Bank Hall

Vorlage:Infobox Historic building Vorlage:Commons category Bank Hall is a Jacobean mansion south of the village of Bretherton in Lancashire, England. It is a Grade II* Listed Building and is in category A Section of the Buildings at Risk Register for Lancashire, which indicates that it is in "immediate risk of further rapid deterioration" with a listing on the English Heritage "Heritage at risk register 2009", as in "Very Bad Condition" and "Priority B" for restoration and conservation action.

The present building was built in 1608 by the Banastres, who were evicted from their family seat at Prestatyn Castle in Wales in 1240. A timber structure is believed to have existed on the site in the time of Elizabeth I and can be seen on Christopher Saxton's map from 1579. The present house was extended during the 18th and 19th centuries by descendants of the Banastre's, the Fleetwoods, the Leghs and the Kecks (who later became Legh-Kecks). The main extensions were built for George Anthony Legh Keck, the last resident owner in 1832–1833 to the design of architect George Webster, (1797–1864), (who was also designed the demolished Penwortham Priory.)

Legh Keck who died in 1860 and his wife Elizabeth who predeceased him in 1837 left no heir and as a consequence the estates passed to the third Lord Lilford. As the Lilfords had other estates at Lilford Hall and Bewsey, the contents were auctioned and the hall used as a holiday home until it was leased to Edward Frederick Crippin, a businessman. He lived at Bank Hall in 1891 and died the following year from pneumonia. The second tenants, Sir Harcourt Clare and his family, lived at Bank Hall from the late 1890s until mid 1920's. He was the Clerk to Lancashire County Council and the Lancashire asylums board. The Seddon Browns lived at the hall in the late 1920s until 1938 when they moved to Escowbeck in Caton. After the outbreak of the Second World War the army was billeted at the property. The army unit involved, controlled the movements of the ports between Barrow-in-Furness and Holyhead including Liverpool docks, the main trans-Atlantic route docks for Europe. 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. During this time the building was used as a filming location for the film The Haunted House of Horror.

The house was vandalised, and lead stolen from the roof causing water damage and the rapid deterioration of the building. In the early 1980s, the Lilford Trust applied unsuccessfully for planning permission to turn the house and grounds into a country club and golf course. Shortly afterwards the north-west elevation of the clock tower collapsed, causing major damage. In 1995 the Bank Hall Action Group was formed to raise public awareness of the property and funds, host events, and clear the overgrown grounds which took a number of years. In spring 2000 the first signs of the snowdrop carpets began to show after extensive clearing of the gardens. In 2003 Bank Hall was the first property to feature on the BBC's Restoration series which looked at thirty properties across the UK with the aim of restoring one. Bank Hall came second in the voting, but the publicity increased visitor numbers on the open days. In 2006 the Bank Hall Action Group and Urban Splash created a plan to restore the house as luxury apartments retaining the gardens, entrance hall and clock tower for public access with the Heritage Trust for the North West renovating the potting sheds and walled garden area to a heritage kitchen garden. It is hoped that in 2010 if the planning applications are successful work will start on the restoration.

History

For centuries Bank Hall was the manorial home of the Banastre's, the 'Lords of the manor of Bretherton'. The Banastres arrived in Lancashire after the Norman Conquest in 1066, where they held extensive amounts of land. In 1608 the Banastres built the first phase of the present hall and demolished part of the timber structure of the old building. The new manor house was rectangular with two rooms to the east and a room and staircase to the west with a grand hall in the centre containing a screen and grand fireplace. The Bank Hall Action Group believe that the Great Hall is to have been similar to the neighbouring Rufford Old Hall's Great Hall. They also have ideas that the 1608 house once had a timber extension where the east wing stands today, with the possibility of other wooden extensions that where later demolished as the house grew. In 1692, Thomas Fleetwood, had the first great attempt at draining Martin Mere.

George Anthony Legh Keck was the last resident owner and commissioned the Kendal architect, George Webster to design extensions between 1832–1933. The Aga Khan is thought to have visited the hall during his residence.

