A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



inserted later, the floor of which would probably be 

 about the height of the present modern floor over 

 the screens. 44 



The great chamber at the east end of the hall is 

 now cut up and hardly recognizable, but was formerly 

 a room 33 ft. long by 14 ft. 6 in. wide with windows 

 north and south and a large fireplace on the east side, 

 all of which features still remain though difficult to 

 distinguish. The ceiling is low and crossed by four 

 moulded beams and a single one its full length form- 

 ing ten square panels, and there is a room over. The 

 window at the south end under the gable facing the 

 quadrangle is an original square-headed one with 

 moulded wood mullions and diamond quarries. 



Beyond the great chamber a small lobby marks the 

 junction of the north and east wings, with a door to 

 a small open court on the north. From this court 

 some external timber construction can be seen on the 

 north and west sides, together with the massive stone 

 chimney of the great chamber one of the few parts 

 of the building that have not been much restored. 

 On the floor of the lobby itself is shown the footprint 

 of George Marsh, the Protestant martyr, carefully 

 preserved under a grating. 



The large room at the north end of the east wing 

 may have been used as a dining-room after the aban- 

 donment of the great hall, or possibly as a withdraw- 

 ing-room. It is 33 ft. in length and 1 9 ft. wide, and 

 at its south-east corner is a large bay window 1 1 ft. 

 square separated from the room by an arched opening 

 with carved spandrels. The great distance of the 

 room from the kitchen is rather against its having 

 been used as a banqueting hall, though there appears 

 to have been a doorway to a cellar (at a lower level) 

 at the north-east end. The ceiling is divided into 

 four bays by three richly moulded oak beams with 

 moulded brackets supported on wood corbels and longi- 

 tudinally by three smaller beams, similarly moulded, 

 making twelve squares, each square being enriched by 

 moulded joists about a foot apart. The ceiling of the 

 bay is boarded, with thin moulded ribs nailed on 

 forming a star-shaped panelling. The bay itself 

 preserves its old timber construction, and goes up two 

 stories, finishing in a gable; but the windows are only 

 old on the north and south sides, where the original 

 diamond quarries and moulded mullions and transoms 

 remain. 45 On the east the window frame is modern with 

 square chamfered detail and large square quarries. The 

 north and east walls of the room have been rebuilt in 

 brick, but the west and south walls show the old 

 timber and plaster construction, but are otherwise 

 plain. The fireplace on the east side and the win- 

 dows near it are modern. Originally the room was 

 richly panelled in oak, 46 and must have presented a 

 very handsome appearance, but a good deal of the 



oak panelling is now in the modern dining-room on 

 the other side of the house. The room over was 

 called the Green Chamber, and is that in which the 

 examination of George Marsh is said to have been 

 held. 



The domestic chapel is 42 ft. long and 2 1 ft wide 

 at the west end, tapering to 1 8 ft. at the east. In 

 1856 a fire did much damage, entirely destroying the 

 roof and all the furniture, and the interior has there- 

 fore little archaeological interest, all the fittings being 

 modern. The entrance from the house corridor is at 

 the north-west corner, and there is a door at the 

 west end opening to the garden. There is a large 

 square-headed mullioned and transomed window at 

 each end, three smaller windows of three and four 

 lights in the south side, and one of four lights at 

 the east end of the north side. The coloured glass 

 is all new, except in the east window, where por- 

 tions of the original heraldic glass are preserved, 

 with the Stanley arms and badge conspicuous among 

 them. 



On the north side, separated from it by a wall, 

 a room was formerly used as a vestry, 47 1 8 ft. by 

 1 4 ft., above which, open to the chapel, was the 

 family pew approached by a door from the corri- 

 dor above. The vestry has now been thrown into 

 the chapel as a kind of transept, and the pew turned 

 into a gallery. The chapel is still used for public 

 worship. 



The rooms in the ancient west wing have been 

 wholly modernized and have no particular interest. 

 They consist of an ante-room and a modern drawing- 

 room of irregular shape, with a narrow staircase on 

 the west side adjoining the fireplace, which, carried 

 up with an external timber gable next to the chimney, 

 makes a rather happy feature in the garden front. 

 In the ante-room is a good carved oak mantel with 

 the date 1694 and the initials A.B. West of these the 

 house is more or less modern, the lyth-century addi- 

 tions which immediately adjoin the old west wing 

 having been a good deal reconstructed and restored. 

 The dining-room and library, however, are interesting 

 rooms on account of their oak wainscot, that of the 

 dining-room being, as before stated, the original 

 panelling from the later hall on the other side of the 

 house. It consists chiefly of long linen pattern panels, 

 with square panels below and an elaborate cornice above. 

 On the west wall is a series of fourteen panels 

 carved in the top part with heads within circles, and 

 below with various designs, four having the Barton 

 oak leaf and acorn, three the buck's head, two a 

 molet, and the rest various patterns of interlaced work. 

 A central additional panel has the sacred monogram 

 " I.H.S." as an interlaced pattern under an ogee 

 head. 48 The library adjoining (between the dining 



44 ' At some subsequent period, but 

 still in Gothic times, a minstrels' gallery 

 was inserted, the mortices for which are 

 still conspicuous.' Henry Taylor, Old 

 Halls in Lanes, and Ches. (1883). 



45 There is also a moulded sill on the 

 south side, but that on the north is 

 modern. 



46 Dr. Aikin, writing in 1795, says: 

 'At Smithells is still remaining a wain- 

 scotted room, the panels of which are 

 adorned with upwards of fifty heads cut 

 in the wood which are supposed to repre- 

 sent different persons of the family ' 



(Descr. of the Country from thirty to fifty 

 miles round Manchester). By 1824. a great 

 part of the panelling had been taken 

 away, some of it being in the room 

 above, but the walls of the room 

 were still ' particularly curious for con- 

 taining carvings in wood ' ; John Brown, 

 Hist, of Great and Little Bolton. 



*7 According to the description in 

 Brown's Hist, of Bolton (1824), this room 

 originally formed part of the hall or with- 

 drawing-room on the north side, which 

 apartment had been thus curtailed by the 

 then owner. 



48 On either side of the bay window in 

 this room are painted the arms of the dif- 

 ferent families connected with Smithillg, 

 as follows : 



1. Radcliffe impaling Norley, 1330 



2. Barton impaling Radcliffe, 1505 



3. Barton impaling Stanley, 1567 



4. Belasyse impaling Barton, 1641 



5. Byrom impaling Bradshaw, 1723 



6. Ainsworth impaling Aspinall, 



1801 



7. Ainsworth impaling Noble, 1807 



8. Ainsworth impaling Byrom, 



1833. 



