History of Hale Park - Hale Village Online

History Of Hale Park

Introduction

The Hale Park we see and visit today, was once the open grounds for Hale Hall. The area of the park now used today by the public, is just a small part of a larger bigger picture of open land that was used by those who resided at Hale Hall for over several hundred years.

For those who are unaware of the history of the parkland (Hale Park) and the outer agricultural landscape, the below historical accounts could be considered ,,

"an education", at the least. Hale Village Online invites you to take in, and digest the historical accounts and life of how Hale Park was developed.

The 17th and early 18th centuries

Between 1617 and 1626 residence was established at Hale (Hale Park) from the move from Halewood/Old Hutte. The then first build of Hale Hall

at the mentioned time was erected for Sir Gilbert Ireland, but it was much altered by his grandson, also Gilbert, who was born in 1624 and succeeded

to the Hale Estates in 1633. In 1670 Sir Gilbert Ireland embarked on substantial alterations to Hale Hall. These included a new North Front with

arches over original recesses, and a tower at it`s western end. This was completed in 1674,(fig 1), but Ireland died the following year aged 51

years. The estate passed to his sister Eleanor, who was married to Edward Aspinwall of Ormskirk, to her son, Gilbert and in turn to his son, Edward.

Edward`s daughter Mary Aspinwall married Issac Green of Childwall, and of their two daughters it was Ireland Green who inherited Hale. She married

Thomas Blackburne(1720 - 1768) in 1752 and the estates passed into the Blackburne family who remained the owners until the sale of 1937.

Thomas Blackburne was the elderst son of John Blackburne(1693 - 1786) of Orford Hall near Warrington. John and his daughter Anna (1726 -1793) were both keen horticulturalists and botanists, and Anna Blackburne was a significant figure in scientific circles in the second half of the 18th century and built up a renowned collection of ornithological, botanical and entomological specimens. John Blackburne was one of a small group of specialist owners who patronized the pioneering American plant collectors William Bartram and Peter Collinson, along with Lord Petre, the Dukes of Norfolk, Richmon and Bedford and Argyll, Lord Bute, the Earl of Lincoln, Charles Hamilton of Painshill, and Philip Miller. Blackburne was related through his sister-in-law to Lord Petre and it isa sign of sign of the esteem in which Blackburne was held that on Petre`s death in 1742 Collinson recorded his hopes that Petre`s collection of Hothouse plants at Thorndon Hall in Essex would be rescued by Blackburne.

The 18th century to the early 19th century

In 1758, six years after his marrage, Thomas Blackburne commissioned a survey and proposals for Hale Hall and park from a Francis Richardson. Little

is known of Richardson, but he flourished during the 1740s and 1760s, and his designs over this period reflect the changes brought about by

Capability Brown and the development of the English landscape style. He is known to have carried out work largely in the North, and he worked with

John Blackburne`s fellow-collector, Lord Petre, on the design for Worksop in 1738. Richardson`s survey shows the estate as it was prior to the late

18th and early 19th century landscape improvements (Fig 2).

South of the house was a rectilinear garden with a central canal running southwards, with kithchen gardensto either side. North of the house a broad

axial approach from the gates ran directly to the front of the Hall, enclosed on either side east and west by plantations, or groves, of regulary spaced

trees.

Of the two proposals prepared by Richardson, one was focused on a new building on the site of the old Hall, while the second proposed a new house

on a slightly higher ground to the east, although retaining the old building, possibly as a dower house (figs 3+4). The proposals for the lansdcape of

the parkland in the two alternatives were similar, with a rather rigid pattern of small deciduous and evergreen clumps, although the parkland planting

was not extened as far west in the latter scheme, which left the old Hall in an unimproved landscape of agricultural enclosures screened off by a

western belt to the new park.

In commissioning one of the leading exponents of the Einglish landscape garden, Blackburne clearly had ambitions for Hale, both the building and the

landscape. Although,, it is not clear why neither of Richardson`s schemes was impemented. The rebuilding of the eattle and daub nave of St Mary`s

Church in 1758 suggests that the new-site option, which would have involved a new approach leaving the village by the church may have been

favoured. Whatever the reason for the delays, Blackburnes early death in 1768 put paid to both schemes, if they were still beingconsidered, and by

the time his son reach maturity, new fashions in landscape and architectural design had overtaken the Richardson scheme for the Hall and the parkland

development.

Thomas and Ireland`s son, John Blackburne ( 1754 - 1833) was only fourteen when his father died in

1768. As a result of his fathers early death, John Blackburne spent a good deal of time with his

Grandfather at Orford. On the death of his Grandfather in 1786, Blackburne succeeded to the Orford

estates, at which date he moved to Orford, leaving his mother at Hale. When his Great Aunt, Anna died

in 1793, there began a process of removing the horticultural and natural history collections from Orford

to Hale. It was on the death of his mother in 1795, the he inherited the Hale estate and returned there

from Orford. The old house (Hale Hall) clearly need modernizing, and Blackburne turned to a person

called John Nash, who also designed Childwall Hall for Bamber Gascoyne MP, who was married to his

mothers sister Mary. Nashes designs for a new south range, reflected the Jacobean north front, but

accommodated modern rooms including a large saloon for the family collections of medals, coins and

natural history. In additions it`s windows took full advantage of the picturesque views southwards to

the Cheshire ridge and the Welsh Mountains across the River Mersey (fig 5).

