Deep in the wooded countryside of Bowland sits the privately owned Elizabethan hall of Browsholme, inhabited by the Parker family and commonly stated in tourist brochures to be the oldest family home in the area, although several local family-owned farms also hold claims to this title. In this article i’ll briefly look at the history of the hall through the centuries, starting in the 1300s.
1300s
The original hall was built by Richard Parker in the late 1300s after the Parker family, who acquired their name after the family’s role of looking after the Forest of Bowland’s royal deer parks, were given the lease of the vaccary, or medieval cattle farm, of Browsholme.
1500s
The name ‘Browsholme’ is Norse in origin and comes from ‘Browse’ which denotes a place where animals can safely browse for food, and ‘Holme’ which means an island or refuge. The area was heavily forested at the time but in the early 1500s King Henry the 7th cleared the forest of Bowland to make way for lucrative cattle farms and to supply timber for the Royal Navy.
Up until then the Forest of Bowland was a royal hunting ground, a concept introduced by William the Conqueror who brought in ‘forest law’ which meant anyone caught stealing or killing a deer, boar or any other ‘venison’ would be punished severely, Parker was the name for the people whose job is was to administer this law.
1600s
In 1603 Thomas Parker started construction of the present hall after his father, Edmund, had obtained the freehold of Browsholme, the building has been added to over the centuries and Thomas’s grandson, also called Thomas, started to install a formal garden in 1674.
1700 and 1800s
In 1797 another Thomas (they seem to like this name), Thomas Lister Parker, took over the estate after the death of his father and started to make his own alterations to the building, rebuilding the west wing entirely. He carried on the gardening and landscaping started by his ancestor and spent huge amounts of money on reshaping the estate to the fashions of the time.
He also amassed an impressive collection of artwork including pieces he brought back from tours he made to Paris, Vienna and Moscow. In this collection he had paintings by the famous artists Thomas Gainsborough, Chessell Buckler and James Northcote, who painted a portrait of Thomas. Eventually Thomas managed to bankrupt himself and the estate ended up in the hands of a cousin.
1900s
The estate remained in the hands of the Parkers though and is still in their stewardship today, the hall underwent large scale repairs in 1958 under the supervision of Colonel Robert Goulbourne Parker who also opened the family home to the public for the first time. Colonel Parker died in 1975 and the estate was passed on to his godson Robert and his father Edmund Christopher Parker and mother Elizabeth Diana Parker who passed away in 2014 and was responsible for a lot of the restoration work.
2000s
Robert and his partner Amanda are the current stewards of Browsholme Hall and still open the hall to the public, occasionally giving guided tours themselves. The tours are famous for showing the property as the contemporary modern home it is and not just as a National Trust style museum, with Wellington boots in the hallway, dogs running around, a flat screen telly and radio times in the sitting room amongst the things that show that its owners actually live there.
Robert and Amanda oversaw renovations of the hall and properties on the grounds including a historic 17th century tithe barn, which was repurposed as a wedding venue and officially opened in 2010. In 2021 the wedding business suffered due to the Coranavirus epidemic and received a £50,000 grant to keep it viable.
High Sheriff of Lancashire
Amanda Parker, who comes from the local Backhouse family, manages the weddings and events business and in April 2015 was given the ceremonial title of High Sheriff of Lancashire. Robert has his own ceremonial title too, as Bowbearer of the Forest of Bowland, a long defunct position given to him by Stephen William Jolly when he bought the title of ‘16th Lord of Bowland’ at auction in 2010.
Stephen Jolly, or the ‘Lord of Bowland’ as he prefers to be called, is a very interesting character with a long career working in the fields of corporate espionage, psychological warfare and propaganda, (seriously, read his biography in the link above it really is something else!) he leads an annual ‘Beating the Bounds’ walk around Bowland in which he explains his title and its history.
Bowbearers and the wand of office
He awarded Robert the official ‘wand of office’ at a ceremony in 2012 held in the ancient courtroom of the Forest which is in the Hark to Bounty Inn in Slaidburn. (See this article for more about the history of ‘The Bounty’) The wand which goes with the title of ‘Bowbearer’ also has some responsibilities of service to the holder of the title ‘Lord of Bowland’ so is not entirely ceremonial.
It was also the first time it was awarded in over 150 years so came with some licences and rights which were never officially made defunct, such as rights to shooting and mineral licences on land which was originally part of the demesne of the royal hunting grounds, but is now owned by landowners such as the Duchy of Lancaster.
The Hall is open to the public with guided tours and a tea room available too.
A B-H
Northwest Nature and History 
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