Tatton Park
Tatton Park is a historic estate in Cheshire, England, north of the town of Knutsford.
Since 1999, it has hosted North West England's annual Royal Horticultural Society flower show.
The settlement is now a Deserted medieval village but its buildings and roadways – which are now a scheduled monument – can still be seen as imprints within the estate's parkland.
[1] By the end of the 15th century, the land on which the estate was created was owned by the Stanley family who built and occupied what became known as the Old Hall.
In 1598 the estate was bought by Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Chancellor of England, from his half sister Dorothy Brereton.
[3] At the end of the 17th century the estate was owned by John Egerton, Sir Thomas' grandson, who built a new house on the site of the present mansion, some 0.75 miles (1 km) to the west of the Old Hall.
During the late 19th century large house parties were held in the hall, some of them attended by British and foreign royalty.
[9] One room is dedicated to a collection of items from around the world assembled by the last owner of the house, Maurice Egerton.
On 6 July 1940, Squadron Leader Louis Strange approached his pre-World War I fellow aviator and friend Maurice Egerton to ask for his co-operation in granting permission for the Royal Air Force to use his estate for this most important wartime purpose.
Lord Egerton readily agreed to the proposal and the first live test jumps from aircraft were made on 13 July by RAF parachuting instructors.
[15] Between 1940 and early 1946, approximately 60,000 trainees from the United Kingdom and several European countries, including Special agents made their first training drops from cages suspended from Barrage balloons over an open area to the northwest of the hall.
After their initial drops from the balloons, the trainees then boarded aircraft at Ringway for the short flight to overhead Tatton Park, where they jumped in batches of ten, and later twenty, from approximately 800 feet.
[16] A free-standing stone memorial to Tatton Park's major wartime role in parachute training is located at the far edge of the dropping zone, about 0.6 miles (970 m) to the NW of the hall.
In his will, the last Lord Egerton left the house to the National Trust and gave them the park in lieu of death duties.
However, as the estate itself was sold by his executors, Cheshire County Council committed to a 99-year lease in place of an endowment to ensure that it was preserved for the benefit of the nation.
[21] This garden was restored in the 2000s,[22] and grows varieties of fruit and vegetables which were grown at Tatton in the Edwardian era.
The plants, rocks and stones in the garden are arranged to give a natural balance and a mound has been built to resemble Mount Fuji.
[35] The parkland is listed as Grade II* in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.
Flanking the central arch are Doric columns carrying an entablature with a triglyph frieze, and a pediment surmounted by heavy acroteria.
