A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



sold.' A younger son, Alexander, was a colonel in 

 the king's army, and part of the father's estate was 

 sequestered in consequence.' 



Edward Standish succeeded his father about 1656 ; 

 he recorded a pedigree in 1664, being then forty- 

 seven years of age,' and died in 1682, leaving a son 

 and heir William, who died in 1705.* William's 

 heir was his son Ralph, who joined the Jacobites in 

 1 71 5, but secured his liberation and the restoration 

 of his estates.' He died about 1752,' and his son 

 having died before him without surviving issue the 

 inheritance ultimately went to the issue of a daughter 

 Cecilia, who had married William Towneley of 

 Towneley.' Her second son, Ralph Towneley 

 Standish, had Standish, but died without issue, and 

 the manor went to his sister Cecilia's son Thomas 

 Strickland of Sizergh, who assumed the name of 

 Standish. He died in 1813, and on a division of 

 his estates Standish became the share of his son 

 Charles Strickland Standish, who died in 1864.* 

 His son Charles Henry Widdrington Lionel Standish 

 succeeded him, and dying in 1883 was in turn 

 succeeded by his son, Mr. Henry No.iilles Wid- 

 drington Standish, the present lord of the manor. 



STJNDISH HALL is situated to the south-west 

 of the village, near the western boundary of the 

 township, on high ground facing south, overlooking 

 the valley of the Douglas. The house has been built 

 at different periods, and consists of two main blocks at 

 right angles to one another, the south front forming a 

 kind of courtyard inclosed on iti north and east sides 

 The original building seems to have been of the usual 

 H t)-pe, of timber and plaster on a stone base, facing 

 east and west. The middle wing of this house, built 

 about the year l 574, forms part of the east wing of 

 the present building, but on its east side the external 

 wall has been rebuilt in brick within the last few 

 years and the lower part brought forward. To the 

 north of this a brick wing has been added, probably 

 towards the end of the i jth century, when many 

 alterations appear to have been made in the original 

 house, and the south wing was rebuilt as a chapel in 

 1742-3. In 1748 the present three-story square 

 brick wing, which forms the principal part of the 

 house, was built to the west, and there was a later 

 addition in 1822, when a long one-story wing was 

 built still further ue-t, consisting of dining and 

 drawing rooms. The appearance of the house with 

 its variety of dates is interesting and not unpicturesque, 

 the old black and white 1 6th-century wing — the upper 

 part of which is carried on a plaster cove — grouping 



well with the 18th-century brick chapel and the 

 later tall, plain building between which and the chapel 

 it forms the connecting link. All the roofs are covered 

 with stone slates and the half-timber front has quatre- 

 foil panels on the ground floor, with a long window 

 of nineteen lights above, between which and the cove 

 are square panels with diagonal bracings. The great 

 hall, which was originally about 36 ft. by 17 ft., is 

 now used as a billiard room and has been so much 

 altered and modernized as to preserve nothing of its 

 original appearance. It appears always to have had 

 a flat ceiling, and the three rooms and corridor over 

 it, on the upper floor, probably presen'e the old 

 plan, though two of the rooms are modernized. The 

 third, however, as well as the corridor, retains its old 

 oak panelling, and a door at the end of the corridor 

 has good Ionic pilastered jambs, probably of the same 

 date as the later 17th-century wing to the north, 

 which has several interesting rooms on the first floor 

 with Renaissance wainscoting, and a good staircase 

 with turned balusters. In one of the bedrooms, 

 which has squ.ire oak panelling the full height of 

 the walls, is a fine fireplace with a large plaster shield 

 with the Standish arms ° and crest, with cherubs' 

 heads as supporters. A doorway in this room has 

 bold Ionic pilaster architraves, and all the detail of 

 the wainscoting is good. The room known as the 

 library, also on the first floor, is wainscoted with 

 tall boldly-moulded panels opening as doors to 

 bookcases behind — a very good example of late 17th- 

 century woodwork. In the fireplace the Ionic 

 pilaster with dentiUed cornice is again used with good 

 effect. 



