The great feature of Saighton Grange is the gatehouse, a rare example in Cheshire of medieval secular stone architecture. By the end of the 15th century a heavy crenellated tower was no longer a defensive necessity, and the outline of the gatehouse is as much a picturesque as a practical device. High in a merlon of the battlements is a canopied figure of the Virgin, and below is a small decorative oriel window.

An appearance of strength comes from the way the walls are jettied out over massive angle corbels resting on Ranking buttresses. The tail arched gateway now leads to the front door of the Victorian house. What this door reveals comes as something of a shock.

Instead of a Tudor-style hall with heavy oak panelling and stone fireplace, the visitor enters an airy galleried room in the Regency style. To the left are two big Ionic doorcases with fluted half-columns, and directly ahead is an elegant semi-circular staircase illuminated by a shallow domed lantern. Closer examination of the staircase reveals that it is constructed of reinforced concrete, and indeed this whole classical interior dates only from 1957. The doorcase and the mahogany doors to the library, brought from Dauntsey Park near Chippenham, are the only genuine Neo-classical features. This transformation was carried out for the 4th Duke of Westminster who used Saighton Grange as his seat after Eaton Hall was abandoned. The architect was John Dennys, the 5th Duke’s brother-in-law, who was later to design the present Eaton Hall.

Though the creation of a grand entrance hall was an ambitious concept the shallowness of its classical detail does not bear close scrutiny. This weakness was less apparent when the house was richly furnished with the Grosvenor treasures, but in its present sparse condition the eve focuses too much on the architecture. The most appealing rooms are those within the medieval gatehouse. The first contains the little oriel window, and above is a tower room with a painted beam bearing the motto 'Ne cede malis sed contra audentior Ito'. This Victorian sentiment, 'Do not give way to difficulties but rather strive on boldly’, forms the motto of the school which now uses the house.

Aerial Photograph of the school
by Frank Thomas