-I'l Kl II \| I 



I LTctred was a Saxon Thane, and, 

 under thi K . -he largest unfilled landowner bet\v 

 the Ribble Jiui the V. -\ S>uth I-amashire. In 



the middle of the thirteenth century we find Speke 

 shared by the families > ll.iM-lw.il, Norris and 

 Molynei 'I he lordship passed from the latter 



family through the Knicys by marriage to the Norm 

 family in Richard Il.'s reign, they having inheritc.il 

 the old Hall from Sir IV- I l.isclwal three genera- 

 tions before with his moiety of* the estate. It was not, 

 however, till this marriage that every possible claim 

 to the lands and lordship >t >pekc was vested in the 

 Norris family, and in the year 1490 the timbered 

 house was begun by Sir William Norm. He does 

 not, however, seem to have got far with it, Mine it is 

 to his grandson, another Sir William, a soldier in the 



. h wars, that we owe much of" the present Hall. 

 1 1 was Sergeant of the Bridge (iate at Chester, and 

 while Spckc was building he still continued to live at 

 his house near that city ; but after i 547, becoming 

 too old for active service, he pushed forward the 

 building of Spcke. 



Twice married, and having in all nineteen 

 children, he was succeeded by Edward Norris, his 

 eldest surviving son, who lived a home life and went on 

 adding finishing touches such as completed the present 

 Hall, retaining only the old stables of the previous 

 buildings. In 1598 he completed the entrance with 

 the stone walls topped with obelisks and segments of 

 circles after the Jacobean manner, which rise on each 

 side of the archway and form a kind of" roofless porch. 

 Over the arch, on a beam of timber, Kdward carved 

 in relief the simplest of inscriptions : " This worke 

 25 yards long was wholly built by Kdw. N. I'M). 

 Ano. 1598." This is shown in one of the illustra- 

 tions. The word " wholly " has led many to think 

 he was the builder of the present house; but, as 

 before mentioned, it was begun in 1490 by his great- 



grandfather. A garden gateway of similar design, 

 but, on the inside, rather more elaborate with 

 its pilaster* and frie/e, i* clearly also by the 

 same hand. 



I ve generations more and the Norm line ended 

 in an heiress, who married Ijord Sydney Beauclcrk in 

 1736. Thus Speke fell into the hand* of abseir 

 who neglected the house and mortgaged the property, 

 which was sold by the grandson . .; Virris heiress 

 to Richard Watt of' Liverpool. 



Luckily, this absenteeism saved the house 

 from modernisation, and its own substaiue and 

 strength saved it from irreparable dec-ay, so that 

 under the rule of Richard Watt, great-grandfather ..l' 

 the present owner, the old Hall was again iared for 

 and preserved, and during his lifetime it Ix-iamc a 

 centre of antiquarian and even historual interest. 

 Men like drcgson, Harl.md, Co\ .uul, .itxive all, 

 Ormcrod wrote on the house and its history. 



Approached over the former moat by a bridge 

 >t ancient date, having two little angular bastions 

 fitted with seats, its north east front often a series of 

 gables with elaborate buge-bawds and rim.ils. Here 

 the timber framing of the walls is strengthened and 

 ornamented by plain oblique stays forming .1 diamond 

 pattern ; but, passing through the archway into the 

 quadrangle, we find a predominance of" the quatrefoil 

 panelling which obtains so largely as the decorative 

 motif in these houses, su<.h as SkmletburY in the same 

 county. The great oriel of" the Hall protrudes m the 

 west angle, and facing us .uross the lobbied way, on 

 which the sunlight, glinting through the tall \i 

 trees, plays, is the owning through the house towards 

 the garden archway, one of" whose pilasters just 

 appears, but of which we give also a sj>ecial illustra- 

 tion, as being the In-st example of the Renaissaiue 

 work with which Kdward Norris completed the 

 essentially (iothic house of his father and grandfather. 



WEST LORXKR. 