Legh Keck coat of arms above the front porch at Bank Hall

There is a link with Shrigley Hall via Elizabeth Atherton (Legh Keck's wife), whose parents were Harriet Legh and Robert Vernon Atherton; Harriet Legh's brother, Thomas Peter Legh, had a son also called Thomas Legh, who married Ellen Turner, the daughter of William Turner of Shrigley Hall, on 14 January 1829. They had a daughter Ellen Jane Legh who was married to Father Brabazon Lowther in 1847. Ellen Jane died on 22 November 1906. Ellen Turner was in fact the girl at the centre of the Shrigley abduction at the age of 15 years; she died at 19 whilst giving birth to her daughter Ellen Jane.

Legh Keck was known for his enormous collections of stuffed animals and birds, which included sets of horns from many species of animals from all over the world. He owned a collection of classical style statuettes and casts of figures by the sculptor Antonio Canova. There was once a large mural painted on the wall of the drawing room, what it was is unknown and undocumented. When the roof of the west wing collapsed in the 1980s the drawing room was destroyed. Legh Keck attended St Mary's Church, Tarleton where he had private pews for himself and staff, which can be seen today with plaques containing his initials, GALK.

In the week of 22 April 1861 a year after the death of Legh Keck, the furnishings and equipment from the house, were sold at an auction held over three days. The auction catalogue survives and includes the items sold, listed by room. After the death of Legh Keck in 1860, the house and estate passed to his brother-in-law, Lord Lilford III whose family seat was Lilford Hall in Northamptonshire. Bank Hall was used as a holiday home by the Lilfords until the late 1800s when it was leased to Sir Harcourt Clare. The Bank Hall estate remains part of the Lilford Estates; the current Lord Lilford resides in South Africa and Jersey. The Lilford family have connections with Heskin Hall, Lancashire, where the Lilfords lived until the divorce of Lady and Lord Lilford in 1969.

Edward Frederick Crippin was involved in an incident in Wigan on Friday, 22 August 1890, by where his horse and carriage knocked down a young girl carrying a baby. He was then frowned upon by local residents so due to the guilt that he felt from the incident, he decided to escape from the area; by doing so he moved from his home at Bryn Hall in Wigan to Bank Hall. While residing at Bank Hall he remained the proprietor of Bryn Hall Colliery and travelled to Ashton in Makerfield to check on the running of his business. He spent a large amount of money on Bank Hall's sanatation despite only leasing the property.

The Memorial at Manchester Crematorium for Edward Frederick Crippin gives his address at the time of death as Bryn Hall Wigan. This is where he lived at the time of the 1881 census and where it is assumed he lived when he made the arrangements for his cremation. The 1891 census shows that he later moved to Bank Hall, Bretherton, where he died of pneumonia the following year on 3 February 1892, aged 44 years old. His nephew Albert Oswald Pike was present at the time of his death at Bank Hall. His cremation took place at Woking Crematorium, Surrey.

The three crosses of the Harcourt family graves in St John's churchyard, Bretherton

Sir Harcourt Everard Clare was the second ever Clerk to Lancashire County Council. He was previously Clerk to Liverpool City Council before taking up the post at the Lancashire Offices. In 1920, as well as his post at Lancashire County Council, Sir Harcourt was the clerk to the Lancashire Asylums Board and controlled Brockhall, Langho, near Blackburn for the Lancashire Asylums Board. In 1922, when he was 'Clerk of the Peace and the Clerk to the County Council of Lancashire', he was offered the position of Divisional Commissioner, but declined.

He moved to Bank Hall with his wife and his daughter Dorothy. The family were known for their involvement with the surrounding communities, often hosting garden parties in the grounds. At the time they were well known for having different types of pekingese dogs such as Japanese Spaniels with their very own groom and trainer to care for them.

The Clare family are buried side by side in the graveyard at St John the Baptist parish church in Bretherton. There are three headstones in the shape of a cross: the furthest away from the church is of Dorothy Clare, the middle and largest is of Lady Clare and the cross nearest the church is of Sir Harcourt and reads:

In Memory of Sir Harcourt Everard Clare.KT. Died March 1st 1922 In His Sixty-Eighth Year

The Seddon-Brown family where the next tennants. Lieutenant Colonel Sir Norman Seddon-Brown owned a successful cotton mill. On 1 April 1908, Captain Norman Seddon Brown was one of the officers promoted from the 1st Volunteer Battalion to the 5th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment; they were all appointed to the battalion with rank and precedence as in the Volunteer Force. On 1 January 1936, he was knighted in the New Year's Honours List. Sir Norman Brown was a former chairman of Wigan Constitutional Association. Shortly after, on 17 January 1936, Sir Norman Brown changed his surname to Seddon-Brown. On 20 November 1940 Norman Martin Seddon-Brown was given the title of Lieutenant.

