Saving Hopwood Hall Estate to be documented in new US TV show 'Hopwood's Castle'

The journey to save the Grade-II* listed Hopwood Hall Estate will feature in a new factual television show in the United States.

The US-based EQ Media Group will produce the unscripted show, aimed at the US market, entitled 'Hopwood's Castle’ which will follow the journey in all its detail.

The latest update comes hot on the heels of Hopwood DePree’s book deal about the journey from Hollywood to Manchester to save the family’s decrepit ancestral home.
 

Read more: Hopwood DePree to pen memoir about rescuing ancestral Hopwood Hall EstatePublished: 14 September 2020

Hopwood Hall was lost from the Hopwood family in the early 20th century when the last two male heirs in England were tragically killed in action in World War One.

Over the years, the Hall fell into disrepair, inching ever closer to ruin. The English Hopwoods were long gone and, generations later, the American branch of the family had lost track that the Hall still existed, other than DePree’s grandfather who told ‘stories’ to him as a young boy about a Hopwood ‘Castle’ in England long ago.

Years later, Hopwood as an adult with a growing interest in genealogy, stumbled across the Hall while surfing the web in LA and realised this could be the ‘mythical’ Hopwood Castle.

 

 

Hopwood had always assumed his grandfather made up the castle story to entertain him, but Hopwood Hall was very real, and he discovered, in a frighteningly fragile state in danger of being lost forever.

The American actor and comedian, with no carpentry experience or real ties to England beyond the Hall itself, stepped in and Hopwood now has an exclusive legal agreement with the council to enable him to have up to five years to rescue the 12th century manor.

He will then assume full possession of his ancestral home, which has lain vacant for 30 years and is now on Historic England’s 'At Risk' register.

 

Read more: Tens of thousands of bees discovered at historic Hopwood HallPublished: 31 October 2020

 

Read more: First Christmas celebrations at Hopwood Hall estate in over a centuryPublished: 24 December 2019

 

Read more: Centuries old original wooden panels returned to historic Hopwood HallPublished: 28 September 2019

 

Read more: Heritage Open Day: Hopwood HallPublished: 10 September 2017