For centuries Bank Hall was the manorial home of a branch of the Banastre family, lords of the manor descended from the
Norman Robert de Banastre, who built a
motte and bailey castle at
Prestatyn in about 1164. In 1167 the Banastres fled when
Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, destroyed the castle and the family escaped to Cheshire and Lancashire. In 1315 Sir Adam Banastre, who had extensive landholdings elsewhere in the county, led the
Banastre Rebellion against
Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, and was summarily beheaded at
Charnock Richard when the rebellion failed. A structure from the time of
Elizabeth I is recorded on
Christopher Saxton's map from 1579. In 1608 the Banastres built the first phase of the present hall and demolished the old building. The hall was constructed to a Jacobean style, rectangular in plan with two rooms to the east, a room and staircase to the west and a grand hall in the centre containing a screen and fireplace. It is possible that there may have been a timber structure where the east wing stands and other wooden wings that were replaced as the house was extended. Recorded in the 1666
Hearth tax, of the 99 hearths in Bretherton, Bank Hall had 12. He made the first unsuccessful attempt to drain
Martin Mere in 1692. In 1714 the channel was improved and floodgates kept back the high tides. Their daughter, Henrietta Maria, married Thomas Legh of
Lyme Park and the estate passed to the
Leghs. George Anthony Legh Keck moved from
Stoughton Grange in
Leicestershire on inheriting the estate. He was the last resident owner and commissioned a
Kendal architect, George Webster, to extend the hall in 1832–33. Legh Keck collected
stuffed animals and birds and horns from animals from around the world. He owned a collection of classical style statuettes and casts of figures by the sculptor
Antonio Canova. In April 1861, a year after Legh Keck's death, the hall's contents were sold at auction. A catalogue survives and lists the items by room. The house and estate passed to his brother-in-law, Thomas Littleton Powys, fourth
Baron Lilford, whose family seat was
Lilford Hall in
Northamptonshire. Bank Hall was used as a holiday home by the Lilfords until 1899. The estate remains part of the Lilford Estates and is managed by a land agent, Acland Bracewell in
Tarleton. The cricketer
Ranjit Singh visited him during the 1920s. King
George V, whilst visiting Lancashire in 1913, stopped at the lodge to greet the Clares and their staff. Cotton mill owner, Lieutenant Colonel
Sir Norman Seddon-Brown and his family lived at the hall from the late 1920s until 1938, when they moved to
Escowbeck. The
Aga Khan III visited the hall during the Seddon-Brown occupancy, as did King Fuad and Prince Farouk of Egypt during their visit to Lancashire. During the
Second World War, the
Royal Engineers were
billetted at Bank Hall. The north east wing, a service wing, housed a boiler-house, shed, laundry, dairy and cheese rooms, mangle room, brew house and wash house around a central courtyard was demolished. The 1928 Ordnance Survey map shows two greenhouses and three buildings in the walled garden. A pond was constructed in the former courtyard and a concrete drive installed. The army constructed
Nissen huts in the gardens and parkland, the remains of some are still visible. After the war the estate was returned to the Lilfords who had an estate office in the east wing until 1972. In 1974 a planning application was submitted to convert the house and grounds into a country club but the application was declined due to the disturbance to the historic parkland and architecture. In 1991 an application for listed building consent to demolish parts of the building to make it safe was submitted but was withdrawn. ==Architecture==