In 1938 Sir Norman and Lady Seddon-Brown moved to a house called Escowbeck, in Caton, Lancashire, (formerly owned by the Greg Family from Quarry Bank Mill), and Bank Hall lay vacant yet again.

The outbreak of war saw the Lilford family give up Bank Hall as well as most of Lilford Hall for the duration of the war so that the army could use the buildings and estate land. Those who were billeted at Bank Hall oversaw all the ports between Barrow-in-Furness in the North and Holyhead in Wales. This included Liverpool which was the main port to Europe at the time due to the Trans-Atlantic Route. The 303 Station Hospital was created at Lilford Hall, while Lord Lilford continued to live in one wing.

The since demolished north east wing, was a service wing which was demolished during WWII as the army needed to get closer to the building with their vehicles. At the same time another extension on the end of the south east wing was also demolished. The two wings once housed a boiler-house, shed, laundry, dairy and cheese rooms, mangle room, brew house and wash house, all of which created a courtyard in the centre. No photographic evidence has been found of the two wings but their outline can be seen clearly on the 1928 ordnance survey map. The same map shows two more greenhouses and three smaller buildings in the walled garden which no longer exist. A pond was constructed on the site of the courtyard and a concrete drive installed.

Decline

Mary Ann graffiti on the east wing staircase from 1979.

After the war the estates were handed back to the Lilford Estates, who kept their estate office in the East Wing of the house until 1972, when they vacated it. Three magnolia trees are growing out of the foundations of the East Wing and now cover the exterior, which has lost one gable. The East Wing contains a ground floor room that has no windows and a concrete ceiling, it has a thick steel door painted white and the Action Group believe that it hasn't been opened since the estate offices left the hall in 1972. The house suffered from neglect, vandalism and theft, as evidenced by graffiti ranging from the 1970s until 2001, when the house was finally secured. Graffiti written on the wall of the East wing staircase refers to the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest; the British entry, "Mary Ann" by Black Lace. During the 1980s the west wing roof and part of the clock tower collapsed; and in 2006 the water tank that supplied the house crashed through the floors of the Jacobean part of the building causing major damage to the roof, a front gable and the rooms below. In 2008, the majority of slates were removed from the roof due to the fear of more gables collapsing due to the pressure on the walls.

In March 2008, a member of the Bank Hall Action Group found a date stamp, still bearing the date when it was last used, 6 August 1945. This item, along with others which have yet to be found, will have been 'disposed of' in the grounds when the war ended in 1945.

Architecture

Diaper flushwork on a 1608 front elevation

The 1608 house was rectangular and is now the central part of the house. It had brickwork in a diaper, flushwork design; the same pattern can be seen locally at Carr House. In 1832 when George Webster remodelled the house, he installed new windows in the front of the house and created a new entrance porch and much of the diaper pattern was lost; similarly on the other sides of the house, the new extensions covered the old brickwork pattern. One elevation survived the extensions, apart from two windows installed in 1832 and a new gable added. The diaper pattern here demonstrates what the house once looked like.

The house has a number of decorative features, from the lavish stonework design and finials on the west wing bay window, to the artificial windows on the kitchen chimney stack wall, which created a decorative feature on what would have been a plain stone wall. These features are mainly from the 1832 renovation work by George Webster, and include Legh Keck's initials "G.A.L.K" and "1833" inscribed above the Italian bay windows and four cast iron ram's heads holding a Laurel sprig and lady's heads on the front porch coat of arms and in stone statues on the tower battlements. The coat of arms is that of the Legh Keck family, the rams head from the Legh family and can be found at Lyme Park, the lady's head from the Atherton Family. The three birds on the coat of arms are sparrowhawks and are also taken from a quarter of the Atherton coat of arms. The rampant lion is taken from the Legh Coat of Arms and features twice on the Legh Keck Coat of Arms. At the bottom of the Coat of Arms are the French Latin words "EN DIEU EST MA FOY" which reads 'IN GOD IS MY FAITH which was the Legh Keck Family motto.

