EAVESDROPPING ON THE PAST

 Speke Hall is a 16th century Tudor mansion, which was completed in 1598, by Sir William Norris, a devoutly catholic landowner, who used his wealth gained from the slave industry to create the hall.

Situated on the banks of the Mersey, near to the original Speke Airport, this was an oddity which I found to be completely out of place in the industrial wastelands surrounding it. I moved into Speke in the late sixties, following the slum clearances of the inner cities, from Dingle in the Liverpool 8 area. Initially, I found the transition from the terraced streets to the brutalist estates quite jarring and missed my old home, but I was gradually swayed by the presence of the airport and the amazing hall. My first visit would have been with primary school and as an impatient 8 year old, I did not fully appreciate the significance of the place. However, I was particularly taken with the two massively ancient yew trees, situated in the central courtyard of the site and towering over the roof of the hall.

The other significant feature was the apocryphal tale of the infant being thrown from an upper story window, as soldiers raided the hall. Naturally, this was embroidered further by the sightings of ghostly maidens wandering the deserted halls and spectral figures appearing in bedrooms, which the whole class bought into with great relish. The presence of priest holes and little spy windows in the walls, which we clustered around to peer into, made the whole idea even more exciting and was something that stuck with me over the decades.

I next visited the hall some years later with the family and was able to get a better feel for the place, without manic schoolmates dashing around. The grounds are extensive and heavily wooded and compared to the rest of the town, rural and fascinating. Speke Hall's proximity to the old airport meant that from parts of the grounds, it is possible to see the old runways and the wrecks of old planes, which were used for emergency rescue training.

The mystery and fascination of the hall stayed with me over the decades and when I started my degree course in Creative Writing, I decided to re-visit the site, as a source of reference for several works I had in mind.

There is a wealth of information available about the hall, which is now maintained by the National Trust and most of the building is freely accessible on the public tour, but due to its popularity, it is difficult to get clear photographs. Consequently, I contacted the curatorial team and asked if I might be able to visit outside of the opening times, with a view to photographing the exterior of the hall and the central courtyard. They kindly agreed to my request and during the visit, I spent a good hour in the central courtyard, chatting to the staff while I photographed the architecture. I took advantage of the opportunity and signed up as a volunteer with the trust, which also gave me access to newsletters and information about the hall.

An early photograph of the main entranceway, looking through into the courtyard and a secondary doorway leading out behind the hall, which was subsequently replaced and remodelled in the succeding years. Below is a photograph of the section of the hall opposite the entrance, which shows the slightly different panelling below the main gable, which covered over the second doorway.

An early shot of the Great Hall - immediately above the fireplace is one of the secret 'priests hole' hideaways which is situated above right over the passage.

The original newsletter was called 'The Eavesdropper' and I discovered that the origin of the phrase was based on a specially built gallery above the main entrance, with gaps positioned in the eaves, whereby the residents could listen to conversations of visitors arriving at the hall, which during the period of the Reformation religious persecution, was extremely important. The information contained in the newsletters also revealed the latest developments and discoveries being made at the hall, as researchers uncovered details about the rich and chequered history of its previous owners and tenants.

Built and owned by the Norris family for many generations until it was leased to a succession of tenants from 1766, eventually falling into disuse and being repurposed as a cowshed. Eventually it was bought by a Liverpool merchant in 1795, Richard Watt, whose last surviving relative Adelaide Watt returned to the hall in 1878, residing there until her death in 1921. The hall eventually came into the care of the National Trust in 1943, after which major structural and restorative work was carried out to bring the building back to a reflection of its former glory.

The building is replete with many original features and shows the hand of its various owners over the centuries, as wings were added, alterations made and the structure of the hall extended. The interior has a large collection of arts and crafts decor, as well as original furniture, from its succession of owners.

Although I spent several hours photographing the exterior and visited the hall several times, I soon discovered there was a lot more to the history of the hall, than is generally available and the regular updates from the team researching the fabric of the hall included some fascinating information regarding the previous tenants and visitors to the hall.

Whilst the massive process of cleaning and restoring the building was undertaken by the trust and structural surveys were made to ensure the integrity of the building was preserved, some of the many leaded windows in the hall were found to contain pieces of glass which had been engraved. The tiny panes of greenish glass had been autographed by the owners, or in some cases by impudent visitors, leaving their mark in obscure spots within the building. Some of the inscriptions are clearly legible, such as the name of 'Robert Norris' and what looks like 'John Percival'. 

It transpires that the 'Robert Norris' who has clearly engraved his signature in the glass is not a member of the Hall's Norris family, but may have been a regular visitor to the hall with connections to the overseas merchant industry and possible involvement in the jamaican slave trade. Clearly a well educated man, given the neat copperplate hand, with the necessary means to idly scribe his name into the glass - i.e a diamond ring.

As further examination is made of the hall, more discoveries come to light and although I have not been able to access any of the inscriptions directly, the idea of these tiny time capsules hidden throughout the building added further to the wonder and mystery of the site.

Some of the letters are illegible at first sight and others have parts missing, as the valuable glass panes were re-used in other parts of the hall, or have been lost to time.

The history of the hall spans many centuries and is almost palpable in the air of the building. It is especially atmospheric in the evening, as the sun lowers behind the gables and the corridors are lit by candlelight.

I spent an enjoyable evening at the hall some time later on a 'ghost walk' around the hall, with one of the guides, hearing the tales of the halls many spectral residents and the history of their apparitions over the years. 

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/liverpool-lancashire/speke-hall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ev-XylvlVk