Thurnham Hall
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Thurnham Hall is a Grade I listed 17th-century country house in the village of Thurnham, Lancashire, England some 10 km (6 miles) south of
Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...
. The present building is a three-storey stone-built house probably built in the 17th century for Robert Dalton. It stands facing west in 30 acres of rising ground about a half a kilometre (quarter of a mile) from the left bank of the River Conder. The building contains an impressive Jacobean Great Hall and now functions as a resort hotel.


History

In the 12th century the property belonged to the de Thurnham family and then, by descent, to the Flemming, Cancerfield, Harrington, Bonvile and Grey families.
Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, 3rd Marquess of Dorset (17 January 151723 February 1554), was an English courtier and nobleman of the Tudor period. He was the father of Lady Jane Grey, known as "the Nine Days Queen". Origins He was born on 17 ...
, and father of
Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned ...
, sold the estate to London grocer Thomas Lonne, who resold it three years later to Robert Dalton of Bispham, Lancashire. Robert probably built the present house soon after the purchase. His only son Thomas was mortally wounded at the
second Battle of Newbury The Second Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War fought on 27 October 1644, in Speen, adjoining Newbury in Berkshire. The battle was fought close to the site of the First Battle of Newbury, which took place in la ...
and the estate passed, after having been confiscated and later returned, to Thomas' young son Robert. Robert left only a daughter, Elizabeth, who married William de Hoghton of Park Hall, Charnock Richard. Their son John took the surname Dalton and was involved in the
Jacobite rising of 1715 The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( ; or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Francis Edward Stuart, James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland ...
. For this he was imprisoned in London and his land was confiscated, but after his release he walked back to Lancaster and recovered Thurnham after paying a large fine. John Dalton married Mary Gage and carried out some modernisation of the building in 1823, replacing the front facade and adding corner turrets and embattled parapet. His son John died childless and the property passed to John Jnr's sister Elizabeth in 1837, who built a private chapel in the hall in 1854. On her death in 1861 she was succeeded by a distant cousin, Sir James Fitzgerald, who adopted the additional surname of Dalton. He died childless in 1867 without issue and his brother, Sir Gerald Dalton-Fitzgerald, succeeded to the property. Most of the contents of Thurnham were sold and the remainder transferred to the Dalton-Fitzgerald's Essex estate. Thurnham then returned to the main Dalton line in the form of William Henry Dalton and descended in turn via his sons John Henry and William Augustus. After the latter's death the hall stood empty and became derelict. It was purchased in the early 1970s by Stanley Crabtree who completely renovated the building. Part of the hall had been damaged by fire in 1959.


See also

*
Grade I listed buildings in Lancashire This is a list of Grade I listed buildings in Lancashire, England. In the United Kingdom, the term "listed building" refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural signifi ...
* Listed buildings in Thurnham, Lancashire


References

{{City of Lancaster buildings Country houses in Lancashire Grade I listed buildings in Lancashire Buildings and structures in the City of Lancaster Grade I listed houses