It is alos possible that John Nash advised on the lanscape (parkland). The disspostion of the clumps across the parkland to the south bears little

resemblance to either Richardson proposals. Although there is no record of his partner, Humphry Repton, being involved at Hale, Nash himself had

considerable experience in landscape design. By the year 1816, a typical arrangement of irregular clumps characterized the parkland to the south

and east, while larger plantations screened the village and road to the north west (fig 6)

When Blackburne first moved to Hale, the approach to Hale Hall was still a short drive from the village`s main street, and the northern boundary was formed by Poplar Lane, which ran round the south side of the gardens, crofts and orchards laid out at the rear of the houses/cottages on the south side of the (high street) main street. In 1823, Blackburne applied for a road order to stop up the lane, and the southern end of Beech Lane, which ran due south from the main street to the entrence into the park on Poplar Lane (fig 7). With road closed, he wsas able as landlord, to subsume the gardens and enclosures into the park and form a longer, and more elegant approach to Hale Hall. The extension of the park involved the demolition of several cottages on Poplar Lane, although it appears that one on Beech Lane was retained and converted into a thatched lodge in the cottage ornee style often employed by John Nash. (fig 8)

The line of Poplar Lane across the current public park can be discerned as a shallow depression

running from east of the playground as we see today, towards roughly the centre of the present

drive, although on the western side of the drive leveling to form the present football pitches seems

to have destroyed the field archaeology.

The alteration to the northern approach which resulted does not show any great sophistication and is unlikely to have involved a landscape designer, it is not based anything proposed by Richardson, and was principally a service road giving the shortest and most effective route to the Hall. However,the creation of a route entering the park further west and running east to the Hall from what is known as Liverpool Lodge, which was in place by 1836, would have displayed the Hall, the park and it`s landscape setting to full advantage (fig 9). These two initiatives on the approachs to Hale are a familiar landscape device of the period, notably in the work of John Nash`s business partner, Humpry Repton. Repton worked at High Legh, Cheshire in the ealry 1790s for George John Legh, who was married to Blackburne`s daughter, Mary.

John Blackburne`s gardener was John Nickson, born in 1800 at Rosthorne near Tatton. He was appointed in 1823, and in 1841 established the Hale Floral and Horticultural Society. He later became manager of the Home Farm and eventually also became the estate steward until his death in 1869. He may well be related to the John Nickson (d1809), botanist and gardener, who owned a nursery at Knutsford in the middle of the 18th century. He took John Carr into partnership around 1780 and retired in 1796. The nursery, J.Nickson and Carr, remained one of the most important in the region well into the 20th century, supplying plants to Arley Hall among other important places.

1833 to the First World War

On Blackburne`s death in 1833, his son, John Ireland Blackburne (1783 - 1874) inherited the Hale estate. The estate was surveyed in 1836 and the surveying plan shows the new northern approach with gentle westward curve acrosss the newly emparked land. It shows to that while west of the approach the parkland had a very thin scattering of trees, to the east, it was much more densely wooded, in a pattern that suggests that the formal grove like planting associated with the foram garden of the Hall recorded by Richardson, was thinned out but not felled entirely. The plan appears to show the earlier, central vista aligned on the front of the Hall still retained, while the new approach curves around the western edge of the former grove (fig 10). It is significant that on the 1841 tithe award which records both sides of the approach as pasture, the eastern fields name is, "The Grove". The 1836 estate map shows an elabroate complex of walled gardens and glasshouses. The account of the Hale Palm, states that the glasshouse which contained the Palm was 44` long, 24` wide and 21.8` high in the centre. Unusually, the 1841 tithe map specifies the existence of a specialist Flower Garden at Hale Hall, in the walled garden/enclosure with an axial walk and south-east facing glasshouse shown on the 1836 plan. The plan also shows a winding shrubery walk east of the walled garden, and a further garden to the north, which included a short canal fed by the Lady Pool stream. A poem of 1835 referes to a "sweet parterre" and a "living aisle" of flowers, and which may be the straight walk through the flower garden. The poem also referes to this leading to a "modern Hermitage" or grotto with "mossy roof", and there is eveidence of a number of garden buildings. A bathing house is marked on the 1836 plan at Hale Point on the site of the current Lighthouse, which was built later that year, and by the end of the 19th century a tea-house had been built at Gorse Clump overlooking the river. The Icehouse is not shown on the 1836 plan, although the Icehouse pond is in place and the structure may date from John Nash`s perios (c1806), as the brickwork is similar to that on the Nash extention. The 1836 pla also shows kennels looking across the park from a site south of Home Farm, sited to form a point of interest on the approach from the Liverpool Lodge.

