A NEW memorial to the six victims of a devastating fire near Little Budworth is to be unveiled 100 years after the blaze razed the noble stately home to the ground.
Oulton Hall, former seat of the wealthy Grey-Egerton baronets, was wrecked by the fire which broke out on Sunday, February 14, 1926, leaving nothing but a charred shell in its wake.
Five Grey-Egerton family servants lost their lives when the roof collapsed on them while they were trying to rescue valuable family treasures, along with the leader of the Tarporley volunteer fire brigade, Joseph Hunt.
The new memorial, which has been ten years in the making, will be unveiled as part of a service to be held at Oulton Park, now home of the famous motor racing circuit, at 11am on Sunday, February 15.
It will be a permanent feature within the footprint of Oulton Hall, is made from sandstone which was once part of the building, and will include seating and a brass plaque.
Peter Robinson, chairman of Little Budworth Parish Council and great grandson of perished firefighter, Joseph Hunt, is a member of the memorial project’s liaison committee.
Cllr Robinson said: “We thought it would be most fitting to make the memorial on the site of Oulton Hall and to have a service and dedication on the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.
“We know Joseph Hunt was buried at St Helen’s Church in Tarporley, and George Sinclair at Witton Parish church, Northwich.
“The other four bodies which were recovered from the fire, Mary Spann, Bertha Lloyd, Fred Crank, and Harry White, are all buried in one grave at St. Peter’s, Little Budworth, and I hope in the future we will be able to renovate and re-dedicate this grave.
“We have relatives of some of the victims coming along, including members of George Sinclair’s family, who are coming up from South Wales, and relations of Mary Spann.
“Those who attend are welcome to lay wreathes, should they wish to.
“Many thanks are due to the liaison committee, and to its chairman, Eddie Shaw, for all their hard work.”
The dedications service will be conducted by the vicar of St Peter’s Church, the Revd Canon Paul Dawson.
The cost of building the monument has been met by the owner of Oulton Park, Jonathan Palmer; Sir William Egerton; the parish councils of Little Budworth and Rushton; and Maurice Hunt, grandson of Joseph Hunt, the Tarporley fireman who lost his life in the catastrophe.
Historian and journalist, Mark Bevan, has recently published a book on the Oulton Park fire, in which he explores the possibility the fire was caused by an electrical fault.
Mark, a one-time Northwich Guardian editor who has written more than 20 books on local topics, said: “Oulton’s roots are buried in centuries of Cheshire history, but nothing compares with what went on in the immediate aftermath of the 1926 fire.
“The tragedy was never properly investigated, the deaths of the six warranting nothing more than a few lines in the national archives.”
Share