Heskin Hall

Heskin Hall is a manor house in Heskin, Lancashire, England. Construction began on the present hall in 1545 making it a Tudor building which has been designated a Grade I listed building by Historic England.

History

In 1506 the lands were sold to Edmund Dudley who was Minister for king Henry VII. Dudley was executed by the king for treason and the land passed to his widow Elizabeth who later married Arthur Plantagenet. The land passed to John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland in 1511, who was later executed by Queen Mary and Elizabeth I executed his son Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. In 1556 the estate was bought by Richard Molyneux who also bought lands from Mary Seymour, the widow of Thomas Seymour who was the father of Jane Seymour (wife of Henry the VIII). Following the death of Richard in 1568 the estate passed to his son William Molyneux. The house remained the home of the Molyneux family until 1739 when it became a seat of the Mawdesley family, but was sold in 1744 to Alexander Kershaw. Alexander Kershaw never married and died in 1788, his will acknowledged three children, Edmund Newman Kershaw, John Copper and James Kershaw. Edmund being the eldest child inherited his father's estate which later passed to his brother John Copper when he died. John died in 1833 like his brother, without any children causing a legal dispute. It was the heirs of Mary Scott (née Kershaw) who was sister of Alexander Kershaw that won the legal title of legitimate heir. In 1885, it was purchased by Henry Rawcliffe of Gillibrand Hall.Lord Lilford was the last person to occupy the house with Lady Lilford (his fourth wife) who was an ex-dancer and actress. They divorced in 1969 and Lady Lilford gained the Heskin Estate as part of the divorce settlement. It was later occupied by Blackburn College as a training centre, followed by Moben Kitchens as offices and sales training purposes, before its present use as an antique centre which opened in 1995.

Heskin

Coordinates: 53°37′59″N 2°44′02″W / 53.633°N 2.734°W / 53.633; -2.734

Heskin is a small village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001 it has a population of 883 increasing to 898 at the 2011 Census.

Architecture

Heskin Hall

Heskin Hall dates back to 1548. The last people to occupy the hall as a residential home were Lord and Lady Lilford in the 1960s. Since then the hall has been used commercially for antique sales, and other uses including Blackburn College who have used it for training and educational purposes. The hall is now registered as a venue for weddings and civil ceremonies and has a restaurant to cater for the visitors to the Antique Centre and Garden Centre which opened in 2010.

Ghosts

The hall is said to be haunted by a young Catholic girl, and an older man. The pair are thought to be from the time of Oliver Cromwell who stayed at the hall on his travels. The young girl is said to have been sacrificed by a Catholic priest, who hung her as a sign that he had converted from Catholicism to Protestantism. Civil war soldiers where not convinced of his conversion so they hung him from the same spot as the young girl. Lady Lilford's guests in the 1960s are said to have swiftly departed from the house during a dinner party after experiencing a ghostly appearance of a resident ghost during their stay.