This historic Estate has been in the ownership of the Stanley family since 1385, and from that time the history of the family has been closely intertwined with the history of the country as a whole.
King Henry VII created Lord Stanley the 1st Earl on the battlefield of Bosworth; the 7th Earl was beheaded for his loyalty to Charles 1; the 12th Earl started the world-famous horse race and the 14th Earl was Prime Minister to Queen Victoria three times.
Throughout the centuries Knowsley Estate has been adapted to many different uses and enterprises. Today it is home to the 19th Earl of Derby and his family and to many contrasting yet thriving enterprises that comprise the family business. Knowsley Safari and Knowsley Hall, two great Merseyside icons, continue to delight and entertain many hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The Estate with its farmland, houses and Stanley Grange Business Village all provide a wider Knowsley community with livings, homes and environments.
Further afield but very much part of the family is the Stanley House Stud, home to my `Mare in a Million’ Ouija Board and our holiday lettings on the Crag Estate in the Peak District.
Family History
Lord Thomas Stanley was created the 1st Earl of Derby in 1485 after the Battle of Bosworth when Richard III lost the crown of England to Henry Tudor. The Earldom is a local title, coming from the Hundred of West Derby, an important administrative area until the 17th century which included Knowsley and the small port of Liverpool.
Since then the history of the Stanley family has been closely intertwined with the history of the country as a whole. It was Lord Stanley who recovered the crown of the slain Richard III and placed it on his stepson Henry Tudor’s head. The fifth Earl maintained a company of actors one of whom was William Shakespeare. William, the sixth Earl, continued the family’s patronage of Shakespeare; indeed `A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was first performed at his wedding to Elizabeth de Vere in front of Queen Elizabeth I.
James, the seventh Earl, was beheaded at Bolton after the Battle of Worcester in 1652 for his loyalty to the Stuart monarchy. The twelfth Earl gave his name to the famous Derby horse race which he started in 1780. Edward, the thirteenth Earl, was an eminent natural historian who maintained a menagerie in Knowsley Park. His son, the fourteenth Earl was Prime Minister three times during Queen Victoria’s reign.
The fifteenth was Foreign Secretary in a Conservative Government and Secretary of State for the Colonies in the Liberal Government. The sixteenth Earl was President of the Board of Trade and Governor General of Canada. The seventeenth was Minister of War during the First World War and British Ambassador to France after the war. The eighteenth Earl founded the Safari Park in 1971; his nephew, the current Earl, inherited the title and Estate in 1994.
Knowsley Hall
At the heart of the Estate and the Stanley family is Knowsley Hall, Merseyside’s only stately home. It is believed that a building of sorts has been on the current Hall’s site since the 12th century, but the earliest part of today’s building dates from about 1500. As various Earls of Derby sought to make their mark and celebrate their good fortunes through the additions and alterations to the building, the Hall today is a fascinating structure boasting a Georgian façade and some extremely fine Jacobean, Baroque and Victorian interiors.
Capability’ Brown had a hand in the Estate
The stunning gardens and parkland were essentially created by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown around 1775-6, during which time he actually flooded the 62 acre lake to feed the water gardens around the Hall. The gardens were extended in the 19th century and the parkland was enclosed by a 9.5 mile stone wall featuring many follies along its length, including a rather wonderful Georgian Temple called the Octagon. There is also a boat house designed by William Burn and a log cabin presented by the people of Canada.
During its 1000 year history our much loved estate has also housed an Augustinian Priory, a racecourse and reputedly a goldmine. Today the beautiful, extensive and exquisitely maintained grounds provide a stunning backdrop to all manner of events and enterprises.
Knowsley Hall remains one of Merseyside’s hidden treasures; having been open for a brief period after the Second World War, one half of the Hall was then rented to the Merseyside Police for about 30 years until 1997. Since then the present Earl and Countess have made it their home and their life’s work to restore the Hall to its former glory. The first phase of restoration was completed in 1999.
Evidence suggests that Shakespeare would have visited Lancashire and the Earls of Derby’s residences, including Knowsley Hall, during the 1600’s and that some of his earliest plays, which contain tributes to the Stanley’s could have been first staged at Prescot theatre or at Knowsley Hall.
