BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



otherwise too uniform monotony. The cornice here, 

 as throughout the house, is modern and incongruous 

 and the roof is covered with stone slates. The 

 most picturesque feature of the exterior is the bay 

 to the great hall with its square room above faced 

 with quatrefoil ornament and gable over, occupying 

 the angle at the junction of the west and south wings, 

 which, though the detail is nearly wholly modern, 

 retains most of its ancient features. 



The south front is built of 2-in. bricks on a stone 

 base, and its length, which was originally 113 ft. but 

 which the modern addition has increased to 143 ft., 

 is broken only by three original projecting chimneys 

 and a later one at the west end. The roof line runs 

 unbroken, except for a modern ventilator, from west 

 to east, and the general effect, as on the side facing 

 the court, is one of flatness and want of distinction. 

 The plaster cove is continued along the side of the 

 building under the eaves, and the windows are 

 square-headed with stone muUions and cinquefoiled 

 lights, many of them being modern restorations. 

 The chimney to the dining-room is externally 

 12 ft. 6 in. wide, and is built of stone to about two- 

 thirds of the height of the wall, above which, like the 

 others, it is of brick. A small modern brick porch 

 has been added in front of the one door on this 

 side of the building between the two easternmost 

 chimneys. The modern western extension contains 

 offices, with servants' rooms over, and is built of 

 brick faced on the north side with timber and 

 plaster. 



The great hall, the original arrangement of which 

 was similar to that at Little Mitton, is 33 ft. 9 in. 

 long by 26 ft. 3 in. wide, with a steep open roof 

 15 ft. to the wall-plate and 29 ft. 6 in. to the ridge. 

 The proportions were, however, slightly different, as 

 the room has been reduced in length at the north 

 end by about half a bay,^' and at the south end the 

 wide canopied recess which formerly occupied the 

 middle of the wall with a door on each side having 

 entirely disappeared, its space has been thrown into 

 the passage behind a screen which was erected 

 without any authority at the end of the hall. The 

 result has been to make a further reduction of about 

 6 ft. at this end, though the line of the two doors 

 which stood on either side of the recess is retained. 

 A drawing** of the hall as it was before the 

 alterations of 1 83 5 has fortunately been preserved, 

 together with one of the ancient oak screens which 

 stood at the north end. This screen was a very 

 handsome one dated 1532, and bearing the name of 

 Sir Thomas Southworth, similar in general appearance 

 and design to that at RufFord Old Hall, and standing 

 detached and movable probably between narrow 

 speres against the walls, carried up to the roof as arched 

 principals. In the 1835 alterations the north end of 

 the hall appears to have been pulled down, the 

 original passage behind the screen destroyed, and the 

 screen itself cut up and used in the erection, at the 

 south end, of the existing screen with the gallery over. 

 Into this, probably at the second restoration,"' a 

 quantity of later Jacobean woodwork from old 

 bedsteads and other furniture has been introduced, 



BLACKBURN 



producing a r.uher strange and incongruous effect. 

 The tall carved finials, which, as at RufFord, formed 

 so conspicuous a feature of the old screen, are, 

 however, rather cleverly worked into the composition 

 of the gallery front. The roof is divided into foui 

 bays of unequal size, that at the south being over the 

 gallery and passage. Two of the principal supports 

 are of unusually massive oak and are on the principle 

 of crook construction, with long curved timbers rising 

 from floor to ridge, with tie-beam and curved pieces 

 below. The tie-beam is held by a square king post, 

 which is intersected midway by a horizontal tie, and 

 the truss is strengthened by crossed beams inclining 

 with the slope of the roof The spaces between the 

 principal rafters and the purlins are plastered and 

 ornamented with diagonal wind braces, the inner sides 

 of which are foliated. The roof has been a good deal 

 restored and the side posts are encased in modern 

 varnished deal to a height of 5 ft. 6 in. from the 

 floor. The principals are unmoulded, but have a 

 simple hollow chamfer on the edge, and the wall-plate 

 is carved with a running floral pattern and embattled 

 along the top. The room, however, is now very 

 much modernized, the old flagged floor having given 

 place to one of wood and the walls papered. The 

 fireplace too if a modern Gothic one of stone inserted 

 in the original arched opening, which is i 5 ft. wide 

 and 7 ft. high to the crown of the arch. The west 

 wall appears to have been rebuilt in stone in the 

 1 6th century, and had formerly three low muUioned 

 windows high up below the eaves, one of which, 

 built up, may still be seen from the outside. The 

 original stone chimney shaft has disappeared and 

 given place to one in brick, and there is a good deal 

 of brick patching on the exterior of the wall. The 

 room may have had originally a fireplace in this 

 position, as the disposition of the roof timbers shows 

 no special provision for a louvre. At the south-east 

 corner is a bay window of seven canted sides, 9 ft. in 

 depth and the full height of the room to the wall- 

 plate, the lights divided in the middle by a transom. 

 Externally, as before mentioned, the window has 

 been entirely renewed and is quite plain, but 

 internally the mullions are moulded' and the transom 

 has a modern vine-leaf pattern on two sides. Over 

 the bay is a small room lit by a small square bay in 

 the gable, the original means of access to which is not 

 certain, but was probably from the south wing. 



The made-up screen and gallery at the south end 

 of the hall contains the inscribed portions of the 

 original wind screen set in the gallery front, as 

 follows : 



' A° Domi M° ^^^/,'if I S gg P 3°"?^^^,"" ' 



' Thomas Sothworth, kngt.' 



with the Southworth crest. The two original 

 doorways have been retained though their position 

 has been altered,'" and one is now made up, and a 

 shallow square middle recess with smaller semi- 

 circular ones at the ends has been formed. The 

 room is lit by two modern windows on the east side. 

 The south wing has been very much modernized 

 and its original plan apparently lost. The ancient 



*' Abram, Hist. 0/ Blackburn, 665. 



°* By the Rev. S. J. Allen, c. 1833, now in possession of 

 Mr. Henry Taylor, F.S.A., and reproduced by him in OU Hails 

 in Lanes, and Chez. 1 08. 



**'The sketch of Samle»bury in Alfred Rimmer's OU Halls 



(1852) shows the gallery at that time to be much plainer than 

 at present. 



7" They were formerly at the extreme ends of the wall, the 

 canopied recess occupying the whole of the middle space. 



309 



