 Ownership of the property descended to John Clifton (1764–1832) and thence to his son Thomas Joseph Clifton (1788–1851), who extensively remodelled the estate by extending the surrounding parkland.It passed via Colonel John Talbot Clifton (1819–1882), MP for North Lancashire, to his 14-year-old grandson, the colourful John Talbot Clifton (1868–1928), during whose stewardship the railway was built along the estate's southern boundary and part of the land sold for housing.During the First World War the house was used as a military hospital and after the Cliftons had moved to live in Ireland in 1919 and then Scotland in 1922 the house was somewhat neglected.