Description: Ilam Hall was presented to the National Trust in 1934 by Sir Robert McDougall and the hall and grounds are used as a youth hostel. A Tudor mansion once stood on the site of the hall, the home of the Port family. It was sold to David Watts Pike in 1809 and remodelled by his son in law Jesse Watts Russell in 1821, the architect being one John Shaw. In 1875 Jesse Watts Russell died, and the house passed to the Hanbury family, who sold it in 1927 to a restaurateur. He went bankrupt and sold the building to a demolition contractor, who promptly moved in and took down two thirds of the building. The Hall is still an imposing and stately structure though a substantial part of it was demolished when it became a youth hostel. A Church stands in the grounds of the Hall and is of saxon origin, but like the Hall was rebuilt during the 19th century. The River Manifold runs alongside the hall grounds.