(169) Arden of Arden Hall and Pepper Hall, Barons Alvanley

Arden of Arden

The Arden family (sometimes called Ardern, Arderne or Harden) trace their ancestry back to the Ardens of Warwickshire, and have held substantial lands and properties in Cheshire since Sir John de Arderne, kt., son of Eustace de Arderne of Watford (Northants), had a grant of Aldford from Randle Blundeville, Earl of Chester, and built the castle of Aldford. 

His son, Sir Walkelin de Arderne, kt., was Justiciary of Chester, 1253-59 and also held Alvanley in right of his wife, Agnes, daughter of Sir Philip de Orreby. His son, Sir Peter de Arderne (d. 1292), kt., also held Alderley (Cheshire), and his son, Sir John de Arderne (1266-c.1308), kt. added Elford (Staffs) to the estates. His son, Sir John de Arderne (d. 1349), kt. was MP for Staffordshire in 1324. He acquired the manors of Stockport, Poynton and Woodford in right of his wife Joan, daughter of Richard de Stockport, but granted Alderley to his younger brother Peter, Elford to his sister Margery, and Aldford to his illegitimate son, Sir Thomas de Arderne (d. 1391), permanently divorcing these properties from the main family line. Sir John's only surviving legitimate son, Peter de Arderne (1327-c.1378) married Cecily, heiress of an estate at Bredbury which later became known as Harden or Arden Hall after the family. The genealogical details given below begin with their grandson, Ralph Arderne (d. 1446/7).

At the end of the 15th century, the family's estates were thus concentrated in two areas: at Alvanley and at Bredbury and Stockport. Although the former was more anciently in the family's ownership, their focus moved increasingly towards the latter estate, and only a farmhouse now occupies the site of the ancient mansion of Alvanley Hall, which was called "a very fine house" by William Webb in 1622. It seems to have been abandoned as a seat of the family in the mid 17th century, and almost all trace of it had disappeared by 1819. 

Underbank Hall, Stockport. Image: Gerald England.
Licenced for reuse under this CC licence.

Arden or Harden Hall in Bredbury became the centre of the family's interests after a grand new house was built there in 1597, and the family also owned Underbank Hall in Stockport, built in late 15th to early 16th Century, which they used as a town house and a home for impecunious relatives until it was sold by Lord Alveney in 1823. It then became a bank, and it is still in use as a banking hall today.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, further substantial property came to the family through advantageous marriages.  The marriage of Ralph Arderne (1608-50) to one of the co-heiresses of the Done family of Utkinton in 1624 produced no immediate reward, but in 1711 his grandson came into the Utkinton Hall estate at Tarporley on the death of his cousin, Sir John Crewe, under the settlement made at the time of the marriage. Despite this large windfall, it would appear that Arden Hall remained the centre of the estate and it was renovated in 1728-34. Parts of Utkinton Hall were taken down in the late 18th century and it became a farmhouse, like Alvanley.  The family's final great acquisition was Pepper Hall (now Pepper Arden Hall) at South Cowton in Yorkshire, which came to them in the mid 18th century as a result of the marriage of John Arden (1709-86) and Sarah Pepper.  Sarah was their heiress of her brother, Prescot Pepper, who died without issue in 1743. Despite being remote from the majority of the family property, Pepper Hall had the great advantage of being a relatively new and up-to-date Georgian house, and John Arden seems to have moved there at once, and to have stayed there when he inherited the Cheshire estates from his father in 1753.

John Arden was survived by three sons and a flock of daughters, only one of whom ever married. The eldest son, John Arden (1742-1823), inherited both the Cheshire and Yorkshire estates, and the third son, who died the year after his father, was a clergyman who held the family living at Tarporley. The second son was Richard Pepper Arden (1744-1804), a successful lawyer and politician, and a friend of William Pitt the younger, who secured his appointment as Attorney General, Master of the Rolls, and Lord Chief Justice. He was knighted in 1788 was created Baron Alvanley of Alvanley in 1801.  When the younger John Arden died in 1823, he divided his estates between Lord Alvanley's two sons: Pepper Hall was left to the younger and more sober of the two, Richard Pepper Arden (1792-1857), 3rd Baron Alvanley; the larger Cheshire property to his elder brother, William Arden (1789-1849), 2nd Baron Alvanley. William had the dubious pleasure of being a boon companion of the Prince Regent, and sharing the Prince's lifestyle of excess rapidly eroded his father's fortune and caused him to borrow on the security of his expectations from his uncle. When he came into the Cheshire estates, the Bredbury and Stockport lands, including Arden Hall, had to be sold, and it was a much reduced Cheshire estate, consisting of Utkinton and Alvanley, that he passed on to his brother at his death in 1849. 

When the 3rd Baron Alvanley died in 1857 the title became extinct, and there was no male heir to the estates, which were left to his surviving sister and her niece, Helen Warrender, the wife of George Baillie-Hamilton, Lord Binning and later 11th Earl of Haddington. Pepper Hall was quickly sold and the proceeds invested in building a new, Gothic, house at Tarporley, which was named Arderne Hall, in honour of the former spelling of the family name.  On the death of the 11th Earl, Arderne Hall passed to his younger son, Capt. the Hon. Henry Robert Baillie-Hamilton-Arden (1862-1949), and then to his niece, Lady Helen O'Brien (1893-1959). She demolished the Victorian house, but a few years later her son, Desmond O'Brien (1926-69) decided to build a much smaller and more manageable replacement in a Modern style. This had scarcely been finished, or may still have been under construction, when O'Brien died, and the new house was bought by his neighbour, John Lilley (1932-91) of Portal. It subsequently became a hotel and club house for a golf course which was laid out on the estate.

