View source for Abbeystead House

{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox historic site | name = Abbeystead House| native_name = | image = Abbeystead House (2).jpg| image_size = 220| caption = Abbeystead House| locmapin = United Kingdom City of Lancaster | map_width = | map_caption = Location in the City of Lancaster district
| coordinates = {{coord|53.9848|-2.6615|scale:2000|display=inline,title}}
| location = [[Abbeystead]], Lancashire, England | gbgridref = SD 567,545| area = | elevation = | formed = | founded = | built = 1886| built_for = [[William Molyneux, 4th Earl of Sefton|4th Earl of Sefton]]| demolished = | rebuilt = | restored = | restored_by = | architect = [[John Douglas (English architect)#Douglas & Fordham (1884–98)|Douglas & Fordham]]| architecture = [[Elizabethan architecture|Elizabethan]]| visitation_num = | visitation_year = | governing_body = | designation1 = Grade II| designation1_offname = | designation1_type = | designation1_criteria = | designation1_date = 24 February 1986| delisted1_date =  | designation1_parent = | designation1_number = 1071597| designation1_free1name = | designation1_free1value = | designation1_free2name = | designation1_free2value = | designation1_free3name = | designation1_free3value = | designation2 = | designation2_offname = | designation2_type = | designation2_criteria = | designation2_date = | delisted2_date = | designation2_parent = | designation2_number = | designation2_free1name = | designation2_free1value = | designation2_free2name = | designation2_free2value = | designation2_free3name = | designation2_free3value = }}

'''Abbeystead House''' is a large [[English country houses|country house]] to the east of the village of [[Abbeystead]], [[Lancashire]], England, some 12&nbsp;km (7 miles) south-east of [[Lancaster, Lancashire|Lancaster]]. It is recorded in the [[National Heritage List for England]] as a designated Grade&nbsp;II [[Listed building#England and Wales|listed building]].<ref name=images>{{NHLE |num= 1071597|desc= Abbeystead |access-date= 20 March 2015|mode=cs2}}</ref>

==History==
Abbeystead House was built in 1886 as a shooting lodge for the [[William Molyneux, 4th Earl of Sefton|4th&nbsp;Earl of Sefton]].<ref name=images/> It was designed by the [[Chester]] firm of architects [[John Douglas (English architect)#Douglas & Fordham (1884–98)|Douglas & Fordham]],<ref name=pev>{{Harvnb|Hartwell|Pevsner|2009|p=487.}}</ref> who added gun and billiard rooms in 1894.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hubbard|1991|p=264.}}</ref> The estate holds the record for the [[Driven grouse shooting|biggest grouse bag]] in a day; when on 12 August 1915, 2,929 birds were shot by eight guns (shooters).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Avery|first1=Mark|title=Inglorious Conflict in the Uplands|date=2015|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=London|isbn=978-1-4729-1741-6|page=59}}</ref>

In 1980 the Abbeystead Estate, totalling {{convert|18000|acre|km2}} and including the house, was bought by a trust relating to the family of the [[Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster|Duke of Westminster]].<ref>{{Citation | last = Bibby | first = Andrew | year = 2005| title = The Forest of Bowland with Pendle Hill and the West Pennine Hills | location = London| publisher = Frances Lincoln | pages = 55&ndash;56 | isbn = 0-7112-2502-8| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=j34dVgugOhEC&q=%22abbeystead%20house%22%20%2Bwestminster&pg=PT56}}</ref> [[Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster]], died suddenly at the house on 9 August 2016.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bates |first=Stephen |date=2016-08-10 |title=The Duke of Westminster obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/10/the-duke-of-westminster-obituary |access-date=2024-01-31 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

==Architecture==
The house is built in [[sandstone]] [[rubble]] with [[slate]] roofs in [[Elizabethan architecture|Elizabethan]] style. Its plan is an L-shape, with south and east ranges partly enclosing a [[courtyard]]. The south range forms the main block while the east range is the service wing which incorporates a four-storey [[Battlement|castellated]] tower. To the east of the main house subsidiary buildings form a second courtyard. The south range has two storeys plus attics and is entered by a porch on its north side. The façade of the north (entrance) front is irregular, and consists of five [[bay (architecture)|bays]], three of which project forward and are surmounted by [[gable]]s of different sizes with ball [[finial]]s. The front also includes [[mullion]]ed and [[Transom (architectural)|transomed]] windows, a [[dormer]], and a pair of round-headed arches in ground floor of the right bay. The outer doorway of the porch has a [[Tudor style architecture|Tudor]] arch with the [[Earl of Sefton|Molyneux]] [[coat of arms|arms]] carved above; it is flanked by small single-storey [[Turret (architecture)|turret]]s.

