Bank Hall is a Jacobeanmansion in Bretherton, Lancashire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and is at the centre of a private estate, surrounded by parkland. The hall was built on the site of an older house in 1608 by the Banastres who were lords of the manor. The hall was extended during the 18th and 19th centuries. Extensions were built for George Anthony Legh Keck in 1832–1833, to the design of the architect George Webster.
Legh Keck died in 1860 and the estates passed to Thomas Powys, 3rd Baron Lilford. The contents were auctioned in 1861 and the hall used as a holiday home and later leased to tenants. During the Second World War the Royal Engineers used it as a control centre. After the war the estate was returned to the Lilfords whose estate offices moved to the east wing of the house until 1972 when the house was vacated. The building was used as a location for the 1969 film The Haunted House of Horror.
The house was vandalised causing rapid deterioration. In 1995 the Bank Hall Action Group (now Friends of Bank Hall) was formed to raise public awareness, collect funds, host events and clear the overgrown grounds. In 2003 Bank Hall was the first building to be featured in the BBC's Restoration television series. Since 2006 the action group and Urban Splash have planned to restore the house as apartments retaining the gardens, entrance hall and clock tower for public access and the Heritage Trust for the North West (HTNW) plans to renovate the potting sheds and walled gardens.
History
For centuries Bank Hall was the manorial home of a branch of the Banastre family, lords of the manor descended from the Norman Robert de Banastre, who built a motte and bailey castle at Prestatyn in about 1164. In 1167 the Banastres fled when Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, destroyed the castle and the family escaped to Cheshire and Lancashire.[1][2] In 1315 Sir Adam Banastre, who had extensive landholdings elsewhere in the county, led the Banastre Rebellion against Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, and was summarily beheaded at Charnock Richard when the rebellion failed.[3]
A structure from the time of Elizabeth I is recorded on Christopher Saxton's map from 1579.[4] In 1608 the Banastres built the first phase of the present hall and demolished the old building. The hall was constructed to a Jacobean style, rectangular in plan with two rooms to the east, a room and staircase to the west and a grand hall in the centre containing a screen and fireplace. It is possible that there may have been a timber structure where the east wing stands and other wooden wings that were replaced as the house was extended. Recorded in the 1666 Hearth tax, of the 99 hearths in Bretherton, Bank Hall had 12.[5]
The last of the Banastres, Christopher who was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1670, died in 1690 leaving two daughters. The property was inherited by the eldest, Anne who married Thomas Fleetwood. He planned to drain the surrounding marsh lands.[6] He made the first unsuccessful attempt to drain Martin Mere in 1692. In 1714 the channel was improved and floodgates kept back the high tides.[7] Their daughter, Henrietta Maria, married Thomas Legh of Lyme Park and the estate passed to the Leghs.[5] In 1719 Henrietta Maria Legh donated land on which to build St Mary's Church, Tarleton.[8]
Legh Keck coat of arms above the front porch at Bank Hall
George Anthony Legh Keck moved from Stoughton Grange in Leicestershire on inheriting the estate. He was the last resident owner and commissioned a Kendal architect, George Webster, to extend the hall in 1832–1833.[9] Legh Keck collected stuffed animals and birds and horns from animal from around the world. He owned a collection of classical style statuettes and casts of figures by the sculptor Antonio Canova.
In April 1861, a year after Legh Keck's death, the hall's contents were sold at auction. A catalogue survives and lists the items by room.[10] The house and estate passed to his brother-in-law, Thomas Littleton Powys, fourth Baron Lilford,[11] whose family seat was Lilford Hall in Northamptonshire.[12] Bank Hall was used as a holiday home by the Lilfords until 1899. The estate remains part of the Lilford Estates and is managed by a land agent, Acland Bracewell in Tarleton.[13] However, in 2017 the hall and gardens and adjoining orchard were signed over to the Heritage Trust for the North West on a 999-year lease so that restoration work could begin.
