History of Speke Hall

Watercolour, view of Speke Hall from the south west, figures and dogs in foreground, shows the west corner of the moat shortly after it had been turned into a formal garden and replanted by Richard Watt V. painted by William Gawin Herdman — View of Speke Hall by William Gawin Herdman (Liverpool 1805–1882) | © ©National Trust Images/John Hammond

Named for the heathland on which it once sat, Speke Hall is a green oasis amid the urban spawl of south Liverpool. The hall was built in phases by the Norris family from the 1530s to the end of the 17th century. During this period, it was a place of refuge for the family’s Catholic faith. In the mid nineteenth century, it was transformed by Richard Watt V into a Gothic Revival mansion using inherited wealth derived from slavery and colonialism. His daughter, Adelaide Watt (1857–1921) was the last private owner, adding the new Home Farm complex in 1885.

A home for the Norris family

In 1524, Sir William Norris (1501–68) inherited a medieval hall on the site where Speke Hall now stands, a place where his ancestors had lived from as early as 1314. He started by building the lofty Great Hall in 1530, later extending to accommodate his growing family. Sir William took part in a series of skirmishes by English armies into Scotland throughout the 1540s. In 1547, his eldest son, also Sir William, was killed at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh. In 1554 he became the first Norris to represent Liverpool in Parliament. One of Sir William's last projects at Speke was to create an overmantel for the Oak Parlour featuring a carved family portrait, including his 19 children.

Speke Hall is completed

Edward (c. 1540–1606) succeeded his father in 1568. With his wife, Margaret (1540–1610) he extended the east range and added a north range to create an enclosed courtyard, adorning the new elements with their initials. They built a red sandstone bridge across the moat to meet the north range's gatehouse, providing a suitably grand entrance. The gatehouse is inscribed with the year 1598, when we presume work to the Hall was completed.

A detailed close up of the entrance portico at the North Front of Speke Hall. The inscription over the gatehouse records that Edward Norris built the north range in 1598. — The entrance portico at the North Front of Speke Hall. The inscription records that Edward Norris built the north range in 1598 | © ©National Trust Images/Rupert Truman

Recusants at Speke

The Protestant Reformation, when the church in England moved away from the leadership of the Pope and installed the monarch as the head of the Church, was a tumultuous time. Like many of the gentry in Elizabethan Lancashire the Norris family was known for its Catholic sympathies. They risked the label of 'recusant' for failure to attend Church of England services, faced fines and even imprisonment.

Two priest holes were built into the east wing of the hall. In 1586 one ‘Rychard Brittaine a prieste’ was reported to have been sent to Speke by ‘younge Mr [Edward] Norrice’ and kept there. The repercussions of this could be imprisonment, torture and execution.

A century after the Norris family were reported for recusancy, Thomas Norris (1618–87), Edward’s great-grandson, converted the family to Protestantism. Four of Thomas’s seven sons lived at Speke; each elected as MP for the port city of Liverpool.

The East India Company

Thomas Norris married Katherine Garway (d. 1708). Her father, Sir Henry (d. 1646), was Governor of the Levant Company from 1635–43 and Deputy Governor of the East India Company between 1636–9. In 1640 he became Lord Mayor of London.

Thomas and Katherine’s heir, Sir William Norris (1658–1702) was appointed Ambassador to the Mughal Emperor in 1698. His role was to secure new trading links for a rival to the East India Company established by King William III – an ambition that ultimately failed. William did amass a considerable fortune but died on the return voyage after contracting dysentery.

William’s younger brother, Richard, (1670–1730), served as MP for Liverpool from 1708–10. He traded in tobacco, sugar and trafficking enslaved people from Africa whose enforced labour produced these commodities. While an MP, he helped to draft a bill that regulated trade with Africa and supported the building of the first commercial dock, known as the Old Dock, to protect Liverpool’s growing mercantile economy.

The last Norris

In 1730, the Speke estate passed to Richard’s niece, Mary Norris (1700–66). In 1736, she married Sidney Beauclerk, grandson of Charles II and Nell Gwyn. Sidney was MP for Windsor and the couple spent most of their married life there. Their son, Topham, was born in 1739.

When Mary died in 1766, Topham Beauclerk (1739–80) inherited Speke and sold the Windsor estate. He rarely visited Speke, admitting to a friend that ‘there is nothing in this world I so entirely hate as business of any kind.’

Topham was a cultured man, interested in science and an avid book collector. His son, Charles Beauclerk (1774–1845) sold the estate in 1795, ending the ancient Norris connection to Speke.

Richard Watt of Jamaica and Liverpool

In 1795 Richard Watt (1724–96) purchased the Speke estate. Watt was a Lancastrian whose early life is not well recorded. He moved to Jamaica around 1750 and made his fortune from almost every aspect of the transatlantic slave trade. In 1751 he purchased two enslaved people, before establishing a partnership with Alexander Allardyce. Records show that in just nine months of the year 1775–6 they sold 4,235 enslaved people in the colony. He invested in four voyages that trafficked enslaved people between 1761 and 1794.

In 1769 Watt purchased the 470-acre George’s Plain, an estate in Westmoreland, Jamaica that grew sugar cane. With it came the rights to “Negroes and Slaves, men, women and children and the increases and progeny of the same Negroes and slaves”. Between 1797 and 1775 he acquired additional parcels of land in Westmorland amounting to 1005 acres.

