Rose Hill was bought by a wealthy cotton merchant, Absalom Watkin (1787–1861), in 1832.
Watkin was a social and political reformer, an anti corn law campaigner and a diarist, recording life in early Victorian Manchester.

The house was inherited by Absalom's son, Edward Watkin.
Edward was a noted transport entrepreneur who made his fortune as the managing director of nine separate railway companies at a time of vast expansion of the railways in mid-Victorian Britain.
He was responsible for driving the expansion of the Metropolitan Railway into the rural areas outside London, and he also founded the Channel Tunnel Company in 1875, which undertook the first large-scale attempt to link England and France.
He began construction of "The Great Tower of London", a larger version of the Eiffel Tower on the site of the current Wembley Stadium, but this was abandoned after a height of 155 feet had been reached.

In the 20th century, Rose Hill ceased to be a private dwelling.
In 1915 it was purchased by the Manchester Poor Law Union to be used as a residential school for children suffering from ophthalmia.
It was later used as a children's convalescent home and a nursery school, until it was taken over in 1955 by Manchester Corporation to be used as a children's home and juvenile remand home.
The child care facility closed in the 1990s and was later the subject of a wide-ranging investigation into child abuse in Manchester's care homes from the 1960s to the 1980s.

In 1979 a major landscape painting by the American artist Frederick Edwin Church was discovered at Rose Hill.
The Icebergs had been bought by Sir Edward in the 1860s and, following his death, was subsequently forgotten.

Rose Hill was converted into flats in 2003 and most of the grounds built-over with private housing.
Rose Hill was bought by a wealthy cotton merchant, Absalom Watkin (1787–1861), in 1832. Watkin was a social and political reformer, an anti corn law campaigner and a diarist, recording life in early Victorian Manchester.
The house was inherited by Absalom's son, Edward Watkin. Edward was a noted transport entrepreneur who made his fortune as the managing director of nine separate railway companies at a time of vast expansion of the railways in mid-Victorian Britain. He was responsible for driving the expansion of the Metropolitan Railway into the rural areas outside London, and he also founded the Channel Tunnel Company in 1875, which undertook the first large-scale attempt to link England and France. He began construction of "The Great Tower of London", a larger version of the Eiffel Tower on the site of the current Wembley Stadium, but this was abandoned after a height of 155 feet had been reached.
In the 20th century, Rose Hill ceased to be a private dwelling. In 1915 it was purchased by the Manchester Poor Law Union to be used as a residential school for children suffering from ophthalmia. It was later used as a children's convalescent home and a nursery school, until it was taken over in 1955 by Manchester Corporation to be used as a children's home and juvenile remand home. The child care facility closed in the 1990s and was later the subject of a wide-ranging investigation into child abuse in Manchester's care homes from the 1960s to the 1980s. 
In 1979 a major landscape painting by the American artist Frederick Edwin Church was discovered at Rose Hill. The Icebergs had been bought by Sir Edward in the 1860s and, following his death, was subsequently forgotten.
Rose Hill was converted into flats in 2003 and most of the grounds built-over with private housing.
Rose Hill, Northenden