{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox historic site | name =Lytham Hall | image =Lytham Hall 01.jpg | caption = | locmapin =United Kingdom Lytham St Annes | coordinates = {{coord|53.7441|-2.9768|display=inline,title}} | location =[[Lytham]], [[Lancashire]] | area = | built = 1757–1764 | architect =[[John Carr (architect)|John Carr]] | architecture = [[Neo-Palladian]] | governing_body = [[Heritage Trust for the North West]] | designation1 =Grade I Listed Building | designation1_offname = | designation1_date = 1 December 1965 | designation1_number = {{National Heritage List for England|num=1219078|short=y}} | website = {{website|https://www.lythamhall.org.uk/|Official website}} }} '''Lytham Hall''' is an 18th-century [[Georgian era|Georgian]] country house in [[Lytham]], [[Lancashire]], {{convert|1|mi}} from the centre of the town, in {{convert|78|acres}} of wooded parkland. It is recorded in the [[National Heritage List for England]] as a designated Grade I [[Listed building#England and Wales|listed building]], the only one in the [[Borough of Fylde]].<ref name=EH/>
==History== The [[Manorialism|manor]] of Lytham was recorded in the ''[[Domesday Book]]'' of 1086 as ''Lidun''.<ref name=Fishwick2 /> In the 12th century it was given to the [[Benedictine]] monks of [[Durham Priory]] for the foundation of a monastic cell—[[Lytham Priory]]. Following the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] in the 1530s, Lytham Priory came into the possession of Sir [[Sir Richard Molyneux|Richard Molyneux]]. In 1606 the land was acquired by local landowner Cuthbert Clifton, who built a house there.<ref name=Hartwell436 /><ref name=Brazendale254 /> His descendant, Thomas Clifton, partially replaced that house with the current hall, which was built 1757–1764 to the design of [[John Carr (architect)|John Carr]] of York.<ref name=Brazendale255 /> For the next two centuries the Clifton estate, at its largest, comprised {{convert|8000|acres}}.
[[File:Lytham Hall, stairway ceiling.jpg|thumb|left|Stairway ceiling, with a central relief of [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] hurling thunderbolts]] Ownership of the property descended to John Clifton (1764–1832) and thence to his son Thomas Joseph Clifton (1788–1851), who extensively remodelled the estate by extending the surrounding parkland.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.amounderness.co.uk/lytham_hall_&_the_clifton_family.html| title = The Clifton Family & Lytham Hall|access-date = 2013-01-11|mode=cs2}}</ref> It passed via Colonel [[John Talbot Clifton (MP)|John Talbot Clifton]] (1819–1882), MP for [[North Lancashire (UK Parliament constituency)|North Lancashire]], to his 14-year-old grandson, the colourful [[John Talbot Clifton]] (1868–1928), during whose stewardship the railway was built along the estate's southern boundary and part of the land sold for housing.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.randallthorp.co.uk/UserFiles/File/Upload__Lytham_Hall_Historic_Park_Vol_1.pdf| title = THE HISTORIC PARK VOL I| access-date = 2013-01-11| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141113171349/http://www.randallthorp.co.uk/UserFiles/File/Upload__Lytham_Hall_Historic_Park_Vol_1.pdf| archive-date = 13 November 2014| url-status = dead|mode=cs2}}</ref> During the First World War the house was used as a military hospital,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rexford-Welch |first=Samuel Cuthbert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BtGxAAAAIAAJ&dq=breck+road+poulton&pg=PA586 |title=The Royal Air Force Medical Services |date=1955 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |pages=585 |language=en}}</ref> and after the Cliftons had moved to live in Ireland in 1919 and then Scotland in 1922 the house was somewhat neglected. Clifton was a passionate traveller and died in 1928 on an expedition to Timbuktu with his wife, [[Violet Clifton|Violet Beauclerk]]. She later wrote a biography of her husband, published under the title ''The Book of Talbot'', which won the 1933 [[James Tait Black Prize]],<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=james+tait+black+violet+clifton+talbot&btnG= Violet Clifton in Google Books]</ref> and was the last person to live in the house. Their dilettante film producer son, [[Harry Clifton (producer)|Henry de Vere Clifton]], had squandered much of the family's wealth and the house had to be sold to [[Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance]] in 1963 for office accommodation.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://lancashire.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/lytham-hall-lancashires-downton-abbey-28296/| title = Lytham Hall - Lancashire's Downton Abbey|publisher= Lancashire Life|access-date = 2013-01-11|mode=cs2}}</ref>
On 1 December 1965, Lytham Hall was designated as a Grade I [[listed building]].<ref name=EH /> The Grade I designation is the highest of the three grades.<ref name=ListedBuildings />
