Cheshire: From Gaol to Rectory

Hold on to your mitre! On a blustery January day bishops arrive for the opening of the new Knutsford Test School.

Hang on to your mitre! On a gusty January day distinguished churchmen, including the Archbishop of Wales, arrive for the official opening of the Knutsford Test School's new premises at the Old Rectory in Hawarden, Flintshire. The role of the school was to educate and prepare aspiring clergymen for ordination into the priesthood.

The grandeur of the new premises, with its gardens and view of the River Dee, was a far cry from the austerity of the school's previous home - a prison in Knutsford, Cheshire - but the original name was retained. The rectory was donated to the Church of England by Henry Neville Gladstone, a businessman, politician and the third son of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898). Henry Gladstone also owned Hawarden Castle, in whose grounds the rectory stood.