Rufford New Hall is a former country house that belonged to the Heskeths who were

lords of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seigno ...

of Rufford,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England. It replaced

Rufford Old Hall 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 ...

as their residence in 1760. From 1920 to 1987 it was used as a hospital and has subsequently been restored and converted for residential use. It was designated a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in 1986.

History

Rufford New Hall was built in 1760. The country house was built by Sir Robert Hesketh and enlarged by his grandson around 1798-9 when the Heskeths left Rufford Old Hall. Heskeths lived at Rufford New Hall until 1919. The hall is built in brick which was formerly stuccoed. It has a low-pitched hipped slate roof concealed by a low

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

. The two storey symmetrical frontage has a five-bay facade with an Ionic portico of unfluted columns over a wide doorway with a fanlight. The hall has four 15-paned sashed windows on the ground floor, with five 12-paned windows on the first. Some spout heads bear the initials of Sir Thomas Dalrymple Hesketh and the date 1811 and one is dated 1822. The entrance hall has a cantilevered or flying stone staircase and landing on three sides with wrought iron balusters and is lighted by a domed oval skylight. The main hall has columns and

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s made from

Scagliola Scagliola (from the Italian ''scaglia'', meaning "chips") is a type of fine plaster used in architecture and sculpture. The same term identifies the technique for producing columns, sculptures, and other architectural elements that resemble inla ...

marble.

Hospital

Rufford New Hall was bought by Lancashire County Council in 1920 and converted for use as a hospital. Rufford Pulmonary Hospital opened on 6 August 1926. It had 50 beds to treat patients with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. Subsequently, it was used by the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

as a pre-convalescent hospital until its closure in 1987. The convalescent hospital was administered by

Ormskirk District General Hospital Ormskirk and District General Hospital is an acute hospital at Ormskirk, Lancashire. It is managed by the Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust. History The hospital has its origins in the Ormskirk Union Workhouse Infirmary which was establis ...

Rufford Park

The Heskeths created Rufford Park around the hall, with a deer park, a

ha-ha A ha-ha (french: hâ-hâ or ), also known as a sunk fence, blind fence, ditch and fence, deer wall, or foss, is a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier (particularly on one side) while preserving an uninterrupted view ...

, and leisure gardens surrounded by a stone wall. Rufford Park extended from the boundary with

Holmeswood Holmeswood is a small agricultural village in West Lancashire, in the north-west of England. It lies just north of the Martin Mere Wetland Centre and to the south of North Meols about six miles east of the Irish Sea coast at Southport. The v ...

to the boundary with

Croston Croston is a village and civil parish near Chorley in Lancashire, England. The River Yarrow flows through the village. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 2,917. History Croston was founded in the 7th century when ...

and

Mawdesley Mawdesley is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England, which had a population of 1,702 at the 2011 Census. History The name Mawdesley is thought to have originated in the reign of Edward I (1272–1308). The suffix -''ley'' describe ...

. The area was divided by the Liverpool-Preston Turnpike Road (the A59 Liverpool Road). The development of the park resulted in cottages being demolished and their inhabitants relocated in the village. The park is screened by trees and contains an ice house, a rose garden, a restored ornamental garden, lake, and plantations. The southern part of the park is designated a Biological Heritage Site, and is home to bats, red squirrels and other species of animals, shrubs and rare fungi.

Ice house

The ice house is a Grade II listed building, one of three survivors in the district. The building was renovated when the main hall was restored and is protected and maintained by the estate. It is circular, built in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, brick and earth with a domed roof above an underground chamber entered through a brick passage. Surrounding the ice house is a ha-ha forming a complete circle about in diameter. In winter ice was taken from the frozen lake to the ice house for storage for the rest of the year.

Lodges

Rufford New Hall had three lodges, which can be seen on the 1847

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

map. Holmeswood Lodge was constructed in the early 19th century on Holmeswood Road. Hesketh Lodge was constructed in the early 19th century as the main entrance lodge. It was named after the original owners. It is a single storey building and is stuccoed with stone dressings. Croston Lodge is the north entrance lodge on the A59, Liverpool Road, built in 1798. It is a single storey brick building with a slate roof. Springwood Lodge is the former gamekeeper or gardener's cottage.

Restoration

The hall and north wing were restored and converted into apartments and mews houses. The stone cantilevered staircase with the Hesketh family crest, the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

belvedere tower and the oval glass dome on the roof have been retained. The hall retains its Ionic colonnades and portico. The stable block has been converted to mews cottages. The formal gardens, ornamental ponds, lawns and tennis courts have been restored. The majority of trees around the hall are protected by a

Tree Preservation Order A tree preservation order (TPO) is a part of town and country planning in the United Kingdom. A TPO is made by a local planning authority (usually a local council) to protect specific trees or a particular area, group or woodland from deliberate d ...

and include many species, the rarest being a handkerchief tree.

Ghosts

The hall and its grounds are reputed to be haunted by four different ghosts.

References

External links

{{Buildings and structures in West Lancashire, state=collapsed Country houses in Lancashire Buildings and structures in the Borough of West Lancashire Rufford, Lancashire