Tenants
The colliery owner Edward Crippen was resident in 1891 until his death in February 1892. In 1899 Sir Harcourt Everard Clare, clerk to Lancashire County Council, moved to the hall with his family and hosted garden parties in the grounds.[14] The cricketer Ranjit Singh visited him during the 1920s. King George V whilst visiting Lancashire in 1913 stopped at the lodge to greet the Clares and their staff.[15] Cotton mill owner, Lieutenant Colonel Sir Norman Seddon-Brown and his family lived at the hall from the late 1920s until 1938, when they moved to Escowbeck.[16]
The Aga Khan III visited the hall during the Seddon-Brown occupancy, as did King Fuad and Prince Farouk of Egypt during their visit to Lancashire.[17]
During the Second World War the Royal Engineers were billetted at Bank Hall. The north east wing, a service wing, housed a boiler-house, shed, laundry, dairy and cheese rooms, mangle room, brew house and wash house around a central courtyard was demolished.[10][18] The 1928 Ordnance Survey map shows two greenhouses and three buildings in the walled garden. A pond was constructed in the former courtyard and a concrete drive installed. The army constructed Nissen huts in the gardens and parkland, the remains of some are still visible. After the war the estate was returned to the Lilfords who had an estate office in the east wing until 1972.[19] In 1974 a planning application was submitted to convert the house and grounds into a country club but the application was declined due to the disturbance to the historic parkland and architecture. In 1991 an application for listed building consent to demolish parts of the building to make it safe was submitted but was withdrawn.[20]
Bank Hall, built in the Jacobean style in 1608, is a brick built mansion of three storeys with Dutch gables and a square central tower on the south front. Some of the original brickwork in a diaper (lozenge) flushwork pattern is visible on one gable. The house was restored and enlarged by architect George Webster in 1832–1833. He added a wing to the west elevations, built a porch on the north side, remodelled the 1608 north elevation windows, covered the roofs with blue Cumbrianslates and finished the walls with stone details. Webster carried out the alterations sympathetically, in a style corresponding to the 17th-century building, but the difference is marked by the colour of the brickwork and sharpness of the detail. Most windows were renewed during the restoration and two Italian style bay windows added to the south front, altering its appearance.[5]
The clock tower which rises to a height of 60 feet (18m), was built between 1660 and 1665 and remodelled in 1832–1833.[21] The tower, which contains an original oak balustraded, cantilevered staircase, is the chief architectural feature of the building on the south side.[5] The brick built tower has stone quoins at the corners and the staircase has eight original stone cross-windows with mullions, transoms and hoodmoulds irregularly spaced at different levels[22] which contained leaded glass in an octagonal pattern. The tower has a south-facing 19th-century clock in the top storey, (the north facing clock fell when the north east elevation of the tower collapsed during the 1980s) the cogs and wheels were manufactured by John Alker and the tower parapet has ornaments from the 19th-century restoration.[5]
Decorative features include lavish stonework and finials on the west wing bay window and false windows on the kitchen chimney stack wall creating a decorative feature on a plain wall. The Legh Keck coat of arms is carved in stone above the front porch, with two carved green men on either side of the doors. Other features from the 1832 renovation include Legh Keck's initials "G.A.L.K" and "1833" inscribed above the Italian bay windows. There were once cast iron ram's heads holding laurel sprigs[23] and maiden's heads[24] on the building. The lead rain hoppers have the initials as above and there are stone statues on the tower battlements. Another feature is the chimney stacks, which are diamond shaped, while others are square and the chimneys on the west wing are octagonal. The clocks on the tower feature a fleur-de-lis at each corner of their faces, thought to be from the Bannastre family coat of arms.[25]
The house once had a pair of 12-foot (3.7m) concrete statues (thought to be of a gothic floral design, with the Legh Keck symbols on the base) near the front porch that were destroyed and a sundial, which has been lost. A pair of lion statues from Atherton Hall that stood by the front porch were moved to the Lilford Estate offices in Tarleton.[13]
Interiors
Little is known about the interior before the renovations of 1832–1833, when the great hall was divided into an entrance hall with a marble floor and a dining room with a grand fireplace. A ground floor room in the north wing was panelled with oak from nearby Carr House. There was a 17th-century fireplace with a peacock carved on the chimney-piece in an upstairs bedrooms[5] matching a peacock design on the Delft tiles of the fireplace. Other Delft tiles were found in rubble inside the house. The drawing room had a 16-foot (4.9m) high ceiling with lavish plaster work (a small portion of which survives today) and a parquet floor. The study at the rear of the west wing ground floor, had bookshelves and a grand fireplace buried under the fallen floor from above. Its panelled window shutters survive in their casings. The cellars under the west wing survive. The east wing has cellars, but the whereabouts of the entrance is unknown. The west wing was occupied by the family and the east wing by the servants.
