The Making of Muncaster Hall

by Nicola Gray

St Helens has its fair share of listed buildings and notable properties dotted around the borough, but the back story of Muncaster Hall, an elegant Victorian property that once stood proudly on the outskirts of Rainford village, is more fascinating than most. This is a story of wealth, love, adultery and foul play more befitting of an episode of Downton Abbey, Local Life looks back at Muncaster Hall’s colourful past. Many Victorian homes didn’t have the modern comforts that we take for granted today; poorer members of society lived in cramped conditions in run-down houses, often with whole families in one room. Homes for the upper classes were much more accommodating, with wealthy Victorians decorating their homes in the latest styles; including flowery wallpaper, carpets and wellmade furniture.

Driveway and entrance gate

Muncaster Hall lived up to the Victorian stereotype in its styling and architecture, the origins of the building however were steeped in somewhat of a scandal. In 1857 a young Richard Pennington, the son and heir of

a very wealthy cotton mill owner from Hindley, Wigan, was ordered by his family to find a suitable residence away from his hometown. Richard was advised to move away to set up home after he started a relationship with Elizabeth Cash, a young mill girl he had fallen in love with. The couple already had a child when they moved to the Rainford area and their second child was born at School Brow in January 1858. To accommodate their growing family, Richard and Elizabeth bought a farm house known locally as Mount Pleasant in October 1859, and their third child was born shortly after. The story goes that Richard’s mother disapproved of the relationship and so the couple had to wait four years until her death before getting married in Liverpool in 1861. Throughout this time Richard continued the management of the family cotton mills in Hindley and eventually became the sole owner. During the next five years he bought several farms and houses in Rainford and entertained his wealthy friends with shooting parties on his land. In a bid to keep up appearances, Richard started to build a grand stone mansion house on the site of Mount Pleasant and used his neighbouring land to set out the gardens, lake and parkland surrounding it. The work on the hall was completed in 1866 and Muncaster Hall came into existence.

Richard took an active part in village life; he was the first chairman of the Local Board, he rebuilt the old Church School in Cross Pit Lane and was reported to be generous with his time and money. Richard and Elizabeth had seven more children throughout their marriage, but the couple separated in December 1874. Three years later, Richard discovered that Elizabeth had formed a new relationship with a former gamekeeper of the estate, and they were divorced. Richard died at the age of fiftyseven on the 10th of July 1887 leaving all his estate in trust for his children until they reached the age of twenty-one. However, in January 1895 the Rainford and Hindley properties were put up for auction and the whole of the Rainford estate including Muncaster Hall, the farms, cottages & houses totalling 315 acres were bought by the Earl of Derby for £37,000.

In February of the same year, one month after the hall was acquired by the Earl of Derby, the furniture and other belongings at Muncaster Hall were auctioned off in a three-day sale which left the house empty and with no trace of the family who once occupied it. Plans show that in 1905, alterations were made to the building, with the whole of the left wing of the hall being demolished; even with the missing wing, Muncaster was still a substantial property. Over the next few decades, the hall and its surrounding parklands were leased by

the Earl to several tenants, the last of which moved out in 1938 and the property was offered for sale. Unfortunately, there was no interest in the estate, and it stood empty until 1940, when Richard Heyes, who also owned Mossborough Hall in the village, bought the estate to use for poultry breeding and agriculture. World War II had been begun in 1939 and almost as soon as the sale went through, the hall was immediately commandeered by the War Department as an officers’ mess and living quarters for the officers of the military units which had been set up in the village. Due to the size of the building, part of it was used as a Ministry of Food office as well. After the war Richard Heyes and his son James resumed their poultry business and the stately home became the most magnificent hen house in the history of egg production. Plans were put forward in 1945 as to a number of potential uses for the hall, and several schemes were considered including a children’s home, an old folks’ home and even as an extension to the current Rainford High School. None of the plans were deemed cost effective and Richard passed the property to James, who decided to use the hall as a home for his growing flock of birds, producing upwards of 12,600 eggs a week. In the late 1950’s, James started to sell a few plots of land for the development of homes for the village, and over

Member of the Pennington Family

With thanks to St Helens Archive Service. The Archive Service collects, preserves and provides access to unique historic materials that relate to different aspects of life across the borough of St Helens. Find out more information here - www.sthelens.gov.uk/libraries/archive-service/

the following years larger plots were sold until almost the entire estate was covered with houses and bungalows, known today as Heyes Avenue and Muncaster Drive. As the land around Muncaster Hall was developed, the hall itself and its outbuildings were demolished and by 1966, just 100 years since its foundations were laid, no trace of the once elegant Victorian residence remains.