Arden Hall, Bredbury, Cheshire

Arden Hall in 1793, when the house was in good repair but only partly in use as a farmhouse.

An unusual and distinctive moated Elizabethan house, built in 1597 for Ralph Arderne of Alvanley or perhaps more probably his son John, to whom the estate was made over the following year. It was a tall stone building a single range deep, with three crow-stepped gables, those in the centre and on the right projecting to form the porch and hall bay window respectively. The house had an exposed semi-basement and the entrance level was reached by an external stair leading to a terrace between the porch and the hall bay. The hall itself occupied the whole of the house between the porch and the right-hand end wall, and was lit by large mullioned windows. It was not open to the roof, but there were only rather dark attics above, lit by stepped cusped windows in the gable-ends. There was a screens passage running back from the porch, and at the end of it was an staircase tower, rising from a square base to an octagonal room with a conical top, with views across the Tame valley behind. This was perhaps intended originally as a fashionable rooftop banqueting pavilion, but was used later - no doubt during the Civil War - as a lookout point, and came to be known as the Watch Room. Views of the garden front show there was another square bay window on this side lighting the dais end of the hall, and 19th century descriptions of the house confirm that the hall was T-shaped, with the dais end projecting to both the front and back of the house. Inside, the hall had a gallery above the screens passage, accessed from the staircase tower, and there was panelling and decorative plasterwork, and a collection of portraits, some of which came from Utkinton Hall, but 'none of them good ones' according to Aikin. There was also a detached half-timbered jettied building, probably a lodging range, as the main house would have offered limited accommodation.

Entrance front of Arden or Harden Hall, Bredbury.
An engraving taken from a drawing showing the house at the end of the 18th century.

The house was updated and a new stable block constructed in 1728-34, but by 1795 it had fallen out of use by the Arden family and was partly used as a farmhouse while the rest stood empty.  By 1819 the family pictures in the hall were "going rapidly to decay, and some gone irrecoverably", and by 1866 the house was roofless and parts of the walls had collapsed. 

Garden front of Arden or Harden Hall, Bredbury in ruins. Engraving from a drawing by G. Taylor, 1866.

Arden Hall from the 1872 6" Ordnance Survey map. The unfilled outline of the main building indicates that it was a ruin.

This process continued throughout the 20th century, so that today there is much less left of the original fabric, although two rather incongruous suburban houses have been constructed from the outbuildings flanking the Hall.

Arden Hall, Bredbury: the surviving ruins. Image: Keith & Elizabeth Jaggers.

Descent: Adam de Bredbury; to daughter Cecily, wife of Peter de Arderne (1327-c.1378); to son, Hugh de Arderne (d. by 1423); to son, Ralph Arderne (d. c.1446/7); to son, Sir John Arderne (d. c.1498); to son, Thomas Arderne (fl. 1477-1508); who quitclaimed the estate in 1501/2 to his brother Ralph Arderne (d. 1540); to son, John Arderne (c.1499-1551); to son, Ralph Arderne (c.1525-1609); who made over the estate in 1598 to his son, John Arderne (d. 1613); to son, Henry Arderne (1580-1623); to son, Ralph Arderne (1608-50); to son, Sir John Arderne (1630-1702), kt.; to son, John Arderne (1663-1703); to brother, Ralph Arderne (1665-1704); to brother Richard Arderne (1673-1752); to son, John Arden (1709-86); to son, John Arden (1742-1823); to nephew, William Arden (1789-1849), 2nd Baron Alvanley, who sold 1823-33, after which the house became derelict.

Utkinton Hall, Tarporley, Cheshire

Utkinton Hall: the remodelled street front of c.1700

This decaying farmhouse was once the ancient seat of the Done family, hereditary Foresters of Delamere Forest, and began as a large and ancient courtyard house, of which only a reworked L-shaped fragment survives; the whole house apparently survived until the late 18th century.  The long range running at right angles to the road was probably the Great Hall range and still has its original studded oak door and four gables, one timber-framed.  Inside the hall, now divided into two storeys, is a late medieval freestanding octagonal wooden post on a stone base running up through both floors to support the roof. 

Utkinton Hall: the older part of the house, which is now on the Buildings at Risk register.

Utkinton passed from the Dones to the Crewes in 1629 and a new chapel was consecrated for Sir John Crewe in 1635. The house was plundered by the Royalists in 1644 and was subsequently remodelled in about 1706 for Sir John Crewe. He added a charming if rustic Queen Anne style brick front towards the road, with stone quoins and cross-windows with cambered heads, all set on an earlier basement with mullioned windows. Many of the windows are now blocked and the once magnificent tall brick gatepiers are crumbling.  The armorial stained glass and the staircase were removed to Tarporley rectory in the 18th century, and the glass then went to Vale Royal and is now in the Burrell Collection in Glasgow; the whereabouts of the staircase are unknown, although it was perhaps moved again when William White altered the rectory in about 1865.

Descent: Sir John Done (1577-1629); to daughter Mary (1604-90), wife of John Crewe; to son, Sir John Crewe (1641-1711); to cousin, Richard Arderne (1673-1752); to son, John Arden (1709-86); to son, John Arden (1742-1823); to nephew, William Arden (1789-1849), 2nd Baron Alvanley; to brother, Col. Richard Pepper Arden (1792-1857), 3rd Baron Alvanley; to sister, Catherine Emma Arden (1794-1874); to nephew, Capt. the Hon. Henry Robert Baillie-Hamilton-Arden (1862-1949)...

