Having spent two days
touring filming locations of ‘The Irregulars’, it was time for some
locations from the Granada adaptations. Therefore, having checked out of my
hotel, I was again at Longton for the 8.28 train, this time alighting at
Stoke-on-Trent, and catching a train going to Manchester Piccadilly.
Alighting at Adlington
(Cheshire), I started on what I knew would probably be a ‘fools errand’,
walking the short distance to the drive down to Adlington Hall.
The Hall started life as a simple Saxon hunting lodge, a base for hunting by
Earl Edwin and his men, and was built around two great oaks, which still stand
today. During the Norman conquest, William the Conqueror threw Earl Edwin off
the land, and took the land into Norman hands. The Norman Earls held Adlington
for seven generations, until it passed to the crown in 1221. Henry III passed
it to Hugh de Corona, whose granddaughter, Ellen, married John de Legh. De
Corona bequeathed the estate to Ellen’s son, Robert. Five further Roberts
followed this first Robert de Legh. Thomas Legh built the Great Hall between
1480 and 1505. The rest of the house followed in the 1580s, overseen by
Thomas’s great-grandson, another Thomas Legh.
During the 1740s, Charles Legh transformed Adlington from a medium-sized
Tudor manor into a large Georgian house. He built a new West Wing, including a
ballroom occupying the full length of the first floor.
Unfortunately the Hall and Gardens were
currently closed to the public, but as they appeared in multiple Granada
dramatisations – ‘The
Solitary Cyclist’, ‘The
Speckled Band’,
‘The
Abbey Grange’,
‘The
Last Vampyre’, ‘The
Dying Detective’,
and ‘The
Golden Pince-Nez’, I was keen to see if I could get any photos of the Hall from the nearby lane.
Unfortunately, due to the curve of both drives to the Hall, this proved
impossible, with my only being able to take photos of outbuildings. [I will be keeping an eye out for any future open days]
I therefore made my way back to Adlington
Station, catching the next Manchester service, for a few more stops to
Stockport (where an emergency training exercise was taking place). Here after a
twenty minute wait, I caught a train to Disley.
Turning left out of the station, I walked
alongside the A6 for around fifteen minutes until I reached the entrance to
National Trust property, Lyme. The house was once home to the
Legh family and comprises a 1,400 acre estate with a medieval herd of red deer.
The mansion house was built and rebuilt, embellished and enlarged throughout
its ownership by the Legh family, with each generation making its mark and
creating the house as seen today. Its Library contains the Caxton Missal, the most valuable book owned by the National Trust. It is the earliest known printed book that bears the stamp of William Caxton, the father of British printing, and is the only near-complete copy of the liturgy of the mass according to the Sarum Rite (used before the Reformation) in existence.
The house is most famous for its
appearance as ‘Pemberley’ in the 1995 BBC dramatisation of ‘Pride
and Prejudice’,
starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. However, its Sherlockian credentials
are that it appeared in three separate Granada dramatisations.
I arrived just in time to catch the free
shuttle bus from the Admission Hut to the House, a journey of around a mile. On
my arrival, I handed over a voucher for free entry, and was given a house entry
ticket.
I spent around an hour wandering round
the many rooms, taking photos in all rooms, focusing on those that appeared on
screen. The first of these was the Drawing Room, the best preserved of the Elizabethan house, which appeared as the Duke of Holdernesse's study at Holdernesse Hall in ‘The
Priory School’, with its imposing stained glass windows. It was here that Holmes & Watson told the Duke the truth about his son's disappearance.
A little further along was the Saloon, the grandest of the rooms created by Giacomo Leoni, which was designed as a lavishly decorated receiving rooms for guests. This appeared as the private office of Lord Holdshurst in the Foreign Office, in ‘The
Naval Treaty’. It was here that Lord Holdhurst entrusted the titular treaty to his nephew, Percy Phleps, and where Holmes & Watson later met with him to discuss the theft of the treaty.
Walking up the impressive Grand Staircase, I found myself in the Long Gallery, which appeared as the hallway leading to the Duke's study in 'The Priory School'. As with several other rooms in the House, the ceiling contains bosses showing the severed arm of a Frenchman with a flag, commemorating the rescuing of the Black Prince's standard at the Battle of Crecy in 1346 by Sir Thomas Danyers, whose actions led to his being given the lands of Lyme Handley as thanks. Danyers granddaughter, Margaret, who inherited the land, married Sir Piers Legh I.
