Eccles Monk Hall

Eccles Monks Hall Museum Report

BUILT / CONVERTED: Estimated as far as 1200's. Reformed in 1660
DATES OF USE:
1200's: Unknown
1660 - 1662: Place of worship
1660 - 1836: Willis family took residence and ownership
1836: Farmhouse
Early 1900's - 1959: Farther and Son medical practise
1961 -1980'S: Museum
1997 - 2002: Restaurant 

CURRENT STATE: Severely damaged
CURRENT USE: Disused
Notable events: Large Fire
ADDRESS: 40 Wellington Road, Eccles, Greater Manchester



The Eccles monks hall is said to date back all the way through to the 1200's, with an amazing amount of history to the building. It was known to be a Tudor residence with modern additions. From the 1230s the monks of Whalley Abbey owned much of the land in Eccles, which could haven given the hall its name. Alternatively, in 1394 a 'Henry de Monks' was living in Eccles possibly with other family with the same surname which could possibly be where the name may have come from. Although this is still uncertain. The buildings comprehensive history is not officially recorded so not everything can be confirmed fully, the research into its history is an ongoing investigation which we plan to continue working on.  In 1960 the building is known to have become a place of worship, its ownership was signed over in 1962 to the Willis family, it then became a farmhouse in 1936. Later in the 19th century a doctor named Dr George Sidley and his sun DR I. M. Ridely took ownership of the building and turned it into a father-son medical centre. Once the Dr's decided to retire from practise the ownership was sold to the council for £7.155 with its furnishings left inside in 1959. It was then turned into a museum, the opening ceremony was held on the 6th of July 1861 by Lord Derby. The Museum gain allot of interest as it held exhibits like the Manchester united display which held trophies, medals and other items lent to the museum by Manchester United football club, locals recall seeing great grandfather clocks on display, local schools paintings and some famous paintings on display. The best attraction according to Jennifer Scott was the bee hive where you could see live bees creating honey through the glass. The building remained neglected after the museums closure for over a decade until a local business man named 'Grant Chapman' purchased the museum and turned it into a restaurant, which many locals can still remember the look of, which sadly closed in 2002. Since the restaurants closure the building has not been put to anymore uses and has been left to break away. Property developer Mark Hammond purchased the site with plans to turn it into flats with a further 24 flats at the rear area. Legal affairs with this are still ongoing and no work has been done on terms of this development yet, The building currently looks ready to collapse after years of decay, vandalism, water and fire damage. In 2016 a large fire broke out within the building, which saw 4 fire engines responding to the fire at 5am on the 20th of April 2016, The Manchester Evening News reported that the roof had collapsed and the fire was quite large when fire services arrived on scene, Once the fire had been tackled the damage turned the building into a complete state of disrepair and its structure became incredibly unstable, sheets and warnings had to be place over the front of the building and around its perimeter. It is said that nobody was inside the building although it was feared at first there might have been a rough sleeping inside which was later confirmed to be untrue.