Boudicca has town connections

10:31am Friday 14th March 2008

IF I were to ask many adults in Macclesfield if they had heard of the sculptors Michaelangelo and Henry Moore, I am certain the vast majority of them would say: "Of course".

If I mentioned Thomas Thornycroft, I think the vast majority would say: "No", or: "Who is he?" On the other hand, asking the latter if they knew of, or had seen the excellent group on Westminster Embankment representing Boudicca and her daughters, charging along in their chariot, there is little doubt the answer would be "Yes".

The original sculpture was created by Thornycroft, but it was not until 1902, with financial help from one of his sons, that it was finally cast in bronze and placed there. What has this to do with Macclesfield? Everything!

It never fails to amaze me how many famous or important people in their day had connections with the town, and this is yet another fascinating story. It began when I was recently asked to help with the identification of two marble busts in West Park Museum. One still remains unknown, but the other has turned out to be that of a very interesting character who deserves notice.

The two are the products of Thomas Thornycroft and, apart from his name, one is clearly incised with the subject's name and a date of 1837. The one of unknown identification additionally bears only the date of 1852.

First I shall introduce the sculptor. Thomas was born May 19, 1815, and baptised in Gawsworth Church on June 16, 1815, just two days before Wellington, with the aid of the Prussian field-marshal, Blücher, defeated Napoleon's army on the battlefield of Waterloo. A new era was about to begin, and not all for the better.

The family had lived in Prestbury parish around the small hamlets of Gawsworth, Marton and Siddington, situated to the southwest of Macclesfield and north of Congleton, for many centuries.

The first recorded ancestor was Hamo de Thornicroft whose grandson Richard was living in Pexhull (Pexhill, now part of Macclesfield's ever expanding outskirts) in 1361. It was not until the 17th century that minor branches of the main line of inheritance appear. By then many had intermarried with important local families such as the Swettenhams, Downes and Stanleys. A London branch could boast of two barristers-at-law, one of whom became a baronet in Oxfordshire.

The main line ceased with the death of Edward Thornycroft in January 1817. His residence was Thornycroft Hall, which he owned together with a large area of surrounding land. The 18th century hall and its land were willed to his two sisters as life tenants, after which it passed to his dear friend, the Rev Charles Mytton.

The last sister died in 1831 and, in order to claim his inheritance, Rev Mytton of Eccleston was compelled to take the name of Thornycroft and their coat of arms; this he did. He immediately set about altering the hall to suit his own requirements, leaving it much as it is today. However, it seems to have been let, because in 1843 a George Ravenscroft was living there.

After a period of abandonment, it was bought in 1950 by a group of Roman Catholic nuns: the Palotti sisters. They were originally from Germany, and initially had settled near Rochdale in Lancashire, where they ran a children's home. This establishment they moved to Gawsworth when they bought the property and renamed it Palotti Hall. By 1979 they had taken on a new role as proprietors of a retirement home in Macclesfield, known as Park Mount. The old Park Mount was demolished, and a purpose built retirement home was built on the site, which still functions admirably today, and still retains its old name.

With new ownership the Gawsworth property reverted to its traditional name of Thornycroft. It is surprising that Edward had not left it to other family members, but by that time they were such distant cousins, that the kinship was probably too far removed to be important to him, despite the fact that Thornycrofts still lived and farmed Great Tidnock Farm, a large tenanted holding immediately on Thornycroft Hall's southern boundary. The farmhouse itself was only two miles distant from the hall, but the estate belonged, like many other holdings in the area, to the Earl of Harrington.

These Thornycrofts were, in effect, the poor relations, one of whom had been Thomas's father John.

TO BE CONTINUED.

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