Venue Type & Location
Performance Spaces
Overview
The house is in a tranquil wooded setting on low-lying mosslands in SW Lancashire 5 miles N of Ormskirk near the old road from Liverpool to Preston. The original approach was from the S, now relocated to a driveway at the N entrance.
A well-preserved half-timbered hall from the 1st half of the 16th c. retaining a remarkable carved screen and decorative features still in position. Pevsner describes the interior as possessing 'an exuberance of decoration matched nowhere else in England' (Pevsner, North Lancashire 212).
Performance History
There is fragmentary evidence that Sir Thomas Hesketh (1526--88) patronized a minstrel and possibly players who may have performed at 1 of his residences. The 1581 will of Alexander Hoghton of the Lea includes the request that Hesketh maintain his 2 players, Fulk Gyllom and William Shakeshafte, if his brother, Thomas Hoghton, does not. No corroborating Hesketh household accounts survive from the period.
A 1587--8 Stanley household account for players at the Christmas season at Knowsley is sometimes interpreted as a reference to Sir Thomas Hesketh's players, but it may instead refer to his visit and the departure of Stanley family players.
Current Status
History of the Venue
ca. 1285 Sir William Hesketh acquired half of Rufford Manor via marriage to Maud, daughter of Richard Fitton, Lord of Rufford and Great Harwood.
1320 Hesketh family acquired 2nd half of Rufford Manor.
15th c. Robert Hesketh (1429--91) may have built the 1st large-scale hall at Rufford.
ca. 1530 Thomas Hesketh (d 1523) began and his son Sir Robert (d 1541) completed building a manor house, probably on an H-shaped plan, with central hall and 2 wings.
1662 3-storey brick extension built at N end of E wing.
ca. 1720 E wing rebuilt by Thomas Hesketh using 16th c. timbers, possibly from the Hesketh house at Holmeswood.
by 1736 W wing taken (or burned) down.
1760 Hesketh family relocated to Rufford New Hall, half a mile away. Old Hall let and then used as a school.
1821 House reoccupied by Thomas Henry Hesketh, 4th Baronet. Early 18th c. E wing enlarged in Tudor Gothic style. New N and S elevations linked the original Tudor hall and 17th c. extension.
1867 Family seat relocated to Easton Neston, Northamptonshire.
1920 Reoccupied by Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 8th Baronet, 1st Lord Hesketh.
1936 Lord Hesketh gave Rufford Old Hall to the National Trust.
Record Source
REED Lanc 156, 160, 180, 350
Patrons who owned this venue
| Name | Date | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Hesketh, Thomas | 1527-1588 | Knight |
Bibliographic Sources
- Bearman, Robert. '"Was William Shakespeare William Shakeshafte?" Revisited.'. Shakespeare Quarterly 53.1 (2002): 82--94.
- Champness, John. Lancashire's Architectural Heritage: An Anthology of Fine Buildings. Preston: Lancashire County Council Planning, 1988
- Chapman, Margaret G. Lancashire Halls. Newcastle upon Tyne: Frank Graham, 1971
- Garner, Thomas, and Arthur Stratton. The Domestic Architecture of England during the Tudor Period. 2 vols. London: Batsford, 1911
- George, David, ed. Lancashire. Toronto, Buffalo, London: U of Toronto P, 1991
- Pevsner, Nikolaus. Lancashire: The Rural North. Harmondsworth, Midd: Penguin Books, 1969
- Robinson, John Martin. A Guide to the Country Houses of the North West. London: Constable, 1991
- Rufford Old Hall, Lancashire. London: The National Trust, 1998
- Taylor, Henry. Old Halls in Lancashire and Cheshire. Manchester: J.E. Cornish, 1884
- Tipping, H. Avray. 'Rufford Old Hall -- I. Lancashire. A Seat of Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh'. Country Life 66 (19 Oct. 1929): 528--35.
- Tipping, H. Avray. 'Rufford Old Hall -- II. Lancashire. A Seat of Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh'. Country Life 66 (26 Oct. 1929): 570--6.
- The Victoria History of the County of Lancaster. 8 vols. London: Archibald Constable, 1906--14