Lillesden Estate Hawkhurst Kent (attribution)

There is contemporary evidence that W R Corson was responsible for the gate lodge to the Lillesden estate. However, he only arrived in Manchester from Leeds following the death of J E Gregan in 1855. Here he took over Gregan’s practice to complete outstanding and unfinished works. It appears probable that the lodge was one such commission. By this logic, J E Gregan was responsible for the design of the main mansion erected in 1854-1855 .

The wealth amassed by Edward Loyd junior, even before selling his bank in King Street to the Manchester and Liverpool District Bank in 1863 was immense. At the time he purchased the Lillesden estate in 1853 Edward Loyd was 32 years old and, it would seem, bent on self-aggrandisement. Within fifteen years Edward Loyd junior of Manchester had severed his northern roots and had been transformed into Lieutenant Colonel Edward Loyd of Lillesden Kent and Thornhill, Cowes, an established member of the Kent gentry and a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. In 1876 he was appointed High Sheriff of Kent.