Parts of the present building, which is considered to be one of the finest examples of Victorian Gothic architecture in England, were designed by the architect Augustus Pugin. The most notable feature of Scarisbrick Hall is the 100-foot tower, which is visible from many miles around.
History
Scarisbrick Hall was the ancestral home of the Scarisbrick family and dates back to the time of King Stephen (1135–1154).[1] The moated site of the original Scarisbrick Hall lies 140 metres (460ft) north-west of the present building. A tree-covered island measuring c.100 by 50 metres (330 by 160ft) is flanked on two sides by a still waterlogged moat, with the north-eastern arm formed by Eas Brook. This half-timbered, manor house is recorded in an early 13th-century deed. The area is protected by scheduled monument status.[2]
The Scarisbrick family lived on the site from 1238 until the house was sold in 1946 to become a training college.[3]
Charles Scarisbrick
Charles Scarisbrick (1801–1860), from a Lancashire recusant background, was the son of Thomas Eccleston and his wife Eleonora Clifton. He changed his surname at birth twice, firstly to Dicconson, and then to Scarisbrick.[4]
Scarisbrick was litigious, and after the death their elder brother Thomas Scarisbrick in 1835, fought and won a succession of legal cases against his sisters for the Scarisbrick estate. The House of Lords in 1847 upheld in his favour an appeal, in a case turning on a "shifting clause" in a will, a decision of 1840 by Lord Holland, Chancellor of the Duchy Court of Lancaster.[5]
An art collector, Scarisbrick was a patron of both the painter John Martin and the designer A. W. N. Pugin, whom he met through his interest in Gothic "architectural salvage", wooden carvings sourced largely from French cathedrals and châteaux, stocked by the broker and dealer Edward Hull of Wardour Street, London.[6][7] The Hall had been remodelled, first, around 1815 in the Gothic style, to designs of the Liverpool joiner John Slater and Thomas Rickman. Then parts of the present Victorian Gothic building were altered from 1837 to designs by Pugin.[8]
Lady Ann Scarisbrick
Ann Scarisbrick Eccleston (Lady Hunloke) inherited the Scarisbrick estate from her brother Charles in 1860 at the age of 72. At about this time she assumed by Royal Licence the surname Scarisbrick, and was thereafter known as Lady Scarisbrick.[9]
Ann Eccleston (1788–1872), a noted beauty in her youth, married in 1807 Sir Thomas Windsor Hunloke, 5th Baronet (1773–1816) of Wingerworth Hall, Derbyshire, 15 years her senior. He died nine years later. They had four children, two sons and two daughters. After the birth of these children, the family lived in Paris, where Sir Thomas Hunloke died in 1816. Their daughter Eliza married the Marquis de Casteja afterwards, also in Paris.[citation needed]
Changing her surname around 1860, Lady Ann Scarisbrick returned to Scarisbrick Hall in 1861. Unlike her brother, she lived in style. The Hall was gas-lit for the first time. The central heating system seems to have been installed and used during her period of occupation. Ann was popular as a society hostess and held many gala events at her residence and estate. Even though Ann, under the terms of her brother's will, had only inherited Scarisbrick Hall and not its furnishings she set out to redecorate and redesign the house on a much grander scale than had prevailed in the time of her predecessor.[citation needed]
The renovations were carried out by Edward W. Pugin, the son of the architect Pugin. Ann allowed the younger Pugin greater scope than had been afforded to his father. It was during this time that the older clock tower, dating from the time of Charles Scarisbrick, was replaced with a grander and taller example built in the French Gothic style. A new East Wing was added, which Ann dedicated to the memory of her father. This wing was joined to the older building by an octagonal tower which was decorated with eight doves signifying the Scarisbrick family connection.[citation needed]
Ann lived to the age of 84, dying in 1872 at Scarisbrick. The estate was inherited by her daughter Eliza, the sole surviving child, after her death and then to her French progeny, Emmanuel de Biaudos, Marquis de Castéja. Scarisbrick Hall was incorporated into the Castéja family properties and the Hall was subject to very few changes. In memory of his wife who died in 1878, the marquis built the church of St. Elizabeth on the site of the former Catholic chapel.[citation needed]
Brass in the Scarisbrick Chapel of Ormskirk Church, co. Lancs., to a member of the Scarisbrick family of that name. (From a rubbing by Walter J. Kaye.)
Later history
Scarisbrick Hall remained in Castéja's family until 1923 when André de Biaudos de Castéja and his wife Pauline d'Espeuilles decided to sell it to Charles Scarisbrick's grandson, Sir Tom Talbot Leyland Scarisbrick.[citation needed]
In 1964 26 acres of Scarisbrick's land was put up for sale. It was purchased by the South West Lancashire Girl Guides for £10,000 and in May 1967 it opened as the South West Lancashire Girl Guide County Camp Site.[10]
Founded in 1964 by Charles Oxley, the building is now occupied by a co-educational, independent school called Scarisbrick Hall School and there is no public access apart from infrequent guided tours. Following Oxley's death, the school was sold and subsequent owners include the educational group Nord Anglia and GeMs. After GeMs sold the school unexpectedly, the parents rallied together to get the school up and running again but a lot of students trying to do their GCSEs had to move schools. The school is now being rented by the ownership group Friends of Kingswood made up of parents, teachers, and former pupils.[citation needed]
Scenes from the Channel 4 series Utopia were filmed in late 2012 at Scarisbrick Hall. The Great Hall and Oak Room were featured in the series. An outdoor soccer match in the movie There's only one Jimmy Grimble (2000) was filmed in the grounds of Scarisbrick Hall.[12]
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