Pepper Arden Hall, South Cowton, Yorkshire (NR)

In origin, this was an early 18th century seven bay, two-and-a-half storey house called Pepper Hall, built about 1730, probably for Prescott Pepper (d. 1743), whose family had owned the estate since the 16th century. The Georgian house was of red brick, but it was cement rendered in Victorian times when many other changes were made, including the addition of a lower wing with canted bay windows and a rear service wing. The alterations were begun for Col. Arden by Ignatius Bonomi in 1840 and continued by William Burn in 1850, the latter adding the rear service wing. Further changes were carried out for Henry Hood (1803-75), a Leeds ironmaster, who rented the house from 1861, who may have used W.E. Nesfield as his architect. He added the wings with canted bays. 

Pepper Arden Hall: the house today, with the 18th century centre and flanking wings of c.1870.

Inside, the house preserves a two-storey staircase hall with Corinthian colonnades on the ground floor and Ionic columns above, which now contains a monumental staircase with a delicate ironwork balustrade that is probably 19th century. The grounds are said to have been laid out by William A. Nesfield before 1857, and since he sometimes worked with Burn it seems likely that they were done at the same time as Burn's work on the house in 1850.

Pepper Hall from the Ordnance Survey 6" map of 1854, showing it before the later Victorian additions

Pepper Hall from the Ordnance Survey 6" map of 1891, after the Victorian changes

Descent: Cuthbert Pepper; to son, Prescot Pepper (c.1709-43); to sister, Sarah (d. 1753), wife of John Arden (1709-86); to son, John Arden (1742-1823); to nephew, Col. Richard Pepper Arden (1792-1857), 3rd Baron Alvanley; let after his death to William Frederick Webb (d. 1899), later of Newstead Abbey (Notts) and sold 1862 to Henry Hood (1803-75), who extensively remodelled the house; sold after his death to William S. Stobart (fl. 1888)); sold 1909 to Lt-Gen. Sir Herbert Chermside (1850-1929), kt. (who it leased to William Hopper Williamson (fl. 1911) and The Towers Girls' School, Saltburn-by-Sea (fl. 1915-16)); to widow, Clementine Maria, Lady Chermside (1855-1941) for life and then to niece, Katherine Morrison, wife of Sir Stephen Gatty; to nephew, Richard Gatty (1909-75); to widow, Pamela Gatty (1911-2009); to son, Jonathan Gatty and grandson, Richard Gatty. The house was requisitioned for military use in the Second World War.

Arderne Hall, Tarporley, Cheshire

The house was built in 1863 to replace Eaton Banks, a small white Georgian box which was probably built about 1820 for General Richard Egerton, a tenant of the Ardens, who also laid out the park to the designs of John Webb and constructed a late example of a sham ruin c.1835-45. The Victorian house was built for George Baillie-Hamilton (later the 11th Earl of Haddington), whose wife, with her unmarried sister, was the eventual heir of the surviving Arden estates.  The idea seems to have been to build a new country house as a centre for the reduced Cheshire lands of the Ardens, and it was thus essentially a replacement for Utkinton Hall. It also provided a house for the Baillie-Hamiltons to live in until they inherited Tyninghame (East Lothian), which they did in 1873; the unmarried Miss Arden was resident here that year. 

The Victorian Arderne Hall, built in 1863, from a postcard dated 1914.

Arderne Hall, Tarporley from the Ordnance Survey 6" map of 1872, showing the house in its early 19th century landscape setting.

Arderne Hall was a large and fashionably Gothic house of red brick with some stone dressings providing a muted polychromy, and was erected at a cost of £17,500 to the designs of the Manchester church architect, Joseph S. Crowther (who also heavily restored Tarporley church in 1861). It had a stripey high-pitched slate roof and plenty of rooftop turrets, gables and dormers.  The interiors had moulded plaster or timber ceilings and chunky stone and marble chimneypieces with stiffleaf carving and Minton tiles, and were illustrated in Cheshire Life in 1936.  Crowther also designed the hexagonal sandstone lodge on the Tarporley road, which still survives.  Crowther’s house was demolished in 1958, and a replacement was built on the foundations by David Brock, a Liverpool architect, for Desmond O'Brien in 1966.  

The new Arderne Hall, designed in 1966 by David Brock.

This is planned as a group of two interlocking three-storey drums built of black and red brick with flat roofs; inside, most of the rooms are circular with exposed brick walls and timber ceilings.  The house was sold in 1983, and was vastly extended as a hotel and golf club house in 1990; the development of the grounds as a golf course is fairly sympathetic. It is now the Macdonald Portal Hotel & Golf Club.

Another house, now known as the Arderne Estate House but originally as Cobblers Cross House, was built in the grounds in 1925 for Lady Grisell Baillie-Hamilton (1861-1957), but has since also been sold out of the family.

Descent: Richard Pepper Arden (1792-1857), 3rd Baron Alvanley; to niece, Helen Catherine Warrender (1834-89), wife of George Baillie-Hamilton (1827-1917), 11th Earl of Haddington; to son, Capt. Hon. Henry Robert Baillie-Hamilton-Arden (1862-1949); to niece, Lady Helen (1893-1959), wife of Hon. Henry Barnaby O'Brien (1887-1969); to son, Desmond Barnaby O'Brien (1926-69); sold to Arthur John Lilley (1932-91) of Portal; sold 1983; sold 1990 to Macdonald Hotels.

Arden family of Arden Hall, Barons Alvanley

Arderne, Ralph (d. c.1446/7). Second son of Hugh de Arderne (d. by 1423) and his second wife, Cecily, daughter of Ralph de Hyde. He married, 1419, Katherine (d. 1456), daughter of William Stanley of Hooton (who m2, before 1459/60, John Hyde) and had issue:
(1) Sir John Arderne (d. c.1498) (q.v.); 
(2) Thomas Arderne, ancestor of the Ardens of Leicestershire.
He inherited the Arden and Alvanley estates from his father before 1423.
He died in about 1446/7.