With the profits, Watt bought three estates in England. Speke Hall was the last of these, purchased just a year before his death. After his death, Watt’s great-nephew, Richard Watt III (1786–1855), inherited these estates and a reported £500,000 fortune. He also inherited the enslaved people – and their future children – who worked the Jamaican estates through a system known as ‘descent-based’ slavery. In 1835, Richard Watt III received government paid reparations following the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. He was given £4485, 4s 8d for 256 enslaved people. George’s Plain remained in Watt ownership until 1918.

A false start at Speke

Richard Watt III turned 21 in 1807 and married Hannah Burn (1789–1828) of Hull a year later. The couple used his fortune to repair and furnish Speke Hall. Richard later recalled that “the interior of the house was very much destroyed by the people (farmers and others) that the Beauclerk family allowed to live there”. In 1812, Richard abruptly sold most of the furniture in the house and moved to Yorkshire to breed racehorses.

A state of decay

Richard Watt IV (1812–35) occupied Speke Hall in the early 1830s until his death in 1835. His wife Jane (c. 1814–88) and their two infants, Richard Watt V and Sarah, settled elsewhere in Liverpool, and Speke was tenanted. At this time, Speke Hall became well known for its picturesque state of decay, attracting artists inspired by its Gothic appearance.

View of the East Front of Speke Hall, Lancashire, at Sunset by Joseph Josiah Dodd (Liverpool 1809 - Oldham 1894) — View of the East Front of Speke Hall, Lancashire, at Sunset by Joseph Josiah Dodd (1809-1894) | © ©National Trust Images/John Hammond

The Gothic Revival of Speke Hall

A period of rapid transformation began at Speke Hall when Richard Watt V (1835–65) came of age in 1856. He sold his grandfather's Yorkshire estate and married Adelaide (known as Ada) Hignett (1838–61). They carried out major restorations, employing a Liverpool firm to fit their Tudor mansion with fashionable Gothic Revival interiors. They furnished the entire house, adding exuberantly carved oak furniture, stained glass, suits of armour and tapestries. Ada died in 1861, and Richard four years later, leaving Speke to their young daughter, also called Adelaide.

The Leyland years

Adelaide Watt (1857–1921), orphaned aged eight, was raised in Scotland by her great-uncle. During this time, Speke Hall welcomed a new tenant: Frederick Leyland (1831–92), the wealthy manager of the Bibby shipping line.

Leyland made many improvements during his first winter at the house, creating the Billiard Room and the Library. He paid for and directed the design, incorporating Tudor-style features throughout. To accommodate his many guests, he converted a timber-framed barn into a stable for six horses (now the Stable Tea-room).

Artists in residence

Frederick Leyland was a patron of many artists including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and James McNeill Whistler. Rosetti, a founding member of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (later Morris & Co.), likely advised Leyland to use the three Morris & Co. wallpapers still intact at Speke Hall. In 1868, Rossetti visited his patron and described Speke Hall as ‘a very glorious old house, full of interest in every way’.

Whistler visited Speke frequently between 1869 and 1875, painting portraits of Frederick, his wife Frances (1834–1910) and their children. When his lease of Speke Hall ended in 1877, Frederick purchased nearby Woolton Hall but lived mainly in London until his death in 1892.

Adelaide returns home

After a disciplined upbringing at Spott House, the Scottish mansion of her great-uncle, James Sprot, Adelaide returned to Speke Hall. With a sharp eye for detail, she quickly became an expert in running the estate. She had high expectations for any prospective tenants on her farms and a strong concern for preserving Speke Hall's posterity.

In 1885, Adelaide began an ambitious project at Home Farm to build a new building incorporating the latest farming technology. While Adelaide was known as a conscientious employer, she welcomed the advent of new machinery to replace workers and horses. Her focus on the future of Speke Hall was also evident at the house, where she installed central heating and firefighting equipment. She also employed an estate constable to guard against trespassers.

Print, lithograph, Miss Adelaide Watt (1857-1921) by Charles William Walton (fl.1872 - after 1891). Head and shoulder portrait of Adelaide Watt, facing, turned slightly to the left. Wearing plain dress with high collar fastened with bow, additional white collar and hair up with centre parting. — A lithograph print of Miss Adelaide Watt (1857-1921) by Charles William Walton | © ©National Trust Images/John Hammond

Adelaide secures Speke Hall's future

Adelaide Watt died in 1921. In her will, she named three descendants of the original Norris family as trustees, with a provision that Speke Hall would pass to the National Trust after 21 years ‘in case future changes in the environs may be such that the owner or occupier of the estate might cease to care to reside there.’

Subsequently, the Norris trustees sold much of the estate to Liverpool Corporation, giving space for a new airport and the creation of a 'new town'. In 1943, the Speke Hall estate as we know it today was handed over to the National Trust but remained under lease to Liverpool Corporation for maintenance and public access.

Under the National Trust's care

In 1986, the National Trust took on full management of Speke Hall. Since then, we have continued to care for its important collections, objects, gardens, and grounds, preserving this special place for future generations. In 2000, the derelict Home Farm complex underwent a major restoration project and was converted into a modern visitor facility, including the Home Farm restaurant. In 2013, the Kitchen Garden was laid out on the site of the lost Victorian garden, and in 2017, the Stream Garden was opened.