An actor who swapped Hollywood for Greater Manchester to rebuild a derelict ancestral home has won a £10,000 lottery grant for the project.
Hopwood Hall, a 60-room grade II* listed building in Middleton, south of Rochdale, dates from 1426 but had been empty for three decades and was placed on Historic England’s “at risk” register before the arrival of Hopwood DePree last year.
DePree, a producer and director, had heard tales about the house from his grandfather, also named Hopwood, while growing up in Michigan but believed that they were made up to explain their name…