Arderne, Sir John (d. c.1498). Son of Ralph Arderne (d. c.1446/7) of Arden and Alvanley, and his wife, Katherine, daughter of William Stanley of Hooton. He married 1st, before 1443/4, Alice Heaton, and 2nd, Margaret [surname unknown] (fl. 1498), and had issue:
(1.1) Thomas Arderne (fl. 1477-1511); married Isabella [surname unknown]; quitclaimed his right to the family estates to his brother Ralph in 1501/2; inquisition post mortem held 1511-12;
(1.2) Ralph Arderne (d. 1539) (q.v.);
(1.3) Robert Arderne (fl. 1498-1540);
(1.4) Hugh Arderne (fl. 1498-1507);
(1.5) John Arderne (fl. 1498-1507) of Bredbury, gent.;
(1.6) Jane Arderne; married 1st, Thurston Holland (d. 1508) of Denton; married 2nd, Sir John Warren (c.1461-1518) of Poynton and had issue a son; married 3rd, John Davenport of Davenport;
(1.7) Mary Arderne; married [forename unknown] Dukinfield of Dukinfield.
He inherited the Arden and Alvanley estates from his father in 1446, but settled his lands on his sons in 1497/8.
He died before 1499.

Arderne, Ralph (d. 1539). Son of Sir John Arderne (d. c.1498) and his wife Alice Leton or Heaton. He married 1st, c.1497/8, Margaret, daughter of Thomas Davenport of Henbury, and 2nd, 1516 (settlement 2 May), Isabel [surname unknown] and had issue:
(1) John Arderne (c.1499-1551) (q.v.);
(2) Robert Arderne (fl. 1540-52); married and had issue a daughter
(3) Elizabeth Arderne; married Randall Minshull of Howgreve or Hargrave.
He inherited the Arden and Alvanley estates from his father in 1500.
He died 14 January 1538/9.

Arderne, John (c.1499-1551). Son of Ralph Arderne (d. 1540) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Thomas Davenport of Henbury, born about 1499. He married, before 1523, Anne alias Agnes, daughter of Robert Hyde of Norbury, and had issue:
(1) Ralph Arderne (c.1525-1609);
(2) Ellen Arderne; married Thomas Shrigley of Berestall;
(3) Margaret Arderne (fl. 1587); married, 1548, William Hyde of Urmston;
(4) Jane Arderne; married as his second wife, William Dukinfield (d. 1592) of Dukinfield, one of the Grooms of the King's Privy Chamber in 1551, and had issue five sons and two daughters;
(5) Anne Arderne; married Robert? Hyde of Denton;
(6) John Arderne (d. 1584); buried at Stockport, 11 September 1584;
(7) Robert Arderne (fl. 1566); married and had issue a daughter;
(8) Francis Arderne;
(9) Hugh Arderne (fl. 1545-51).
He inherited the Arden and Alvanley estates from his father in 1538.
He died 4/7 December 1551; an inquistion post mortem was held in 1552/53.

Arderne, Ralph (c.1525-1609). Son of John Arderne (c.1499-1551) and his wife Anne, daughter of Robert Hyde of Norbury. He married 1st, Frances (d. by 1558), daughter of John Legh of Booths, Baguley (Cheshire), and 2nd, 1558 (settlement 29 November), Ellen (d. by 1566), daughter of Sir Richard Bulkeley of Beaumaris (Anglesey) and Cheadle (Cheshire), and had issue:
(1.1) John Arderne (d. 1613) (q.v.);
(1.2) Robert Arderne (d. by 1580);
(1.3) Margaret Arderne (fl. 1566); married Robert Holme of Lancashire;
(1.4) Jane Arderne (fl. 1566-80); died without issue;
(1.5) Anne alias Agnes Arderne (fl. 1566-80);
(2.1) Ursula Arderne (d. 1624); married, 19 January 1584/85 at Stockport, Rev. Richard Gerard (d. 1614), vicar of Stockport (Cheshire); buried at Stockport, 3 April 1624;
(2.2) Ralph Arderne (1559-1634) of Bredbury, gent., baptised 21 September 1559 at Cheadle; died 25 January 1633/4;
(2.3) Richard Arderne (fl. 1566-1633);
(2.4) William Arderne.
He inherited the Arden and Alvanley estates from his father in 1551 and either he or his son built a new house at Arden Hall in 1597; he surrendered his estates to his son in 1598.
He was buried at Stockport 2 March 1608/9. His first wife died by 1558. His second wife had died by 1566.

Arderne, John (d. 1613). Son of John or Ralph Arderne (c.1525-1609) of Arden and his first wife Frances, daughter of John Legh of Booths, Baguley (Cheshire). He married Mary or Margaret (d. 1619), daughter of [forename uncertain] Holland of Denton and had issue:
(1) Henry Arderne (1580-1623) (q.v.);
(2) Frances Arderne (d. 1634); married, 21 October 1600 at Arden, as his second wife, Thomas Marbury of Marbury (Cheshire), and had issue;
(3) John Arderne;
(4) Robert Arderne (fl. 1635) of Reddish, gent.;
(5) Ralph Arderne (d. 1634) of Stockport, gent.; married, 1616 (lic. 3 October), Margaret Warren (d. 1634); buried at Stockport, 24 February 1633/34.
He inherited the Arden and Alvanley estates from his father in 1609.
He died 20 March 1612/13 and was buried at Stockport, 1 April 1613. His wife was buried at Stockport, 10 May 1619.

