More about Fairhurst Hall, Parbold

• Images show Fairhurst Hall prior to when the part of the right was demolished by Tom Rigg in the early Fifties.
• The 3 pg article appeared in the latter part of the 1960's when the Maiden's lived at Fairhurst and not long before the Travis family acquired it in 1967.
• The Maidens moved to Birkdale, Southport.
• The south facing side of Fairhurst Hall in all its glory during a cold but sunny winter afternoon sometime in the 1980's. Going clockwise from the lower two left hand windows was the dining room, the next two windows to the right with the front door between them was the hall. That front door used to be a window before the Fifties, but before the later 19th century addition to the house was built and subsequently demolished by Tom Rigg, it was the old front door of the Queen Anne house that still remains and was the original Hall. The upper two right hand windows were the spare bedroom, the single window to their left was my bedroom and the two windows to the left were my father-s dressing room and the two upper windows on the left were my parents- bedroom.
• And one from the air at around noon on a hot summer's day sometime in the 1980's.
• Until the mid 1980's there was a large rose bed where the lawn is before the front door. This was removed when the house flooded in 1982 following a sudden downpour when the stream running through the woods above the house and below Parbold Hill overflowed and swept through the garden and covered the Hall's ground floor with mud!

On 13 Jul 2010, at 11:00, ant.travis@gmail.com wrote:

Dear Boobelle
I enjoyed seeing the old Ainscough family photographs on your blog. I knew some of your family back in the 1960's when I lived at Fairhurst Hall.

Martin and May Ainscough and John and Margie Ainscough each lived just up the road from us and John and Margie Ainscough's kids and I were great friends playing tennis at their house on Sunday afternoons and frequently gathering at the Windmill Arms to play tippit and other pub games on Friday evenings with the locals and gang of close friends. I also knew Ossie Ainscough at Casterton Hall. I recall him as a rather fearsome character unlike Martin and John who were the most charming, friendly and welcoming old fellows. Ossie had a daughter (who's name a cannot remember for the time-being). She was quite a character! I particularly remember with great affection Tony, Ruth and Chrissie Ainscough (three of John and Margie's many kids). Please feel free to remember them to me if you are in touch with any of them.
Fairhurst Hall was a wonderful family home.

I don't have any old photos of the Ainscough family but I know who probably does. He's called Richard Lewis who to lived in Parbold in the Sixties and now lives in Shropshire. I think he bumped into Tony Ainscough in Burscough some time ago so may have passed on some memorabilia of the large get togethers we had on long summer Sunday afternoons to play tennis at John and Margie's house. We also used to play croquet on the lawn at Fairhurst.
I probably do have some old photos of Fairhurst somewhere and will try to dig them out and send them to you. The photo you have on your blog was made prior to the extensive changes made by Dr Tom Rigg in the early Fifties where the "newer" part of the house to the right of the photo (where the front door was) was demolished leaving the older part to the left intact. My parents, George and Diana Travis, bought the house in 1967 and renovated it making substantial changes to the interior.
Well beforehand my mother used to play bridge at Fairhurst when May Ainscough was living there. This would have been in the late Thirties and early Forties.
My parents acquired Fairhurst from Ian Maiden (of Maiden Displays) who had bought it from Tom Rigg some years earlier.
Martha Rigg, daughter of Dr and Mrs Tom Rigg married a Parbold resident Ainscough being Peter son of Martin and May Ainscough. Martha also grew up at Fairhurst so there are many more Ainscough family connections with the house than one might think.
Kindest regards
Anthony Travis

e mail: ant.travis@gmail.com