The lead rain hoppers feature the initials "LK", and the porch has two green men, on either side of the doors. Another architectural feature is the chimney stacks, the oldest having a diamond shaped chimney, while others are square brick chimneys. Notable, are the octagonal shaped chimneys which only feature on the west wing.

Clock Tower

The clock tower was built between 1660 and 1665 and was later remodelled in the 1832–33 renovations to a height of 60 foot. The north-east corner collapsed in the mid 1980's and the tower has continued to deteriorate, losing a clock face and ¾ of the statues from the battlements. A cantilevered oak staircase remains in the tower; in 2008 part of the staircase from the south elevation collapsed, but caused no damage to the balustrade. Three of the corner decorative designs 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. At that time what was left of the clock mechanism was removed from the tower and the fallen statues and clock face parts put into storage awaiting restoration. The clocks feature Fleur-de-lis at each corner of the clock faces, they are thought to be featured on the Keck family coat of arms. The condition of the clock tower is the reason Bank Hall, a Grade II* listed building, is on English Heritage's "Heritage at Risk Register."

A view of the Grade II* listed clock tower that contains the oak cantilevered staircase, taken in 2008

Restoration

Bank Hall Action Group, formed in 1995, is a voluntary group with the purpose of raising public awareness of the house and grounds, with the hope of eventually restoring it. It holds year-round events to raise funds and awareness of the building's importance and condition and the urgent need for action to save it. The Heritage Trust for the North West have assisted it in raising awareness and will run a visitor centre when the building is restored.

The Action Group has hosted a range of events in the grounds over the past 15 years. The most popular of the events is the 'Snowdrop Sundays' which are held throughout February each year. The 'Easter Egg Trail' is popular with children with over 400 visitors on Easter Sunday 2010.

The 'Classic Car and Motor Show' has increased in popularity as the event has become more established, with visitors coming from all over the country to enter cars in the competition for 'Best Vehicle on Show' and view the display.

Bank Hall's plight was highlighted when it featured in the first series of BBC's Restoration programme, on 8 August 2003. Bank Hall, described as a "beautiful and impressive Jacobean country house", competed with Brackenhill Tower (near Carlisle) and the Victoria Baths in Manchester. Bank Hall came second in the voting. After the series, the BBC issued a book with information on the properties featured. A collage of materials from inside the main hall including a section from the North clock, can be seen on the back cover of the book, with five pages of details and history. In the second series, Bank Hall was mentioned and pictured, with an update also featured in the Restoration second series book. This was followed by an update in April 2009 Restoration Revisited which included photos and videos of the house, but did not name it.

The exterior was used as a filming location for the The Haunted House of Horror (1969). (Interiors were filmed in the Birkdale Palace Hotel in Southport.)

In 2006 the Action Group confirmed that property developers Urban Splash had been engaged to develop a business plan. They envisage creating 12 housing units within the hall, and 23 houses in the former orchard, arranged in two courtyards. The Action Group will retain the entrance hall, clock tower and upper rooms for public access and meetings. The whole project is worth £6 million and proceeds from the sale of the homes, plus a £1.5m grant funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund will aid the restoration of the building.

The Heritage Trust for the North West is keen to develop the potting sheds, greenhouse and walled kitchen garden into a heritage kitchen garden, open to the public with the rest of the grounds, which contain a collection of specimen trees and flowers. In summer 2009 it signed a 999-year lease from the Lilford Estate. The Action Group also hope to restore part of the grounds into specific garden areas, restore the rose garden and develop a fern garden and a white garden and other areas of interest.

A structural report was carried out in 2009 by Urban Splash and enabled a plan for the design of the building's restored interior.

In 2003 the cost of restoring the shell of the building was estimated at £3 million. It is hoped that work can commence in 2010. At the snowdrop events held by the Action Group in February 2010, the plans for the restoration of the house were available for the public to view for the first time .

Estate

River Douglas taken from the bank at the edge of the Bank Hall gardens in 2010.

The Estate covers many acres surrounding the Bank Hall mansion house and includes the following features:

The River Douglas had a major impact on the landscape of the gardens as to provide defence from the river waters, a large embankment was constructed. There are numerous land drains and ditches from the gardens which drain into the River Douglas, the bridge behind the lodge crosses one of them.

Bank Bridge and the warehouse in 2010

Bank Bridge carries the A59 road over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the River Douglas, which cross the estate on the west side. The warehouse was storage for the estate and a lot of the goods and crops from the farms were transferred to canal boats there to be taken to market. The warehouse and yard are still used by the estates.

