Description

SOUTHPORT

SD31NE BOTANIC ROAD, Churchtown
664-1/2/303 (South side (off))
15/07/98 Shippon at Meols Hall

GV II

Shippon or cowshed. 1951. By Roger Fleetwood Hesketh, an
amateur architect, for himself. Brick with stone dressings and
quoins, stone slate roofs.
PLAN/EXTERIOR: symmetrical tripartite composition, with
2-storey centrepiece and four-bay wings terminating in
single-storey end pavilions.
Eastern elevation to farmyard has folding doors in stone
architrave in stone surrounds with fanlight and keystone.
Square sash windows with small panes in stone architraves to
first floor.
Wings have 3-bay square arcades with square piers complete
with small capitals, leading to single-storey end pavilions
with stable doors and toplights. Western elevation to park is
a symmetrical composition with small rectangular windows, and
a centrepiece mirroring that of farmyard elevation, save that
there are double doors under the fanlight and that neither has
a stone surround.
HISTORY: Meols Hall was the Hesketh family home until the C18,
when the then Roger Hesketh married Margaret Fleetwood,
heiress of Rossall, and the latter became the family home. It
was only in 1938 that it was reoccupied by the Heskeths, when
the amateur architect Roger Hesketh fulfilled a lifetime's
ambition. Hesketh and his brother Peter both studied at the
Architectural Association, and had travelled extensively
looking at architecture. While Peter Fleetwood Hesketh became
a noted architectural writer, his older brother enjoyed a
military and political career and it was only when he left the
House of Commons in 1959 that work on the house commenced. The
Shippon was a foretaste of what was to come, an entirely new
building designed for his herd of Jersey cows.
The Shippon is a remarkably accomplished essay in the
Palladian style, unique for its date. Hesketh detailed it with
simplicity and conviction and it forms a fine complement to
the listed house and farmbuildings around it.
(Robinson JM: The Latest Country Houses: London: 1951-:
180-2).

Listing NGR: SD3649218270

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26659809

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability