Wycoller Hall was a late sixteenth century manor house that was the center of a sizeable estate, but collapsed beyond repair. The structure is located in Wycoller, Lancashire, England. The estate was owned by the Cunliffe family after losing their ancestral home to debtors ("Wycoller Hall"). After passing through many brothers of the family, Henry Owen Cunliffe decided to build a home in hopes of attracting a wife; however, he had many debts upon his passing that he could not pay off leading to the estate being sold ("Wycoller Hall"). The structure continued to survive into the nineteenth century and continued to steadily crumble to pieces. A local conservation group was founded in 1948 to conserve the historic village and was sold nearly thirty years later to the Lancashire County Council.

Critics believe that Wycoller Hall is the inspiration for Ferndean Manor in the novel Jane Eyre ("Ferndean Manor"). The Brontës lived in a nearby village called Haworth; the family most likely visited the estate frequently when walking ("Ferndean Manor"). In the novel, Ferndean is where Jane reunites with Mr. Rochester where they finally get married. The description of the estate matches the characteristics of Wycoller. This new manor is where Mr. Rochester decides to move to because of the people discovering Bertha who was locked in the attic.

Works Cited

“Ferndean Manor.” Ferndean Manor: Location and Characters, https://jane-eyre.guidesite.co.uk/ferndean-manor.

“Wycoller Hall.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Dec. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wycoller_Hall.