The College

History of Saighton Grange

Saighton Grange was the principal country house of the Abbots of Chester. Before the Conquest the manor of Saighton was held by the secular canons of St Werburgh, Chester.

In 1092 Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, transformed their church into the Benedictine Abbey of St Werburgh and Saighton became part of the abbey holdings. Licences to crenellate were granted in 1272 and 1399, but the only part of the medieval building which remains today was actually built later; this is the gatehouse erected by Abbot Simon Ripley about 1490. Ripley was an energetic builder who brought new impetus to the works at the abbey church, completing the reconstruction of the south transept and the central tower.

At Saighton his emblem, a wolf’s head, is carved at the base of the oriel window; this symbol is reflected now in the Abbey Gate College badge. Upon the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII the abbey became part of Chester Cathedral and the abbey lands were divided. The manor of Saighton passed through many hands before it was purchased in the 1840s by the Grosvenor family, owners of the huge neighbouring Eaton estate.
The 2nd Marques of Westminster was at this time modernising Eaton Hall, employing William Burn to tackle some of its considerable practical problems. To improve Saighton (which was for the heir to Eaton, Earl Grosvenor) the Marques chose Edward Hodkinson, a local architect.

Apart from the medieval gatehouse, all was rebuilt. Two 17th-century Ranking wings recorded in an engraving in Ormerod, one with the remains of a garderobe, were demolished, and the gatehouse became the porch to an entirely Victorian house. The west wing was begun in 1861, the service wing in 1867 and the east wing in 1876. In the meantime the 3rd Marques had commissioned Alfred Waterhouse, one of the most progressive architects of his day, to remodel his seat; the mechanical and unscholarly Tudor of Saighton must have looked completely outmoded in comparison.

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  jetty 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 is surprising...
 ?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 door cases 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 door case 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 rather than the trappings of a school.

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.

'Audentior Ito'