SALFORD HUNDRED 



square-headed window - frame in oak with Gothic 

 tracery. 



In 1833 the fabric, except the tower, was described 

 as of 'brick inclosed in squares of wood,' 51 and the 

 large chamber above the kitchen had been converted 

 into two rooms. The building was then supported 

 by ' substantial buttresses ' ; but where such supports 

 were wanting the walls had fallen. The great hall 

 was then used as a hayloft and cowshed. The ancient 

 timber framework had apparently by that time been 

 filled in with brick, and the whole structure was in a 

 state of ruin and dilapidation. It had been taken 

 down before 1844, and the materials, described as 

 * chiefly beams and planks of solid black oak,' used for 

 building purposes. 



The stone tower, the bottom part of which is 

 still standing, is 50 ft. in length and 28 ft. in width. 

 These measurements are external, the greater length 



PLAN OF RADCLIFFE TOWER 



being from north to south. The walls are 5 ft. thick 

 all round above the plinth, which has a projection of 

 1 2 in. The tower was probably of two stories, with 

 an embattled parapet ; but the upper part has now 

 almost entirely disappeared, only portions of the walls 

 above the level of the first floor being still in situ, the 

 rest having crumbled away in comparatively recent 

 years. The walls being quite exposed to the weather 

 at the top this process of gradual disintegration of the 

 structure is likely to continue. The lower room of 

 the tower was originally covered by a semicircular 

 barrel vault, the springing of which at each side may 

 still be seen. Some portion of this vault was standing 

 as late as 1 844, when Samuel Bamford, who visited 

 the tower in that year, described it as hanging by a 

 single stone, and ' unless it be protected from further 

 wanton outrage must soon share the fate of the hall.' 53 

 The spring of the vault is about 5 ft. from the ground, 

 which would make the height of the apartment about 

 1 5 ft. It was lit at each end by a window high up 

 in the wall, and on the east side by two smaller win- 

 dows nearer the ground. The entrance on the west 

 side is through a pointed doorway, 4 ft. wide, the 

 jambs and head of which have a continuous double 

 chamfer. The chief feature of this lower room of 

 the tower, however, consists of three large arched 

 openings about 10 ft. in width, one at each end and 

 the other in the middle of the east wall opposite the 

 entrance. They have an inner and outer arch, 1 5 in. 



RADCLIFFE 



in thickness at the wall faces, with a space between of 

 2 ft. 6 in., from the centre of which a square flue is 

 carried up in the thickness of the wall. The outer 

 arch was built up on the outside, the plinth being 

 carried across the blocking wall at the line of the 

 springing, about 4 ft. 3 in. from the ground. From 

 the evidence of the masonry this is part of the original 

 work done at the time of building. The height to 

 the top of the arch, which is pointed and built of 

 voussoirs, is about 9 ft. It seems most reasonable to 

 regard these openings as fireplaces, and that at the 

 north end of the room is still in its original state. 

 The other two have been opened out, and are now 

 open archways, that in the south side forming the 

 principal entrance to the tower, which is used for 

 store purposes in connexion with the adjoining farm 

 and roofed with wood. The east archway now gives 

 access to a wooden shed built along that side of the 

 tower. The north and south fireplaces are not in the 

 middle of the end walls, but immediately against the 

 west side of the building. The presence of three 

 such fireplaces in so comparatively small an apartment 

 would at first sight suggest that the room had been 

 used as a kitchen, but this is unlikely if the tower 

 were used, as it appears to have been, as the part of 

 the house allotted to the family. The three square 

 flues are still well preserved in the walls, the stones 

 of that on the south side yet showing a calcined 

 surface. 



The room above was approached by a stone stair- 

 case in the thickness of the wall at the south end of 

 the west wall, leading out of the great hall at a height 

 of about 7 ft. 6 in. above the floor. The doorway 

 to this staircase has a pointed head, and the wall is 

 thickened to 6 ft. at this point to allow of room for 

 the stairs. The steps are still in position, along with 

 the sill of a small two-light window which lit the 

 landing at their head. There is an ordinary fireplace 

 opening on the first floor 7 ft. wide in the centre of 

 the west wall. 



The outer walls of the tower are constructed of 

 heavy blocks of coursed stone on the north, south, 

 and east sides, and for a distance of about 1 2 ft. on 

 the north end of the west side. At this point the 

 plinth stops, and the coursed masonry leaves off at the 

 height of the sill of the doorway of the upper room. 

 The point where the ashlar ceases marks the line of 

 the front of the timber-built hall, the line of the roof 

 of which may still be seen on the rough walling at 

 the west side of the tower. On this side the centre 

 portion of the wall yet stands nearly 30 ft. above the 

 ground, though the end walls of the building are 

 reduced to something like half that height. About 

 midway in the height of the west wall, 1 5 ft. 3 in. 

 from the ground, and formerly the end wall of the 

 great hall, is a projecting string-course, which stops at 

 either end at the line of the ancient roof. 



In 1592 the Earl of Derby sent certain widows, 

 who were recusants, to prison in the tower, it being 

 'withinland and in the hundred where the people 

 are well affected.' M 



Junior branches of the local family occur from time 

 to time. In 1357 Robert son of Adam de Radcliffe 

 made a claim against Adam son of William de 

 Radcliffe. 55 



58 Butterworth for Baines, Land. 

 58 A woodcut in The Pictorial Hittory 

 of Lane. 260 (1844), shows part of the 



vault still standing. The stairs to the 

 chamber were cut from solid blocks of 

 oak ; Mane A. Guard. 1844 and 1888. 



61 



54 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1591-4, p. 288. 

 Mrs. Anne Hoghton was one of them. 

 85 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5, m. 10 d. 