Under John Ireland Blackburne, Hale continued to develope as a sporting and farming estate, becoming one

of the most notable estates in the North West area. An estate map of 1870 shows the development of

the parkland plantations. The most notable change to the configuration of the parkland was the planting

up of the line south-west from the Ice House plantation to Gorse Clump on the banks of the estuary.

This effectively divided the parkland in two, although it also afforeded a sheltered walk to the viewing point

at Gorse Clump.

Colonel John Ireland Blackburne (1817 - 1893) inherited on the death of his father in 1874. He instigated a programme of building improvements in Hale Village, including renovating the church(St Mary`s), rebuilding the school and a new school for girls, and building a new village forge. The current park lodges also date from this period: Church Lodge, Fairoak Lodge and Liverpool Lodge. A new lodge, with a date stone of 1876, was also built at the north entrence - replacing the thatched cottage (fig 11). The parkland east of the north drive, which was recorded in 1849 with nothing more than a scattering of trees, had by 1907 acquired a much denser spread of planted trees. (fig 12). Estimates of the age of the mature Limes which now dominate the area suggest that they may have been planted s part of the estate works around 1874, replacing any remnants of the old formal grove which had survived from the 17th century. It is also notable that between the 1870 plan and the 1907 plan, the approach drive to Hale Hall from the north entrence was straightened, losing its gentle westward bend.

The 20th century

The first World War appears to have signaled a decline in the estates fortunes, although life at the Hall continued much as before during the war. However, it appears that the Blackburnes were already suffering finacial difficulties. They took out a large mortgage in 1894, charged on the Hale estate, except for Hale Hall and the grounds, with a further charge in 1902, and in 1909 sold a Romney portrait of Anna Rodbard, wife of John Blackburne. In 1924, the house/Hall itself was sold for demolition, and much of the older part and north front taken down. The south range was gutted but left standing. Colonel Blackburne died in

1930 and the estate was inherited by his son Gilbert Ireland Blackburn. The younger Blackburne had left Hale after his marriage in 1910 to live

at Stockton Heath, when Hale Hall and grounds had been part of the marriage settlement, and on his fathers death, if not before, began

negotiations over options for selling the estate. Discussions centered around major redevelopment so serve as an overspill for Liverpool,

as happend later at Speke, just to the north. By 1931, the first plan for residential redevelopment on a large scale had been drawn up for

Whiston Rural District Council, retaining a large part of the parkland as open spaces (fig 13)

In 1937 when the Ireland Blackburne family who resided at Hale Hall put up the estate of 2753a for auction. Further reference to Hale Hall and the Ireland Blackburne family can be found on further pages on Hale Village Online here .

The sale catalogue referes to the north parkland, including the present public park, as "being level and well timbered parkland and pleasure grounds providing splendid building estate". Lot 66, which included Hale Hall and pleasure grounds around it is similary advertised as "consituting a fine residential building estate". The kitchen garden and walled gardens, now Hale Hall Gadens, are described as containing a range of heated greenhouses, sheds, bothies, frames, potting sheds and other out buildings.

The Blackburnes estate was acuired the following year by Roger Fleetwood Hesketh

family of North Meols near Southport, and the second world war put an end to the plans

for residential development. It was only in 1947 that Peter Fleetwood-Hesketh, younger

brother of Roger, moved to Hale, by which time the south range of Hale Hall was

probably beyond repair and refurbishment, although it is understood that the tower was

refurbished and made habitable. Fleetwood-Hesketh took up residence in the old

parsonage on the village green, later re-christened "The Manor House". A fire before

the end of the 1950`s reduced the south front of Hale Hall to a shell, which was still

standing in the early 1980`s (fig 14).

By this time the parkland was in modern agricultural use, with the resultant loss of

parkland standards, although an undated photograph of the

period shows that it retained something of it`s parkland character (fig 15). The area

which now constitutes Hale Park was in use as grazing land

for Home Farm and ws aquired for public recreation prior to 1962, when the Ordnance

Survey first records the existing layout (fig 16)The tennis court on the south lawn in

front of Hale Hall remained a local amenity into the early 1960`s.

Hale Estates retained ownership of the access road to the Hall and it`s outbuildings, a number of which were subsequently converted to residential use.

The conversion to a public park seems initially to have involved little more than enclosing the area from the parkland to the east and west; the eastern boundry had already been long established but a new fence was put in on the western boundry, which has now developed into a substantial hedgerow. There is no indication on the 1962 OS plan of leveling to form sports pitches, nor of a play area or any shelters. A scattering of parkland standards over the western half suggests that it was initially kept as open parkland rather than used for sports.

The leveling to form sports pitches appears to have taken place within the last 15/20 years, around which time the changing room block was constructed. A play area has been constructed over on the eastern side of the park, and within the last five years, bunds have been constructed in response tp problems with travelers driving vehicles onto the park. In 2000, the village Millenium Celebrations Committee successfully sought funding repair the gate piers and install new ornemental gates, and within the last twelve months a youth shelter has been erected besides the football pitches. Most recently, the Friends Of Hale Park discovered and restored an iron field gate and have it rehung just inside the main enterence on the right hand side of the main drive.

This page was made possible by Peter Hatton of Hale Village