Croxteth Hall - We Look Around The Final Earl Of Sefton's Former Home

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:01]Hello everyone, welcome back to Speke Hall, media today. We're back at Croxteth Hall.

[00:00:06]We're going to delve into the history of this incredible building.

[00:00:12]Dates well back to 15 1575, I believe, when it was built.

[00:00:20]And the family of the Molyneux Earls of Sefton Earls of Sefton.

[00:00:26]Wow.

[00:00:28]They have been here for centuries and centuries.

[00:00:32]Long before this hall was ever even built.

[00:00:36]Think back to the 11th century.

[00:00:38]We're even talking about the days of William the Conqueror.

[00:00:42]1066.

[00:00:44]And the Molyneux family came across with William the Conqueror. He was also known back then as William the Bastard.

[00:00:54]This is no Game of Thrones. This is the real McCoy.

[00:00:58]This is a gift.

[00:01:01]Back then, this was Lancashire.

[00:01:03]Back then, when they first came across with William the Conqueror, this house wasn't even thought of.

[00:01:11]The lands was given as a gift for military service, should we say.

[00:01:19]So, we're going to delve into the history of the hall itself and just delve into a little bit of the Molyneux family history.

[00:01:29]And this is going to be dedicated to a member of the Molyneux who emailed me.

[00:01:34]We'll just call her uh Molyneux and give out the first real name.

[00:01:39]Wanted to learn more about her past family.

[00:01:44]The history of this place.

[00:01:46]We're going to delve into it. We're going to look around it.

[00:01:49]Certain areas of this hall are off limits, so apparently they're still frozen in time, like the cellar.

[00:01:57]The maids rooms upstairs off limits at the moment but we'll try and get access to those another day. I might have to get special permission.

[00:02:06]But today's video we're going in.

[00:02:09]Great if you could join me for this one.

[00:02:53]>> [music] [singing] [music] [music] [music and singing] >> And welcome back everyone. Yeah, we're just walking around towards the front.

[00:03:36]It's where the entrance is.

[00:03:38]It's roughly around two tours every not every day but um I think it's twice a week 11:00 and 2:00.

[00:03:49]So, we're just going to go around.

[00:03:51]Absolutely beautiful day. Everyone's in the park enjoying the grounds.

[00:03:56]This is going to be a bit cooler inside, I think.

[00:04:00]We're nearly ready to go in.

[00:04:05]Wow, what a what a view.

[00:04:10]That's the staircase.

[00:04:12]Absolutely glorious. Beautiful.

[00:04:16]I guess 13 of us.

[00:04:20]on this tour.

[00:04:28]And there's some of the famous names. Hugh Williams.

[00:04:39]Oswald Molyneux, the 7th Earl of Sefton.

[00:04:43]Josephine Sefton, Countess of Sefton, 1903 to 1918.

[00:04:50]Hugh Evelyn Cecil with her father.

[00:04:56]This is incredible.

[00:05:00]So, I'm going to move on.

[00:05:13]We're going to have a look around the bottom first.

[00:05:17]This is where all the servants were working.

[00:05:29]Beautiful rooms.

[00:05:32]Incredible.

[00:05:39]So, this is like this strong room where all the valuables used to have been. And if you're visiting, this is where you would put them. We're going to meet towards the cellar now.

[00:05:50]Just a quick glance here.

[00:05:55]>> [snorts] >> So, this is the the barrel room.

[00:06:07]I look I like the shelf there. That's where all the cheeses would have been.

[00:06:12]We're going to go towards the the wine cellar now.

[00:06:32]And all the bottles are empty.

[00:06:36]One of the servants would have been like a butler just to his job basically bottling all the the wine.

[00:06:44]>> They could see these people to finish their racing practices.

[00:06:49]>> Nothing there. We're going to go to the other section.

[00:06:52]One quick look at the barrel.

[00:06:57]Welcome to the servants' hall. This is where all the meals were done.

[00:07:01]14 guests.

