Mitton Hall

Construction of Mitton Hall, or Little Mytton Hall as it was then began in the late 15th century on
behalf of a branch of the Catterall family and it is thought to have been completed in 1487. Its
historical importance and the reason for its Grade II* listing is the timber-framed Great Hall, one of a small number of open halls surviving in Lancashire today.

The hall was passed around from family to family, often through marriage rather than sale and
remained largely unaltered for the best part of 400 years.

Significant alterations were carried out in 1844, shortly after the house was bought by John
Aspinall of Standen. These alterations have been attributed to George Walker of Kendal probably
because Webster carried out other works in the Whalley and Clitheroe areas and built several
houses in the Tudorbethan style.

The next period of extensive redevelopment occurred in the period around 1875 - 1880.
A gentleman named John Hick, a partner in Hick and Hargreaves, Engineers, of Bolton was the
lessee and according to newspaper extracts from the Clitheroe library he spent a lot of money on
the property, revealing the fireplace in the Great Hall and building what was then referred to as a recreation block, linked to the main house by a large conservatory.

Except for a period during the second world war when the hall was used to house officers of the
Third Field Training Regiment, Mitton appears to have remained as a private house and home
until 1966 when it was sold to a local hotellier who had ideas of creating a suitably upmarket
restaurant and country club.

Changes in legislation covering gambling and drinking and driving, soon brought an end to the
country club however and the next incarnation for Mitton Hall was somewhat less grand and
certainly less dignified.

The Old Stone House was certainly descriptive as a name but it hardly did the historic home
justice. And as for Owd Ned’s Tavern, that was simply a joke too far.

The decline continued into poor country house hotel obscurity until the Hall was purchased in
2007 and re-incarnated once more.