Standish Hall

Standish Hall was an estate and country house, built in 1573, owned by the Standish family in the south-west of Standish, Wigan. No standing structures of the hall remain on the former estate, however, some of its wooden-panel interiors are preserved elsewhere.

Not to be confused with Myles Standish Hall.
Standish Hall
Postcard of Standish Hall circa 1915
General information
AddressStandish, Greater Manchester, England
Coordinates53°34′26″N 2°40′08″W
Construction started1573

History
Drawing of Standish Hall, by John Preston Neale circa 1845

The original building was a Wattle and daub H-shaped building constructed in 1574. In 1684 a wing to the north built of brick was added and during the same time many alterations were made to the original house. In 1748 another three-story brick wing was added to the west. The moat, which surrounded the house was filled up in 1780. A final extension further west was added in 1822.[1]

By the late-19th-century the hall stood in extensive parkland with forests, grasslands and large fishponds. The hall and its Roman Catholic chapel were at the centre of the estate, which had a series of interconnecting path systems and possibly a ha-ha to the south. A track to the north led to the Hermitage.[2]

The last member of the Standish family to live in the hall was Charles Strickland Standish. He left the hall and later let it to Thomas Darwell, the Mayor of Wigan, in 1824 or 1825.[2] The hall was then leased to a number of tenants by the Standish Family over the years, including Nathaniel Eckersley who died there in 1892.[3]

The last lord of the Standish manor, Henry Noailles Widdington Standish, died in 1920 leaving no children or heirs, he never lived in the hall and was brought up in France.[4][3] The estate was broken up and hall put up for auction in 1921 by its then-owner James Birkett Almond, however, the hall itself failed to reach its reserve price of £4,800 and so was withdrawn.[5] In 1923 the Chappel and Tudor Hall were demolished,[2] and the remainder was left in ruin. The last part of the hall, which had been split up into two smaller houses during the 20th century, was demolished around 1982,[1] when the National Coal Board acquired the land.

Preservation of interiors
Demolition of part of the hall in 1923 after the removal of the interiors

While no standing sections of the hall remain, four of its room's wood-panelled interiors are known to survive today, three of which were transported to the U.S. and one remains in England. The Jacobean drawing room and Elizabethan study (originally from Borwick Hall) were bought by William Randolph Hearst and shipped to New York in the 1930s. The study later was donated to the Detroit Institute of Arts where it remains in storage, as of 2020. The drawing-room was later bought by Tony Hulman and installed in his Lingen Lodge, which is now used by the Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology. The library was bought by Ralph H. Booth in 1922, and used in his mansion in Grosse Pointe, Detroit. The dining room was bought in 1924, and incorporated into Halsway Manor in Somerset.[6]

The locations of the preserved interiors were rediscovered in 2020, after research done by local historians.[7]

Catholicism
Cat 'i'th' Window Cottage

From 1559 Catholic mass was said at the hall. In 1694 the hall was suspected to be a centre for Jacobitism, and many of the Catholic gentry from the area were put on trial. During the Jacobite rising of 1715, Ralph Standish joined the Scots Army and was sentenced to death (though later reprieved) for his actions in the Battle of Preston. In 1742 a new chapel was built at Standish Hall.[8]

The nearby Cat 'i'th' Window Cottage is associated the hall, local tradition says the placement black plaster cats in its windows indicated when there was a Catholic mass being held there (or that there were government troops in the area).[8][9]

References
  1. Historic England. "Standish Hall (41975)". PastScape.
  2. "Standish Hall Park". parksandgardens.org. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  3. "What ever happen to Standish Hall". Wigan Archaeological Society. March 2016.
  4. "Standish Papers". National Archives.
  5. "The Standish Estate Catalogue". Wigan Archaeological Society. February 2014.
  6. "Lost parts of Standish Hall found in America". Wigan Archaeological Society. 2020.
  7. "Mystery solved as parts of Wigan historic hall revealed in US college". Wigan Today. 10 July 2020.
  8. "Standish - St Marie Of The Annunciation". taking-stock.org.uk. Taking Stock.
  9. Cat I'th'Window Plaque - Wikimedia
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