GARDENS OLD AND NEIV. 



THH: HALL AND us TERRACED. 



upon the throat of another, and when the wrongs of one reign 

 brought their retiibution in that which followed. It is recorded 

 that in 1555 a young curate, named George Marsh, was appre- 

 hended and brought before Justice Barton at Smithills, on the 

 charge of holding heretical opinions obnoxious to the govern- 

 ment of Queen Mary. At the examination Marsh's frienJs, 

 foreseeing the dangers, entreated him to conform, but he stood 

 steadfast, and, stamping his foot on the ground, exclaimed : 

 " If my cause be just, let the prayers of thine unworthy 

 servant be heard." Thereafter, so the story goes, the foot- 

 print remained, and was regarded with veneration ; and even 

 now, as if to confound the incredulous, it may be seen in the 

 passage by the "gospel hall." A panel in the floor is raised, 

 and there something like the imprint of a foot is seen, while 

 above is an inscription on the wall recording how George 

 Marsh of U^ane, whose fo >tprint it is, was burnt at Chester 

 in Mary's time. It appears that, after being examined at 

 Smithills, Marsh wa> taken before the Earl of Derby at 

 Lathom, and was burnt outside the walls of Chester on 

 April 24th, 1555. 



Sir Thomas Barton of Smithills died in 1659, and the 

 estate passed, with his daughter Grace, as sole heiress, to 

 Henry Belasyse, M.P., eldest son of Thomas, first Viscount 

 Fauconberg, whose descendant, the third barl, sold the manor 

 in 1721. It afterwards passed to the Byroms of Manchester, 

 and was sold for .21,000 to Mr. Richard Ainsworth of Helli- 

 well, who died in 1833. It thus reached good hands, and, 

 through the care of that gentleman and his present successor 

 in the estate, has been brought to a new state of perfection. 



Mr. Henry Taylor, who has written a very interesting 

 book, entitled "Old Halls in Lancashire and Cheshire," says 

 that the architectural history of Smithills is more beset with 

 entanglements than that of almost any other old house he has 

 dealt with, in consequence of the great number of a teiations 

 and rebuildings in medieval and subsequent times. The 

 diiltculty of unravelling the confusion is increased by the 

 unusually large number of rooms and the great size of the 

 house. From the architectural point of view, the main interest 

 is on the eastern side of the quadrangle, from which the 

 domestic part has gone westward, where the more modern 

 portions lie in an added wing. The courtyard, which, as we 



have said, is open on the south side, is about 6oft. square. 

 On the north is the great hall, with the pantry and buttery, 

 and acro-o the western end of the large apartment are screens, 

 with an ancient passage through the building from north to 

 south. At the east end stood the high table, with a canopy 

 over it, but at the close of the eighteenth century the great 

 hall was converted into a brew-house, the side walls raised, 

 and a false roof of flatter pitch added, and a new floor. The 

 walls have been all more or less rebuilt, the first rebuilding 

 being from wood to stone in Tudor times. There is now an 

 open timber roof of very great beauty, and from it the date 

 of the earlier building may be taken. 



Hntered by a door at the back of the high table was the 

 smaller hall, or lord's chamber, now divided into rooms, and 

 further east was a charming withdrawing-room or banqueting- 

 room. The dom stic chapel is on that side also, and may be 

 seen in the pictures, with a cross upon the < r ab!e and ivy 

 clothing the walls. Unfortunately, it has suffered damage 

 in past times by fire, and so is not s > generally interesting. 

 On the western side of the quadrangle are apartments with 

 massive oak timber roofs, built originally without the corridor, 

 which is now seen. This was added in the Jacobean period 

 to provide means for entering the upp?r rooms independently, 

 and is supported by an arcade of oak columns, forming a 

 verandah to the lower rooms, where is the splendid old oak 

 carving, with the ancient linen pattern, the rebus of the bar 

 and ton, the oak leaves and acorn, and quant legends, most 

 of the oak having been taken from the old withdrawing-room 

 on the other side of the quadrangle. 



Such, then, is the ancient Lancashire house at Smithills. 

 In its surroundings, though we might wish the busy hum of 

 the urgent world somewhat further away, there is very much 

 that in our garden survey we have been able to admire. 

 Those broad expanses of grass, that simple treatment of the 

 tei racing upon the gentle sh.-pe, the presence of those old 

 trees, and the encouragement of those gorgeous colonies of 

 radiant flowers, seem to present together all that we should 

 wish to find in the surroundings of such a house. Long 

 may Smithills Hall remain as the exemplar of good things 

 coming down from ancient times, and well preserved in 

 modem days. 



