 However, in 2017 the hall and gardens and adjoining orchard were signed over to the Heritage Trust for the North West on a 999-year lease so that restoration work could begin.The colliery owner Edward Crippen was resident in 1891 until his death in February 1892.In 1899 Sir Harcourt Everard Clare, clerk to Lancashire County Council, moved to the hall with his family and hosted garden parties in the grounds.