Hopwood Hall

Hopwood Hall is a Grade II* listed historic house in Middleton, Greater Manchester, England, which was the ancestral country home of the landed gentry family of Hopwood who held it from the 12th century, passing to the Gregge family, originally of Bradley Hall (later Gregge-Hopwood, then after dropping the Gregge, only Hopwood) and remaining in their possession until it was closed up in 1922. The hall was sold in 1946 and, after a series of temporary residents, by the 1980s it had fallen into disrepair. Since 2018 the hall has undergone elements of restoration funded by Historic England and Rochdale Council, which owns the building. In 2017 an option agreement to acquire ownership and a limited licence to occupy was granted by the council to Hopwood DePree, an American actor who is descended from the Hopwoods through John Hopwood (1745–1802). In October 2024, the council opted not to renew the agreement with DePree, who is now disputing the case in court. Hopwood Hall was founded as a moated site. Later the property had pleasure grounds and an extensive park with scattered woods. Features in the grounds included a kitchen garden, ice house, ha-ha, Italian garden, fountain, corn mill and small cross-shaped bower or grotto. Hopwood Hall also gives its name to an electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale and to Hopwood Hall College, a further-education college with a campus within the original estate grounds.