Arderne, Henry (1580-1623). Son of John Arderne (d. 1613) and his wife Mary, daughter of [forename uncertain] Holland of Denton, baptised 26 May 1580 at Cheadle (Cheshire). He married, 4 June 1601 at Prestbury (Cheshire), Margaret (1582-c.1653), daughter of Thomas Legh of Adlington (Cheshire), and had issue:
(1) Mary Arderne (b. 1604), baptised 6 January 1604/5; married, 22 June 1626, Francis Beresford of Newton Grange/ Bentley (Derbys) and had issue;
(2) Ralph Arderne (1608-50) (q.v.);
(3) John Arderne; possibly of London, gent.; married Margaret, daughter of Adam Byrom of Salford and had issue;
(4) Margaret Arderne (d. 1644); married, c.1624, Edward Warren (1605-87) of Poynton (who m2, 1653, Ann Hough (d. 1662)) and had issue; buried 20 April 1644 at Stockport;
(5) Henry Arderne (b. 1613), baptised 4 November 1613 at Frodsham;
(6) Richard Arderne (b. 1617), baptised 24 October 1617 at Stockport;
(7) Frances Arderne (b. 1619), baptised 18 July 1619 at Stockport; married, 26 September 1627, William, son and heir of William Davenport of Bramhall on the same day that her mother married her husband's father;
(8) Robert Arderne (b. 1621), baptised 14 January 1620/21 at Stockport;
(9) Ellen Arderne; died unmarried.
He inherited the Arden and Alvanley estates from his father in 1613.
He died 2 November and was buried at Stockport, 4 November 1623. His widow married 2nd, 26 September 1627, William Davenport of Bramhall and died about 1653.

Arderne, Ralph (1608-50). Son of Henry Arderne (1580-1623) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Thomas Legh of Adlington (Cheshire), baptised at Frodsham, 11 December 1608. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he took the Parliamentary side, and with his tenantry took part in the defence of Manchester when it was beseiged by the Royalists under Lord Strange; he was also with the Parliamentary forces at Warrington and elsewhere. He married, 2 November 1624 at Tarporley (Cheshire), Eleanor, daughter of Sir John Done of Utkinton Hall, Tarporley, and had issue:
(1) Sir John Arderne (1630-1702);
(2) Thomas Arderne (1631-33), baptised 17 August 1631; died in infancy and was buried at Stockport, 20 June 1633;
(3) Philip Arderne ( c.1632-79) of The Oak, Sutton near Macclesfield (Cheshire); married (settlement 2 Nov 1664), Mary Broadhurst of Gawsworth (Cheshire) and had issue; buried 1 August 1679;
(4) Henry Arderne (1633-72) of The Peel, Kingsley (Cheshire), baptised 9 July 1633; married, 9 July 1655, Frances, daughter of Lennox Beverley of Huntingdon, and had issue; died 2 May 1672 and was buried at Frodsham (Cheshire);
(5) Edward Arderne (b. c.1634); died without issue;
(6) Ralph Arderne (1635-82) of Clayton Bridge, baptised 9 July 1635; married Catherine (d. 1693), daughter of Robert Hyde of Denton and widow of Rev. William Meeke of Salford (Lancs), and had issue; buried at Stockport or Denton, 3 March 1682;
(7) Very Rev. James Arderne (1636-91), baptised 12 October 1636; educated at Holton School, Christ's and St John's Colleges, Cambridge, (admitted 1653, BA 1656; MA 1658) and Trinity College, Dublin (DD 1671); degrees later incorporated at Oxford, where he was attached to Brasenose College; ordained deacon and priest, 1660/61; vicar of Holy Cross, Canterbury, 1662; rector of St Mildred, Canterbury, 1662-66; perpetual curate of St Botolph Aldgate, London, 1666-82; moved in court circles and was chaplain in ordinary to King Charles II; rector of Thornton-le-Moor, 1667-91; rector of Davenham (Cheshire), 1682-86; vicar of Neston (Cheshire), 1687-91; and Dean of Chester, 1682-91; he is said to have been promised the bishopric of Chester by King James II, but the revolution of 1688 prevented his appointment; published various sermons and manuals of religious advice; died 18 September 1691 and was buried in Chester Cathedral, to which institution he left the bulk of his property for the purpose of founding a public library;
(8) Thomas Arderne (b. & d. 1638), baptised 15 January 1637/38; died in infancy and was buried at Stockport, 18 September 1638;
(9) Mary Arderne (1639-53), baptised 9 April 1639; died young and was buried at Stockport, 27 October 1653;
(10) Frances Arderne (b. & d. 1641), baptised 26 January 1640/41; died in infancy and was buried at Stockport, 1 February 1640/41.
He inherited the Arden and Alvanley estates from his father in 1623 and came of age in 1629.
He was buried at Stockport, 15 June 1650.

