Borwick Hall is a 16th-century manor house at

Borwick Borwick is a village and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, about 8 miles north of Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, on the Lancaster Canal. It is situated just south of the border with Cumbria. The parish o ...

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

, England. It is a

Grade I 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 Ire ...

and is now used as a residential

outdoor education Outdoor education is organized learning that takes place in the outdoors. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or journey wilderness-based experiences in which students participate in a variety of adventurous challenges and ou ...

and

conference centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control. Prior to the 2009 ...

History

The manor of Borwick is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as being part of the estates of

Roger of Poitou Roger the Poitevin (Roger de Poitou) was born in Normandy in the mid-1060s and died before 1140. He was an Anglo-Norman aristocrat, possessing large holdings in both England and through his marriage in France. He was the third son of Roger of Mo ...

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

pp. 170–174. but the oldest parts of the building still in existence date from the 14th century when a

pele tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-stan ...

was built on the site. National Monuments Record It was bought c. 1590 by Roger Bindlosse. The tower was extended to a manor house by Roger in the early 1590s before he died in 1595. His son Robert inherited and was appointed

High Sheriff of Lancashire The High Sheriff of Lancashire is an ancient officer, now largely ceremonial, granted to Lancashire, a county in North West England. High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown, in England and Wales. The High Sheriff of Lancas ...

in 1615. Robert's son Sir Francis Bindlosse predeceased him and so the estate passed to Francis's eldest son,

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, h ...

, who was created a baronet in 1641 and was elected MP for

in 1660. He also served twice as High Sheriff. He built a private Oratory on the estate. On his death in 1688 with no male heir the baronetcy became extinct and the estate passed to his only daughter, Cecilia, who had married William Standish. On her death there were again no male heirs and the estate passed to a daughter who had married Thomas Strickland of the Sizergh family. The Scottish soldier Charlie MacDougal is believed to have died in the grounds in 1745 following the infighting between the Scots returning from England with Bonnie Prince Charlie. The Stricklands sold the Hall in 1854 for £28,000 to Col. Marton of Capernwray. By the early 19th century the Hall was falling into disrepair and was only repaired in the 1910s, when it was leased to music critic

John Alexander Fuller Maitland John Alexander Fuller Maitland (7 April 1856 – 30 March 1936) was an influential British music critic and scholar from the 1880s to the 1920s. He encouraged the rediscovery of English music of the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly Henry Pur ...

on the specific condition that he restore the building. He died there in 1936. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

during which the hall was used as a military base, the estate was sold to Lancashire Youth Clubs Association and later passed into the ownership of Lancashire County Council. The Hall was used for exterior shots for the children's TV programme '' The Ghosts of Motley Hall'' which ran on Granada TV from 1976 to 1978. The Hall stood in for the fictional Motley Hall, built in 1577, home to the Uproar family over the centuries, but now home to a group of ghosts from different eras.

Construction

Externally the Hall is built of stone rubble with sandstone dressing and a slate roof. Heritage Gateway Due to its exceptional features it was listed as a Grade I listed building in 1967.

Notes

References

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External links

Lancashire Outdoor Education: Borwick Hall
{{City of Lancaster buildings Houses completed in the 16th century Towers completed in the 14th century Grade I listed buildings in Lancashire Buildings and structures in the City of Lancaster Outdoor education organizations Peel towers in Lancashire

History

Construction

See also

Notes

References

External links