During the half-term holidays I met my daughter and the grandgirls at Wycoller Country Park. It's a favourite spot for paddling in the little stream, and there's a café too, though we took a picnic to enjoy this time.
By the ford are the ruins of Wycoller Hall, a late 16th century manor house, linked to the Cunliffe family. It is thought to have been the inspiration for Ferndean Manor in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre. It's only about six miles from the Brontës' home in Haworth and the sisters would have known it well.
It's an attractive spot on a sunny day though it can look forbidding in some weathers. There are inevitably ghost stories and tales associated with it. The last owner died, heavily in debt, in 1818 and the hall was subsequently plundered for stone and fell into ruin. Its survival owes much to a local 'Friends of Wycoller' conservation group, who campaigned successfully in the 1950s for its preservation. The estate now belongs to Lancashire County Council. The hamlet of Wycoller, which has some fine old houses that are still in residential use, was designated a conservation area and the surroundings are a country park.
Beautiful ruins, one can wonder what passed through those empty doorways.
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat old ruin, and I'm glad someone is taking care of the grounds so no trees grow in the building!
ReplyDeleteThere is such history all around you!
ReplyDeleteQuite evocative.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why it is that a tumbledown ruin can spark the imagination (for both children and adults) more than the most lovingly restored properties of the National Trust.
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