Arderne, Sir John (1630-1702). Son of Ralph Arderne (1608-50) and his wife Eleanor, daughter of Sir John Done of Utkinton, born at Utkinton, May 1630. Knighted at Whitehall, 9 July 1660. High Sheriff of Cheshire, 1666. He married, 7 January 1654/5 at Prestbury (Cheshire), Margaret (d. 1703), daughter of Rev. Thomas Leigh, rector of Walton and Sefton, and had issue:
(1) Margaret Arderne (b. 1656; fl. 1723), born at Alvanley, 6 February 1655/6, and baptised at Frodsham; married, John Beresford of Bentley (Derbys);
(2) John Arderne (1663-1703), baptised 26 October 1663; educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1681); married, 7 May 1685 at Ripley (Yorks WR), Anne (d. 1718), daughter of Sir William Ingilby of Ripley Castle, bt. and had issue three daughters; obtained a private Act of Parliament in 1703 to enable him to sell property to pay his father's debts and make provision for his siblings; died in London, 27 May, and was buried 5 June 1703 at Stockport, where he is commemorated by a monument;
(3) Ralph Arderne (1665-1704), baptised 16 March 1664/5; educated at Christ's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1685); died unmarried and without issue in London, 14 March and was buried at Stockport, 26 March 1704;
(4) Anne Arderne (1667-1728); married, 26/28 October 1686 at Stockport, John Shallcross of Shallcross and had issue three sons and three daughters;
(5) Lettice Arderne (1670-72); died in infancy and was buried at Stockport, 17 February 1671/72;
(6) Richard Arderne (1673-1752) (q.v.);
(7) Frances Arderne (1674-1749); died unmarried and was buried at Stockport, 4 February 1748/49;
(8) Henry Arderne (1678-1738), born 4 July 1678; educated at Middle Temple (admitted 1699; called to bar 1706); barrister-at-law; died unmarried and was buried at Stockport, 18 May 1738;
(9) William Arderne (1680-81), born 1680; died in infancy and was buried at Stockport, 30 January 1680/81.
He inherited the Arden and Alvanley estates from his father in 1650. 
He died 6 February and was buried at Stockport, 10 February 1701/2. His widow died 19 June and was buried at Stockport, 22 June 1703.

Arderne, Richard (1673-1752). Son of Sir John Arderne (1630-1702) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Rev. Thomas Leigh of Walton, born 24 August 1673/1674. Educated at Brasenose College, Oxford (matriculated 1694/5; BA 1698; MA 1702/3). He married, 17 March 1705/6 at Sheffield (Yorks WR), Anna Maria (d. 1721), second daughter of Edward Bigland, serjeant-at-law, of Sandiacre (Derbys) and had issue:
(1) Margaret Anne Arderne (1707-62), baptised 6 June 1707; died unmarried and was buried 9 May 1762;
(2) Frances Arderne (1708-59), baptised 21 February 1707/8; died unmarried and was buried 19 April 1759;
(3) John Arden (1709-86) (q.v.);
(4) Anna Maria Arderne (1710-16), baptised 15 October 1710; died young and was buried at Stockport, 24 May 1716;
(5) Crewe Arderne (1712-43), born 12 October and baptised 19 October 1712; married, 27 May 1734 at Taxal (Cheshire), Jane (d. 1754), daughter of John Gee of Manchester, and had issue one son and one daughter; buried at Stockport, 22 March 1743;
(6) Elizabeth Arderne (1715-16), baptised 9 January 1714/15; died in infancy and was buried at Stockport, 20 June 1716;
(7) Richard Arderne (1717-26), baptised 22 September 1717; died young and was buried at Stockport, 11 May 1726;
(8) Mary Arderne (b. 1721; fl. c.1781), baptised 2 August 1721; unmarried but living in about 1781.
He inherited the Arden and Alvanley estates from his father in 1702 and the Utkinton estate from his cousin, Sir John Crewe, in 1711.
He was buried at Stockport, 25 October 1752. His wife died in childbirth and was buried at Stockport, 2 August 1721.

Arden, John (1709-86). Son of Richard Arden (1673-1752) and his wife Anna Maria Bigland, born 20 April and baptised 3 May 1709 at Stockport. Educated at St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1728; BA 1733/4). He adopted the 'Arden' spelling of the family name in preference to 'Arderne'. High Sheriff of Cheshire, 1761. He married, 30 August 1735 at Scarborough (Yorks) (lic. 28 August), Sarah (d. 1753), daughter of Cuthbert Pepper esq. of Pepper Hall, South Cowton (Yorks NR) and heiress of her brother, Prescot Pepper esq. of Bladewell (Co. Durham), and had issue:
(1) Sarah Arden (1736-1813), baptised 7 August 1736; died unmarried and was buried at North Cowton, 19 October 1813, aged 77;
(2) Anna Maria Arden (c.1737-1831) of Leases, Bedale (Yorks); died unmarried, April 1831, aged 94 and was buried at North Cowton (Yorks); will proved 29 August 1831 (estate under £16,000);
(3) Margaret Arden (1738-64), baptised 18 April 1738; died unmarried and was buried at South Cowton, 6 September 1764;
(4) John Arden (1742-1823) (q.v.);
(5) Richard Pepper Arden (1744-1804), 1st Baron Alvanley (q.v.);
(6) Letitia Arden (1745-1805), baptised 10 September 1745; married, 16 November 1768 at South Cowton, Rev. Edward Rudd (c.1736-81), rector of Haughton (Durham); died 30 March 1805; will proved in the PCC, 12 June 1806;
(7) Legh Arden (1748-66), baptised 25 August 1748; died unmarried, 28 April 1766;
(8) Rev. Crewe Arden (1750-87), baptised 2 August 1750; educated at Richmond (Yorks) and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1769; BA 1773; MA 1776); ordained deacon, 1774 and priest, 1775; curate of Tarporley, 1774 and Alvanley, 1775-78; rector of Tarporley (Cheshire), 1778-87; died unmarried and without issue, and was buried at Tarporley, 28 August 1787, where he is commemorated by a monument; administration of his goods granted, 1 September 1787;
(9) Frances Arden (1752-1822) of Leases, Bedale (Yorks), baptised 18 October 1752; died unmarried; will proved June 1822 (estate under £18,000).
He lived at Offerton in Stockport until he inherited Pepper Hall in right of his wife in 1743 and Arden Hall and Utkinton Hall from his father in 1752.
He died 30 December 1786 and was buried at Stockport, 6 January 1787; his will was proved 22 January 1787. His wife was buried at Stockport, 24 July 1753.

