A Hollywood actor pursuing legal action against a UK council over a stately home dubbed ‘Downton Shabby’ has told of his despair after being evicted – but hopes for a breakthrough in a looming High Court battle.
Hopwood DePree says he has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds trying to restore a stately home in Middleton, Greater Manchester.
The 55-year-old published a book called Downton Shabby detailing his efforts to revamp the 15th century mansion associated with his family for 400 years.
Yet he has been forced out of his ‘ancestral family home’, finding out last year the gates were locked to him despite his proposed £13million renovations.
Mr DePree has since issued a legal case against Rochdale Borough Council in a bid to regain access to the 60-room mansion named Hopwood Hall and hopes for progress in January.
He was told last November he was dumped from the restoration project and locked out of the site by its council owners.
Mr DePree, also a movie producer, has previously told of how, growing up 3,500 miles away in Michigan before his film career took him to Hollywood, he was enchanted by bedtime stories from his grandfather of an English castle the family had given up when descendants first moved to the US.
Speaking now to the Daily Mail, after launching the lawsuit against Rochdale Council, he described his bafflement at being barred from the property.
Hopwood DePree (pictured) says he has spent £8.5million trying to restore a stately home in Middleton, Greater Manchester
Rochdale Council last year terminated their seven-year partnership with Hopwood DePree (pictured), criticising the American’s £13million redevelopment for being too slow
Mr DePree, who says he has spent £581,000 renovating the crumbling mansion, told the Mail: ‘The council have got until January to respond – we’ve heard nothing back from them at all.
‘I can’t believe that a public body could act in this way. We’ve been kicked to the kerb.’
He described how locks had been installed on the property and he has been denied access.
Mr DePree, speaking from the US but planning to return to a base he has in Manchester soon, added: ‘The house is in a terrible state.
‘But since I got involved in 2017, we’ve helped rescue the gardens – winning three consecutive awards from the Royal Horticultural Society.
‘This is a project making a big difference. I know the council has said I’ve never presented a business plan but that’s completely false.
‘I presented a business plan at a council meeting in July 2022 and there was full support.’
He says he has backing from local residents in the village, with volunteers helping restore the grounds – and supporters include ex-Rochdale councillor Peter Allonby.
Mr DePree has issued a legal case against Rochdale Borough Council in a bid to regain access to the 60-room mansion named Hopwood Hall and hopes for progress in January
Pictured: Hopwood Hall in Middleton, five miles north of Manchester
Volunteers have been helping by carrying out works at the manor house in Middleton
Mr Allonby told the Daily Mail: ‘It has massive community support – people here want the hall refurbished.
‘I attended Hopwood Hall for teacher training held there back in the 1960s and then it looked like it would disappear over decades of complete neglect.
‘Volunteers in recent years have been doing a great deal of work there – and yet they’ve now been locked out and can’t even get the garden tools they used. It’s totally unacceptable behaviour.’
Mr DePree insisted: ‘This property is very important to the community.’
A court hearing has been listed for January 19 to discuss timescales surrounding Rochdale council’s potential response.
Dating from 1426, Hopwood House had a rich history – with Guy Fawkes staying there as well as Lord Byron who finished his celebrated poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage at the home.
It is said to have had connections with Mr DePree’s ancestors that date 400 years to his 17th century relative John Hopwood.
The decision by Rochdale council to evict Mr DePree from the grounds is being challenged in London’s High Court, with documents filed on his behalf insisting the sale should not have fallen through and he has a ‘a clear vision, a plan and the resources to rescue Hopwood Hall’.
Mr DePree said he was approached by the council to spearhead the fight to save Hopwood Hall because they and the further education college, which owns the surrounding land, had ‘washed their hands of it’.
He hoped to move into the sprawling property when the refurbishment had been completed to oversee an ambitious project that would transform the estate into an arts and cultural hub as well as a wedding and music venue.
Rochdale Borough Council granted Mr DePree an exclusivity agreement, in which he could develop and eventually buy the building from them for a ‘nominal sum’ as long as his business plan was viable.
