Restoration Projects
Mount
The Mount was created in the seventeenth century with soil from the creation of Curtains’ Pond and served as a prospect mount, as opposed to a fortified mount. It provided a marvellous viewing point to the sea and to the 3-mile-gallop in the grounds, where the Cliftons raced their horses.
Built into the Mount was an ice house, using imported ice to keep perishables fresh for longer. Remains of the ice house were excavated in 2014 and are preserved under the earth.
Our Volunteers regularly maintain the pathways and foliage to ensure the mounts long term future.
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Planting & Weeding
We don't just take trees and rhodondendrons out, we also plant trees and bulbs. Here are photos of planting done by volunteers, like yew hedges in the South Prospect, apple trees and spring bulbs in the parterre garden. As part of the restoration, this area has truly been transformed. And of course, the mowing of grass and the weeding hardly ever stops.
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Kitchen Garden Project
This project has been made possible by a generous grant of £10,000 from Tesco's bags of Help appeal.
Work on the kitchen garden project is ongoing.
We are growing salad leaves, herbs and cut flowers for use in the tea room, and inspire people to take an interest in horticulture. The fresh produce will offer a nice addition to the tea room menu.
Forestry Commission Woodland Grant Scheme
Lytham Hall is benefiting from a five year grant from the Forestry Commission to improve and maintain the parkland. This schemes runs from 2014-2019 and will see 4 km of new paths created, drainage improvements, maintenance of rides, and provision of waymarkers, benches, and bird boxes among other targets.
Boathouse Restoration
Our volunteers Alan & Peter are doing a superb job on the old boathouse.
They have removed tons of debris and recovered 100’s of bricks and slates from the lake and undergrowth. Every one has been cleaned, stacked and stored.
Conservation stone and brick specialist Jeff Bryson is now undertaking a careful reconstruction to stabilise the ruin.
Diana The Huntress Restoration & Parterre Garden
The new parterre garden was reinstated around 7 years ago along with the transformation of the south prospect garden. A few decades ago Guardian Royal Exchange had turned this area into a carpark for staff and covered it in tarmacadam.
The new parterre suffered from drainage problems and plants had difficulty growing. It also had grass paths on its internal design which proved impossible to maintain. Due to this, some subtle improvements were required to ensure it could look its best in the future, but the main reason was to welcome back the 18th century listed statue, Diana the Huntress after many years of being absent.
It is thought the Diana statue first appeared at Lytham Hall around 1922. She first appeared on Clifton family archive photographs in 1898 at the newly built Rhidorroch, which was John Talbot Clifton's shooting villa in North West Scotland. Perhaps the Squire had bought the statue on his recent travels from the Mediterranean for his new Scottish home? There is certainly no evidence of the whereabouts of Diana before then, and as photographs had become quite fashionable by this period it would have been unusual to have missed out an item so significant.
In 1922, John Talbot Clifton sold the Rhidorroch estate so he could purchase the much larger estate of Kildalton Castle on the Isle of Islay. It is from this date when she appeared at Lytham and was placed as a centrepiece in the then new parterre rose garden. The previous parterre, although on the same footprint, lacked a centre piece and was made up of lots of small beds resembling a flat currant bun. The new parterre of 1922, with its rose bed design and Diana as its focal point created height and balance, a vast improvement on the previous design.
Although Guardian Royal Exchange had created a carpark out of the parterre garden, they decided to leave Diana in a small round bed in the centre of the tarmacadam. Around 12 years ago the statue sadly got hit by a vehicle that was reversing. Diana was toppled and badly damaged. She was then moved to the stables to avoid further damage and to prepare for the work to reinstate the parterre garden.
Early last year discussions and a plea for funds to restore her came about. Local experts, John Rimmer Restorations, were given the daunting task of repairing, cleaning, and restoring Diana. This was all done via consultancy with Lancashire Museum Service and a specification was agreed. To say Diana was in a bad way is an understatement, her head was decapitated, her arms, fingers, and many other items were broken. Many parts even missing. John Rimmer certainly had his work cut out!
In the meanwhile, the problems and subtle changes to the parterre had to be tackled for when Diana was returned to her rightful and listed place.
A fabulous team of volunteers under careful direction worked for weeks to ensure Diana had a home to be proud of.
Once the plinth and base were back in place, the restored statue could make her journey back home. A team of local professionals with a fork and tele-handler carefully brought Diana back into situ under the eye of John Rimmer.
The next task was to fill the parterre with 50 period pink rose bushes, along with two half standard moss style roses for each side of the statue. 250 pink tulips were then added among the bushes along with a dwarf lavender outer edge.
The team then set about the job of turfing the large elispe which instantly made the whole project come to life. All that was left was to redress all the paths with tons of gravel to finish off this amazing achievement.
This project may have taken many months, but the result is spectacular.
We are so very proud of the dedication and commitment demonstrated by our fabulous team of volunteers. Many thanks to all the many contributors who have helped make this happen.
Driveway
In July 202 we see the driveway here at Lytham Hall being completely resurfaced. We are over the moon as the driveway was causing many complaints.
As a charity it is important that from time to time large infrastructure projects are supported by the way of capital grants. The drive was no exception and we can't thank Fylde Borough Council enough for helping us out in funding this essential work.
Lytham Hall is the only grade 1 listed building in the borough and is of immense significance. It is important not just as a heritage visitor attraction, but by also playing its part in helping the local economy. Its visitor numbers have risen dramatically in the last few years and the amount of work that has been undertaken on the hall and parkland is phenomenal.
Once again, many thanks to Fylde Borough Council for now giving us the smoothest of surfaces up to this very precious historical asset.
Also many thanks to Wennings of Carnforth who carried out this enormous task. They have been a pleasure to deal with and have worked tremendously hard.
“ Heritage Trust for the North West is extremely grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for their financial assistance in achieving many of our aims here at Lytham Hall. They have been instrumental in funding many things such as detailed architectural surveys of the Hall and grounds, construction of a Conservation Management Plan, many historic parkland restoration projects, project management and volunteer support. “
