[Atarah]

OAK HILL MANSION, A GRADE II , MEDIUM SIZED GEORGIAN STONEBUILT HOUSE WITH VICTORIAN EXTENSION.

Hi, yep, its still here, but .. its not as it was!
Oak Hill Park Mansion was the home of the Hargreaves family of Accrington and date(d) back to themiddle of the 18th century and belonged to the Woodward family. In 1815 the land was leased andn purchased by Thomas Hargreaves, head of the Broad Oak Print works. The original mansion was then built. Thomas died in 1822, and the house passed to his youngest son, Jonathan, who enlarged it by the addition of a further wing. He left the area in the late 1850's and afterwards the house was let to various tenants. A well known local poet, Mathilda Harris wrote a poem entitled "Reverie in Oak Hill Grounds" which speaks of neglect and decay of the "once noble and beautiful home". In 1889 the estate belonged to Jonathan's son - Reginald Gervis Hargreaves, who married Alice Liddell - the model for Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland". The council then purchased the house and grounds and in May 1893 it was opened as a public park and museum. In 1932/3 the museum received their most important gift ever, the collection of Tiffany glass through a local lad, Joseph Briggs, ex Accringtonian. During WWII the museum was closed to the public and this was the beginning of the end for the museum.
During the late 50's the house was closed to the public, although I believe an Ice=Cream parlour operatated in a downstairs room for some time. In 1990 the rundown house was put up for auction and in 1992 work began to transform the house to provide luxury
apartments for 12 elderly people, a housekeepers flat and a car park. The work was carried out by the Abbeyfield Hyndburn Society. So, although the house "appears" to be the old town museum, it has in fact been pulled down, stone by stone, numbered, and all put back together again. "Everything is not always whats it seems".