Documents & Ephemera - Accrington - Lancs. - John Hargre...

Hammer

£100

Documents & Ephemera - Accrington - Lancs. - John Hargreaves & Oak Hill House Estate.  1794-1850's. Archive of vellum documents, leases, agreements & plans relating to the lease of lands to build Oak Hill House. 1794 Agreement Daniel Henry Woodward of Bath to Thomas Hargreaves, Calico Printer for 21 years. 1815 Building lease & counterpart lease Daniel Henry, Lee Warner & Revd. J. L. Warner of Walsingham Abbey, John Walmsley of Castlemere, James Walmsley of Gooselane to Thomas Hargreaves. Both with plans to final vellum sheets for Littlefields & Limed Field (now Oakhill House & grounds). 1849 Purchase agreement John Hargreaves to Jonathan Hargreaves for Oak Hill together with fine hand drawn plan of the estate. Four Manor of Accrington new hold vellum documents relating to the land. 1852 large plan on vellum - Deed of Covenant. The property has an extensive history & was once owned by some notable people, having been built by Thomas Hargreaves, owner of Accrington's Broad Oak Print Works, after he purchased the land in 1815. In 1889 the estate belonged to Reginald Gervis Hargreaves, who was married to Alice Liddell, the model for Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland". In 1891 the building was bought by Hyndburn Council for £9,591 (the equivalent of £1 million in today's money) & used as a museum until 1947. After that the building fell into a state of disrepair & it was famously purchased for £1 by Abbeyfield Society, a charity providing residential care for the elderly. The mansion underwent an £800,000 transformation & was converted to feature luxury apartments for the elderly in 1994. In October 2019 the home was closed. It now stands empty.