{{Short description|Historic manor house in Merseyside, England}} {{For|the manor in Buckinghamshire|Thornton, Buckinghamshire}} {{Use British English|date=July 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox building |name = Thornton Manor |image = Thornton Manor.jpeg |image_size = |caption = Thornton Manor main front |location = [[Thornton Hough]], [[Wirral Peninsula|Wirral]], [[Merseyside]], England |pushpin_map = Merseyside |map_caption = Location in Merseyside |coordinates = {{coord|53.3276|-3.0519|region:GB_type:landmark|display=inline,title}} |architect = {{Plainlist| * Jonathan Simpson * [[John Douglas (English architect)#Douglas & Fordham (1884–98)|Douglas & Fordham]] * J. J. Talbot * [[George Enoch Grayson|Grayson]] and [[Edward Ould|Ould]] * J. Lomax-Simpson }} |architectural_style = [[Elizabethan architecture|Elizabethan]] style |years_built = Mid-19th century |renovation_date = {{circa|1896}}, 1913 (rebuilt) |client = Charles William Potts<br />[[William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme|William Lever]] |designations = {{Designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = Grade II* Listed Building | designation1_offname = Thornton Manor | designation1_date = 2 December 1986 | designation1_number = {{NHLE|num=1075420|short=y|postscript=none}} }} }}
'''Thornton Manor''' is a large [[English country house|country house]] in the village of [[Thornton Hough]], [[Wirral Peninsula|Wirral]], Merseyside, England. It is recorded in the [[National Heritage List for England]] as a [[Grade II* listed]] building.<ref name="images">{{NHLE |num=1075420 |desc=Thornton Manor |access-date=20 July 2012 |mode=cs2}}</ref> The house was built in the middle of the 19th century, and has been altered and extended in a number of phases since. From 1888 until the end of the 20th century, the house was occupied by the [[Viscount Leverhulme|Viscounts Leverhulme]].
==History== The land on which the house stands was originally owned by the [[Mostyn Baronets|Mostyn]] family of North Wales. The land was bought in 1849 by Charles William Potts, a solicitor. It is thought that he built the house, but there is no evidence that he lived there. In 1863 Potts sold the house and land to Thomas Brittain Forwood, a businessman who died in 1884. His son, Sir William Forwood, chairman of [[Liverpool Overhead Railway]], let the house in 1888 to [[William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme|William Lever]] (later 1st [[Viscount Leverhulme]]), builder of the soap factory and [[model village]] at [[Port Sunlight]].
===Leverhulme era=== Thornton Manor became the home of the [[Viscount Leverhulme|Viscounts Leverhulme]]. William Lever bought the house in 1893 and lived there from 1888 until 1919, retaining ownership until his death in 1925. Lever started on a series of alterations and additions soon after his purchase.<ref name="hist">{{Citation |last=Hunter |first=Gavin |title=History |url=http://www.thorntonmanor.co.uk/history/ |year=2009 |publication-place=Thornton Hough |publisher=Thornton Manor |access-date=13 November 2009}}</ref> The architect Jonathan Simpson made some minor alterations, but the first major work was designed by the [[Chester]] firm [[Douglas and Fordham]] in about 1896.<ref name="pev">{{Citation |last1=Hartwell |first1=Clare |title=Cheshire |pages=634–635 |year=2011 |orig-year=1971 |series=The Buildings of England |place=New Haven and London |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-17043-6 |last2=Hyde |first2=Matthew |last3=Hubbard |first3=Edward |last4=Pevsner |first4=Nikolaus |author-link3=Edward Hubbard (architectural historian) |author-link4=Nikolaus Pevsner}}</ref> This constituted the main block of the house and was in [[Elizabethan architecture|Elizabethan]] style.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Work of John Douglas |last=Hubbard |first=Edward |publisher=[[The Victorian Society]] |year=1991 |isbn=0-901657-16-6 |location=London |page=170 |author-link=Edward Hubbard (architectural historian)}}</ref>
In 1899 stables designed by J. J. Talbot were built; and around this time a kitchen and service quarters designed by [[George Enoch Grayson|Grayson]] and [[Edward Ould|Ould]] were added.<ref name=pev/> In 1902 a music room followed,<ref name=hist/> also designed by Talbot, and this formed a new block to the northeast of the main block.<ref name=pev/> The work on the music room was carried out by [[H.H. Martyn & Co.]] Two years later a temporary ballroom was built, which was later converted into a swimming pool. A porch was added to the south front in 1906, changing the main entrance to the house from the west to the south.<ref name=hist/> A gatehouse designed by J. Lomax-Simpson was built in 1910; the base of this is in stone and its upper part is [[timber framing|half-timbered]].<ref name=pev/>