The chapel consists of a chancel 13 ft. 6 in. by 

 1 3 ft. and nave 29 ft. 8 in. by 19 ft. 6 in. ; it is now 

 very dilapidated, having been disused for a long 

 period. It is built of brick with gabled ends and 

 has a \\n Jen turret at the west and clock in the 

 gable. The windows are lofty and with semicircular 

 heads, the whole being a rather dignified example of 

 Renaissance brickwork. The old gallery at the west 

 end with its shaped balustraded front remains, but 

 the plaster of the ceiling and walls is broken and 

 falling to pieces, and the sanctuary has been stripped 

 of its ornamentation, though the carved rails and the 

 classic altarpiece with Tuscan columns and broken 

 pediment remain. High up in the north wall is a 

 window from one of the upper rooms in the old 

 building, which was at one time used by the priest in 

 charge. In the south wall are two pieces of moulded 

 oak about 6 ft. apart which appear to be of 1 6th- 



' StcCal.Com.for Cc^-p. iv,25-4.; Index 

 ofRoyj!:sn (Index Soc), 38. Nothing is said 

 about his recusancy. He is probably the 

 * Master Standish of Standish ' who took 

 part in Lord Strange's attack on Manchester 

 in 1 642 ; C/^'// Pf^jr Tracts { Chet. Soc), 5 1. 



Edward Standish was in 1632 con- 

 tracted to marry Elizabeth daughter of 

 Sir Francis Howard of Xaworth j Standish 

 D. {Local Glean.), no. 364. 



' Cal. Co-n.far Cojr.f. iv, 2812. 



' Dugdale, I'isi!. (ChcL Soc.}, 291. 

 William the son of Edward was then 

 twenty-six years old and married to 

 Cecilia daughter (and heir) of Sir Robert 

 Bindloss of Berwick. 



Settlements of the manor were made 

 by Edward Standish in 1660 and i66g ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdles. 16^, m, 

 8 : 182, m. 102. 



In 16-- a Private Act was obtained 

 enabling the trustees of Edward Standish 

 to sell lands for the payment of his debts ; 

 29 Chas. II, cap. 13. 



* William Standish was one of those 

 charged with participr.tion in the supposed 

 Lancashire plots of 1690 and 1694. The 

 hall was alleged to have been a meeting- 

 place of the conspirators and was accord- 

 ingly searched. See Lanes. Pl'A (Chet. 

 Soc), 36, 37 ; Hitt. MSS. Com, Ref. xiv, 

 App. iv, 238, 297, &c 



A settlement of the Standish manors 

 was made in 1698 ; PaL of Lane Feet of 

 F. bdle. 240, m. 140. 



Cecilia Standish, widow of William, 

 in 1 71 7 registered her estate, including 

 the manor of Standish 5 Engl. Caih. Non- 

 jurcrt, 143, 



' There are rentals of Ralph Standish 

 among the Forfeited Estates Papers, 

 P.R.O. 



' His will seems to have been proved 

 in 1755 ; Piccope MSS. (Chet. Lib.), iii, 

 284, from R. 29 of Geo. II at Preston. 



Deeds concerning the estates were in 

 1736 enrolled in the Common Pleas; 

 HiL 10 Geo. II, 56/7. Ralph Standish 

 and Cecilia, his only child, were parties. 



' The latter part of the descent is 

 taken from a full pedigree in Piccope 

 MS. Pedigrees (Chet. Lib.), i, 79 ; see 

 also B irke's Commoners, ii, 67. 



' Charles Standish served as M.P. for 

 Wigan in 1837 and 1842; he was a 

 Liberal ; Pink and Beaven, Pari. Refrt, 

 of Lanes. 241, 242. 



• The shield is one of ten quartcri. 



196 