Bank Hall lodge, bridge in 2008

The building that can be seen at the corner of Bank Bridge was the main gate house to the mansion known as 'Bank Hall Lodge'. Behind it is a small bridge which was restored in 2006 by the tenants. The building is still owned by the estate and is private property. It no longer offers access to the main house because of the increased volume of traffic on the A59. The building is also known as "Bank Lodge", and can be seen on the 1928 Ordnance Survey Map.

Bank Hall farm house in 2006

Bank Hall Farm was the Home Farm of Bank Hall, it is situated opposite the potting sheds at the north end of the walled garden to the east of the house. The farm house is still leased by the Estates today. The pigsties have been demolished, but other outbuildings survive and the farm yard pond has since been filled in.

Bank Hall Barn is a grade II listed Elizabethan long barn which was built in the early 17th century. The Barn was extended slightly to the east in the early 19th century. In 2004, after years of neglect, it was converted into residences. The barn is Vorlage:Convert long, and once housed the farm animals, the hay barn, and farm machinery. The area between the fields by the A59 road and the barns, which now houses the properties garages, a gym and private gardens, was once known as the "Timber Yard", and was where the wood used for construction within the estate was once stored. In later years of neglect the Timber Yard lay over grown, with old farm machinery stored there.

The Estate offices, blacksmith's forge and coach house were housed in a building in the centre of the farm. The Estate offices moved into the hall after the army left at the end of the Second World War. The forge has been used since the early 1900s by the gamekeepers for their 'shoot' in the estate, and this section of the building is still in use. The coach house, was were the coaches were maintained and kept and during the 1930s was used by the Seddon-Brown family for housing their Bentleys. The building was mostly vacant until 1999 when the estates gave the Bank Hall Action Group permission to use the coach house as a refreshments area and the Estate offices as a visitor centre, which opened in 2000. Unfortunately, on 20 January 2007 the visitor centre suffered a fire, causing mainly smoke damage, and a temporary visitor center was housed in the coach house, while the refreshments moved to the then vacant farm house kitchen for the Action Groups snowdrop events.

The carriage drive is the long driveway that cuts through the parkland, connecting the house to the village of Bretherton. It is lined with Lime trees and Rhododendron bushes and has three buildings on it.

Gardener's House is the first building to be seen on the carriage drive towards Bretherton. Charles Thompson, the Head Gardener, whom lived here in his later years. He worked at for the estate from the age of sixteen until he died in his 90s. The house was formerly known as 'Crossford Lodge' (which can be seen on the 1828 ordnance survey map), before it was greatly extended and became the 'Bank Hall Kindergarten'. The gardeners house gardens once had Yew trees in the gardens but were removed in 2001 due to the poisonous berries they produce.

Former gardener's house, now a kindergarten in 2007

The old gamekeeper's lodge in 2006

Gamekeeper's Lodge was the next building that could be seen on the carriage drive; it was sold on 11 January 2007 then demolished in 2008 and replaced by a modern single-story building. The Gamekeeper's Lodge once had aviaries which were used for breeding Pheasants for the shoots held on the estate.

Bretherton Lodge is the red brick building at the end of the carriage drive by the gate. It sometimes may be referred to as 'The New Lodge' which can be seen on the 1928 Ordnance Survey Map. The Estates manager's books from the 1800s now in the possession of the Action Group show reference to the labour needed to build the lodge and the ordering of the materials to construct the 'New Lodge'. The Thompson family lived here for many years; Charles Thompson lived here as a boy. The building is today leased by the estate.

The first Bank Hall windmill was originally constructed in 1741. Local maps from 1845 show 'Bank Mill' between Bank Bridge and Plocks Farm (just off the A59 road) within the estate. The Windmill was formorly a corn mill and was converted into private housing in the 1950s; the Kneen family lived in the northwest wing of the mansion house while the work was in progress. Today the windmill is a Grade II listed building and stands as a reminder of the corn trade that used to thrive in the area.

Carr House porch. The brickwork above the porch has a similar design to that on the front of Bank Hall.

Carr House is a house situated within the estate. The house was built by the Stone family in 1613 and was once the home of Jeremiah Horrocks, the first person to predict and observe the Transit of Venus, in 1639. It is thought that Jeremiah was the tutor of the Stone family's children while he resided with them at Carr House.

