Mitton Hall stands just outside the village of Mitton near the confluence of the Ribble and Hodder, it is a grade 2 listed Tudor manor, famously painted by William Turner and built in the late 14th century by the Catterall family.
The Catterall family are originally from Goosnargh and married into the de Mitton family, the first marriage which united the two families being of Beatrice Catterall who became the third wife of Hugh de Mitton. Hugh was from Norman stock and inherited the land the hall is built on, known as ‘Little Mitune’ in the domesday book of 1087, from his grandfather Ralph the Red. Recently a hoard of silver 14th coins was found nearby.
as painted by JMW Turner
Ralph the Red
Ralph the Red, or Radulpho le rus, was an illegitimate son of Robert de Lacy, the de Lacy family having acquired a huge amount of land in England through the Norman conquest, when it was given to them by Edward the Confessor, this land including most of the Ribble valley and Clitheroe castle.
Before the Norman conquest this part of the country was governed by Orm ‘the Englishman’ who was a Saxon convert to Christianity who founded many towns and cities in the north of England including Ormskirk or ‘Orm’s church’.
It’s not known exactly why Ralph was called ‘the Red’ but it is known that he came to own a huge tract of land and his offspring were the progenitors, or first of, the Shireburne family which came to own the nearby Stonyhurst estate and whose descendants the Sherburns (different spelling) owned Chipping and Chaigley and built Wolf hall. The Sherburne family built All Hallows’ church in Mitton in 1594.
Catteralls, Shireburns and Holts
The hall remained in the hands of the Catterall family for several centuries and was one of several residences the family occupied, the others being at Catterall, Dinckley and Goosnargh. In 1562 the hall was deeded to a Thomas Shireburn, the Shireburns owning the hall until 1664 when it was sold to a London gold dealer Alexander Holt.
In recent history the hall was used as a barracks for officers of the Third Field Training Regiment during the Second World War, they practised live fire artillery training on nearby Burn fell, Wolf fell and at several other locations on the fells, live shells from this can still be found there and there are warning signs on some of the moors. They held dances in a ballroom upstairs to which many local girls were invited until this was stopped by commanding officers due to rumours of debauchery and misbehaviour!
(Phillip Platt)
Bottomleys and Warburtons
Mitton hall has passed through the hands of several different owners since, including the splendidly named Horatio Bottomley who was the owner of Duttons brewery in Blackburn and the creator of the John Bull character. After him came the owners of a restaurant chain who renamed the hall as the ‘Old stonehouse’ and ripped out most of the original Tudor woodwork and replaced it with anaglypta wallpaper and pink carpets.
The hall is now in the hands of one of the Warburton brothers, James Warburton, whose portfolio also includes the Shireburn arms in Hurst green, the Waddington arms, Wennington Hall in the Lune valley and the Emporium and Holmes mill in Clitheroe.
Over £3 million was spent refurbishing the hall and it is now a country club/wedding venue with 18 rooms, a gym, spa, swimming pool, restaurant and a Morrocan style bar.
A B-H
Northwest Nature and History 