14 August 2016 - Lyons Farm, Melling, Kirkby, near Liverpool, Merseyside

There was rain through the night, although probably just enough to irrigate the crops about us. Leisure seekers would be happy to see the weather forecast suggesting short wearing weather in the afternoon. 

We set off in our little courtesy car south toward Liverpool’s Airport, the John Lennon Airport, more particularly to Speke Hall seventeen and a half miles from our camp.

This wood framed Tudor manor house sited on the banks of the Mersey River is apparently one of the finest surviving examples in England, although that is what the promotional blurb said about Little Morton Hall; again the problem of superlatives over and over, from one corner of the country to the other. Speke Hall was one of the first private houses in the United Kingdom to be built with corridors rather than as a series of interconnecting rooms; the very “new” concept that Cardinal Wolsey used in constructing Hampton Court Palace.

The current building was started in 1530, although it was not the first on site, parts of which are incorporated into the existing structure, by the devout Catholic Norris family who had gained royal favour and associated wealth by fighting for protestant Edward VI.  The family remained in residence for over two hundred years until the final female descendant married into the Beauclerks family who subsequently sold the property and its estate to the Watt family in 1795.

On acquisition and with great enthusiasm, that first Richard Watt, the first of many Richards down through the ages, set out to bring the house back to its glory days. He had started his working life as a humble carter; his employer saw great potential in his protégée and sent him to evening school, and later to Jamaica as a manager of cargo on his ship. Richard did well, climbing the ladder of success and related wealth, acquiring a couple of sugar plantations and thus the seeds of greater wealth. Between the lines, read “slave owner” and so Speke became associated with the slave trade, because it was with the proceeds of this commercial enterprise that he was able to purchase Speke Hall for £75,500. 

Speke Hall

Unfortunately Richard died within twelve months of buying the property, without issue and therefore never actually having the satisfaction of living at Speke. But a dozen or less Richard’s followed, rising up out of the extended family, until finally the last Richard took possession, bringing the house back to a liveable state after years of neglect. Sadly, in keeping with the family’s tragic history, his wife and second child died soon after, then he followed after a drunken day out sailing and falling victim of some nasty illness lurking beneath the surface, leaving young Adelaide not yet ten years old and an orphan. She was carted off to live with her great uncle, until then a complete stranger, and remained in his care until her twenty first birthday. Reaching majority, she returned ready and educated to take the reins of management, and she did this with great aplomb, exhibiting both business acumen, discipline and a social conscience. 

During her absence, the house had been leased to Sir Frederick Leyland, a self-made wealthy ship owner who entertained a star studded cast during his years of residence.  These names included artists James Whistler and Dante Gabriel Rosetti, the first who paid far too much attention to Mrs Leyland, and the second, who under the influence of opium and alcohol, blotted his guest card by sleep walking naked about the house, when three virgin daughters were still resident. 

These obscure comments should whet one’s appetite for more, because the house owes much of its survival to these fascinating years, when the Leyland’s renovated the house in the Arts & Craft style, Richard much influenced by the work and vision of William Morris. Today’s displays mirror those Victorian years.

Having invested so much money, time, effort and family turmoil into the house, it should have come as no surprise that the Leyland’s were not thrilled to be evicted when the rightful owner returned to claim her house. However Adelaide cannot be blamed for their demise; they were sold Woolton Hall, another fine residence within the estate’s two and a half thousand acres at a discounted price to recognise the funds they had invested in Speke Hall. But separation from his wife Francis, Whistler’s muse and model, and the upkeep of two mistresses and the children from those liaisons finished him off. Frederick Leyland died of a heart attack in 1892, leaving his family with a fairly healthy bank account, and his art collection sold off across the world.

Adelaide thrived at Speke Hall until her death in 1921, when it was bequeathed to the National Trust. Bureaucracy decreed there had to be an interim period whilst all other claims could be investigated and ruled out, and during this time, Thomas Whatmore, who had been Adelaide’s butler, looked after the property. Finally in 1942 the house was passed to the National Trust, but was administered by the Liverpool City Council until 1986 when the Trust took back control.

Today hundreds of Liverpudlians converged upon the property, many to tour through the house as we did, and many to simply enjoy the sunshine in the grounds. A sporting event was taking place today, mainly for the benefit of children although their parents and other hangers-on were not excluded. There was archery, fencing, golf, horse riding (on an inanimate pitching model) and a host of other activities; so much fun to be had by the public on such a perfect day.

We booked ourselves into the Victorian Tour at 11.15am, and enjoyed a tour of just a dozen, far more enjoyable than the later free-for-all we joined after lunch when crowds filed through and filled the small rooms. But after battling that second exploration, we refuelled with Magnum ice-creams and set off for a walk around the perimeter of the property, part of the path down the side of the airport, part above the River Mersey and the rest through woods and crowds of fellow walkers.

Back home we agreed that we found visits to English Heritage and National Trust properties more enjoyable, or at least, less exhausting than days in art galleries and museums. We settled in to watch another evening of Olympic triumph; the British team are doing exceedingly well this year.