[7] The house was given Gothic castellations and extended further about 1820[8] to designs by John Foster, William Burn (who provided a boathouse and bridges in the park)[9] and other architects.
After the Second World War, the buildings were considerably reduced by Claud Phillimore, and ceased to be lived in by the family.
[13] James, seventh Earl, was involved in the Civil War as a Royalist supporter of Charles I. Charlotte, his wife, withstood a siege at Lathom Hall for ten weeks in 1644.
[14] The massive rebuilding of Knowsley in the early 18th century was carried out by James, the tenth Earl who had become wealthy through his marriage.
He was responsible for steering the Slavery Abolition Act through Parliament and in his third administration the Second Reform Bill was passed.
[18] The political tradition was maintained by Frederick, the 16th Earl who became President of the Board of Trade and later was appointed Governor General of Canada.
[20] Restoration of the hall has been continued by Edward Richard William, the 19th and current Earl and his wife, Caroline Emma Neville, daughter of the 10th Lord Braybrooke.
The Entrance Hall is panelled in carved oak and is hung with early 18th-century paintings of the house and the park.
[23] The Walnut Drawing-Room contains a number of portraits, including one of the second wife of the 12th Earl, the actress Elizabeth Farren.
[18] The Stucco Room, decorated in Rococo style, was created in the 18th century to link the Royal Lodging with the rest of the house is now a ballroom with a sprung floor.
[24] The room was designed by Foster to look like a great hall with doors 30 feet (9 m) high and contains two Gothic fireplaces and an ormolu chandelier.
It was reworked in 1890, adding a bay window, a carved dado and a roof consisting of a large rectangular lantern supported on brackets which is glazed round its sides.
[16] This consists of an area of approximately 2,500 acres (10 km2) surrounded by a stone wall 9+1⁄2 miles (15 km) long.
[26] The park was landscaped in the 1770s by "Capability" Brown, who flooded a 62 acres (25 ha) lake to feed the water-gardens around the hall.
[28] The parkland also contains the highest point in Knowsley Unitary Authority, 100 metres above sea level, at SJ 456 943.