Hopwood DePree, a 55-year-old American actor and filmmaker, has been locked out of his ancestral home, Hopwood Hall in Middleton, after a dispute with Rochdale Council. DePree has been leading efforts to restore the Grade II* listed building since 2017 under an agreement that gave him an option to purchase the property.
In November 2023, the council locked the gates without warning, stating that DePree had not upheld his part of the deal. DePree described the move as “a big shock and really devastating,” noting that volunteers had spent five years transforming the gardens into award-winning ones. He said he has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds of his own money on the project and sold his house in the US to fund it.
DePree has now taken legal action, suing the council in the High Court to force them to honour the 2017 agreement. His lawyer, Nick Wells, said evidence obtained through freedom of information requests suggests the council changed its position since the agreement was made. Wells stated: “We are therefore asking the high court to intervene and hold Rochdale council to the decisions that they made in 2017.”
DePree, who once won a deal with Warner Bros for a TV show, first visited the hall in 2013 after researching his family tree. He said: “I felt that if I didn’t do something that it would fall into being lost forever.” The council declined to comment on ongoing proceedings but previously stated that a viable business case and funding strategy had not been forthcoming from DePree.