[00:07:14]I got to move on.

[00:07:20]So, this is the courtyard.

[00:07:22]Where you see all the different sections of the hall with four different ages.

[00:07:29]This is the oldest part.

[00:07:36]The man who cooked it is where all the water used to come in on horse carts. Now, didn't know when it was full.

[00:07:46]Got gauge up there.

[00:07:49]Once that gauge arises up to the top, you know it's full.

[00:07:55]So, that's the courtyard.

[00:07:58]I don't know what we got.

[00:08:16]Welcome to steward's room.

[00:08:18]It's the way they get paid.

[00:08:20]Or sacked.

[00:08:23]150 lb back in 19th century.

[00:08:27]Today's money.

[00:08:29]Maybe 75,000. This is the original front door of Barrow House. 16th century. And there's the knocker.

[00:08:49]Okay.

[00:08:52]Kitchen.

[00:09:01]The stove. Incredible.

[00:09:04]And we have to watch the main kitchen now.

[00:09:11]So, this is the main kitchen.

[00:09:13]They served over 100 bedrooms.

[00:09:16]Look at the floor.

[00:09:19]And they came here to enjoy the hunting.

[00:09:22]So, you can be refreshed with available in the main kitchen. This is where it all happened.

[00:09:33]>> [snorts] >> This service is the history. kitchen.

[00:09:42]They got their own food lift there, which added in the 18th century.

[00:09:46]The butler would be waiting at the top for the food.

[00:09:49]It gets loaded there.

[00:09:50]Just ring the bell.

[00:09:52]This was a 19th century hot plate.

[00:09:57]We're going to go up the stairs now to where I do the other first lift goes.

[00:10:03]So, up we go.

[00:10:12]It's a nice room.

[00:10:17]Yeah. Not that many plain staircases.

[00:10:22]Except the old gas.

[00:10:37]Here we go.

[00:10:56]>> So, the lift is incredibly slow. So, it's going to take a couple of minutes while we wait for the lift to arrive. Sounds like it's coming.

[00:11:20]>> And this is where all the food will be received.

[00:11:22]Right there.

[00:11:24]To my chair.

[00:11:26]And then it goes in here.

[00:11:29]Into here.

[00:11:46]This old dining used to have one major table that seated about 60 people.

[00:11:52]You got the emblem there.

[00:11:55]Yeah.

[00:11:55]>> [clears throat] >> Earl of Sefton.

[00:12:00]Beautiful room.

[00:12:02]Going to go on to the Queen wing.

[00:12:07]So, this is the Queen Anne um wing. This is the one that was affected in the fire.

[00:12:13]All this was destroyed.

[00:12:16]Because of blowtorch he's left.

[00:12:18]And the guy who's doing the work went home.

[00:12:23]The last Earl of Sefton didn't have any of this.

[00:12:28]He furnished it. He left it. All furniture that is still in there today.

[00:12:36]Pictures that were saved by the chef exist today. Move on.

[00:12:50]It's beautiful, isn't it?

[00:12:59]And we're going to head towards the drawing room.

[00:13:09]Here we go.

[00:13:12]>> So, we come out on the pitch for royalty. This is where the third Earl of Sefton welcomed Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and the royal children when they came as guests of the third Earl in 1851.

[00:13:27]They came up the main avenue from West Army Village. They came to Rainhill Railway Station and they were welcomed at this point where the Earl of Sefton introduced the Queen and her family to his family. Also, the Prince of Wales and Princess of Wales from later 19th century would come to this site. Edward VII, Edward VIII, they were regular visitors to this building. So, it is the site that was >> So, this is the ante-room. This is where the Lady of Sefton would welcome her guests.

[00:14:01]And then we'd walk them would show them to their rooms.

[00:14:09]There's the future King of France back in the day.

[00:14:15]So, this is the breakfast room.

[00:14:20]Where the Earl of Sefton would have breakfast. This is the only room that is self-service.