Arden, John (1742-1823), of Arden Hall, Utkinton Hall and Pepper Hall. Elder son of John Arden of Arden and his wife Mary, daughter of Cuthbert Pepper of Pepper Hall, South Cowton (Yorks), born 19 July and baptised 12 August 1742 at Stockport. Educated at Manchester Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge (admitted 1761). High Sheriff of Cheshire, 1790. He died unmarried (unless a licence issue by the Archbishop of York in 1762 for a marriage between John Arden and Margaret Swindells relates to him) and without issue.
He inherited the Arden, Utkinton and Pepper Hall estates from his father. At his death in 1823 the Cheshire estates passed to his nephew, William Arden, 2nd Baron Alvanley and the Pepper Hall estate to Col. Richard Pepper Arden, later the 3rd Baron Alvanley.
He died at Pepper Hall and was buried at North Cowton, 30 July 1823; his will was proved 24 March 1824.

1st Lord Alvanley
as Master of the Rolls

Arden, Richard Pepper (1744-1804), 1st Baron Alvanley. Younger son of John Arden of Arden and his wife Mary, daughter of Cuthbert Pepper of Pepper Hall, South Cawton (Yorks), born 20 May and baptised 20 June 1744. Educated at Manchester Grammar School, 1752-60, Trinity College, Cambridge (admitted 1761; BA and 12th Wrangler, 1766; Fellow, 1767; MA 1769) and Middle Temple (admitted 1762; called to bar, 1769; KC 1780); admitted to Lincolns Inn, 1779. Barrister on the Northern Circuit, 1769-78; a friend and confidant of Pitt the younger, to whose patronage he owed his rapid judicial advancement. He was Recorder of Macclesfield, c.1771-78; deputy puisne judge, Welsh Sessions, 1778-82; MP for Newtown (Isle of Wight), 1783-84, Aldborough 1784-90; Hastings, 1790-94 and Bath 1794-1801; Solicitor General, 1782-83 and 1783-84; Attorney General and Chief Justice of the County Palatine of Cheshire, 1784-88; Master of the Rolls, 1788-1801; Member of the Board of Trade from 1790; Serjeant-at-Law, 1801; Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 1801-04. He was knighted, 1788, and created Baron Alvanley, 22 May 1801. Privy Councillor, 1788-1804. Described by Sir Egerton Brydges as "A singularly ugly little man, with a confused distraught manner, having a sort of broken nose and goggle eyes that squinted", but he was recognised as a wit who frequently enlivened William Pitt's dinner table, and he was able enough in his chosen calling to give satisfaction in office. He married, 9 September 1784 at Hornsey (Middx), Anne Dorothea (1757-1825), eldest daughter of Richard Wilbraham-Bootle of Rode Hall (Cheshire) and sister of 1st Lord Skelmersdale, and had issue:
(1) John Arden (1786-87), born 7 December 1786 at Lincolns Inn Fields; died in infancy, 24 April 1787 and was buried at St Andrew, Holborn;
(2) Sarah Arden (d. 1787); died young;
(3) William Arden (1789-1849), 2nd Baron Alvanley (q.v.);
(4) Marianne Arden (d. 1791)
(5) Hon. Frances Henrietta Arden (1791-1852), born 9 April 1791 at Rolls House, London; married, 25 June 1831 (settlement 22 June) at St James, Westminster, Sir John Warrender (1786-1867), 5th bt. of Lochend (East Lothian) and had issue a daughter (Helen Catherine Warrender (1834-89) (q.v.)); died 20 February 1852;
(6) Richard Pepper Arden (1792-1857), 3rd Baron Alvanley (q.v.);
(7) Hon. Catherine Emma Arden (1794-1875), born 23 April 1794; inherited an interest in the Cheshire estates from her brother Richard in 1857; died unmarried, 11 November 1875 and was buried in Brompton Cemetery;
He died at Frognal, Hampstead (Middx), 19 March 1804 and was buried in the Rolls Chapel, London, 26 March 1804; his will was proved April 1804. His widow died at the British Hotel, Edinburgh, 17 January 1825.

Arden, William (1789-1849), 2nd Baron Alvanley. Elder surviving son of Richard Pepper Arden (1744-1804), 1st Baron Alvanley, and his wife Anne Dorothea, daughter of Richard Wilbraham Bootle, born 8 January and baptised 20 February 1789. Served in Coldstream Guards and later a Capt. of 50th Regiment of Foot. Well known as a wit and a spendthrift, he was a friend of King George IV when he was Prince Regent, and dissipated his fortune and estates at the fashionable gaming tables of the time. In 1835 he fought a duel with Morgan John O'Connell, whose father Daniel O'Connell he asserted had been bought by Lord Melbourne on his accession to office, and who had called him a 'bloated buffoon'. He was unmarried and without issue.
He inherited the family estates in Cheshire from his uncle in 1823 but having anticipated his inheritance he was obliged to sell Underbank Hall later that year, most of the Bredbury lands in 1825, Willington Hall in 1827 and Arden Hall itself in 1833.
He died 16 November 1849 and administration of his goods was granted in December 1849.

Arden, Lt-Col. Richard Pepper (1792-1857), 3rd Baron Alvanley. Younger son of Richard Pepper Arden (1755-1804), 1st Baron Alvanley, and his wife Anne Dorothea, daughter of Richard Wilbraham Bootle, born 8 December 1792 and baptised 1 February 1793. A Lt-Col. in the army. He married, 25 April 1831 at St James Westminster, Arabella (1801-64), youngest daughter of William Henry Vane, 1st Duke of Cleveland, but had no issue.
He inherited Pepper Hall from his uncle in 1823, and the remaining Cheshire estates from his brother in 1849. After his death Pepper Hall was sold and the remaining Cheshire property passed to his younger sister and their niece, Helen, Countess of Haddington.
He died of exhaustion from the symptoms of gout, 24 June 1857, when the Barony of Alvanley became extinct; his will was proved in August 1857. His widow died 26 November 1864 at Thorp Perrow (Yorks).

