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Abbeystead House
Abbeystead House
Location	Abbeystead, Lancashire, England
Coordinates	53°59′05″N 2°39′41″W / 53.9848°N 2.6615°W / 53.9848; -2.6615
OS grid reference	SD 567,545
Built	1886
Built for	4th Earl of Sefton
Architect	Douglas & Fordham
Architectural style(s)	Elizabethan
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated	24 February 1986
Reference no.	1071597
Location in the City of Lancaster district

Abbeystead House is a large country house to the east of the village of Abbeystead, Lancashire, England, some 12 km (7 miles) south-east of Lancaster. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

History

Abbeystead House was built in 1886 as a shooting lodge for the 4th Earl of Sefton. It was designed by the Chester firm of architects Douglas & Fordham, who added gun and billiard rooms in 1894. The estate holds the record for the biggest grouse bag in a day; when on 12 August 1915, 2,929 birds were shot by eight guns (shooters).

In 1980 the Abbeystead Estate, totalling 18,000 acres (73 km) and including the house, was bought by a trust relating to the family of the Duke of Westminster. Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, died suddenly at the house on 9 August 2016.

Architecture

The house is built in sandstone rubble with slate roofs in Elizabethan style. Its plan is an L-shape, with south and east ranges partly enclosing a courtyard. The south range forms the main block while the east range is the service wing which incorporates a four-storey castellated tower. To the east of the main house subsidiary buildings form a second courtyard. The south range has two storeys plus attics and is entered by a porch on its north side. The façade of the north (entrance) front is irregular, and consists of five bays, three of which project forward and are surmounted by gables of different sizes with ball finials. The front also includes mullioned and transomed windows, a dormer, and a pair of round-headed arches in ground floor of the right bay. The outer doorway of the porch has a Tudor arch with the Molyneux arms carved above; it is flanked by small single-storey turrets.

The south (garden) front also has five bays, three of which project forward and two of these are canted. The front again contains mullioned and transomed windows and each bay has a gable with a ball finial. Tall brick chimneys rise from the roofs. Internally, the entrance hall has two fireplaces with panelled overmantels; one of the panels carries a carving of the Molyneux arms. At the back of the room is a timber arcade and the staircase has barley-sugar balusters.

Douglas' biographer, Hubbard, describes Abbeystead as the finest of Douglas' Elizabethan houses and one of the finest and largest he ever designed. Hubbard also suggested that Douglas' plan of a house with irregular gables and a tower grouped round a courtyard may have been inspired by nearby Lancashire medieval houses with pele towers, such as Borwick Hall. However, as Hartwell and Pevsner point out, Douglas also designed towers for his houses in Cheshire and Wales, so it may rather have been "rooted in his own style".

Associated buildings

At the same time that Abbeystead House was being built, Douglas and Fordham designed two lodges for the estate. Lancaster Lodge stands at the head of the drive leading to the house. This has an L-shaped plan and is "quietly Elizabethan" in style. It is a Grade II listed building. York Lodge stands 0.5 miles (1 km) to the east on the road to Dunsop Bridge and is also listed Grade II. In 1891–92 the same architects designed stables and an adjoining pair of cottages for the house.

See also

• Listed buildings in Over Wyresdale
• List of houses and associated buildings by John Douglas

References

Citations

1. ^ Historic England, "Abbeystead (1071597)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 20 March 2015
2. ^ Hartwell & Pevsner 2009, p. 487.
3. Hubbard 1991, p. 264.
4. Avery, Mark (2015). Inglorious Conflict in the Uplands. London: Bloomsbury. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-4729-1741-6.
5. Bibby, Andrew (2005), The Forest of Bowland with Pendle Hill and the West Pennine Hills, London: Frances Lincoln, pp. 55–56, ISBN 0-7112-2502-8
6. Bates, Stephen (10 August 2016). "The Duke of Westminster obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
7. Hubbard 1991, pp. 149–150.
8. Hubbard 1991, p. 149.
9. Hubbard 1991, p. 255.
10. Historic England, "Lancaster Lodge, Over Wyresdale (1071598)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 20 March 2015
11. Historic England, "York Lodge, Over Wyresdale (1071596)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 20 March 2015
12. Hubbard 1991, p. 261.

