ERBYSHIRE |rCH.€OLOGICAL 



AND 



Natural Sistory Iociety. 



I. 



THE HALL. 



By Ernest Gunson. 



RADSHAW HALL is beautifully situated on the 

 K^v southern slope of Eccles Pike, about a mile and a 

 ^^Ut§ half from Chapel-en-le-Frith, and commands exten- 

 sive views on three sides. Old as the present Hall 

 is, it originally replaced a far more ancient building, as to which 

 a few suppositions may be offered. 



When Henry H., in 1 156, " caused nearly all the castles which 

 had been erected in England in the time of King Stephen to be 

 demolished,"'* the building, without .special licence from the 

 Crown, of stone or embattled castles or mansions was prohibited, 

 which accounts for the frequent entries in the history of many 

 of our old families that during the following centuries a license 

 was granted to them to erect .stone walls and embattle their 

 residences. Hence the country gentry and yeomen returneil to 

 the custom of their forefathers, and built tho.se half-timbered 



* Roger de Hoveden. 



VOI,. XXV. I 