Warrender, Helen Catherine (1834-89), Countess of Haddington. Daughter of Sir John Warrender, bt. of Lochend (East Lothian) and his wife Frances Henrietta, daughter of Richard Pepper Arden, 1st Baron Alvanley, born 4 February 1834. She married, 17 October 1854, George Baillie-Hamilton (1827-1917), Lord Binning (later 11th Earl of Haddington) and had issue:
(1) Lady Ruth Baillie-Hamilton (1855-1941), born 4 September 1855; died unmarried, 27 January 1941;
(2) Brig-Gen. George Baillie-Hamilton (1856-1917), Lord Binning CB MVO, born 24 December 1856; educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1876; BA 1879); JP and DL for Berwickshire; Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire, 1900-17; served in the Royal Horse Guards, 1881-1907 (Col. commanding, 1899-1903) and took part in the Egyptian campaign, 1882; the Sudan, 1884-85 and the Black Mountain expedition, 1889; ADC to Viceroy of India and Governor of Madras, 1888-90; served again in WW1 with Lothian & Borders Horse (Lt-Col.; temp. Brig-Gen. while brigade commander, 1916-17); married, 21 September 1892, Katharine Augusta Millicent, only child of William Severin Salting and had issue two sons and one daughter (Lady Helen Baillie-Hamilton (1893-1959), who inherited the Arderne estate in 1949); died in the lifetime of his father, 12 January 1917;
(3) Isabel Henrietta Baillie-Hamilton (b. & d. 1859), born 8 and died 17 November 1859;
(4) Hon. Richard Baillie-Hamilton (1858-81), born 28 August 1858; served in 77th Regiment and Rifle Brigade; died 12 August 1881;
(5) Lady Grisell Arden Baillie-Hamilton (1861-1957), born 23 April 1861; died unmarried, 27 April 1957, aged 96; will proved 1 July 1957 (estate £29,945);
(6) Capt. Hon. Henry Robert Baillie-Hamilton-Arden (1862-1949) (q.v.); 
(7) Lady Cecely Arden Baillie-Hamilton (1868-1950), born 13 July 1868; died unmarried, 24 October 1950; will proved 6 April 1950 (estate £23,155).
She inherited the Utkinton/Alvanley estate from her uncle in 1857, and she and her husband built a new house called Arderne Hall there in 1863.
She died 29 May 1889. The Earl died 11 June 1917.

Baillie-Hamilton-Arden (né Baillie-Hamilton), Capt. Hon. Henry Robert (1862-1949) of Arderne Hall, Tarporley (Cheshire).  Youngest son of George Baillie-Hamilton (1827-1917), 11th Earl of Haddington, and his wife Helen Catherine, daughter of Sir John Warrender, bt., born 4 October 1862. Served in Coldstream Guards (Capt.); JP for Cheshire; assumed the additional surname Arden by deed poll, 1918.
He inherited the Arderne Hall estate from his father in 1917. At his death it passed to his niece, Lady Helen Baillie-Hamilton, wife of Hon. Henry Barnaby O'Brien.
He died unmarried, 14 March 1949; will proved 9 August 1949 (estate £251,609).

Sources

J. Aikin, A description of the country from thirty to forty miles around Manchester, 1795, pp. 448-49; G. Ormerod, The history of the county palatine and city of Chester, 1819, vol 2, pp. 40-43; W. C. Townsend, Lives of Twelve Eminent Judges, 1846, vol 1, pp. 141-2; J.P. Earwaker, East Cheshire - past and present, 1877-80, vol 1, p. 476; P. de Figueredo & J. Treuherz, Cheshire Country Houses, 1987, pp. 213, 237, 278; T. Mowl & M. Mako, The historic gardens of Cheshire, 2008, pp. 148-49; C. Hartwell, M. Hyde, E. Hubbard & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Cheshire, 2011, pp. 180, 623, 645-46; J. Grenville * Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Yorkshire - The North Riding, 2023, p. 651; 

http://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/aa/arderne2.php; 

http://www.parksandgardens.org/places-and-people/site/6807/history;

https://www.pepperardenhall.com/about-2.

Location of archives

Arden family of Bredbury and Tarporley: deeds, rentals, accounts, estate and family papers, 1220-c.1960. [Cheshire Archives & Local Studies, DAR, D6137]; deeds, rentals, maps, wills and settlements, 17th-19th cents [John Rylands Library, Manchester University, ARD]

Coat of arms

Gules, three cross crosslets, fitchée Or, a chief of the second.

Can you help?

Here are a few notes about information and images which would help to improve the account above. If you can help with any of these or with other additions or corrections, please use the contact form in the sidebar to get in touch.

• Can you supply a better image of Pepper Arden Hall, or any more information about the Victorian alterations to the house?
• As is often the case, there is a good deal of doubt about the accuracy and completeness of the information provided about the earliest generations of the family. The details presented here are taken chiefly from successive herald's visitations and from the pedigrees in Ormerod's history. Careful scrutiny of the family papers in Chester and Manchester might provide some additions or corrections, and if anyone has had the opportunity to go through these records and can supply corrections, please get in touch.

Revision

This post was first published 25 May 2015 and edited 27-29 May 2015, 28 April 2016, 23 January 2019, 11 December 2020 and 15 April 2023. I am grateful to Priscilla Carney for drawing my attention to the Arden pedigrees in Cheshire Archives, and to Murray Johnston for a correction.