Bannister Hall, also known as Banister Hall, Darwen Hall or Darwyn Hall, stood in the south-eastern part of Walton-le-Dale, south of Cuerdale and close to the River Darwen. It was in an area now known as Higher Walton. The estate has medieval origins and was associated with the Banastre family from at least the 13th century.
The Banastres were prominent landholders in the area for several centuries. Henry Banastre is recorded as holding land in Cuerdale and Walton in the early 13th century, and members of the family continued to appear in local records throughout the medieval period. By the 14th century Henry Banastre was one of the principal freeholders in Walton and was involved in county affairs, including the protection of salmon fisheries on the major rivers of Lancashire.
The estate remained in the Banastre family for generations, although its descent during parts of the 15th century is uncertain. In the 16th century the family was still established at Darwen Hall. Lawrence Banastre and his son Richard attended Preston Guild as out-burgesses in 1542, and Richard was later recorded as “Richard Bannister, gent., of Darwin Hall alias Bannister in Walton”.
In 1590 Richard’s sons Thomas, Lawrence and George Banastre conveyed the estate to Edward Walmsley of Showley. It subsequently passed through the Walmsley and Winckley families before being sold in 1739 to John Atherton of Preston. Around 1800 the estate was acquired by William Assheton of Downham and Cuerdale. By the time the Victoria History of the County of Lancaster described the property in 1911, it was owned by Ralph Cockayne Assheton of Downham.
The hall described in 1911 was itself an historic building. The Victoria History noted that its south front had been rebuilt in brick, while the original exterior survived on the north side. This was therefore already a building of considerable age by the early 20th century, incorporating evidence of successive alterations and phases of development.
That building did not survive. The old Banister Hall was demolished in around the late 1960s or the early 1970s. A later Bannister Hall also existed, constructed on a nearby site, which appears to have been known as Darwen Cottage when it was built. However, that building has also since disappeared.
Consequently, Banister Hall is now principally a lost historic site: although the hall itself has gone, the estate’s long history provides an important link with the medieval Banastre family and with the development of Walton-le-Dale over many centuries.
The historical account above draws principally on the “Townships: Walton-le-Dale” entry in A History of the County of Lancaster, Volume 6 (1911).
BHO (British History Online) – ‘Townships: Walton-le-Dale’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill (London, 1911):
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp289-300
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Bannister Hall in Higher Walton was successively the seat of the Banesters, Walmesleys, Winckleys and Athertons. The older part of the building was probably erected in the mid-16th century.
The Lancashire County Council Red Rose Collections:
https://redrosecollections.lancashire.gov.uk/view-item?i=213912
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Bannister Hall in Walton-le-Dale, as shown on the 1840s Ordnance Survey Map can seen here on the National Library of Scotland website: