Hobcroft House was the original Mallory family home and one of the first places George Mallory taught himself how to climb. The start of what would become a magnificent future in mountaineering.
Located on Hobcroft Lane in Mobberley, Cheshire, Hobcroft House was built in 1890. It is a four-storey property which had remained empty until 2017 when Manchester Airport finally put the property up for auction and was bought by its current owner. This stunning building with its turret, spire and adjoining coach house, stables and paddocks was the perfect place for a young pioneer to grow up.
George was born in 1886 at nearby Newton Hall where his sisters Victoria and Mary were also, before the family moved to Hobcroft House. Hobcroft house was bought by George’s father, The Rev Herbert Leigh Mallory, the former rector of Mobberley. Still to this date there is a date stone on the house with his initials dating 1890.
Whilst George enjoyed many days climbing and exploring the surrounding Manchester Greenbelt and farm land, well before Manchester Airport in its current form was constructed, his farther worked just 500m down the road at St Wilfred’s Parish Church. Both Hobcroft House and St Wilfred’s proved to be the perfect training ground for any child growing up in the Victorian era of ‘firsts’, reading and listening to the adventures of Shackleton, Scott and Amundson.
George’s younger brother, Trafford Leigh Mallory was however born at Hobcroft House and after fighting at Ypres during the First World War and later promoted to the Chief of Fighter Command in the Royal Air Force at the outbreak of the Second World War. He was later killed in 1944, when his plane crashed in the French Alps. It is thought the Mallory family had earlier left Hobcroft in 1904 when George’s father moved on to another posting.
Hobcroft House is a stunning property and is currently being restored to its former glory by its new owner. It will always remain an important place which played a huge part in British history and the life and achievements of George. H. L. Mallory.