Bank Hall is a Grade II* listed building situated on the banks of the River Douglas near Bretherton, Lancashire. The present building was built in 1608, by the Banastre family using Jacobean hand made bricks. The building was constructed on the site of an older wooden house. It passed through numerous generations of the Banastre, Fleetwood, Hesketh, Legh, familys and extended dramatically in 1832 by George Anthony Legh Keck. When he died in 1860 leaving no heir, the house and estate passed to the Lilford family. The House was leased out to many tenants some of whom were well known locally and some of their guest included the Aga Khan. During the Second World War, the army used Bank Hall to control the shipping and troop movements of all the North West ports of England and Wales. Following the war the house was used by the Lilford Estates until 1972 when the house was vacated.
In 1995 the Bank Hall Action Group formed to save Bank Hall and continue to the present day to maintain the gardens. Urban Splash will help restore the Hall and gardens with work hopeful to start in 2012.
The gardens feature Lancashire’s Oldest Yew Tree, one of two fallen Coast Redwoods in the UK and carpets of Snowdrops followed by Daffodils and Bluebells in the 18 acres gardens. The house also has a walled garden which will be restored by the Heritage Trust for the North West as a Heritage Garden.