Gardens

The Arboretum was created by George Anthony Legh Keck, where he planted the gardens with many fine specimen trees from all around the world. The specimen trees which survive today have been identified and protected by the Action Group, from smaller trees which have grown very close to the specimen trees during the years the gardens where abandoned. Lady Lilford planted an Atlas Cedar in the arboretum in 1897 which is thought to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

There is ongoing research into the types of fern in the gardens, some of which have even been growing in the building since the early 1980s when the roof of the west wing collapsed. Ferns that have been identified are Osmundastrum cinnamomeum, Ostrich fern, Blechnum nudum and Dryopteris filix-mas with more ferns yet to be identified.

Bank Hall snowdrop carpet, February 2009

The majority of flowers have survived the years of neglect. Until 1999 the snowdrop carpets that Bank Hall is now well known for, where re-discovered when the Action Group uncovered a small area of snowdrops whilst clearing the gardens. Ever since the grounds have been cleared and the dormant snowdrops have reapeared in their masses as carpets which cover large areas of the leisure grounds from January to March each year.

Bank Hall daffodils, April 2009

There are extensive varieties of daffodils, which dominate the grounds after the snowdrops have finished blooming. The bluebells follow the daffodils and again there are numerous shades of colour, including blue, purple, pink and white.

Bank Hall was once known locally for the masses of primroses that grew in the grounds; unfortunately, due to tree planting in the 1980s, the primroses have died off. They are making a comeback with conservation action being taken by the Action Group to ensure they continue to grow.

A giant Clematis plant grows over an archway by the North Wing of the house; it has now spread to the perimeter fence and created a wall. The arch plant was pruned back in March 2009. A very common flower in the summer months is Red campion which dominates the arboretum, creating a meadow effect with the long grass that attracts a wide variety of butterflies and insects. Since the grounds have been cleared of debris, a colourful selection of Foxgloves have appeared all over the gardens in the summer reaching heights of Vorlage:Convert.

There are numerous Rhododendron bushes scattered around the estate and flanking the carriage drive. Their flowers include magenta, purple and one specimen of white flower, which is thought to be Rhododendron decorum ssp diaprepes. Some of the rhododendrons in the leisure gardens have been pruned back so new growth can reshape the bushes. Other specimen's include Rhododendron catawbiense and Rhododendron macrophyllum.

The oldest specimen tree in the estate is the English Yew, which is over 550 years old, predating the present house. It may be the oldest in Lancashire. The tallest is the Wellingtonia, which towers over the woodland at the back of the house. There are numerous specimens of Coast Redwood, the most notable being the fallen Redwood which is believed to be one of only two in the UK.

Bank Hall Fallen Sequoia in January 2010.

There are two specimens of the Dawn redwood, due to the rarity of its size and age for a UK specimen; it is thought that when explorers brought back the tree specimens from China to Kew Gardens, London in the early 1900s, at least one specimen was given as a gift to the residents at the time. Only a few Horse-chestnut can be found in the grounds but the most prominent is on the bank of the River Douglas, where the trunks and branches have formed a wall. There was once a Lebanon cedar on the tower lawn at the back of the house, which was cut down in the 1980s. The Action Group planted a new specimen in the arboretum. The main specimen of Lime tree once flanked the driveway to the front porch and Maidens Walk. The carriage drive is still lined with tall lime trees today. The three Magnolia trees are growing out of the foundations of the east wing. Originally they were planted to grow up the wall and because of neglect they are now growing from the building's foundations.

Other trees that can be found in the gardens include Atlas cedar, Beech, Cherry tree, Common yew, Chinese Yew Deodar cedar, Hawthorn, Japanese red cedar, Chinese Juniper, Holly, Hornbeam, Irish yew, Oak, Scots pine, Silver birch and Sycamore The sycamore trees have damaged other trees because of their fast growth and competition for space. The action group have been carring out a woodland management program by where diseased or unhealthy trees have been removed so that the original specimens are preserved. The trees that have been cut down have been replaced with specimen trees.

