A Hollywood actor has launched legal action against a UK council over a manor house dubbed ‘Downton Shabby’ after being threatened with eviction.
Hopwood DePree has told of spending eight years and half a million 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 planned £13million renovations.
And he has now issued a legal case against Rochdale Borough Council in a bid to regain access to the 60-room mansion named Hopwood Hall.
DePree, also a movie producer, was told last November he was dumped from the restoration project and locked out of the site by its council owners.
He 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.
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.
Hollywood actor and producer Hopwood DePree (pictured) is launching legal action over his desire to renovate Hopwood House in Middleton, Greater Manchester
Mr DePree, 55, has told of spending eight years and £500,000 trying to restore the home
And it had connections with DePree’s ancestors that date some 400 years to his 17th century ancestor, John Hopwood.
The decision by Rochdale council to evict DePree from the grounds is now being challenged in London’s High Court, with documents filed on 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’.
The BBC has quoted him as saying: ‘When I took the project on, the hall was just a few years from completely falling down and becoming a ruin.
‘We worked so hard and poured everything into it. I moved countries. I got British citizenship. I left behind a life and sold my home.
‘I went through so much with the belief that the council was being open and honest with me, and I trusted them.
‘Ultimately I had an agreement that I signed with them that I fulfilled. My lawyers feel that we fulfilled that, and the council went against that, and I felt that I had no other choice other than to file court proceedings against them.’
He today told the Daily Mail: ‘Over three months ago, my legal team sent Rochdale Council yet another detailed letter setting out our position and Rochdale Council asked for more time to respond.
‘And finally on 19th August 2025, Rochdale Council came back to say that they didn’t need to tell us their full position on the agreement but if we didn’t accept that they were right, they would consider legal action against me.
DePree pictured carrying out renovations at Hopwood Hall in Middleton
‘So after almost 11 months of trying to work with Rochdale Council to find a resolution, not to mention them allowing all the community volunteers’ work in the gardens falling back into rack and ruin, and us having eventually obtained some evidence of shocking conduct by the council through FOI and SAR requests, we were left with no choice but to sue Rochdale Council in the High Court of Justice to force them to honour our agreement.’
Nick Wells, a partner at the legal firm Ward Hadaway that is representing him, added: ‘We have reviewed many years of documents and emails and eventually obtained some previously unseen evidence through FOI and SAR requests, many of which Rochdale Borough Council tried to block.
‘The evidence points to the council having changed its position since entering into the Option Agreement in 2017 and leads to a strong suspicion that the report and recommendations on which cabinet made its decision to withdraw in October 2024 was based on inaccurate information on the contents of the Option Agreement from 2017.
‘We are therefore asking the High Court to intervene and hold Rochdale Council to the decisions that they made in 2017 rather than the decisions they have purported to have made in 2024.’
Mr DePree had previously told the Daily Mail: ‘I came across this old black and white aerial photograph of Hopwood Hall and I immediately knew that had to be the place my grandfather was always talking about.
‘I found an email address for the hall and sent a message asking if it was still around.
‘I was living in Los Angeles and with the time difference I woke up to a message from the council and a local historian who said ‘when are you coming to England?’
‘My whole family ended up coming over and we took a day to come to Middleton to look at the hall and we were so moved by the building, its beauty, the architecture and just how much the community loved this building and how much they wanted access to it
BEFORE: The 15th century manor house pictured in 2014
‘But it was completely derelict and falling down. All the windows were smashed, it was regularly attacked by vandals and thieves and vines were growing through the windows.
‘There were full sections of the hall that had completely collapsed and the lead roof tiles had been stolen so water was pouring in every time it rained.
‘We couldn’t believe such a building was left in that condition. Experts told us that if nothing was done within five to 10 years the building would become a complete ruin.’
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.
He said: ‘I knew that was a big leap because obviously I was from a different country but it felt like a higher calling, a higher purpose, and I knew with the support of the community who so desperately loved this building, we could do it.
‘Everyone was so welcoming and I saw nothing but success ahead of us to rescue and restore this hall and bring it back to public use – that was our absolute passion and we committed ourselves so deeply to this project.
Mr DePree pictured outside the manor house during renovations
Pictured: Hopwood Hall, an estate set in Lancashire countryside, five miles north of Manchester
‘I’ve spent £581,000 according to my last statement I’ve personally paid for all of the staffing for the community engagement and driven up and down the country meeting with heritage professionals, grant organisations and architects.’
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.
Hopwood DePree (pictured) gave up his movie career and life in LA to move to Rochdale to spend seven years and over £500,000 restoring the 15th century mansion
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.
‘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.
An external picture of Hopwood Hall in Middleton taken in 2014
It was bought by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation to make uniforms during the Second World War and later became a Catholic teacher training college.
Rochdale Council bought the hall in the 1990s.
A council spokesperson has now said: ‘We don’t comment on ongoing legal discussions and don’t intend to elaborate on previous statements we have made on this subject.’
The Daily Mail has approached the council for further comment.
