him by the estate, it also notes that a plan for the garden had been drawn up by William Emes.

The present kitchen garden was created the same year; this provided the food not only for the hall, but also for Grosvenor House in London.

Waterhouse created a grotto between the chapel and the stable yard, and designed the Parrot House and a loggia (now known as the Temple).

[47] During the Second World War, part of the parkland was requisitioned as an airfield, and in 1940 some of the garden buildings were damaged by a cluster of incendiary devices.

[51] The retaining walls of this pool are listed at Grade II,[54] as are the railings on the north and the south side of the terrace.

[70] To the north of the Tea House, on the path leading to the Broad Walk, is a pair of wrought iron gates made in 1913 for the 2nd Duke.

[82] The other listed building in the gardens is a large stone urn on the east side of the Fish Pool dating from about 1880.

This is richly carved, is 10 feet (3 m) high, and stands on a circular pedestal which forms the final feature of the eastern view from the hall.

[84] Belgrave Avenue, some 1.75 miles (3 km) long, is a straight drive which leads from the Wrexham Road (B5445) to the Golden Gates and the forecourt on the east of the hall.

It is built in red bricks with yellow stone plinths, bands and other dressings and is listed at Grade II.

[85] The associated lodge gates, piers and wing walls were designed at the same time by Douglas and are also listed at Grade II.

[87] Further along the avenue is a Grade II listed obelisk in red sandstone with a copper cap, dated 1890, designed by Douglas and Fordham.

[91] On the approach, near the Dutch Tea Garden are gates with an overthrow, and piers dating from about 1870 in Classic Revival style, listed at Grade II.

Of these, the major structure is Eccleston Hill Lodge which was designed in 1881–82 by Douglas for the 1st Duke and is listed at Grade II*.

[113] In the garden, the Parrot House contains an exhibition of paintings by the Victorian artist Henry Stacy Marks.