Abandoned Hall by the Lake

This Hall was built in the late Nineteenth Century by local doctor and property speculator although he himself is not thought to have lived there. The Hall was originally the home of The Coddington family who lived in the Hall for many years until around 1920. 
In the 1930′s the house was acquired by the YHA and became a Youth Hostel. Later the hall has been at various times a private dwelling, a nightclub and a hotel.

The hall is set in stunning countryside, overlooking a lake. 

On gaining access we found ourselves in the entrance hall with the impressive staircase.

The entrance porch had stained glass which had unfortunately been splattered with paint.

The floor tiles in the entrance porch.

The staircase and banister were also liberally covered in splatters of white paint.

One of the downstairs rooms.

  Another of the downstairs rooms.

The staircase seemed quite solid but we were wary of dodgy floorboards. 

There was little left inside and not much of interest to see. The most impressive feature was the staircase and banister.

One of the upstairs rooms.

The largest of the upstairs rooms. 

This building would undoubtedly have been an impressive house in its day. Sad to see it in its current state - just a shell of a building. Hopefully plans to renovate it will come to fruition.

Bank Hall (Permission visit)

Bank Hall is located on the A59 in between Tarleton and Bretherton. Bank Hall Action Group was set up in 1995 to try to save the Jacobean Mansion at Bank Hall. It has been taken over by The Friends Of Bank Hall who have various events during the year to raise money, one of which is "Snowdrop Sundays" which I attended, with Judderman and his partner in crime, curious to see the remains of the building as well as the snowdrops.

 The History of the building:  In the mid 13th century, the de Banastrè family purchased the land that became the Bank Hall Estate in 1240. There is no information on what was built at Bank except that  it was likely to have been a partial stone and partial wooden structure. It is also thought that it may have been moated. Bank Hall was a two-and-a-half storey brick built house with roofs of Cumbrian slate standing in formerly ornamental parkland. It has a north-facing entrance front and south-facing garden front.

The earliest identifiable phase of the present building dates from the early 17th century and is characterised by brick work in English garden wall bond. The ground consists of a four-bay hall with a parlour to the west and wing containing two rooms to the east.

The following information is unashamedly copied directly from the Bank Hall website.

"In 1832-33 the house was extensively remodelled, probably by the Kendal-based architect, George Webster, in an early example of 19th-century Jacobean style. The main entrance porch on the north side, a drawing room wing at the west end, extensive service accommodation at the east and probably the north wing, were all added in this phase. At the same time the south face or garden front was considerably altered. The angle formed by the 17th century house and the west wing was infilled in the late-19th century.

The Lilford family who inherited the Hall in 1860 never fully occupied the Hall as a residence but they maintained it until the late 19th Century when they decided to rent it out.  During the second World War the Hall was used by the military and after it was handed back to the Estate, occupation was primarily by the Estate Managers in the East wing.  Last occupied in 1971 it has since been left to the vandals and weather precipitating its decline to its present state."

"The Hall is no longer occupied and has deteriorated to a very poor reflection of its former glory. Gone are the lime trees which flanked the drive to the front door. Gone are the stone lions that faithfully stood guard. The giant cedar with its huge spreading branches no longer casts its graceful shadow over the pleasure grounds. The tall chimneys have become overgrown with ivy, which has now claimed more than half of the building. The majestic clock tower has lost its northerly elevation which has fallen into the stairwell below, crashing through the seventeenth-century oak staircase. Dry rot has penetrated the fabric of the building with whole sections of the floor falling down and rain pouring through gaping holes in the roof."

I hope that the Friends of Bank Hall manage to renovate the Hall in some way but I am also quite sceptical as not much has changed since 1995 apart from the scaffolding. We will see . . .

The snowdrops were prolific and quite wonderful. There were carpets of them dotted around the large woodland grounds.

Despite the lousy, drizzly weather, I enjoyed our mooch around the grounds and hope to be able to return in the summer.

Manor House "K"

 Manor "K" is the only remaining genuine Adams designed building in the North West of England. We were lucky enough to gain access to this fantastic building when the caretaker opened up for us one extremely cold January morning. (Thanks to an Urbexing friend of mine!)
 

 
Built in 1704 and then restored by renowned architect, Robert Adam in 1772 in the classical style. The building had a series of owners, including the Ashton family, Judge Jeffries and Sir Frederick Leyland. In 1902, Captain McGuffie bought the house and turned it into a hydro hotel. During this time, many famous music hall stars lodged at the hotel. The caretaker (who had previously lived in the house in the 1980s) showed us photographs from this era.

 

In 1948 the Sisters of Notre Dame used the building as a convent and school, until 1970. It then fell into disrepair and was scheduled for demolition. In 1980 our caretaker friend bought the house. He had many tales to tell us about the building and it obviously meant a lot to him. The above photo shows the entrance hall. It must have been a great welcome to the building when the log fire was blazing in its heyday. On our visit it was so cold that you could see your own breath!

 

 

 

On into the lobby, complete with piano and red telephone box. On our visit we were not the only photographers present. It seems that a photo-shoot was taking place. The chief photographer was quite a rude man who greeted us with an, "Oh my God!" when we were in the room that he wanted to shoot in. He then proceeded to tell us that he had driven 6 hours to get to the location and was on a tight schedule and that he needed to shoot in that room NOW! I think he heard me mutter a not so complimentary retort at him and appeared to be much more polite and contrite after that!

 

 

Our caretaker friend sold the building to Jim Murray who used it for private functions and weddings. He also had plans to develop the building into retirement flats but planning permission was never granted.

 

I think that the staircase was one of the best parts of the house. Despite the house needing extensive renovation, this part of the building was simply stunning, with natural light flowing in through a huge leaded window.

 

 

 

 

 

                             Looking up from the ground floor lobby.

Looking down from the first floor landing.

 

                                                              The beautiful window.

 

On the fist floor landing.

 

 

This is where we start to see the need for the £3million renovation. The original features have been subjected to unsympathetic conversion work over the years.

 

                                  However, the ceiling rose still remains and is quite splendid.

 

The door hangs off and the décor is a little outdated.

 

 

A view from one of the first floor rooms.

 

 

 

 Around each corner there were all sorts of interesting features.

 

 

Up onto the third floor, which is in the most need of some TLC. It appears that many of these rooms were used by the Freemasons. Some were small offices.

 

 

One was a function room, complete with a dusty organ.

 

 

I really liked the "green room", although it was very bare and needed a lick of paint and the floorboards re-sanding. I guess all that green was quite peaceful.

 

 

                  And there were some nice little touches, like this wall feature.

Back downstairs, after a chat with the caretaker. We went through a 70s style bar into the kitchen. It definitely needed a bit of Mr.Muscle!

 

Just off the entrance hall was a pitch black room which we had to light up with head torches. It was octagonal, blue and contained four doors like the one below. (Closets) They reminded me very much of Wedgwood.

 

 

But the best feature was the ceiling rose. Wow!

Lastly, on the ground floor was a wood panelled room containing paintings of former owners.

 

 

 

 Leading on from this room was a larger room, again wood panelled.  Tables and chairs were set out in a horseshoe formation.

 

 

On the ceiling there was an enormous chandelier.

 

 

Propped up in one of the rooms was a painting of the hall from possibly the late 18th century or early 19th century.

 

 

The caretaker obviously adored this building and was unsure about what the future holds for it.

He is concerned that people have started to break into the building and cause damage to it. There is also quite a lot of water damage from wear and tear that needs addressing. It is sad to see such a fantastic building, rich in history, declining like this.