In 1936 Rufford Old Hall, with its collection of arms and armour and 17th-century oak furniture, was donated to the National Trust by Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 1st Baron Hesketh.

[1] In her 1974 book, Lancashire Legends, Eyre claims that although "it may be no more than a fond hope" there is evidence that a "William Shakeshaft" (a common version of Shakespeare's name) was a youthful member of the "Hesketh Company of Players" who visited in about 1585.

The date coincides with Shakespeare's absence from Stratford-on-Avon following a bout of deer-stealing from neighbouring parks, particularly that of Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote.

[1] In 1661 a Jacobean style rustic brick wing was built at right angles to the great hall, which contrasts with the medieval black and white timbering.

This wing was built from small two-inch bricks similar to Bank Hall, and Carr House and St Michael's Church in Much Hoole.

[1] The National Trust guidebook notes three errors in construction, and suggests that these may have been made deliberately, to avoid a charge of heresy being laid against its craftsmen, due to the contemporary belief that only God was capable of perfection.

[10] On the staircase is a painting by Godfrey Kneller of Thomas Hesketh,[11] who was Second MP for Preston in 1722 and who rebuilt the east wing in the 1720s, with his wife Martha and son in 1723.

The Rufford Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, completed in 1781, passes very close to the site on the east side.