An American actor’s dream of restoring his ancestral home to its former glory has been left in ruins after the council that owns the 15th century mansion pulled out of the deal.

Hopwood DePree swapped Los Angeles for Rochdale in 2017 after discovering that Grade II-listed Hopwood Hall in Middleton had been in his family for around 400 years.

But the 54-year-old, who said he spent around £580,000 renovating the dilapidated 60-bedroom country house, claimed Rochdale Borough Council had now “pulled the rug out from under him » by terminating his agreement to sell it to him.

The council said Mr DePree did not have a “viable” plan for the building’s future.

Mr. DePree, a Michigan native, said his grandfather told him stories about Hopwood Hall when he was a child.

He had assumed that the stories about the house – where Guy Fawkes and Lord Byron were said to have stayed and which remained in the Hopwood family until the First World War – were just fairy tales.

But when he discovered the family connection, he decided to try to buy the building and turn it into an arts and events center.

Rochdale Council granted him a “limited occupation license” and the opportunity to buy the building.

Around £1.7 million in grants from the council and heritage bodies like Historic England have been invested in repairs and renovations since 2017.

Planning permission for Mr DePree’s project was granted in 2022, the same year he wrote Downton Shabby, which chronicled his efforts to revive the mansion.

He said he believed he had viable plans for the future of the building and had spoken with hotel and restaurant companies about his idea of ​​holding hospitality skills training there.

But he was shocked to learn that, in a closed-door meeting last week, the council decided to walk away from the deal.

Mr DePree said under council ownership the building had been derelict for years.

He said: “The council took over the hall in the 1990s and over the last 20 years it has fallen into a state of complete dereliction, so for us to reverse this situation and restore the building to its former glory was an incredible challenge.”

Mr DePree, who directed and starred in the 1999 comedy The Last Big Attraction, said the council told him that because the hall was entirely surrounded by the grounds of Hopwood Hall college, it needed its own access road. independent access.

He said he was figuring out how to build that when the board decided it no longer wanted to pursue the deal.

Mr. DePree, who believes the agreement is legally binding, said he wants to know the reasons for the council’s decision before deciding on its next move.

Rochdale Borough Council said it had agreed to sell the building to Mr DePree for a “symbolic sum” if he could present a viable business plan, and had renewed and extended the agreement several times.

But this week the cabinet decided not to renew it after consultants it retained said Mr DePree’s plans were “unlikely to secure future public or private funding”.

A council spokesman said Mr DePree “had been unable to produce a viable proposal, despite having had seven years to do so and having received advice and support from the council and the Rochdale Development Agency throughout this period.

The spokesperson said this meant the council “had a responsibility to explore alternative options” in order to “protect the public funds invested to date”.