In 1997, Lytham Town Trust bought the building, with help from a donation from [[BAE Systems]], and subsequently leased it to [[Heritage Trust for the North West]] for 99 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lythamtowntrust.org/ltt_info.htm|title=Lytham Town Trust|access-date=25 March 2021}}</ref>
==Architecture== [[File:Dovecote at Lytham hall (geograph 3295133).jpg|thumb|[[Dovecote]] in trees at rear]] Lytham Hall is constructed in the [[Neo-Palladian]] style of red brick in [[Flemish bond]], with stone [[ashlar|dressings]] and [[stucco]]ed features.<ref name=Hartwell436 /><ref name=EH /> It has three storeys on a rectangular, symmetrical plan and sits on a stone [[plinth]].<ref name=Brazendale255 /><ref name=EH /> The front façade lies to the east; it has a central [[bay (architecture)|bay]] that extends slightly forward and has an [[Ionic order|Ionic]] pediment.<ref name=Brazendale255 /> The main entrance is also [[pediment]]ed and is flanked by [[Doric order|Doric]] columns.<ref name=Hartwell436 /> There are four [[pilaster]]s between the first floor and roof [[cornice]].<ref name=Brazendale255 /> The ground floor windows have [[Gibbs surround]]s.<ref name=Hartwell436 />
In contrast to traditional Palladian-style houses in which the servants' and utility rooms were on the ground floor (''piano rustico'') and the important family rooms were on the first floor (''[[piano nobile]]''), Lytham Hall's main rooms are on the ground floor.<ref name=Brazendale255 />
The courtyard behind the main Georgian hall and the attached wings were part of the earlier Jacobean hall of 1606.
In the grounds are several Grade II listed structures, including the Gatehouse, a large stable block, a large dovecote, the inner gates, a statue of [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] in what used to be a formal garden, and a screen wall running south from the west wing. Lytham Hall is described on its website as "the finest [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] house in Lancashire."<ref name=website>{{cite web|url=https://www.lythamhall.org.uk/|title=Lytham Hall|access-date=25 March 2021}}</ref>
==See also== {{portal|Lancashire}} *[[Grade I listed buildings in Lancashire]] *[[Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire]] *[[Listed buildings in Lytham]] {{clear left}}
==References== '''Citations''' {{Reflist|30em|refs= <ref name=Fishwick2>[[#Fishwick|Fishwick (1907)]], pp. 2–3</ref> <ref name=Brazendale254>[[#Brazendale|Brazendale (1994)]], p. 254</ref> <ref name=Brazendale255>[[#Brazendale|Brazendale (1994)]], p. 255</ref> <ref name=EH>{{NHLE |num= 1219078|desc= Lytham Hall|accessdate= 21 August 2013|mode=cs2}}</ref> <ref name=ListedBuildings>{{Citation |url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/listed-buildings/ |title=Listed Buildings |access-date=27 June 2011 |work=National Heritage List for England |publisher=English Heritage |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126151823/http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/listed-buildings |archive-date=26 January 2013 }}</ref> <ref name=Hartwell436>[[#Hartwell|Hartwell]], p. 436</ref> }}'''Sources''' {{Refbegin}} *{{Citation | last = Brazendale | first = David | title = Lancashire's Historic Halls | publisher = Carnegie | year = 1994 | isbn = 1-85936-004-1 | ref = Brazendale}} *{{Citation | last = Fishwick | first = Henry | title = The History of the Parish of Lytham in the County of Lancaster | publisher = Chetham Society | year = 1907 | oclc = 4939041 | ref = Fishwick}} *{{Citation | last1 = Hartwell | first1 = Clare | last2 = Pevsner | first2 = Nikolaus | author2-link = Nikolaus Pevsner | title = [[Pevsner Architectural Guides|Lancashire: North]] | publisher = [[Yale University Press]] | location = New Haven and London | year = 2009 | orig-year = 1969 | isbn = 978-0-300-12667-9 | ref = Hartwell}} {{Refend}}
==External links== {{commons category|Lytham Hall}} *[https://www.lythamhall.org.uk/ Lytham Hall] - official site *[http://www.lythamhall.org/ Friends of Lytham Hall] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110716163214/http://www.htnw.co.uk/lhall.html Heritage Trust for the North West] *[http://www.amounderness.co.uk/lytham_hall_&_the_clifton_family.html The Clifton Family & Lytham Hall] *[http://blog.islayinfo.com/article.php/talbot-clifton-kildalton-castle Talbot Clinton and Kildalton Castle]
{{Borough of Fylde buildings}}
[[Category:Country houses in Lancashire]] [[Category:Historic house museums in Lancashire]] [[Category:Grade I listed houses in Lancashire]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in the Borough of Fylde]] [[Category:Lytham St Annes]] [[Category:Parks and open spaces in Lancashire]] [[Category:Grade II listed parks and gardens in Lancashire]] [[Category:Palladian Revival architecture in Lancashire]] [[Category:John Carr (architect) buildings]]