Knowsley Hall, Prescot, Merseyside
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On October 10th 2011 a group of Chester DFAS members visited
Knowsley
Hall, home to
the Earls of Derby, where we were given a comprehensive tour of many of
the ground floor rooms and a history of the family.
The hall was originally a hunting lodge and two towers from the Tudor
period remain. Most of the architecture is Georgian, as some Victorian
additions were taken down in the 20th century. The interior
decoration is mostly twentieth century.
W.H. Romaine Walker was responsible for major
alterations between 1908 and 1914. There was another substantial
restoration when the present earl inherited the estate in 1994 and
developed it as a venue for private and corporate functions.
The Derby in the title is West Derby, an important place until swallowed
by Liverpool. The family has a long and illustrious role in the history
of Britain. The first earl is said to have found the crown at the battle
of Bosworth and placed it on Henry Tudor's head. The family remained
close to the monarchy, living in some splendour and owning vast areas of
land. This was not always to their advantage. The 5th earl
was rumoured to have been poisoned by Elizabeth 1st and the 7th
was executed by the parliamentarians. There is a local and family
tradition that the 6th earl wrote Shakespeare's plays.
Following The Restoration the family gradually regained their high
position. Most of the earls continued to hold important positions in
public life, both locally and nationally. The 12th earl
founded “The Derby” and “The Oaks”. His second wife was the Georgian
actress
Elizabeth Farren. The 13th earl was a keen natural
historian, who had a large menagerie and extensive natural history
library and it was his bequest in 1851 of some 20,000 specimens which
formed the foundation of the important zoological collections of the
National Museums Liverpool. The 17th
earl continued the interest in racing and owned the celebrated stallion
Hyperion.
Artwork of interest includes watercolours of birds by
Edward Lear,
who was employed by the 13th earl to paint and draw species
in his collections. The house also contains letters and poems by Lear.
There are three large paintings by
Francesco Simonini, brought from Venice by the 12th
earl. These are unusual, as they were painted on leather, gilded with
silver foil before the paint was applied. There are copies of
interesting works by
Van Dyck,
Lawrence,
Romney and
Daniël Mijtens . The Regency (Victorian embellished) state
dining room displays portraits of all but the current earl, with their
wives, providing a pictorial record of aristocratic fashion over
hundreds of years.
The grounds were landscaped by Capability Brown
but unfortunately persistent drizzle discouraged their exploration!
Although the hall is open to groups like us, and attendees at functions, it is not open to the general public.