History
The building of the house began in 1907 for Bryan Leesmith, a director of the chemical firm of Brunner Mond, the architect being C. E. Mallows. Before it was completed, Leesmith had to sell the house and its ownership passed to Brunner Mond. It was then leased to Richard Henry Prestwich, who was a director of Burberry’s. Prestwich’s daughter, Irene, continued to rent the property after her father’s death in 1940. Irene was a member of the campaign for Moral Re-Armament (MRA) and in 1940 she invited the organisation to move here to shelter from the war. In November 1940 36 incendiary bombs fell in the garden and one on the house. During the war the gardens were used for growing produce which was taken to the local markets. After the war Irene bought the house and grounds from Imperial Chemical Industries, the successors of Brunner Mond, and presented it to MRA, establishing the Tirley Garth Trust in order to preserve it. Irene Prestwich died in 1974. In 2002, as the house and grounds were surplus to the requirements of MRA, they were sold to Mersey Television.
Read more about this topic: Tirley Garth
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)
“It may be well to remember that the highest level of moral aspiration recorded in history was reached by a few ancient Jews—Micah, Isaiah, and the rest—who took no count whatever of what might not happen to them after death. It is not obvious to me why the same point should not by and by be reached by the Gentiles.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)