A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



elevation, which is loi ft. in length, had formerly only 

 one chimney at the junction of the old and later work 

 of the two wings, but a modern brick chimney added 

 in the north end has had the effect of breaking the 

 straight line where most needed, and giving a balance 

 to the original elevation which it formerly lacked. 

 The windows are for the most part slightly projecting 

 wooden bays carried on carved brackets, the carving 

 along the west wing being mostly original, but in the 

 south side modern copies. Over the entrance archway 

 is a small oriel, the corbel beneath it richly carved 

 with Gothic tracery in a series of radiating panels 

 springing from a shaft which rises from a small blank 

 shield on the crown of the four-centred entrance arch- 

 way. The projecting sills of the other first-floor 

 windows exhibit equally good carved tracery, and one 

 has the figure of a hart couchant, a fine piece of 

 work.*"' 



The entrance to the court on the east side is under 

 a plain timber arch, I o ft. 6 in. wide, the old oak door 

 and wicket still being in position. An inner wall, 

 however, has been built, blocking the open way to the 

 court ; the present entrance therefore now only leads 

 into the corridor which runs along the east side of the 

 courtyard. Originally this corridor, which runs round 

 the court on the east and south sides, was an open 

 one carried on wood posts resting on stone bases, but 

 the greater part of it is now inclosed. Its original 

 appearance, however, can still be gathered from the 

 north-east corner of the courtyard, where a length of 

 about 20 ft. still remains as built, forming a very pic- 

 turesque feature of the inner elevation. The old stone 

 and wood posts are still in position the full length of 

 the east side, the later wall being merely filled in 

 between them, and continue for a distance of about 

 12 ft. along the south side, opposite the junction of 

 the dining and drawing-rooms. The open corridor 

 may indeed only have extended this far, and the 

 dining-room (which is said to have been the ancient 

 chapel) may belong to the earlier portion of the 

 building. Its present condition is so entirely modern 

 as to make it impossible to say whether this is so or 

 not. The dining-room and drawing-room, however, 

 are clearly of different dates, the division between 

 them consisting of two walls side by side with a small 

 space between, and their floors on different levels. 

 Probably the rebuilding of the south wing was begun 

 from this point westward at some time in the 1 7th 

 century, and the old chapel converted to its later use 

 at some subsequent date. 



The courtyard is of irregular shape, and measures 

 43 ft. 6 in. across at its widest part from west to east, 

 and 52 ft. from south to north. It presents a great 

 contrast to the outer elevations of the house, the sky- 

 line being broken on the west side by three gables, 

 two over the hall and one over the projecting bay 

 formed by the old kitchen. The timber framing of 

 the bay preserves something of the plainness of the 

 garden fronts, but the vertical lines give place to 

 diagonal tracings, and the upper story projects on 

 brackets and a plaster cove. The gables over the hall, 

 however, are richly ornamented with quatrefoil panels, 

 and a panelled cove runs the full length of the hall, 

 at the first-floor line, at a higher level than those of the 

 old kitchen bay line, the lower portion of the wall being 



occupied by a long continuous window of fifteen 

 lights on a moulded stone base 3 ft. 6 in. high. The 

 gables are without barge-boards or hip-knobs, being 

 quite plain, with overhanging slates. The only two 

 gables in the building with barge-boards are shown at 

 the ends of the south and east wings facing east and 

 north, which have both been constructed in late years. 

 The north side of the court preserves its old black and 

 white wood and plaster construction, but in the west 

 and south the elevations have been a good deal 

 modernized, though in harmony with the old work, 

 and much of the 'half-timber work' is paint or 

 plaster. The east corridor runs right through the 

 building to an outer door on the north side, and the 

 south corridor leads direct to the great hall. A modern 

 butler's pantry has been added in the south-east corner 

 of the courtyard. 



The rooms in the north and east wings, which are 

 9 ft. 6 in. high, are for the most part unimportant, 

 being still used as the servants' part of the house, the 

 present kitchen being immediately to the north of the 

 entrance. North of the kitchen is a small staircase 

 leading to the upper floor with good 17th-century flat 

 pierced balusters. Another small staircase in the west 

 wing north of the hall also preserves some 1 7th-century 

 detail, but the main staircase in the south wing is 

 modern. Internally the whole of the south wing is 

 so much modernized as to be of little architectural 

 interest ; it contains the library, drawing-room, and 

 dining-room, vnth the principal entrance and stair- 

 case. In the east window of the dining-room, which, 

 like the oak panelling and other fittings, is modern, is 

 preserved some ancient glass, some of which was 

 formerly in other parts of the house. The initials 

 R.L. (Ralph Langley) occur in several of the lights, 

 either in a lozenge or circle, and sometimes with 

 the Langley crest (a cockatrice). The centre light 

 bears the Royal Arms (France and England) encircled 

 by a garter, and surmounted by a crown, and in 

 other lights are the badge of Edmund of Langley, 

 Duke of York (a falcon in a closed fetter lock), a lion's 

 head erazed gules collared and lined or, a red and a 

 white rose with stalks entwined, and a crown and 

 initials H.E. for Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, 

 and a daisy (root and flower) with the head of a 

 greyhound over. The Langley crest also occurs 

 twice by itself. The drawing-room preserves its 

 original square - framed oak panelling on three 

 sides, and over the north door are four full-length 

 figures and four heads, said to be emblematic of peace 

 and war, originally part of the pulpit in the private 

 chapel." On either side of the same door are carved 

 panels, some with tracery, and others with a variety of 

 linen pattern. The library, which is wholly modern- 

 ized, has also some fragments of heraldic glass in the 

 window, one showing part of a shield argent, two 

 hunting horns gules, stringed or. The staircase 

 window preserves some old diamond quarries, five of 

 which bear the initials R.L., while on another is 

 scratched the name of William Dauntesey, and the 

 date 'June y° 12, 1645.' 



The great hall is 14 ft. in height, and has a flat 

 panelled ceiling divided into four bays by three wide 

 oak beams, and with intermediate moulded ribs. It 

 measures 29 ft. in length and 23 ft. 6 in. in width, 



"•■This haa made Booker {Prcsfwich, 



aoo) «nppose that the figure ia the 

 bidge of Richard II, and makes him 



think the work may date back to the reign 

 of that monarch. But, as he himself 

 allows, the animal has no collar and 



402 



chain, and there is nothing in the rest of 

 the work to suggest such an early date. 

 "Booker, Presnvicb, igS. 



Digitized by IVIicrosoft® 



