{{Short description|Historic site in Lancashire, England}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}} {{Infobox historic site | name =Wennington Hall | image =Wennington Hall2.jpg | caption = | locmapin =United Kingdom City of Lancaster | coordinates = {{coord|54.1288|-2.5908|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | location =Wennington, Lancashire | area = | built = | architect =E. G. Paley | architecture = | governing_body = | designation1 =Grade II Listed Building | designation1_offname =Wennington Hall | designation1_date =4 December 1985 | designation1_number =1165274<ref name=NHLE /> }}
'''Wennington Hall''' is a former country house in Wennington, a village in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. The house is a Grade II listed building and from 1940 until 2022 was used as a school, at first by the Quaker boarding school Wennington School before its move to Yorkshire, then by Lancashire County Council.
==History== In its early history, Wennington Hall was the seat of William de Wennington. and in the 14th century, it passed to the Morley family.<ref name=Burke /> In 1674 the hall was sold to Henry Marsden, MP for Clitheroe. It descended to Henry Marsden, who lived at the hall with his younger brother John, known as "Silly Marsden", and their aunt. Henry died in 1780 from alcoholism and John was induced by his guardian aunt and her ambitious husband to sell the hall and buy Hornby Castle, Lancashire.<ref>{{cite journal|title= John Marsden's Will: The Hornby Castle Dispute 1780–1840|pmc = 1297114|year = 1999|last1 = Hull|first1 = G.|journal = Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine|volume = 92|issue = 3|pages = 149–150|doi = 10.1177/014107689909200319}}</ref> Wennington was bought in 1788 by the Rev Anthony Lister, who took the surname Marsden. The hall was later sold to Richard Saunders in 1841.<ref name=Burke />
The present building on the site, designed by Lancaster architect Edward Graham Paley, was constructed in 1855–56 for Richard's son William Allen Francis Saunders, High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1862.<ref name=Hartwell /><ref name=Robinson /> After him it passed to Charles Morley Saunders and later William Morley Saunders.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53300| title= A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8|publisher= British History Online|access-date = 17 January 2013}}</ref> During the Second World War it housed the Wennington School, who moved to Ingmanthorpe Hall in Yorkshire at the end of the war.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.wenningtonschool.org.uk/history.htm|title = Wennington School 1940–1975|access-date = 17 January 2013}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
From 1954 until 2022 it was occupied by Wennington Hall School, a Lancashire County Council boarding school for boys with learning or behavioural difficulties.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.wenningtonhall.lancs.sch.uk/| title = Welcome| access-date = 18 September 2012| publisher = Wennington Hall School}}</ref>
After the school's closure the building was acquired by Bowland Inns & Hotels; in 2023 planning permission was granted for its conversion to a hotel.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23733581.bowland-inns-hotels-secures-planning-permission-wennington-hall/|title=Bowland Inns & Hotels secures planning permission for Wennington Hall|first=Chloe|last=Wilson|website=Lancashire Telegraph|date=21 August 2023|access-date=25 October 2023}}</ref> It is expected to open in spring 2024.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/northwest/news/2122278-hotels-and-venues-group-on-road-to-growth-following-25m-loan|title=Hotels and venues group on road to growth following £25m loan|first=Neil|last=Hodgson|website=TheBusinessDesk.com|date=11 October 2023|access-date=25 October 2023}}</ref>
Wennington Hall was designated as a Grade II listed building on 4 December 1985. The Grade II designation—the lowest of the three grades—is for buildings that are "nationally important and of special interest".<ref name=ListedBuildings />
==Architecture== Wennington Hall is built of sandstone rubble. Most of the roofs are stone slate.<ref name=NHLE /> The plan is asymmetric and there is a large crenellated tower to the rear.<ref name=Hartwell /> The front facade is gabled.<ref name=Robinson /> The house is in two storeys, and is in Tudor Revival style. Inside the house is a staircase hall with a hammerbeam roof, and stained glass.{{sfn|Brandwood|Austin|Hughes|Price|2012|p=71}} Connected to the main building, there is a stable block that has its own crenellated tower. The main section of the building is in Tudor revival style with wooden beams going across the ceiling of the central section of the building. The main door still remains in its original form and has been treated with care, the walls of the grounds still also remain in their original forms.<ref name=Hartwell />
==See also== {{portal|Lancashire}} *Listed buildings in Wennington, Lancashire *List of works by Sharpe and Paley
==References== ===Citations=== {{Reflist|30em|refs= <ref name=Burke>Burke (1852), p. 285</ref> <ref name=Hartwell>Hartwell & Pevsner (2009), p. 684</ref> <ref name=Robinson>Robinson (1991), p. 250</ref> <ref name=NHLE>{{National Heritage List for England|num= 1165274|desc= Wennington Hall|access-date= 21 June 2015|mode=cs2}}</ref> <ref name=ListedBuildings>{{Citation | author = Historic England | title = Listed Buildings | url = http://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/what-is-designation/listed-buildings/|access-date= 21 June 2015 }}</ref> }}
===Sources=== {{Refbegin}} * {{Citation | last = Brandwood| first = Geoff| last2 = Austin| first2 = Tim| last3 = Hughes| first3 = John| last4 = Price| first4 = James| year = 2012| title = The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin| location = Swindon| publisher = English Heritage| isbn = 978-1-84802-049-8}} *{{Citation | last = Burke | first = Bernard | author-link = Bernard Burke | title = A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland for 1852 | publisher = Colburn and Co. | year = 1852 | oclc = 15669510 | ref = Burke}} *{{Citation | last = Hartwell | first = Clare | last2 = Pevsner | first2 = Nikolaus | author2-link = Nikolaus Pevsner | title = Lancashire: North | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven and London | year = 2009 | orig-year = 1969 | isbn = 978-0-300-12667-9 | ref = Hartwell| title-link = Pevsner Architectural Guides }} *{{Citation | last = Robinson | first = John Martin | title = A Guide to the Country Houses of the North West | publisher = Constable | year = 1991 | isbn = 0-09-469920-8 | ref = Robinson}} {{Refend}}
{{City of Lancaster buildings}}
Category:Buildings and structures in the City of Lancaster Category:Country houses in Lancashire Category:E. G. Paley buildings Category:Grade II listed buildings in Lancashire Category:Schools in the City of Lancaster