Sources

• Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) , Lancashire: North, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9
• Hubbard, Edward (1991), The Work of John Douglas, London: The Victorian Society, ISBN 0-901657-16-6

v t e Buildings and structures in the City of Lancaster
Grade I	Ashton Hall Ashton Memorial Borwick Hall Burrow Hall Claughton Hall Cockersand Abbey Cockersand Abbey chapter house Hornby Castle Judges' Lodgings Lancaster Castle Lancaster Priory Lune Aqueduct Old Rectory St Oswald's Vicarage Thurnham Hall   Churches   Gressingham: St John the Evangelist Heysham: St Patrick St Peter Hornby: St Margaret Melling: St Wilfrid Tunstall: St John the Baptist
Grade II*	Capernwray Hall Custom House Lancaster City Museum Lancaster Moor Hospital Lancaster Town Hall Leighton Hall Loyn Bridge Midland Hotel Morecambe Winter Gardens Quernmore Park Royal Albert Hospital Skerton Bridge Thurland Castle Whittington Hall   Churches   Arkholme: St John the Baptist Bolton-le-Sands: Holy Trinity Brookhouse: St Paul Cockerham: St Michael Lancaster: Cathedral Ripley School St John the Evangelist Over Kellet: St Cuthbert Overton: St Helen Silverdale: St John Tatham: St James the Less Whittington: St Michael
Grade II	Abbeystead House Cockerham Vicarage Conder Bridge The Dukes Greaves Park Hotel Grand Theatre Grizedale Bridge Hornby Village Institute Lancaster Carriage and Wagon Works Lancaster (Greaves) railway station Lancaster Moor Hospital Lancaster railway station Lancaster Royal Grammar School Leck Hall Lindeth Tower Littledale Hall Morecambe and Heysham War Memorial Queen Victoria Memorial The Storey The Stork Wennington Hall Windermere House   Churches   Borwick: St Mary Capernwray: Chapel Claughton: St Chad Dolphinholme: St Mark Ellel: St John Glasson: Christ Halton-on-Lune: St Wilfrid Lancaster: Christ Cemetery St Paul, Scotforth St Thomas Leck: St Peter Morecambe: Holy Trinity St John the Divine St Laurence Over Wyresdale: Christ Quernmore: St Peter Slyne-with-Hest St Luke Tatham: Good Shepherd Warton: St Oswald Yealand Conyers: St John the Evangelist St Mary
Unlisted	Carlisle Bridge Carnforth MPD Carnforth War Memorial Escowbeck The Gregson Centre Greyhound Bridge HM Prison Lancaster Farms Hazelwood Hall Heysham nuclear power station Lancaster bus station Langthwaite Filter House Lune Millennium Bridge Phoenix Street drill hall Plover Scar Lighthouse Stone Jetty Three Brothers   Churches   Aughton: St Saviour Lancaster: St Michael, Lancaster Moor Hospital King's Community Morecambe: Clark Street Congregational St Barnabas St Christopher, Bare Wray: Holy Trinity
Demolished	Aldcliffe Hall Central Pier, Morecambe Cockerham Priory Hornby Priory Lancaster Friary Lancaster Roman Fort North Western Hotel Over Burrow Roman Fort Old Loyne Bridge West End Pier, Morecambe Wyresdale Abbey
Listed buildings in	Arkholme-with-Cawood Bolton-le-Sands Borwick Burrow-with-Burrow Cantsfield Carnforth Caton-with-Littledale Claughton Cockerham Ellel Gressingham Halton-with-Aughton Heaton-with-Oxcliffe Heysham Hornby-with-Farleton Ireby Lancaster Leck Melling-with-Wrayton Middleton Morecambe Nether Kellet Over Kellet Over Wyresdale Overton Priest Hutton Quernmore Roeburndale Scotforth Silverdale Slyne-with-Hest Tatham Thurnham Tunstall Warton Wennington Whittington Wray-with-Botton Yealand Conyers Yealand Redmayne

• Houses completed in 1886
• Grade II listed buildings in Lancashire
• John Douglas buildings
• Buildings and structures in the City of Lancaster
• Country houses in Lancashire
• Grade II listed houses
• Grosvenor family