Over 400 years of history
History of Toft Estate
From a 17th-century farmhouse to a Grade II listed manor, lovingly rescued from ruin in the Staffordshire Moorlands.
Grade II listed · 17th-century origins · Restored from 1996 · Heaton, Staffordshire Moorlands
History in the making
A house with over 400 years of stories
Nobody knows exactly when Toft Hall was built, but an Ellen Toft was living locally in the late 1500s and early 1600s. That’s also when historic house experts believe the house was built. Back then it was known as Tofthall Farm.
Today Toft Hall is a Grade II listed building. Historic England describes it as a 17th-century house with 18th-century alterations and mid-19th-century additions, built of coursed stone under a stone slate roof, with a hall range, a large parlour cross wing and a rear wing.
It has always been a family home, and as you walk through it, it’s easy to imagine everyone who has lived here before.
Toft Hall in the early 1950s
Timeline
Toft Hall through the centuries
Tofthall Farm is built
Ellen Toft is recorded living locally. The house is built around a cruck frame: a large oak grown with a curved trunk or branch, split down the middle to form the main arch of the house. The finely dressed stone suggests it was built by someone of local wealth.
A lucky coin
During restoration we found a coin dated 1594 hidden behind the plaster, most likely placed there by the builders as a good-luck charm.
The old kitchen
A kitchen is built on the left-hand side. You can still see the massive beam that once sat in front of the fire in what is now the second kitchen. Because of the fire risk it wasn’t joined to the house, so servants had to go outside and back in again through another door.
William Armett
William Armett is living here. He improves the house and lays out the walled garden, and in 1764 he becomes High Sheriff of Staffordshire, the King’s representative in the county.
Fashionable sash windows
Many of the small stone mullion windows are replaced with fashionable sash windows. A few originals survive on the top floor, and you can still see in the stonework where others used to be.
Toft Hall
The house is known as Toft Hall by 1775.
Remodelled and extended
The house is remodelled and extended to the south, creating what is now the living room with bedrooms on the two floors above. For the first time you could move between both sides of the house without facing the weather. The vaulted cellar of dressed stone dates from this time too. We still haven’t found anyone who can explain why so much was spent on a cellar.
A busy household
Census records show large extended families and their servants living here. One local told us his job as a young man was to polish the floor of what is now the living room with the creamy milk produced just after calving.
Grade II listed
Toft Hall is added to the National Heritage List for England on 1 February 1967.
Decline
The house is lived in until the early 1990s, but gradually falls into disrepair.
Rescued
When we bought Toft Hall in 1996, it was so derelict that it had failed to sell at auction. You could stand in the cellar, look up four storeys and see the sky through holes in the roof and floors. Working with the local conservation officer and a very sympathetic building team, we brought it back to life. The walled garden, by then a rough field with cows in it, was replanted in keeping with earlier garden styles.
Chels Barn & Toft Barn
The old cattle houses are converted into Chels Barn and Toft Barn.
Toft Nook
Toft Nook becomes the latest and final conversion, a cosy hideaway for extra guests.
The 17th-century kitchen beam, still in place today
Look out for
History you can still see
- The great beam above the old fireplace in the second kitchen
- Wattle and daub walls, preserved behind glass in the oldest part of the house
- Original stone mullion windows on the top floor
- Marks in the stonework where earlier mullion windows once were
- Carved kneelers and corniced chimney stacks on the roofline
- The walled garden, first laid out by William Armett in the 1700s
Our Toft Hall is in Heaton, near Leek in the Staffordshire Moorlands. It isn’t connected to the Toft Hall near Knutsford in Cheshire, which is a separate historic house.
Stay in a piece of history
Book one house, or take the whole estate.
Sleeps up to 48
All four houses, 23 bedrooms and two hot tubs around a private courtyard.
Sleeps 24
Two converted barns side by side, each sleeping 12, with a hot tub at Chels Barn.
History FAQs
How old is Toft Hall?
Toft Hall dates from the 17th century and is believed to have been built in the late 1500s or early 1600s, when it was known as Tofthall Farm. It was extended in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Is Toft Hall a listed building?
Yes. Toft Hall (listed as Tofthall, Heaton) has been Grade II listed since 1 February 1967.
Who lived at Toft Hall?
Ellen Toft is recorded locally around 1600. By 1741 William Armett, later High Sheriff of Staffordshire, lived here and laid out the walled garden. In the 19th century it was home to large extended families and their servants.
Is this the same Toft Hall as the one near Knutsford?
No. Our Toft Hall is in Heaton, near Leek in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Toft Hall near Knutsford in Cheshire is a separate house.
Write the next chapter
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