222 Country Rambles. 



Much of the original hall has been renewed from time to 

 time, but it is still a glorious type of the best work of the 

 sixteenth century, and in the interior, as to antique 

 carving and other treasures, is rich beyond description. 

 The gardens also are delightful, and awaken reflections 

 in the most interesting manner, on the way in which 

 good planting now-a-days links past and present. The 

 ancient Britons, the oak, the birch, and the hawthorn 

 are there just as a thousand years ago; alongside of 

 them are the shapely evergreens which modern enter- 

 prise has brought from the Himalayas and Japan. A 

 pleasant though somewhat roundabout way to Smithills, 

 when permission can be obtained to enter, a privilege 

 not to be thought lightly of is to go first to Hall-i'th'- 

 Wood, then after crossing the Eagley, past Sweetloves, to 

 Horrocks Fold, and along the edge of the moor, locally 

 called the Scout, to the top of Deane Road, when the 

 hall is just below. The distance from Bolton is about 

 three miles. 



Entwistle, the station next beyond Turton, gives access 

 to a bit of water-scenery that would scarcely be expected. 

 Lymm and Hollingworth have prepared us for magnifi- 

 cent reservoirs; "Entwistle Lodge," the embankment for 

 which was constructed about fifty years ago, is little 

 inferior in beauty. As at Lymm, it has given existence 

 also to a dell beneath, into which, after heavy rain, 

 causing the water to overflow, there descends a cataract 

 of at least a hundred and fifty feet fall. The dell is the 

 only place near Manchester where the lily-of-the-valley 