The 55-year-old published a book called Downton Shabby detailing his efforts to revamp the 15th century mansion associated with his family for 400 years
A vintage picture taken of the Hopwood family in the conservatory of the house
Dating from 1426, it had a rich history: Guy Fawkes stayed there as did Lord Byron who finished his celebrated poem ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’ there
An aerial view taken of Hopwood Hall in Middleton
But the local authority last year terminated their seven-year partnership, criticising the American’s £13million redevelopment for being too slow and ‘unlikely to be able to secure future public or private funding’.
Mr DePree’s lawyers argue the council should honour the agreement to sell, claiming the only condition stipulated was that planning permission be secured.
That was granted in 2022. The plans aimed to restore the magnificent banquet room – built in 1689 – to hold weddings with the hall’s 25-bedrooms providing ample accommodation for guests.
The historic oak parlour, the library and upper gallery were all earmarked for renovation so the home could open for public tours where visitors would enter via a gift shop and welcome centre.
Mr DePree had also hoped to rebuild the hall’s conservatory, lost in the 1950s, and construct a stage in the grounds for films, theatre productions and concerts.
Workshops teaching traditional skills like leaded glass window making, wood carving and plaster moulding, would continue too.
The council has said it is committed to a new feasibility study to develop other options for the future of Hopwood Hall following the end of the exclusivity agreement with Mr DePree.
Rochdale council leader Neil Emmott said last November: ‘Hopwood Hall is a local historic asset which means a great deal to the people of Middleton and indeed the wider borough.
Mr DePree is pictured here outside the manor house during renovations
A vintage photo shows the interior long gallery corridor within the property
This external picture of Hopwood Hall in Middleton was taken in 2014
The interior of the house is seen here during renovations carried out by Hopwood DePree
‘Something as important as this is about much more than one person, however well-intentioned they may be.
‘Public assets are owned by our residents and we cannot allow them to transfer to a private individual without a great deal of care. Mr DePree was asked to meet a number of conditions when we entered into our agreement with him.
‘We would be failing in our duty to protect our historic assets if we didn’t hold Mr DePree to the terms of this agreement.
‘We know that many local residents have put their heart and soul into Hopwood Hall’s restoration as volunteers on the project.
‘We’re very clear that we will continue to involve those volunteers and the wider community in any future plans.’
The Hall and the Hopwood family parted ways in the early 20th century when its two male heirs – Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Gregge-Hopwood and his brother Captain Gerald Gregge-Hopwood – were both killed during the First World War.
Their parents, tormented by grief, sold the property in 1922.
It was bought by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation to make uniforms during the Second World War and later became a Catholic teacher training college.
Lawyers for Hopwood DePree (pictured) argue the council should honour an agreement to sell, claiming the only condition stipulated was that planning permission be secured
Lt Col Edward Byng Hopwood (right) was killed during WW1 in July 2017
The 15th century manor house is pictured here in 2014
Rochdale Council purchased the hall in the 1990s.
The local authority, which has been contacted for comment by the Daily Mail, previously said in June this year: ‘Work to restore Middleton’s historic Hopwood Hall has taken another step forward, with another phase of major works to the building’s roof now under way.
‘A building conservation specialist has been awarded the contract to deliver the work, which will involve painstakingly repairing and restoring the council-owned building’s decaying roof.
‘The works will bring almost half a million pounds worth of investment into the building, with the council and Historic England jointly funding the £466,000 project.
‘Oldham-based Maysand will be taking care to ensure the roof is returned to its original appearance, to ensure the valuable heritage of the grade II listed building is protected.
‘In addition, the firm will be carrying out painstaking restoration to the leaded windows, alongside crucial works to downpipes and gutters to ensure the historic asset is fully watertight.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Rochdale council, who declined to comment further due to ongoing legal discussions.
Sources suggested the July 2022 meeting to which Mr Hopwood referred was not a formal council committee meeting so no minutes would be published.
After the roof repairs worth almost £500,000 were recently completed, a feasibility study to advise on possible future uses for the building is continuing.
