Abbeystead House

Abbeystead House is a large country house to the east of the village of Abbeystead, Lancashire, England, some 12 km (7 miles) south-east of Lancaster. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. Abbeystead House was built in 1886 as a shooting lodge for the 4th Earl of Sefton. It was designed by the Chester firm of architects Douglas & Fordham, who added gun and billiard rooms in 1894. The estate holds the record for the biggest grouse bag in a day; when on 12 August 1915, 2,929 birds were shot by eight guns (shooters). In 1980 the Abbeystead Estate, totalling 18,000 acres (73 km) and including the house, was bought by a trust relating to the family of the Duke of Westminster. Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, died suddenly at the house on 9 August 2016. The house is built in sandstone rubble with slate roofs in Elizabethan style. Its plan is an L-shape, with south and east ranges partly enclosing a courtyard. The south range forms the main block while the east range is the service wing which incorporates a four-storey castellated tower.