[00:14:25]We've got the um the chair of Scotland landscapes because obviously they used to travel there a lot for hunting.

[00:14:36]And we're now the card room.

[00:14:41]Epic.

[00:14:48]So, welcome to the card room.

[00:14:58]>> Now, here we are. We're in the smoking room and this is the room that the male members of the family and all the important >> And we'll move on to the smoke in >> this room.

[00:15:25]>> I think this is the billiard room.

[00:15:29]Some scenes in the Peaky Blinders was filmed here and around the estate.

[00:15:38]Beautiful, isn't it?

[00:15:41]Right, let's go.

[00:15:50]So, we've moved into Lady Shaftesbury's sitting room.

[00:15:56]Beautiful. Every detail.

[00:16:03]And then cross through dressing room into a bedroom.

[00:16:19]It's a master suite.

[00:16:22]Pass through.

[00:16:24]I'm going to move on now.

[00:16:27]To Lady Shaftesbury's So, this is Lady Shaftesbury's bedroom.

[00:17:03]And we're going to move on to soon to Lord Shaftesbury's bedroom.

[00:17:07]Through the This is Lord Shaftesbury's dressing room.

[00:17:17]And that bedroom.

[00:17:21]And this is his bathroom.

[00:17:30]It's almost more than Lady Shaftesbury's bedroom, but still the same as it was before.

[00:17:37]On which we are This is number 30. The main staircase of the It's going to turn into all of the scene all the important rooms.

[00:18:00]We have got to go and see just the end going to have the area.

[00:18:05]>> [music] >> And then we've got one more steps.

[00:18:32]>> So, we're at the top of the stairs here.

[00:18:34]Now, this is the the level of guest bedroom.

[00:18:38]>> Do you remember where I am in the guest bedrooms? Remember where the fire happened?

[00:18:43]You can go up on the roof there.

[00:18:45]It's all burnt.

[00:18:47]And this was all left.

[00:18:49]All these arches, these walls were not here back in the day. They're all see-through.

[00:18:54]The match where the main Hamstall was, but that's where the fire was.

[00:19:00]You walk through.

[00:19:04]So, as you can see, all the arches, they've all There's no brick top. It's just the side.

[00:19:16]>> So, I think I think I've got So, I was saying I was saying I've come over with all this information.

[00:19:25]It's going to be too long for a YouTube video.

[00:19:28]So.

[00:19:52]So, I've just got outside now after the tour.

[00:19:55]Um I'm walking on the grounds. Absolutely beautiful right here. Stunning.

[00:20:03]All year round to keep this beautiful.

[00:20:05]We've got a little beehives here. Little bees.

[00:20:09]I can get too close. Getting quite a getting strong.

[00:20:16]Absolutely beautiful out here.

[00:20:23]A perfect way to end the video.

[00:20:26]Tiny little bit of paradise across this all in country park.

[00:20:36]That's dedicated to you.

[00:20:37]Oh, Molly knew.

[00:20:39]Um I wasn't going to come and do this video, but as soon as I had the email from you when I did the gamekeeper's cottage and you were keen on learning a little bit about it. I just thought I'd come and have a look myself. It's a beautiful building.

[00:20:58]So, there you have we have it.

[00:21:00]We'll walk back through here.

[00:21:08]Back towards Croxteth Hall.

[00:21:15]So, this was a different kind of a video for you today.

[00:21:18]Just a walk through history of the Earls of Sefton and the Molyneux family.

[00:21:26]They once were the residents owners of this incredible building, Croxteth Hall.

[00:21:36]Going to click like, share, subscribe.

[00:21:38]See you all in the next one.

[00:21:40]Bye for now.

[00:21:44]>> [singing] >> The Earls of Sefton rode the grounds through woodland stock and wild.

[00:21:50]Where pheasants burst through morning mist as hunting parties ride across the vast estate lands where winter frost would bite.

[00:22:01]The keeper's cottage is still stand like shadows in the night.