Barnfield & Hilton House

Located a short distance from Prestwich town centre, Barnfield Park is a small urban public park covering 1.79 acres. The park consists of an area with informal gardens and seating. The park is all that is left of the grounds of Hilton House.  It has a greenhouse/nursery area not open to the public and is used as a base for the south area grounds maintenance teams.  Graham Walker has worked at Barnfield for 35 years and is searching for info on the old house.

Link to Graham's article in the local paper

1842
In 1842 there was one large house accessed by a drive from Bury New Road ( where the Southern lodge and footpath are located today). I would call this Hilton House - I assume originally owned by the Hultons and the Scholes family of Woodhill - but there was also a Hilton Hall (1907).  Hilton house had a smaller property to it's side (perhaps a stable?) with a path to Hilton Lane and another two even smaller properties on what is now Barnfield (I would assume that this was actually a barn at some date - hence the name).  The second lodge and drive (near the present day junction) did not exist.

 

1848


The 1848 map shows that all the smaller properties have been developed, I would imagine that the owners of Hilton House had to sell some land to help with their finances (but still have access from both roads). They could possibly still own the ground that would make up the present day ornamental park ensuring the view from Hilton House was unaffected.  A boundary has come into existence thus creating what we would call Barnfield, and both the small buildings thereon have been developed.

 

1907

The 1907 map shows more detail, with a corridor joining the two buildings on Barnfield together.  The curved boundary between Barnfield and Hilton House is also present, and I assume that Hilton house had further financial needs as the rest of the present day Barnfield has been sold, leaving Hilton house with very little of the original plot. Barnfield was now the dominant property.

Between 1891 and 1907, Barnfield house was in the possession of Margaret Muirhead, widowed, living on her own means with her son Albert who was a fish salesman and her grand daughter Margery.  They had three servants living with them, and a gardener lived in the Lodge

Barnfield is also thought to have been owned by a family Butcher, who specialised in Bully Beef, the staple diet of British Soldiers during both World Wars.

Also in 1891 one Hilton House was occupied by Robert Bridgeford, a land agent and Surveyor, and his wife and four children.  The other property was occupied by Thomas Savage, a coachman and his family, both had moved on by 1907.

 The other two properties (Hilton House) share a common drive to Hilton Lane and have no boundary between the buildings so would appear to be still owned by the same person.  The access from Bury New Road remains and the connection through to Hilton Lane became the present day footpath to Hilton Drive cul-de-sac.

 
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