Name

Leigh Hall

Designation
architect
Born
1812
Place of Birth
Salford
Location
Bolton
Died
1869

  • Born : 1812 at Salford
  • Baptism : 5 April 1812 at Eccles Parish Church
  • Married (I) 22 December 1837 Anne Maxwell daughter of William Maxwell, tailor, at St Mary Parsonage Manchester
  • Married   (II) : March 1839 Mary Hollywood Maxwell
  • Died                       11 October 1869 Bolton

Leigh Hall, the son of Samuel Hall, coal merchant, and Mary Hall, was christened at Eccles Parish church on 5 April 1812. By 1837 he was describing himself as an architect although not included in the Manchester directory entry for that year. By 1839 he was employed as (in-house) architect to the Manchester and Leeds Railway designing a number of stations along the new line. This employment ended in 1842 and any involvement on his part in the design of the (Victoria) station at Hunts Bank of 1843 remains conjectural.  

On Wednesday the 15th of June 1842 an auction of his furniture and furnishings, including drawing office equipment, was held by Capes and Smith “at the residence of Mr Leigh Hall, Suspension Bridge. Lower Broughton, in consequence of his leaving town.” The notices of the auctions provide a detailed inventory of his possessions, including books, prints etc. down to and a dog kennel in the garden. Among the items was a series of 19 Lithographic Views on the Birmingham and London Railway, by J. C. Bourne, handsomely framed in rosewood and gold; and glazed; and Wood Model of the Manchester Terminus of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway.

Nothing is yet known of his activities between 1842 and March 1849 when he opened new offices at 67 Crown Street, Bolton. About 1853 he joined William Hayley and William Henry Hayley in Manchester under the style Hayley Son and Hall. This partnership ended in 1857 by which time he had acquired a reputation for the design of workhouses for his work at Withington. About this time the Bolton Guardians were proposing a new workhouse on the Fishpool Estate on the outskirts of the town and invited architects to submit proposals. The competition conditions required that the workhouse was “to be built after the style of the interior of the Chorlton Union workhouse and of the exterior of Barnsley Union workhouse.” To maximise his chances of success George Woodhouse entered into an association with the man who had been responsible for the planning of the Chorlton Union workhouse, namely Leigh Hall. Their joint proposal proved successful and in 1861 the new workhouse opened. Leigh Hall continued to work for the Bolton Union in his own name and in 1865 obtained the commission for the Preston Union workhouse, followed by the Clitheroe Workhouse and Chorley Union Workhouse. In August 1869 he was suspended from further work on the fever hospital at Preston, having obtained £250 from the contractor in addition to the fees paid by the Preston Union. J J Bradshaw whom Leigh Hall had made a partner being brought in to superintend further work. By this stage Leigh Hall was terminally ill. He died on October 1869. Following his death J J Bradshaw completed the Chorley and Clitheroe workhouses.  

In December 1837 Leigh Hall, architect, married Anne, daughter of William Maxwell. She died 30 November 1838, presumably in childbirth, her infant daughter Anne Maxwell Hall surviving until 12 December. He next married her sister Mary Hollywood Maxwell in March 1839, she having been a witness at his first wedding. This second marriage produced two daughters – Laura Ann and Ada – both of whom survived to maturity and married. Several years were to elapse before the birth of his third daughter Leonora Lavina Jane, in 1852. She died in December 1855 aged three years, nine months.

Address
1839-1842 : Leigh Hall, architect to the Manchester and Leeds Railway, Clowes’s Buildings, Hunt’s Bank, Manchester
1849 : Leigh Hall 67 Crown Street Bolton
1851 : Leigh Hall 32 Crown Street Bolton
1853-1857 : Leigh Hall (Haley Son and Hall)
1858 : Leigh Hall Town Hall Buildings King Street Manchester
1859 : Leigh Hall Town Hall Buildings King Street Manchester and Nelson Square Bolton
1869 : Nelson Square Bolton

Residence
1837 : Fairfield Place Chorlton-on-Medlock
1838 : Wilton Street Manchester
1841-1842 : Irwell View - near Suspension Bridge Lower Broughton Salford   
1851 : Greek Street Bolton
1861 : Bradford Place Bolton

Partnerships

Name Designation Formed Dissolved Location
Hayley Son and Hall Architectural practice 1853 1857 Manchester
Woodhouse and Leigh Hall association 1858 1861 Bolton
Hall and Bradshaw Architectural practice 1869 1869 Bolton