Building Name

Kersal House

Street
Radford Street
District/Town
Higher Broughton, Salford
County/Country
GMCA, England

An example of pre-Victorian residential development around Manchester, the house was probably built about 1820-1830 as the richest of Manchester’s merchants sought to distance themselves from the dirt and pollution of the town. Sited a little over two miles from the Exchange, and a few minutes’ walk from the then newly created Bury New Road, its situation still remains particularly secluded given its proximity to the centre of a major city. The house was built on a steep escarpment of glacial sand and boulder clay marking the southerly limit of the ice sheet covering the West Pennine Moors in the last ice age,  and looked out over water meadows to the high ground of Irlams-o'-th'-Height on the horizon. The house and gardens have been described as follows:

KERSAL HOUSE Higher Broughton – On Sale - this family residence situated overlooking the valley of the Irwell; the site of the property is 28,639 square yards (almost 6 acres) which is subject to a moderate ground rent; the situation is secluded and private, and there is some fully grown timber on the property. The pleasure grounds are nicely disposed and planted. [Manchester Guardian 3 March 1883 page 11]

Here we enter the still beautiful bend of the river below The Cliff, Kersal Dale and Kersal House. Many extensive and flourishing gardens still remain on the hillside around this bend, though the smoke of the town has destroyed some of their former luxuriance. There are still many fine trees, and owing to its quietness many species of wild birds still frequent the place, and there are also flying visits from the more migratory species. [J. Corbett, The River Irwell, Abel Heywood and Son, Manchester, 1907, p.67]

Kersal House was the family home of J H Somerset, architect residence of Henry Somerset, from about 1900 until his death in 1932. In 1946 it was advertised as a Residential Hotel and in1972 it was purchased by Salford Corporation as a residential hostel for the mentally ill. The house was subsequently destroyed by fire and demolished. The site, largely cleared, is now part of Kersal Dale and the Cliff Local Nature Reserve covering approximately 80 acres.