Type Country house Country England Owner Lancashire County Council Architect Alfred Darbyshire | Town or city Longridge, Lancashire Phone +44 1772 784661 Completed 1876 | |
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Address Alston Ln, Longridge, Preston PR3 3BP, UK Architectural style Gothic Revival architecture Similar Swan Court Shopping, Downham Hall, Hacking Hall, Clitheroe Library, Martholme Viaduct | ||
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Alston Hall is a 19th-century Victorian gothic style country mansion located in Longridge (near Preston) in Lancashire, England. It is not to be confused with the 15th-century Alston Old Hall nearby.
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History
Alston Hall, designed by the architect Alfred Darbyshire, was built c.1876 for John Mercer, a Newton-le-Willows colliery owner. It passed down to his granddaughter, who was a nun, and was then sold to the Eccles cotton manufacturing family who sold it in turn to William Birtwistle, another wealthy cotton industrialist. In 1949 the Birtwistles sold most of the land to the Church Commissioners and the Hall itself, together with the remaining three acres of land, to Preston Borough Council as a Day Continuation College. In 1974 it was purchased by Lancashire County Council and converted to an residential training centre.
Alston Hall is still owned and operated by Lancashire Adult Learning (part of Lancashire County Council) as an adult residential college and corporate event venue.
The hall is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.