The south (garden) front also has five bays, three of which project forward and two of these are [[Cant (architecture)|canted]]. The front again contains mullioned and transomed windows and each bay has a gable with a ball finial. Tall brick chimneys rise from the roofs. Internally, the entrance hall has two fireplaces with [[panelling|panelled]] [[Fireplace mantel|overmantels]]; one of the panels carries a carving of the Molyneux arms. At the back of the room is a timber [[Arcade (architecture)|arcade]] and the staircase has barley-sugar [[baluster]]s.<ref name=images/><ref name=biog>{{Harvnb|Hubbard|1991|pp=149–150.}}</ref>

Douglas' biographer, [[Edward Hubbard (architectural historian)|Hubbard]], describes Abbeystead as the finest of Douglas' [[Elizabethan architecture|Elizabethan]] houses and one of the finest and largest he ever designed. Hubbard also suggested that Douglas' plan of a house with irregular gables and a tower grouped round a courtyard may have been inspired by nearby Lancashire [[England in the Middle Ages|medieval]] houses with [[Peel tower|pele towers]], such as [[Borwick Hall]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Hubbard|1991|p=149.}}</ref> However, as Hartwell and [[Nikolaus Pevsner|Pevsner]] point out, Douglas also designed towers for his houses in [[Cheshire]] and [[Wales]], so it may rather have been "rooted in his own style".<ref name=pev/>

==Associated buildings==
At the same time that Abbeystead House was being built, Douglas and Fordham designed two lodges for the estate.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hubbard|1991|p=255.}}</ref> Lancaster Lodge stands at the head of the drive leading to the house. This has an L-shaped plan and is "quietly Elizabethan" in style.<ref name=pev/> It is a Grade&nbsp;II listed building.<ref>{{NHLE |num= 1071598|desc= Lancaster Lodge, Over Wyresdale|access-date= 20 March 2015|mode=cs2|fewer-links=yes}}</ref> York Lodge stands {{convert|0.5|mi|km|0}} to the east on the road to [[Dunsop Bridge]]<ref name=pev/> and is also listed Grade&nbsp;II.<ref>{{NHLE |num= 1071596|desc= York Lodge, Over Wyresdale|access-date= 20 March 2015|mode=cs2|fewer-links=yes}}</ref> In 1891–92 the same architects designed stables and an adjoining pair of cottages for the house.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hubbard|1991|p=261.}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Lancashire}}
*[[Listed buildings in Over Wyresdale]]
*[[List of houses and associated buildings by John Douglas]]

== References==
'''Citations'''
{{Reflist|30em}}
'''Sources'''
{{refbegin}}
*{{Citation | last1 =Hartwell| first1 =Clare| last2 = Pevsner | first2 = Nikolaus | author2-link =Nikolaus Pevsner| series= The Buildings of England| title =Lancashire: North | publisher =[[Yale University Press]] | year =2009 | orig-year=1969 | location = New Haven and London|  isbn = 978-0-300-12667-9}}
*{{Citation | last =Hubbard | first =Edward | author-link = Edward Hubbard (architectural historian) | title =The Work of John Douglas | publisher =[[The Victorian Society]] | year =1991 | location =London | isbn =0-901657-16-6 }}
{{refend}}

{{City of Lancaster buildings}}

[[Category:Houses completed in 1886]]
[[Category:Grade II listed buildings in Lancashire]]
[[Category:John Douglas buildings]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in the City of Lancaster]]
[[Category:Country houses in Lancashire]]
[[Category:Grade II listed houses]]
[[Category:Grosvenor family]]