{"id":383,"date":"2022-06-06T20:21:08","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T20:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triskelepublishing.com\/weirdstonewalk\/?page_id=383"},"modified":"2024-11-04T11:30:46","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T11:30:46","slug":"blackden-trust","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/triskelepublishing.com\/weirdstonewalk\/blackden-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackden Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Approximate Location<\/strong>
OS Grid Reference: SJ 7890 7057
Latitude: 53.13.54N Longitude: 2.19.3W<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alan Garner<\/a> lives very close to Jodrell Bank Observatory<\/a> at the Blackden, Cheshire. He originally purchased part of Toad Hall in 1957 (it was at the time divided into two cottages), with the remainder acquired later. The building is a fifteenth century manor house, remodelled during the early modern period, that was home to the Eaton family until 1664. It was worked as a farmhouse until 1880 when it was converted into two cottages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garner began writing his first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen<\/a><\/em>, the year previous to moving to Toad Hall aged just 22. In The Voice That Thunders<\/em> (1997, 81), he reveals that he noted down the very moment he commenced the work: “4.03 pm., Tuesday 4 September, 1956<\/em>.” Much of the Weirdstone<\/em>, and all of his subsequent literary works, were completed at Blackden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The north-east elevation of Toad Hall, looking south (Credit: James Wright)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By 1970, Alan and his wife Griselda had a burgeoning family of three and required more space than Toad Hall could provide. Tipped off by the architect Michael Peach, the Garners purchased the Old Medicine House, which was about to be demolished in advance of a road widening scheme at Wrinehill, Staffordshire. Over the next two years the sixteenth century timbers were painstakingly dismantled, conserved and re-erected at Blackden. The building features prominently in the Writer’s Workshop: Places and Things<\/em> as well as The Edge of the Ceiling<\/a><\/em> films.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latterly, the Old Medicine House provided the location for the plot of Garner’s 2021 novel, Treacle Walker<\/a><\/em>, which was nominated for the Booker Prize<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The north-west elevation of the Old Medicine House, looking south (Credit: James Wright)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The complex of structures now form a group of listed buildings<\/a> and The Old Medicine House is occasionally open to visitors by arrangement with the Blackden Trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Locations<\/a><\/blockquote>