Knowsley Hall
| Knowsley Hall | |
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Knowsley Hall
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| Location | Near Liverpool, Merseyside, England |
| Coordinates | 53°26′17″N 2°50′18″W / 53.4380°N 2.8384°WCoordinates: 53°26′17″N 2°50′18″W / 53.4380°N 2.8384°W |
| OS grid reference | SJ 444 938 |
| Built for | Earls of Derby |
| Architect |
John Foster, William Burn, W. H. Romaine-Walker, Claud Phillimore |
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Listed Building – Grade II*
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| Designated | 9 June 1952 |
| Reference no. | 1253241 |
 Location in Merseyside
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Knowsley Hall is a stately home near Liverpool in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Since 1953 it has been designated a Grade II* listed building, and is the ancestral home of the Stanley family, the Earls of Derby. The hall is surrounded by 2,500 acres (10 km2) of parkland, which contains the Knowsley Safari Park. The hall is still owned by the Stanley family but is no longer a family home and instead used for functions such as corporate events, conferences and weddings.
Originally Knowsley was a medieval hunting lodge in the estate of Lathom House. It was inherited by the 10th Earl in 1702 who developed the lodge into a large house. A dairy (since demolished) was designed by Robert Adam, 1776-77. The house was given Gothic castellations and extended further about 1820 to designs by John Foster, William Burn (who provided a boathouse and bridges in the park) and other architects. In the early 20th century it was "tidied up" by W. H. Romaine-Walker for the 17th Earl. After the Second World War, the buildings were considerably reduced by Claud Phillimore, and ceased to be lived in by the family. A smaller - but still substantial - family residence was built in the park.
Thomas Stanley was rewarded with the title of Earl Derby in 1485 by Henry VII as a reward for his support at the Battle of Bosworth Field which led to Henry's gaining the crown. The title was taken from the area in South Lancashire called West Derby (and not from the city of Derby). In 1495 Thomas entertained Henry VII at Lathom House and at Knowsley, which was then still a hunting lodge.Thomas, the second Earl, fought with Henry VIII at the Battle of the Spurs in 1513.Ferdinando, the fifth Earl, was a poet and a patron of writers, including William Shakespeare. He held the position of Earl for only one year before dying from arsenic poisoning.James, seventh Earl, was involved in the Civil War as a Royalist supporter of Charles I. Charlotte, his wife, withstood a siege at Lathom Hall for ten weeks in 1644. James fought with Charles I at the Battle of Worcester, was taken prisoner and beheaded at Bolton. He became known as the "Martyr Earl". The massive rebuilding of Knowsley in the early 18th century was carried out by James, the tenth Earl who had become wealthy through his marriage.Edward, the twelfth Earl had a great interest in horseracing and founded the Derby and the Oaks horseraces. He created the State Dining Room for the visit of George IV in 1820–21. In the grounds of Knowsley he maintained a menagerie which contained 94 different species of mammals and 318 species of birds, many of which were rare and valuable.Edward, the 13th Earl created a large library of works relating to natural history and was a champion of Edward Lear, whom he commissioned to paint animals from the menagerie.
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