Legh Keck collected sculptures and antiques; the hall was furnished with Turkish carpets and oak and mahogany carved furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries, horns and animal heads from around the world and family portraits from the 17th century hung on the walls. Numerous Wedgwood items were sold after Legh Keck's death in 1861 to pay death duties.[10]
Condition
A view of the clock tower in 2008
The building has been vandalised and deteriorated as a result of the theft of lead from the roof. In the early 1980s, the Lilford Trust applied for planning permission to turn the house and grounds into a country club and golf course without success. A large mural painted on the wall of the drawing room was destroyed when the west wing roof collapsed in the 1980s.
In 1952 Bank Hall was granted Grade II* listed building status.[26] In 2002 it was in the 22% of buildings in the UK at immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric.[27] and is on the Buildings at Risk Register[28] described as in very bad condition and priority B for restoration and conservation.[29] In 2010, the house was in a ruinous state.[30] The west wing roof and north-east corner of the clock tower collapsed in the early 1980s, losing a clock face and three-quarters of the statues from the battlements.[31] In 2001 listed building consent was granted for structural work to the tower,[32] Three of the decorative corner pinnacles remain but the west elevation has a crack held together by scaffolding installed in 2002 during emergency repairs funded by the action group and English Heritage.[33] At that time, the remains of the clock mechanism were removed and the fallen statues and clock face parts put into storage. In 2006 an attic water tank crashed through the floors in the oldest part of the building causing damage to the roof, a front gable and the rooms below. On 26 July 2007 BBC Breakfast featured the building, as one of sixteen buildings in the UK which require emergency work. A cantilevered oak staircase remains in the tower where, in 2008, part of the staircase from the south elevation collapsed, but caused no damage to the balustrade.[13]
In 2008 most of the slates were removed to prevent more gables collapsing from pressure on the walls.[13] Three magnolia trees are growing out of the foundations of the east wing and cover the exterior, which has lost two gables. The east wing contains a ground floor room with no windows, a concrete ceiling and a steel door which remains unopened since the estate offices closed in 1972.[13] In September 2010, a collapse in the west wing caused further damage to the 1832 stairwell. The rooms above the parlour were destroyed as the roof and wall collapsed and the drawing room's rear wall partially collapsed. English Heritage assessed the damage as urgent and structural work was needed to prevent further collapse.[34] In November 2011 contractors for the HTNW dismantled the north wing porch as the gable was at risk of collapse. Decorative masonry was removed for an exhibition that was held in Nelson in 2012 by the HTNW.[citation needed]
Restoration
Bank Hall Action Group (from 2012 the Friends of Bank Hall) was formed in 1995 with the ultimate aim of restoring Bank Hall. In 2003 the cost of restoration was estimated to be £3million.[35]Urban Splash was engaged to develop a business plan with the aid of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant in 2006.[36] Urban Splash envisaged creating 12 residences within the hall and 23 houses in the old orchard[37] while the action group would retain the entrance hall, clock tower and upper rooms for public access.[38] The project will cost £6million with proceeds from the sale of houses and a £1.5m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund funding the restoration.[39]
A structural report by Urban Splash in 2009 enabled a plan for the building's interior to be developed.[40] After delays, planning permission was granted in February 2011. On 14 February 2012, a grant of £1.69 million to restore the hall starting in late 2012, was made by the Heritage Lottery Fund to the Heritage Trust for the North West (HTNW).[41][42] The HTNW has separate plans for a visitor entrance and heritage garden.[43] Planning permission to convert the potting shed and greenhouse into a visitor entrance, funded separately, was granted in December 2011.[44] A further £50,000 was awarded by WREN (a non-profit company) towards the restoration of the tower in September 2013.[45] The project was taken on by the developer Next Big Thing, who began work on the clearing of the property in July 2017, with the view of a completion date of 18 months time.[46] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project suffered delays, work was finally completed on the restoration of the house exterior in 2020, with the residential area interiors and immediate (residents) gardens to the house completed in 2021.
The Friends of Bank Hall continue to maintain the gardens, hold open days and are working towards the restoration of the gardens, that will commence with phase one of the potting shed restoration.
Estate
Bank Bridge and the warehouse in 2010
The estate is crossed by the River Douglas and its embankment provides flood protection for the low-lying area. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal crosses close to the river and Grade II listed Bank Bridge carries the A59 road over river and canal. A Grade II listed warehouse is close to the bridge.
