Manor History
John Hungerford Arkwright (1785-1858) of Hampton Court, grandson of the cotton-spinning industrialist Sir Richard Arkwright (1732-92) appointed his nephew Rev. The original parsonage building on the site was not deemed suitable and a new Tudor style country house was erected in 1843-44 and became the property of the church through an exchange of land with the Hampton Court estate. L
ocal stone was obtained from the opening of a new quarry within the grounds and the work carried out by estate workers. Henry Arkwright and family moved into the house in 1850 and remained there until his death in 1889. The house proved too large for subsequent parsonages and so through a property exchange it returned as part of the Hampton Court estate. It was known as Bodenham Manor and let. The Manor estate was sold and renovated as a Borstal in 1969. Some major developments occurred to the land and buildings during this time including the inclusion of a school building within what was a walled garden to the south east of the house and the inevitable deconstruction of the original character of its interior. The Estate was bought by the Taylor family in 1987 and established a role in community life with function rooms, bars, rifle range, go-cart racing, paintball, restaurant and a gentleman’s club. Sadly the beauty of the land surrounding the manor escaped Ray Taylor who valued industry above nature and he granted the dumping of waste metals, tyres and other miscellaneous rubble in numerous sites on the hill side grounds. The Manor passed to Ray’s son, Guy Taylor in 2005 and all trade and activities ceased as Guy struggled with the loss of his Dad and with the unexpected burdens that inheritance had brought to his door. The Manor was subsequently placed into the Raymond Taylor Family Foundation Trust.
