A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



meavjre 19 ft. by 18 ft. externally, and are now used 

 in connexion with the stables and offices. The gate- 

 way tower has a lead fiat, and the first floor rooms 

 are approached by an internal stone staircase on the 

 south side. The entrance to the courtyard is under 

 a pointed archway i 2 ft. wide, with middle gateway, 

 the arch springing from moulded imposts. Above, 

 facing west, is a panel with good Renaissance orna- 

 ment, under a label, carded with the representation 

 of a man struggling with a beast, a possible reference 

 to Samson slaying the lion, together with the initials 

 of Thomas Hoghton. Over this again is a three- 

 light mullioned window and another to the tower 

 room above. There are t\vo-light windows also to 

 the first floor rooms in the flanking lower parts, and 

 the angle towers have each a t\vo-light window facing 

 west on each floor. 



The lower courtyard measures 145 ft. from west 

 to east and about i zo ft. in width, and is divided 

 into two portions, a kind of lower and upper ward, 

 the lower being paved with stone setts. The ground 

 here falls so steeply that at the cast or upper end a 

 wall has been built inclosing a grass plot with a 

 flight of steps at either end, raising this portion of 

 the quadrangle nearly to the level of the upper court. 

 The effect of the inclosing low stone wall with its 

 tall gate piers and flight of semicircular stone steps is 

 very picturesque, and gives architectural distinaion 

 to what might otherwise, since the destruction of the 

 great tower, have been a r.ither featureless open space. 

 On the south side is the thrcc-storicd block of 

 buildings erected in i 700 by Sir Charles Hoghton, 

 74 ft. in length, originally detached from the main 

 structure and separated from it by a space of 1 4 ft. On 

 the front is a panel «ith the inscription ' C.H., M.H. 

 I 700. 2 Pet. Ch. iii, I I, Scein then, etc.,' the initials 

 being those of Sir Charles and Mary Hoghton his wife.' 

 The elevation preserves all thecharacteristics of the older 

 part of the house, and, now that it is joined up to it 

 by the erection of modern buildings over the inter- 

 vening space, there is little or nothing to indicate 

 that it is not part of the original design. Internally 

 a corridor on the south side of the ground floor of the 

 older buildings is now continued at the same level 

 along the fir>t floor of the later structure. The 

 north side of the courtyard has been largely rebuilt, 

 but orij;lnal wurl. remains in the outer walls of the 

 servants' h.ill, though the windows and internal 

 arrangements are modern. All the old buildings on 

 the north side of the house between the servants' 

 hall and the kitchen have now given place to new work, 

 though the old well-house still remains in the north- 

 east corner of the courtyard. This is a small one- 

 story structure 1 5 ft. by 1 3 ft. inside attached to 

 the main building on its east side, inclosing a draw- 

 well of great depth. The buildings on the north of 

 the courtyard are of two stories, but the upper rooms 

 being really attics lit from stone gables in the roof, 

 the height to the eaves is only about 16 ft. The 

 buildings stop short some 50 ft. of the west side of 

 the courtyard, which is inclosed at that point by a 

 high fence wall and gateway to the stable yard. 

 The stable, which is 51 ft. long by 20 ft. wide and 



' Tht Sc^^pture alinsion bears witness to the Puritan prin- 

 ciples of the fourth baronet. It refers to 2 Peter iii, ii : 

 'Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissoiyed, what 

 manner of persns ought jt to be in all holy conversation and 

 godlin^i! r ' 



of I 7th-ccntury date, is I 3 ft. to the north of the 

 northwest tower, standing well in advance of the 

 main west front of the building. The cast side of 

 the courtyard now suffers nri;hitccturally by the loss 

 of the gateway tower. The wall has been raised 

 about 2 ft. by the addition of two courje^ of stone 

 above the windows, and the roof is now carried 

 through from end to end, the original appearance 

 of the middle wing being thus completely lost. The 

 windows are small, without transoms, and, with the 

 exception of the central archway, the corbelled 

 chimney stacks at each end alone give any distinction 

 to the elevation. The archway is very similar in 

 detail to that in the \vest entrance, springing from 

 moulded imposts, and over it, facing west, is a panel 

 with the initials of Thomas Hoghton and a shield 

 of arms, Hoghton quartering Assheton, with sup- 

 porters, helm, crest, and mantling.' Over the arch 

 facing east to the upper court the arms are repeated, 

 without crest, mantling or supporters, but with the 

 date 1565 below. 



The upper courtyard is about 70 ft. square, and 

 has the great hall and kitchen on its north side, with 

 the state rooms on the east and the living rooms on 

 the south and west. Originally the chapel occupied 

 a position at the north-east corner leading from the 

 c.i.t end of the great hall, but it had fallen into com- 

 plete ruin before the time of the restoration, and all 

 that was left of it was then removed and a new 

 entrance to the house constructed on part of its site. 

 'I he chapel was slightly swung round from the line 

 of the house so as to orientate correctly, the line of 

 the entrance hall still indicating its position. 



The west and north sides of the upper courtyard 

 appear to have been erected first, and were probably 

 followed by the buildings on the south side, the east 

 wing, containing the state rooms, being most likely 

 the last to be completed. No definite conclusions, 

 however, can be arrived at concerning the order of 

 erection of the different parts of the earlier structure, 

 but absence of any bonding in the south-west, south- 

 c.^^t and north-east corners of the quadrangle indicates 

 that the buildings were not originally erected on any 

 premeditated plan. As originally built the extreme 

 south-west corner was open on the west, the south 

 wing of the lower court being afterwards built 

 against it, probably in the middle of the 1 7th century. 

 This is proved by the discovery during the restora- 

 tion of a large window in the upper floor facing 

 we^t, and by the existing straight joint in the walling 

 on the south front to the garden marking the former 

 external south-we.t angle of the building at that 

 point. The east wing again appears to be of two 

 periods, there being a straight joint in the walling 

 towards the court about half-way in its length, and 

 the north end of the King's Hall shows an older wall 

 on the west side for some portion of its length, 

 making the total width of the outside wall at this 

 point 4 ft. 6 in. This would seem to indicate the 

 existence of an older and slightly narrower wing 

 whose west side has at a later date been brought 

 forward to the line of the newer buildings to the 

 south of it. There wa= probably a good deal of 

 reconstruction carried out immediately prior to King 

 James s visit in 161 7, and most likely the east wing 



Lr'L'""'' 'PP"" '° •"= » restoration, the moulding 



LintL however. hcinT n\A o 



round, however, being old, 



44 