There are also many archaeological features in the gardens which have been studied by the Action Group and the University of Central Lancashire for their historic interest, these include:

The swimming pool, which was built during the 1930s for Sir Seddon-Brown's children and was a rare luxury at the time. The outdoor pool was only uncovered by the Action Group in 1998, whilst clearing the Gardens of brambles and weeds. The pool had been derelict for some time but the brick walls and stone steps remain. Mary Esstlemont a school friend of the Seddon-Brown's daughter Cynthia remembered the construction of the swimming pool and the blue tiles which lined the pool and that Sir Seddon-Brown had jokingly said to the children to go dig a swimming pool if they wanted to go swimming, (which they did do by the north west wing of the hall) by the next school holidays the swimming pool had been constructed by estate workmen for the children. This area is highlighted for car parking when the hall is restored.

The Conservatory was situated on the west-facing wall of the projecting wall from the east wing of the house. The original conservatory complemented the architecture of the house, with finials and balls. It was replaced by a more modern conservatory in the early 1900s which was demolished during the 1950s. The original conservatory can be seen on the 1894 ordnance survey map.

Bank Hall walled garden and greenhouse (2009)

The Walled Garden is situated to the east of the main house and contains a greenhouse and potting sheds which run the length of the north wall, and a heated outdoor wall which runs a quarter of the length of the east wall, up to a door which led to the orchards. The gardeners once grew exotic plants and fruit trees in the greenhouses, while the outside walled garden was a kitchen garden. During the Second World War, the walled garden was ripped up and replaced by wooden army huts to house troops. The Heritage Trust for the North West would like to restore the walled garden, greenhouse and potting sheds as a 'Heritage Garden' as part of a separate restoration project to the main building, which could become the main visitors entrance to the gardens.

There where once many walkways within the gardens, most of which have since disappeared due to the lack of maintenance. However, Maiden's Walk is a raised embankment near the barns which is lined with lime trees. The Walk starts at the main driveway in front of the house and ends within the woodlands; it once connected to a path leading to the back of the house.

Bank Hall Cricket Grounds field (2009)

There was once a walk way in the south gardens lined with yew trees. It connected the gardens with the cricket ground at the back of the leisure gardens, but was cut down in the 1980s due to a starling roost.

The Pond was situated to the west of the yew avenue. The army drained it during World War II, and sycamore trees have grown in the silt at the bottom. In summer 2009, members of the Action Group cleared the sycamore trees from the pond area to create a sunken garden, which has been planted with native flowers and ferns, snowdrops and various plants from around the estate. The South of the Pond is the fallen Sequoia.

Snowdrop carpets

Some of the snowdrop carpets at Bank Hall in 2008

The Action Group believe that the snowdrops where first introduced to the gardens after the Crimean War ended in 1856. In spring 2000, after extensive clearing of part of the gardens, the first signs of the forgotten snowdrops started to appear with a small clump poking up through brambles. Since then the Action Group have cleared more of the gardens to reveal more snowdrops, which have cross pollinated during their dormant years. An ever growing variety of snowdrop have been noted, some of them rare; those have been removed off-site for protection until the hall is restored. New displays and paths have been created for the 2010 season. Throughout February the gardens are open every Sunday for visitors to view the snowdrop carpets which spread over the estate. As one of the first signs of the end of winter,the snowdrop carpets are covered by the local, and sometimes national, press, attracting large crowds of visitors.

In 2007 the UK Snowdrop Society visited Bank Hall and viewed a special temporary display of rare 'Bank Hall Snowdrops' that were brought back for the occasion.

References

Bibliography

• Action Group Bank Hall: "Bank Hall Auction Catalogue −1861". Bank Hall Action Group, 2005. 
• Bank Hall Action Group: Bank Hall Record Book. Bank Hall Action Group, 2009. 
• Dillon, Paul Coxhead, Geoff: Bank Hall, Bretherton, Lancashire. 2004, ISBN 0-9530081-0-X. 
• Mary Esstlemont: "My Times at Bank Hall". Bank Hall Action Group, 2005. 
• Charles H. Lane: "Dog Shows And Doggy People". Hutchinson & Co., 1902. 
• Phillip Wilkinson: "Restoration – Discovering Britain's hidden architectural treasures". Headline Book Publishing, 2003, ISBN 0-7553-1251-1. 
• Phillip Wilkinson: "Restoration – the story continues..." English Heritage, 2004, ISBN 1-85074-914-0. 

External links

• Bank Hall Events and Fundraising website
• The Bank Hall Website
• Heritage Trust for the North West
• Full Bank Hall Timeline