A major reconstruction of the house took place in 1913, when Elizabethan-style wings were added to its west side;<ref name=hist/> Lomax-Simpson was again the architect. In the process of the reconstruction, most of the work designed by Douglas and Fordham was demolished, leaving only two shaped [[gable]]s and semicircular [[bay window]]s. Plans for further enlargement of the house were prepared by Lomax-Simpson, but these were not carried out because of the outbreak of the First World War.<ref name=pev/> [[William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme|The 1st Viscount Leverhulme]] died in May 1925 and the house was inherited by his son, [[William Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme|William, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme]]. He died in May 1949 and the house passed to his son, [[Philip Lever, 3rd Viscount Leverhulme|Philip, 3rd Viscount Leverhulme]]. Lord Leverhulme died in July 2000, and, the following year, the house was sold with planning permission to convert it into a hotel. The sale of the house contents in 2001 broke the UK record by raising £10 million.<ref name="BBC">{{Cite news |url= https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1411892.stm |title=Treasure sale breaks UK auction record |publisher=BBC News |date=28 June 2001 |access-date=22 September 2014 |mode=cs2}}</ref><ref name=hist/>
==Architecture== The house is built in stone with [[slate]] roofs. It has three storeys and an irregular plan. The entrance front faces southwest and has protruding wings on both sides. Behind the house, at an angle towards the northeast, is the wing containing the music room. The windows are [[mullion]]ed and a number of them are in [[Cant (architecture)|canted]], two-storey bays. The stables extend to the northwest.<ref name=images/>
==Grounds== The park was first laid out during Forwood's ownership. It included paths, a small [[summer house]] and a bridge.<ref name=images/> The gardens as they are now were planned by [[Thomas Hayton Mawson|Thomas H. Mawson]] and the 1st Viscount. The kitchen garden contains a [[loggia]] dated 1912, and there is another loggia to the southeast of the house; both were designed by Lomax-Simpson. To the northeast of the house is a structure known as ''The Lookout'', which was designed in 1896 by Douglas and Fordham. A lake lies to the west of the house. A system of tree-lined [[Avenue (landscape)|avenues]] was laid out in 1912–14 by Lomax-Simpson, and has a total length of about {{convert|5|mi|km|0}}.<ref name=pev/>
==Present day== The manor house is now privately owned and is available to hire for weddings and events.<ref>{{Citation |title=Thornton Manor Weddings & Conferences |url=http://www.thorntonmanor.co.uk/ |publisher=Thornton Manor |access-date=13 November 2009}}</ref>
[[British Prime Minister]] [[Boris Johnson]] and Irish [[Taoiseach]] [[Leo Varadkar]] held private talks at Thornton Manor on 10 October 2019 in relation to [[Brexit]].<ref name="Bojo">{{Cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/10/boris-johnson-and-leo-varadkar-say-they-see-pathway-to-brexit-deal |title=Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar say they 'see pathway' to Brexit deal |date=10 October 2019 |work=The Guardian |location= London |access-date=10 October 2019|mode=cs2}}</ref>
On the evening of 5 February 2022, a substantial fire took hold in the main building, requiring the attendance of eight fire engines.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.birkenhead.news/major-fire-at-thornton-hough/ |title=Major fire at Thornton Hough |date=6 February 2022 |work=Birkenhead News |location= Wirral |access-date=6 February 2022 |mode=cs2}}</ref>
==See also== * [[Grade II* listed buildings in Merseyside]] * [[List of houses and associated buildings by John Douglas]] * [[List of works by Grayson and Ould]] * [[Listed buildings in Thornton Hough]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1913 establishments in England]] [[Category:Country houses in Merseyside]] [[Category:Grade II* listed houses in Merseyside]] [[Category:Hotels in Merseyside]] [[Category:Houses completed in 1913]] [[Category:John Douglas buildings]] [[Category:Country house hotels]] [[Category:2022 fires in Europe]]