On exiting the House, after briefly visiting
a secondhand bookshop, the gift shop (where I bought a guidebook and some
postcards), and the Chapel (which featured in ‘Brideshead
Revisited’ (1981)), I made my way out to the Lake (famous for an emerging wet Colin
Firth), taking several photos of the House, which also appeared as the exterior of the Duke of Lomond’s country
house in ‘The
Three Gables’,
being where Holmes & Langdale Pike attend a grand party to see Isadora Klein, and where Klein to her annoyance later finds that pages are missing from the manuscript recovered from The Three Gables whilst standing on the rooftop balcony.
Exiting back through the main courtyard,
I made my way up a sharp incline to the top of a hill, and ‘The Cage’ which appears
as the folly at Mycroft’s country house in ‘The Irregulars – Episode 3:
Ipsissimus’.
Continuing along the top of the hill, and passing a large herd of deer, I
slowly made my down, ending up back at the Admissions Hut.
I retraced my steps
to Disley Station, catching my third Manchester Piccadilly train of the day,
but this time actually made it there.
Following signs at the station, I made my
way to Manchester Metrolink’s Yellow Line, catching a tram to Heaton Park. A very
short walk up Bury Old Road took me to my first point of interest – a giant
mural commemorating the late Victoria Wood. This was painted on the side
of the ‘Sword and Sparrow Tattoo Company’ on Bury Old Road, not far from where
she was born, in 2019. The mural is the work of acclaimed street artist
AkseP19, who is known for his photorealistic portraits of pop culture icons,
and was created as part of Prestwich Arts Festival.
Crossing the road, I
made my way into Heston Park, and after a fifteen minute walk found myself at Heaton Hall which appears
as the main clerks office of the Foreign Office in 'The
Naval Treaty’ and as part of Isadora Klein’s residence in ‘The Three
Gables’.
Unfortunately the Hall is only open a few days
per year, so I had to make do with photos of the outside.
Retracing my steps (and buying an ice lolly from a nearby ice cream van), I returned to Heaton Park
tram stop, continuing my journey into Bury. Here it was another short walk to
Church Gardens, and a bronze life sized statue of Victoria Wood unveiled on the 17th May 2019, created by Sculptor Graham Ibbeson.
The Committee who worked on the initiative of providing a permanent memorial
for Victoria Wood in her home town of Bury was made up members of Victoria’s
family, members of her Literary Estate and Bury Council. It was agreed that
Victoria Wood would be represented performing at one of her stand up shows,
with microphone in hand and wearing one of her iconic long jackets.
Returning to Bury Interchange, I caught the Metrolink Green Line to St. Peter’s Square, and Manchester Central Library, the exterior
of which appears in an establishing shot of ‘The
Parole Officer' (2001) [which is surprisingly true to life],
which also showed Manchester Metrolink tram No. 2001 (luckily a tram passed by at exactly that moment).
However, my destination
was the impressive Wolfson Reading Room inside which appears as the circle room in the
London Library with a round oculus skylight at the top, in ‘The Irregulars’ Chapter
7: ‘The Ecstasy of Death’.
On my way out, I passed the hands from Manchester
Town Hall (visited in a previous sojourn), whilst the Town Hall was under repair.
A short walk away was my hotel, just off Canal
Street. Having dumped my excess baggage, I made my way out again, for my
evening’s entertainment at HOME Arts Centre – a stage
version of the film ‘I,
Daniel Blake’, starring David Nellist (Mike Stamford in ‘Sherlock: A Study in Pink’ & ‘Sherlock: The Abominable Bride’) and Mischief Theatre’s
Bryony Corrigan. The play was very moving, with the audience as one standing to
applaud at the end.
Waiting outside the theatre, I was able to briefly
meet ‘Stamford’, emotionally tired from his bravura performance. However, he
still stopped to sign a photo of Mike and John, and posed for a selfie.
Walking back to my room, I mused on a very busy day.
Having watched an episode of ‘Law & Order UK’, I retired for the
night, to be ready for the final day of this mega sojourn.
