Epiphyte House, Broughton Old Hall, Broughton, Salford

The Rev John Clowes MA (1777-1846) inherited the Broughton estates from his brother in 1833, and during the last ten or twelve years of his life occupied himself chiefly with botanical and horticultural pursuits. At the time of his death, he owned one of the finest private collections of orchids in Britain which he bequeathed to Queen Victoria. After his death in 1846, four hundred and forty-six specimens were transferred to the royal collection at Kew, where a new house had been built to accommodate them. The collection was especially strong in Andean species. Clowesii rosea, Anguloa clowesii, Odontoglossum clowesianum and Miltonia clowesii were named in his honour. Clowes's gardener, William Hammond, compiled A Catalogue of orchidaceous plants in the collection of the Reverend John Clowes which was published in 1842.

To better cultivate his orchids Clowes built an Epiphyte House a short distance from the hall. Plan and section illustrated in Gardeners Chronicle 30 December 1843. A visitor recorded “The house in which they are grown is perfectly unique and adapted for them. The gardener informed me that the genera and species in the collection amounted to 575 known, and something like 150 imported, specimens, which have not yet bloomed. The rafters of the stove are elegantly festooned with Passifloras, Pergularias and other rambling creepers, and hundreds of blossoms suspending themselves from the roof in all parts of the house, which together with the odoriferous Orchidaceae in bloom diffuse a most delightful fragrance around.”

 The date of construction is uncertain, 1839 being the best estimate. building with its distinctive apsidal end the building is shown to the east of the hall on the OS map of 1889-1893, but by 1915 the entire site had been cleared of buildings.

Reference        Gardeners Chronicle 2 December 1843 page 838
Reference        Gardeners Chronicle 30 December 1843 page 908 – illustration