History
The hall dates back to around 1420, when it was recorded as being inhabited by one William Otes. Prior to 1619, it was owned by the Savile and Waterhouse families. The three families' armorial symbols are recorded in a stone-mullioned 20-light window. For three hundred years, it was in the hands of the Lister family (c. 1615-1926). Its most famous resident was Anne Lister (1791–1840) who became sole owner of the hall after the death of her aunt. It is currently open to the public, the 'West Yorkshire Folk Museum' being housed in an adjoining barn and farm buildings.
The hall has been extensively modified from its original design by generations of residents, although its Tudor half-timbered frontage remains its most recognisable feature. The hall has a variety of restored workshops, including a brewery, a basket-weaving shop, a tannery, a stable and an extensive collection of horse-drawn carriages.
The park and gardens were restored, between 2007 and 2008, with almost £3.9 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £1.2 million from Calderdale Council. The major features of the park, including terraced gardens, rock gardens, cascades, and the boating lake, were commissioned by Anne Lister in the 1830s and a "Paisley Shawl" garden designed for the terrace, by Joshua Major, was added in 1850s. The park also contains a dry stone walling exhibition, children's play area and miniature steam railway.
Read more about this topic: Shibden Hall
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“There is a history in all men’s lives,
Figuring the natures of the times deceased,
The which observed, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)