192 



SHALLCROSS AND YEARDSLEY HALLS. 



was probably a stone re-used from the earlier buildings. There 

 is also, as the entrance to the western courtyard, a gateway 

 which is a good example of Elizabethan design. 



Colonel Hall, of Horwich, who was born at Shallcross, 

 informs me that so long as his family lived there an entire 

 room was hung in tapestry. Unfortunately it has since dis- 

 appeared, save for fragments which were rescued from the attics 

 and carefully restored. Of these, the illustrations will give a 

 far better idea than any words of mine, but the authorities at 

 the South Kensington Museum, representing the Board of 

 Education, have most kindly interested themselves in the matter, 

 and report as follows : — " No illustration of such a subject as 



A. Victor Haslam. 



Shallcross Hall. A Fragment of Tapestry. 



shewn upon the tapestries can be found in the literature on 

 Tapestry in the Art Library of this Museum. Judging from 

 the coarse style of weaving and the design of the borders these 

 pieces are most probably Flemish (Brussels) of the very late 

 seventeenth century. With regard to the question as to the 

 subject treated, it may be stated that at the period indicated 

 one of the most favourite themes was the history of Alexander 

 the Great, a set of which was woven from the designs of various 

 artists at nearly all the more celebrated factories, such as 

 Brussels, Paris (Gobelins), Florence, etc. The special scene 

 here shewn is impossible to decisively identify, but may represent 



