Park Hill Hall
Park Hill Hall was situated at Firbeck and until I read a book about the area I had never heard of it. The earliest records of the house are from the early 1600s when it was occupied by a member of the Saunderson family (see also Sandbeck Park, Maltby). It was then called Gawkhill Hall, gawk meaning cuckoo. By 1685 the hall was owned by Thomas Chadwick, who sold it in that year to Nonus Parker. The house and grounds were much improved by Parker. When he died in 1734 or thereabouts he left the hall to his daughter Mrs Singleton. In 1754 she sold it to Thomas Fowke, Governor of Gibraltar, who sold it immediately to the Trustees of Thomas Thornhill. It was acquired in 1765 by Anthony St Leger, who also bought the Manor and estate of Laughton from the Eyre family.
Park Hill and Laughton passed to his nephew, John Hayes St Leger in 1786. John was a friend of the Prince of Wales and Groom of the Royal Bedchamber. He was a military man and had the reputation of a rake but never married. His estate passed to his brother Anthony, and then passed to Anthony's son, another Anthony. Anthony II died childless and the estate passed to John Chester, his mother's brother, who took the name and arms of St Leger in 1863. The house and estate were sold in 1909 and the house was used as a girl's school. It is not known when the school ceased but after the First World War it was occupied by the Hayes family (Mr Hayes was the ex-gamekeeper from Firbeck Hall) and Park Hill Hall functioned as a kind of village hall where dances and dos were held by the local people.
In 1935 hall and estates were purchased by Cyril Nicholson and the hall was demolished.