Ashton Hall

Double death duel with golf club links

Lancaster Golf Club has a relaxed setting in the old parkland surrounding stately Ashton Hall, just a few miles south-west of Lancaster – but it also has a deadly secret. No knife-edge match on the greens could equal the cut and thrust of the notorious duel with swords back in the 18th century, which ended in a double death tragedy.

Early on the morning of 15 November, 1712, the then-owner of Ashton Hall, which is the present-day golfers’ clubhouse, mortally wounded his adversary in a do-or-die showdown – only to be fatally wounded himself by his opponent’s second. No doubt the scandal was the talk of Lancaster Society, especially since the second then fled the country. Although he was found guilty in his absence, he was later pardoned. Cut and dry, however, was the fact that James, the fourth Lord Hamilton and then owner of Ashton Hall, was dead. The same was true of his adversary, Lord Charles Mohun, who had challenged Hamilton following a disagreement over a property inheritance.

Ultimately, the Hamilton family sold the hall to the wealthy Starkie family from East Lancashire, with major rebuilding taking place before the estate ended up being owned by Lancaster linoleum magnate James Williamson. He took the title Lord Ashton, living in the hall until his death in 1930. His name lives on with the creation of Lancaster’s Williamson Park and the Ashton Memorial, and Ashton Hall in Lancaster Town Hall.

Today, Lancaster Golf Club members and visitors can still revel in the notoriety, and enjoy the ambience and marvellous views of the Lune Estuary, the Lake District fells, and the Trough of Bowland. The course itself is one of Lancashire’s best, having been laid out in the 1930s by top designer James Braid, a five-times winner of The Open.

Address Lancaster Golf Club, Ashton Hall, Lancaster, LA2 0AJ, +44 (0)1524 751247, www.lancastergc.co.uk, enquiries@lancastergc.co.uk | Getting there 10-minute drive from Lancaster Infirmary off the A 6, via Ashton Road; bus 89 to Knott End leaves roughly every 1.5 hours from the infirmary | Hours Daily 7am – 6pm | Tip Nearby are the remnants of the old private railway station built solely for Lord Ashton on the long-closed Glasson Dock branch line. It is now the route of the Lancaster Coastal Way for walking and cycling. The station building remains, and the platform can be seen through the track-bed foliage.