Situated 2 miles from Ormskirk, not far from the main road N. 'The building itself was of vast extent, with a massive keep -- the Eagle Tower -- rising in the midst, and surrounded by embattled curtain walls, strengthened by seven lofty towers, the whole being encircled by a wide ditch or moat, across which access was gained by a drawbridge communicating with a portcullised gateway' (Croston, County Families 86). Principal house of the Stanleys until its destruction in the Civil War when the family removed to the Isle of Man. A fortified castle, Lathom seems to have had a number of towers, which accounts give variously as 7, 9 or 11 in number.
Stanley household accounts for Lathom survive for only a short time in the later 16th c. (1586--90) when Henry, 13th Earl of Derby, and his family were periodically in residence.
No trace of the original structure remains and until late 20th c. excavations the original site was uncertain.
ca. 1385 Sir John Stanley I acquired Lathom via marriage to Isabel, daughter of Sir Thomas Lathom. 1459--95 Old manorial hall pulled down by Thomas Stanley, 10th Earl of Derby, to clear the way for a new building. The visit to Lathom by Henry VII in 1495 provides a latest date for construction.
1645 Besieged and taken by parliamentary forces. Large portions dismantled in 1646.
ca. 1660 Reconstruction by Charles, 17th Earl of Derby.
late 17th c. Further reconstruction by William, 18th Earl of Derby.
ca. 1717 Lathom sold by the 18th Earl of Derby's daughter and heir, Henrietta, to Henry Furness.
1724 Henry Furness sold Lathom to Sir Thomas Bootle.
1725--30 The present Lathom House was built by Sir Thomas Bootle with architect Giacomo Leoni, probably as an extension of the older house.
1857--76 Extensive renovations and additions in the Palladian style.
1925 Main block demolished, leaving only 2 domestic wings (one demolished ca. 1960) and a 19th c. stable block.
REED Lanc 179--84
| Name | Dates | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Beaufort, Margaret | 1443-1509 | Duchess of , Countess of |
| Hastings, Anne | 0-1550 | Countess of |
| Stanley, Edward | 1509-1572 | Lord , 4th Baron , 11th Baron , 12th Earl of , Lord of the , Knight of the |
| Stanley, Ferdinando | 1559-1594 | 13th Baron , 6th Baron , 14th Earl of , Lord of the |
| Stanley, Henry | 1531-1593 | Lord , 12th Baron , 5th Baron , 13th Earl of , Lord of the , Knight of the |
| Stanley, James | 1607-1651 | 1st Baron , 16th Earl of , Lord of the |
| Stanley, Thomas | 1433-1504 | 2nd Baron , Lord of the , Knight of the , 10th Earl of |
| Stanley, Thomas | 1485-1521 | 3rd Baron , 11th Earl of , Lord of the , 10th Baron |
| Stanley, William | 1561-1642 | 15th Earl of , Knight of the , Lord of the |
