History
The history of the place is not well known. Friends of Gorse Hall is trying to research the historical importance of the site.
Tracing back to the death of Lady Dukinfield–Daniel, Gorse Hall passed on to her husband, artist John Astley (1720?–1787). From him it passed to his relative Francis Dukinfield Astley, a great sportsman. A hunter's Tower was built in 1807.
John Leech one of the many wealthy cotton manufacturers of the district, bought some of the land attached to the Hall from John Astley to build his mills, the ruins of which can still be seen.
Leech's son John, bought the remainder of the estate and with stones from the local quarries built the mansion called the New Gorse Hall in 1836. John had eight children, one being Helen Leech born at Gorse Hall. Helen was the mother of Beatrix Potter, the famous children’s author.
Gorse Hall was the site of a murder in 1909, where local mill owner George Harry Storrs was brutally dispatched. The case is examined in The Stabbing of George Harry Storrs by Jonathan Goodman. and featured in an episode of the television series In Suspicious Circumstances in 1995 and Julian Fellowes Investigates: A Most Mysterious Murder in 2005.
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