Oakes Park

The first building on the site was mentioned in deeds of 1590 when John Parker was the owner. The Parkers were followed by Robert Boulton who purchased the houses for £355 and then Henry Wigfall of Eckington who paid £450 in 1624. The present house was built around the year 1668 by John Lee of nearby Hazelbarrow Hall for his bride Barbara, he purchased the "newly built messuage" for £1,600. Unfortunately Barbara died the same year and the house was sold to Francis Barker of Lees Hall at Norton Lees in 1672. Barker lived at the house with his wife Ann for only a short time and the house changed owners several times in a short period. In 1681 John Morewood sold the house to his wife’s brother…

The main house in the park is Grade II listed, as are the adjoining terrace walls, steps and gateway. The gateway and adjoining walls at garden entrance to Oakes Park and the gardens are on the register of buildings at risk. The gateway was recently restored with the help of English Heritage. The Oakes is constructed from coursed rubble with ashlars dressings with a hipped slate roof. The south facing front of the three storey house has a range of nine windows on the first two floors consisting of 12 paned sashes, the third storey is made up of seven six paned sashes. The main entrance has a Doric portico.

The Bagshawe family would remain as owners of Oakes Park for the next 288 years (until 1987). Three sons of Richard Bagshawe and Elizabeth Gill (Richard, William and John) held the Oakes estates in succession until the failure to produce an heir meant it was inherited in 1801 by a distant cousin of the family William Chambers Darling, a Hull doctor. Darling changed his name to Bagshawe, was knighted in 1806 and undertook a substantial redesign of the house using the Lancaster architect Joseph Badger, whose changes included a complete re-fronting of the house. He also embarked on large-scale modifications to the parkland around the house using Napoleonic War prisoners to dig out a lake,…