Photo-a-Day  (Monday, 14th January, 2008)

What an awful shame that this treasure should be allowed to rot as the years have shown!!
How did you get in?naughty photographer!!

what an absolute shame.

Is this for SALE ??

When did you take this photograph anonymous? You may find it's in a worse state now. I agree emps it is an absolute shame.

if the outside is anything like the inside.
you could just walk in.
its disgusting the way these buildings are allowed to get in this state.
is there no-one accountable

wouldn't it be nice if it was a "before" and we get the "after" tomorrow?

When I was girl some 55 to 60 yrs ago and staying with an aunt who lived in one of those bay fronted houses going up toward Windy Arbour, a neighbours daughter took me up to look at Winstanley Hall. To a little girl from a council estate, Winstanley Hall was a most beautiful place. In all of these past years, I've never forgotten it and it is heartbreaking to see it fall into such disrepair.

The outside and the grounds are breathtaking if ever you are lucky enough to go there {and not get caught!}the windows and doors are boarded up but you can get the feel of how it used to be. Magnificent! It is over 450 years old with so much history I think should be saved.

Go to page 2 of photos of Wigan on the WW forum, half way down under 'Winstanley Hall' for more shocking photos.

I was a woodman on Winstanley Hall Estate from 1956 to 1975. I find it a diabolical disgrace what has happened to the magnificent building

Dorbcrest homes puchased Winstanley Hall for approx 1 million pounds around 5 years ago with the plans to repair and redevelop the whole site. I heard They had huge problems with English Heritage with their "grade II listed buildings renovation requirements and specific rules". So much grief that they ditched their plans to redevelop. As far as I know Dorbcrest still own it. It makes me laugh how interested English Heritage become when someone else is prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds bringing old ruins back to their former glory - if they're that concerned about these buildings they should do the work themselves and not leave them to fall into such state of disrepair! I've never seen Winstantley Hall in it's glory, but look forward to the day when someone has the time, money and patience to complete the renovation!

I think there were initial planning problems with the land, i.e. subsidence and the likes but I agree that is is a terrible shame that such a stunning building should be left to rot. When I was younger, I remember going there with a group of friends and it was in disrepair then so god only knows what its like now. I hate seeing buildings just disappear. So much for our English Heritage! It is a farce. Come one Dorbcrest. Please try again.

i went upto winstanley hall yesturday with a few friends, to be honest i had no idea there was an abandoned mansion up that dirt path, we just went for a walk in the woods and stumbled across this huge house it looked on par with the likes of haigh hall, even today in 2009 the outerbuildings look in great condition altho i cant say the same for the inside,

me and my friend found a way in close to the front door and decised to go for a mooch around the building, i noticed a date stone from 1780 close to were we got into the building to the left of the front door.

Once inside it was breath taking to see the size of the rooms, there must be 400 rooms set over 3 floors and there also is a celler with all secret passage ways, each room had its own cast iron victorian fire place its no wonder its been targeted by theives there must be a good few grands worth of antiques on there.

The ground floor was massive, its still got kitchen and sinks etc and i found the what id call the front room, it was massive it had a victorianfireplace still fitted which was 10x bigger than any of the others, it must of been a ton weight, also in the room to the left of the front door there is huge mirrors floor to roof mirrors which are still there today, theres to of them and they got real ivory carvings around the mirror.

We found our way to a stone staircase, it looked like the big staircase on the titanic you know the one with the big shanderler. we got upto the first floor and was met by a maze of long corridors going off in all different directions, a lot of the first floor is unsafe with the floors collapsed.

IF YOU EVER GO TO WINSTANLEY HALL AND DESIDED TO GO INSIDE FOR A MOOCH REMEMBER THAT THERE IS SECRET ROOMS OF ROOMS, THE ROOM DIRECT ABOVE THE FRONT DOOR ON 3RD FLOOR AS GOT A SECOND DOOR INSIDE, IF YOU OPEN THAT THERE IS SOME STAIRS UPTO A STASH PLACE WERE I PRESUME ALL THE FIREPLACES GO TO ETC AND THEN ANOTHER SLY DOOR WHICH IS A TINY DOOR MADE OF WOOD, IF YOU GO THREW THAT UL FIND WOODEN STEPS UPTO THE ROOF

There is also a lift on the second floor and one of them things they had for ferrying food from floor to floor like on pully wheels

There is a master room with a balcony with a view over the courtyard and several barns and outbuildings

its well worth a walk round

I dont mean to be offensive but I think its unadvisable to say what are in these rooms --Fireplaces-etc as it invites vandalism if the place is empty. there is a Court near me that people were talking about and even the decorative Ceilings had been removed as most come down in sections if you know what you are doing , plus other items of Value dissapeared

I took a walk to the old mansion just today with my two dogs (bit naughty as it's private land but we weren't doing any harm - just looking). It really is magnificent to see and to imagine what it must have looked like in it's hayday. I agree with earlier comments as it looks like it could be compared to Haigh Hall! It's quite delapidated now and looks pretty dangerous if anybody was tempted to try and get inside. It still has a sign up for enquiries to Dorbcrest. It would be good to see it turned back into homes rather than left to fall to the ground. It's a piece of Wigan history that shouldn't be lost.

This weeks post 19-12-2012 it seems that there could be forward movement on the hall it would be good to bring it back to life i would have loved to work on the refurbishment