Bank Lodge, situated at a disused access road, is owned by the estate, and can be seen on the 1928 Ordnance Survey Map.[47]
Bank Hall farm house in 2006
Bank Hall Farm, the home farm whose Elizabethan long barn built in the early 17th century, is Grade II listed. It was extended in the early 19th century and converted into residences in 2004.[48] Between the fields and the barns was a timber yard. The estate offices, blacksmith's forge and coach house were housed on the farm. The action group use the coach house and offices as a temporary visitor centre.[13]
Along a carriage drive, lined with lime trees, connecting the hall to Bretherton are the former gardener's house,'Crossford Lodge', a modern single-story building (that replaced the original gamekeepers house) and Bretherton Lodge (The New Lodge).
Bank Hall Windmill built in 1741, is a Grade II listed building[49] situated between Bank Bridge and Plocks Farm. Carr House, built by the Stone family in 1613 was the home of Jeremiah Horrocks, the first person to predict and observe the Transit of Venus, in 1639.
Bank Hall is surrounded by 18 acres (7.3ha) of gardens, parkland and an arboretum created by George Anthony Legh Keck.[50]Bank Hall Gardens were neglected from 1980 to 1995 though some plants survived. Snowdrop carpets which cover much of the gardens in February were uncovered in 2001 when a small area was cleared.[51] In 2007 the UK's Snowdrop Society visited the gardens which have attracted thousands of visitors each year.[52] There are several varieties of daffodils, bluebells and primroses.
A conservatory was built for Elizabeth Legh Keck in the 1830s. The walled garden, constructed in 1835, has a greenhouse and potting sheds on its north wall and a heated outdoor wall. The FBH aims to restore it into a heritage garden as part of a three-phase project. A cricket field and tennis lawns were situated beyond a ha-ha and accessed via a yew tunnel.
Thomas Littleton Powys, 4th Baron Lilford, was a British aristocrat and ornithologist.
Baron Lilford, of Lilford in the County of Northampton, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1797 for Thomas Powys, who had previously represented Northamptonshire in the House of Commons. His grandson, the third Baron, served as a Lord-in-waiting from 1837 to 1841 in the Whig administration of Lord Melbourne. He was succeeded by his son, the fourth Baron, an ornithologist.
Tarleton is a village and civil parish in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. It is situated approximately 19 miles (31 km) north-east of Liverpool and 9 miles (14 km) south-west of Preston. The parish includes the village of Mere Brow and the hamlets of Sollom and Holmes, and is an agricultural area. It had a population of 5,959 at the 2021 Census. Tarleton village, Holmes, and the villages of Hesketh Bank and Becconsall to the north form a single built-up area with a population of 8,755.
Bretherton is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, situated to the south west of Leyland and east of Tarleton. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 669. Its name suggests pre-conquest origins and its early history was closely involved with the manor house Bank Hall and the families who lived there. Bretherton remained a rural community and today is largely residential with residents commuting to nearby towns.
Gawthorpe Hall is an Elizabethan country house on the banks of the River Calder, in Ightenhill, a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley, Lancashire, England. Its estate extends into Padiham, with the Stockbridge Drive entrance situated there. The house is traditionally attributed to Robert Smythson. In the mid-19th century, the hall was rebuilt by Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament. Since 1953 it has been designated a Grade I listed building. In 1970 the 4th Lord Shuttleworth gave the hall to the National Trust, with a 99-year lease to Lancashire County Council. Both bodies jointly administer the hall and in 2015 the council provided £500,000 funding for restoration work on the south and west sides of the house.
Rufford Old Hall is a National Trust property in Rufford, Lancashire, England. Built in about 1530 for Sir Robert Hesketh, only the Great Hall survives from the original structure. A brick-built wing in the Jacobean style was added in 1661, at right angles to the Great Hall, and a third wing was added in the 1820s.
Thomas Atherton Powys, 3rd Baron Lilford, was a British peer and Whig politician.
Adlington Hall is a country house near Adlington, Cheshire. The oldest part of the existing building, the Great Hall, was constructed between 1480 and 1505; the east wing was added in 1581. The Legh family has lived in the hall and in previous buildings on the same site since the early 14th century. After the house was occupied by Parliamentary forces during the Civil War, changes were made to the north wing, including encasing the Great Hall in brick, inserting windows, and installing an organ in the Great Hall. In the 18th century the house was inherited by Charles Legh who organised a series of major changes. These included building a new west wing, which incorporated a ballroom, and a south wing with a large portico. It is possible that Charles Legh himself was the architect for these additions. He also played a large part in planning and designing the gardens, woodland and parkland, which included a number of buildings of various types, including a bridge known as the Chinese Bridge that carried a summerhouse.
Colonel George Anthony Legh Keck, sometimes spelled Legh-Keck, was a British military officer, Tory politician and landowner who sat in the House of Commons representing the parliamentary constituency of Leicestershire from 1797 to 1831.
The Leghs of Lyme were a gentry family seated at Lyme Park in Cheshire, England, from 1398 until 1946, when the stately home and its surrounding parkland were donated by the 3rd Lord Newton to The National Trust.
The Friends of Bank Hall is the new charitable name for the former Bank Hall Action Group who are a voluntary group which aims to raise public awareness and secure the future restoration of Bank Hall, a Jacobean mansion house and gardens, near the banks of the River Douglas, in Bretherton, Lancashire.
St John the Baptist's Church is in the village of Bretherton, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Chorley, the archdeaconry of Blackburn and the diocese of Blackburn. Its benefice is united with that of St Michael and All Angels, Croston. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. It was a Commissioners' church, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.
Atherton Hall was a country house and estate in Atherton historically a part of Lancashire, England. The hall was built between 1723 and 1742 and demolished in 1824. Christopher Saxton's map shows there was a medieval deer park here in the time of Elizabeth I.
Bank Hall Gardens comprise 18 acres (73,000 m2) of curtilage at Bank Hall, in Bretherton, Lancashire, England. The gardens contain specimen trees including a yew thought to be the oldest in Lancashire. Many architectural features, statues, low garden walls, conservatory and greenhouses have gone but there are plans to recreate them. The Bank Hall Action Group has tended the grounds since its formation in 1995. The group has planted specimen trees and identified the flora and fauna. The group opened the gardens to the public in 1999 after building a security fence, erecting scaffolding to secure the building and clearing the overgrowth. New varieties of snowdrops, some of which are unique to the gardens were uncovered. After a visit from the Snowdrop Society in 2007 the garden has become nationally known for snowdrop carpets during February.
The Bank Hall Estate is the demesne of the Jacobean mansion house of Bank Hall, including much of land around the village of Bretherton, which is owned by the Lilford Trust.
St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church on the A59 road as it passes to the south of the village of Tarleton, Lancashire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It is described by the Churches Conservation Trust as a "picturesque early Georgian chapel" with "a lovely unspoiled interior".
Salthrop House is a country house about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the village of Wroughton, Wiltshire, in England. It is Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England. There was a large house on the site in the early 17th century. The present house was built c.1795 in the style of James Wyatt; it has two storeys, faced in ashlar, with a two-story bow on the front (west) elevation.
Cuerden Hall is a country mansion in the village of Cuerden near Preston, Lancashire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. The Hall was formerly a family home between 1717 and 1906, and used by the Army until the 1960s. In 1985 it became a Sue Ryder neurological care centre. The Hall was sold to Manchester business man Colin Shenton in 2020 who is restoring it to its original purpose as a family home. The parkland and wider estate are known as Cuerden Valley Park. Cuerden Valley Park is now owned and managed by Cuerden Valley Park Trust which was a charity established in 1986, to ensure the longevity and management of the parkland itself. The Trust is made up for 650 acres of land; 1 reservoir, 15 ponds, 3 reed beds; over 5km of the river Lostock and 5 nature reserves.
Stoughton Grange was a country house in the parish of Stoughton in Leicestershire and the family seat of the Farnham and Beaumont family. The house dated back to 15th century but was demolished in 1926, after being a successful family home for over five hundred years.
Rainhill Hall or Loyola Hall is a Grade II listed country house built in the 19th century in Rainhill, Merseyside, England, by Bartholomew Bretherton. It is situated on the Warrington Road, next to St Bartholomew's Church. From 1923 to 2014, it was a retreat house run by the Society of Jesus. From 2017, it has been a hotel and wedding venue owned by Signature Living.
1 2 3 4 5 6 William Farrer; J Brownbill, eds. (1911), "Bretherton", A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume6, pp.102–8, retrieved 10 July 2010– via British History Online
↑ Lofthouse, J. (1972) "Lancashire's Old Families", Fleetwoods and Heskeths, Pg 121
↑ Farrer, William; Brownbill, J., eds. (1911), "Tarleton: Church", A History of the County of Lancaster, Victoria County History, vol.6, University of London & History of Parliament Trust, retrieved 9 September 2010
↑ Friends of Bank Hall (2016) Bank Hall, Bretherton, Lancashire, Written by Paul Dillon, Geoff Coxhead, Andrew Allen, Janet Edwards, John Howard, David Taylor and Lionel Taylor.
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