BACKFORD MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The registry identifies the manor as Backford Manor in Backford, Cheshire, and the historical evidence places the manor house at Backford Hall in the township of Backford. Historic England records the present Backford Hall as standing on the site of a 1565 hall, while historical directories identify Backford Hall as the seat of the lord of the manor.
Representative point: 53.24019, -2.90364
Basis: documented_manor_house — Backford Hall, Church Lane, Backford, at OS National Grid Reference SJ 39793 71843. Historic England identifies the present hall as being on the site of the earlier 1565 hall; the hall was the seat of the lord of the manor.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to early modern; extent evidenced particularly for the late 16th century
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The manor's existence and core holdings in Backford are documented, but no reliable manor-specific boundary map or complete perimeter has been located. A 1597 antiquarian record describes the manor and substantial holdings in Backford, together with additional detached properties or parcels in Bromborough, Chorlton, Huxley, Newton by Tattenhall and Siddenhall/Tattenhall. These holdings demonstrate that the manorial estate was not necessarily identical to the later parish or township boundary, so no administrative boundary has been substituted.
Sources:
- The National Archives Discovery: Backford Manor, record F286818: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F286818 — Registry record identifying the exact manor record and authority/reference GB/NNAF/M312860.
- Backford Hall, Historic England listing 1115554: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1115554 — Documents Backford Hall at SJ 39793 71843 and states that the 1863 house stands on the site of a 1565 hall.
- The Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Volume 84: https://rslc.org.uk/api/file/Vol_084.pdf — Publishes a late-16th-century record describing the manor of Backford and its holdings, including land and properties in Backford and detached parcels in neighbouring places.
- Kelly's Directory of Cheshire, 1896: Backford: https://forebears.io/england/cheshire/backford — Identifies Backford Hall as the seat of Birkenhead Glegg, lord of the manor and chief landowner, and gives the historical township context.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is the documented manor-house site at Backford Hall, not a claim that the present building or its grounds define the full historical manor.
- No historically grounded complete manor boundary polygon was found. The parish, township and modern civil boundaries must not be used as substitutes.
- The late-16th-century evidence includes detached holdings outside Backford, so the territorial estate may have been more complex than a single compact area.