A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



with a yellowish plaster, and have been decorated in 

 modern times with quatrefoils painted in black to 

 imitate timber-work, with the usual poor and flimsy 

 effect. There are no original windows ; a modern 

 four-light window has been inserted in the lower part 

 of the wall, and smaller ones above to light the bed- 

 rooms in the roof. The condition of the external 

 woodwork is bad in places, it having been much 

 strained by the weight of the floor inserted at half 

 height in the seventeenth century. Of the south 

 wall of the hall only a small piece remains by the 

 staircase, concealed by plaster and otherwise mutilated. 

 The interior has suffered by being cut up into two 

 stories ; the ground floor, which is paved with stone, 

 shows three moulded beams of the seventeenth century 

 in the ceiling, but has no other features of interest, 

 the seventeenth-century fireplace being hidden by the 

 insertion of a modern grate, and the bay-window cut 

 off by a partition. On going into the bedrooms 

 above it will be seen that the fifteenth-century roof 

 remains, though but little of it appears through the 

 plaster and whitewash. It is a good specimen of its 

 kind, having king-post trusses with cambered ties and 

 curved braces below, and quatrefoiled wind-braces 



i5^cent. EH3 c. 1 600 CZD mo d c rn 



HARLETON HALL : GROUND PLAN 



between the purlins. Its easternmost truss has larger 

 braces than the others, forming a four-centred arch 

 below the beam designed to frame the gallery over 

 the screens. The bay-window of the hall is in two 

 stories, as originally designed, built of brick with 

 stone mullions and dressings, with a five-light window 

 on the south and single openings on each side, all 

 being square-headed with weathered labels of the 

 usual section above. 



The west wing, of two stories, with brick walls only 

 14 in. thick, is all of the early seventeenth century, 



and contains on the ground floor two rooms, now 

 used as sitting room and kitchen, with modern out- 

 houses built on to the north. The sitting-room has 

 a good window of seven lights on the south, and a 

 small projecting two-story bay on the west, one side 

 of which is formed by a large chimney stack. The 

 interior is completely modernized, the fireplace being 

 blocked with a modern grate, the bay partitioned off to 

 form a cupboard and its windows filled in, and the 

 long seven-light south window in great part built up. 

 Externally the original arrangement is clearly to be 

 seen, and on the accompanying plan the windows are 

 shown without the modern blocking. They are 

 exactly similar in character to those of the hall bay 

 above described. The room now used as a kitchen 

 has been much altered, and has no ancient features of 

 interest, but retains in part the chamfered stone plinth 

 which runs all round the seventeenth-century work. 

 The upper rooms in this wing contain nothing worthy 

 of mention. 



The east wing, ot two stories, has been largely 

 rebuilt in red brick, but its plan is probably on the 

 ancient lines, and the west and south walls, though 

 now refaced, are of timber and plaster construction ot 

 the same date as the hall ; the original 

 roof also remains, though hidden by plaster. 

 Under the south end of this wing is a 

 cellar, entered from the passage at the 

 end of the hall, with seventeenth-century 

 mullioned windows in its south wall. 



The family of Shaw were an early oft- 

 shoot of the Scarisbricks. Simon del Shaw 

 was a son of Walter de Scarisbrick by 

 Edusa de Hurleton, and had a son Gil- 

 bert and a daughter Quenilda. 1 His 

 brother Robert had a son William. 8 



In 1449 Henry Scarisbrick complained 

 that Isabel, widow of James del Shaw, 

 had taken away Hugh son and heir of 

 James, whose marriage belonged to him.* 

 Hugh Shaw of Scarisbrick, Maud his wife, 

 and James his son and heir, occur in 

 1477." James Shagh was assessed to the 

 subsidy in 1525 upon lands worth ^5; 5 

 and occurs in 1539 with his son William. 6 In 

 1563 Thomas Shawe was assessed to a subsidy in re- 

 spect of lands here, and John Shaw in 1599.' John 

 Shaw of Scarisbrick, gent., and Thomas, his son and 

 heir-apparent, occur in l6i8. 8 John Shaw, gent., con- 

 tributed to the hearth tax in l666; 9 his will was 

 proved in 1692.' 



GORSUCH was given by Walter de Scarisbrick to 

 his younger son Adam, who took the local surname ; 

 subsequently the land was given to Burscough Priory 

 to be held of Adam in free alms." The prior re- 



' Lay Sub. Lan 



8 Lanes. Inq. p. m. (Rec. Soc.), ii, 186. 



9 Lay Sub. Lanes, bdle. 250, n. 9. 



10 Will at Chest. The will of John 

 Shaw, of Scarisbrick, yeoman, was proved 

 in 1735. 



11 Burscough Reg. fol. 15 b. The char- 

 ter gives the bounds thus : From the head 

 of Gosford Syke, along the syke to and 

 then along the boundary between Ren- 

 acres (in Halsall) and Scarisbrick to the 

 place where the White Syke falls into 

 Senekar Syke ; then by the corner of 

 Adam's ditch to the starting point. 



