114 
SECTIONAL EXCURSIONS. 
June 7th, 1884: Saturday.—_ALKINCOATES HALL AND THE PARISH 
CHURCH, COLNE. 
June 21st,1884: Saturday.—CASTLE CLOUGH AND SITE OF HAPTON 
TOWER. 
Aug. 23rd, 1884: Saturday.—BLACKSTONE EDGE AND THE ROMAN 
ROAD. 
ALKINCOATES HALL, AND THE PARISH CHURCH, 
COLNE. June 7th, 1884. 
Leader, ALFRED STRANGE. 
By the kindness of T. Mason, Hsq., the present occupier of 
the Ancient Manor House of Alkincoates, the members of the 
Art and Antiquity Section were privileged to inspect the Hall. 
The mansion is the property of Thomas Parker, Esq., of 
Browsholme, and is prominently situated in a park like enclosure 
to the west of Colne, overlooking Pendle Forest. It is one of 
the most interesting specimens of Elizabethan domestic archi- 
tecture in the neighbourhood, and seems to have been erected 
about 1560. Its handsome front of five picturesque gables are 
surmounted by finials of that date, and being of three storeys, 
the building has a more commanding appearance than the many 
smaller two-storied contemporary domestic mansions existing in 
the locality. Between the gables the original massive gurgoyles 
intervene, but the external front as well as other portions of the 
Hall have undergone much change during later years. The 
mullioned and transomed windows in the lower storeys have 
been removed, and the old, flat, thick, wooden sashes of the 
Queen Anne epoch introduced. Those in the gables are however 
in siti. The principal entrance was originally differently placed 
than it is now, and in a field to the east may be seen the 
weather-worn stone posts of the old gateway which gave admis- 
sion to the grounds. These stones are like the house itself 
found of millstone grit, drawn probably from the quarries to the 
rear of the Hall. On the lawn in front is a quaint octagonal 
sundial, which is shewn by a rude inscription on the shaft sup- 
porting it, to have been put up by one ‘“ Christopher Trueman,” 
who is described as ‘‘ generosus.”” The name of a John Dyson, 
(? Diwon) also appears on the pedestal, and as it has also been 
found on the sundial over the porch of Colne Church, it is con- 
jectured that he was frequently employed in this class of work 
at the period when the Alkincoates dial was erected. 
Scattered about the grounds of Alkincoates are relics of 
Keclesiastical masonry, alleged to have been brought from Selby, 
and prominent among the fragments may be seen Karly English, 
later Gothic, and Norman dog tooth moulding. There are also 
