Whittington Hall

Has been described as a Possible Pele Tower

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains

NameWhittington Hall
Alternative Names
Historic CountryLancashire
Modern AuthorityLancashire
1974 AuthorityLancashire
Civil ParishWhittington

Whittington Hall, a three-storeyed stone building of 1831 with two projecting wings. A pele tower rises above the roofs, with octagonal turret, perhaps partly original. (Medieval?). Grade 2 (Listed Building Report 1961).

Country house, built 1831-36 in Jacobethan style, possibly incorporating masonry from an earlier building. Built of sandstone rubble with slate roofs. There are raised terraces to the south and east of the house. On the south side, the retaining wall contains a carriage entrance, leading to the house at cellar level. Grade 2star (Listed Building Report1985). (PastScape)

Whittington Hall, but not the manor, and other portions were sold to purchasers whose representatives in 1830 sold to Thomas Greene, M.P. for Lancaster, and his grandson Mr. Henry Dawson Greene is now the owner. The present hall was built in 1831 in the Gothic style on the site of a much older house, which had long been used as a farm-house. The building is stated to incorporate part of an ancient peel tower; there are extensive grounds around it. (VCH)

Gatehouse Comments

Was this possible pele tower missed by the usual castle authorities (i.e. David Cathcart King) or was it dismissed as an invention of the building to aggrandise the gothic building with ancient history? The VCH is usually most careful and their mention of the a pele tower is certainly circumspect. Tenurially there is no reason why their shouldn't have been a medieval house here, with a crenellated tower, a successor to Whittington Motte.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law

Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSD596762
Latitude54.1804389953613
Longitude-2.62001991271973
Eastings359630
Northings476250
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink
Photo by Matthew Emmott All Rights ReservedView full Sized Image

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Books

  • Hartwell, Clare and Pevsner, Nikolaus, 2009, The Buildings of England: Lancashire: North (New Haven and London: Yale University Press) p. 699–700
  • Copeland, B.M., 1981, Whittington, the Story of a Country Estate (Maney and Son)
  • Farrer, William and Brownbill, J. (eds), 1914, VCH Lancashire Vol. 8 p. 241- online transcription
  • Twycross, E., 1846, The Mansions of England and Wales, illustrated in a series of Views of the Principal Seats, with historical and topographical descriptions. The County Palatine of Lancaster (Ackermann and Co) Vol. 2