BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



the Roman Catholic Church in 1897, in 1901 sold 

 Towneley Hall and the grounds around it for 

 _^l 7,500 to the Corporation of Burnley, who have 

 formed a museum and art gallery there, which was 

 opened in 1903. It does not appear that any ' manor ' 

 has been claimed at Towneley for a long period, and 

 Dr. Whitaker could write thus a century ago : — 



The manors of Towneley and Cliviger have been recognised 

 ia all the family conveyances down to the year 1685 j but as 

 no courts have been holdcn from time immemorial, as the 

 superior lords have long exercised an uncontested right over the 

 commons, mines, and minerals, and the several freeholders over 

 the latter within their own estates ; and moreover as a modern 

 park affords an easier supply of game and venison than an 

 ancient free chase, this shadow of feudal superiority has passed 

 away and is now forgotten.^^^ 



TOtVNELEr HALL stands in a low situation 

 about a quarter of a mile from the west bank of the 

 Calder and about I J miles south-east of Burnley. It 

 is a large three-story stone mansion built on three sides 

 of an open court and facing north-east, dating originally 

 in all probability from the 14th or early 1 5 th century, 

 but altered so considerably from time to time since 

 that little or nothing of the early building is now 

 visible. Dr. Whitaker,ii* writing about 1788, states 

 that the house was, ' until about a century ago,' a 

 complete quadrangle with four turrets in the angles, 

 and that on the north-east side, which was then as 

 now open, there were ' two turrets in the angles, a 

 gateway, a chapel, and a sacristy, with a library over. 

 These,' he goes on to state, 'were removed by 

 Charles Towneley about a century ago and placed in 

 their present position, having been preserved entire.' 

 This statement of Whitaker's as to the existence of a 

 north-east wing seems to be the only evidence as to 

 the former plan and appearance of the building, the 

 structure itself showing no signs of any such violent 

 alteration, which it seems reasonable to suppose if 

 carried out at so comparatively recent a date as the 

 end of the 17th century would have left some trace. 

 It has been suggested, however, that the gate-house 

 and chapel may have existed in a detached building 

 whose removal would not cause mutilation to the 

 adjoining Wvagi™ but so much work has been done 

 externally in the 1 8th century that it is extremely 

 difficult to come to any definite conclusion as to what 

 the building was like at the time when the destruction 

 of the north-east side of the quadrangle is said to 

 have taken place. The plan of the house now 

 consists of a south-west or middle wing containing 

 the great hall measuring externally 86 ft. in length 

 by 34 ft. in width, with long north-west and south- 

 east wings at right angles forming the three sides of 

 a courtyard measuring 80 ft. by 76 ft. This 

 probably forms more or less the plan of the mediaeval 

 house, or part of it if it were entirely quadrangular, 

 and the south-east wing apparently retains its original 

 walls, 6 ft. thick, all round. This wing is 95 ft. 

 long by 40 ft. wide, and like the wing opposite 

 stands in front of the centre block some 75 ft., 



the internal angles being emphasized by square 

 staircase towers 1 5 ft. on the face, but with a 

 projection of only 4 ft. in front of the main wall. 

 The north-west wing is of the same length and may 

 have been originally of equal width, the outer 

 wall on the west side, which is 6 ft. thick, being 

 apparently of equal date with those of the south-east 

 wing. The north-east wing was, however, rebuilt 

 by Richard Towneley shortly before his death in 

 1628, and the wall facing the courtyard is of that 

 date. At a later period William Towneley, who died 

 in 1742, added a new building on the west side 

 against the old outer wall which had been retained 

 in the rebuilding, increasing the wing to its present 

 width of 53 ft. The junction of the old and new 

 work is not observable on the front elevation, the 

 end wall having been presumably entirely re-erected 

 at that time, but at the back it stands slightly in 

 front of the older wall. The back portion of the 

 outer building, however, which in the upper floor 

 contains the chapel, is said to have been part of the 

 old north- east wing removed at the time of its 

 destruction to its present position by Charles 

 Towneley, the stones having been marked and 

 numbered. However that may be,*^' the north-west 

 wing has now as completely lost all traces of its 

 mediaeval appearance as that opposite, the ancient 

 work there visible belonging to the 17th century. 

 In the rebuilding of 1628 the wall facing the 

 courtyard may have been erected within the line of 

 the older wall, supposing the wings to have been 

 originally of equal width, and the courtyard space 

 consequently increased, but this is not certain, the 

 wings possibly having been of unequal width from 

 the first. 



The middle or south-west wing containing the 

 hall was entirely altered in 1725 ^^^ by Richard 

 Towneley, whose initials and crest are in the rain- 

 water heads facing the court. It then assumed its 

 present form of a classic entrance-hall going the full 

 height of the building, the floor being removed and 

 a stone staircase with iron balustrade being introduced 

 at the south-east end. How much of the old wallin;^ 

 remains in place it is difficult to say, as all the windows 

 belong to the reconstruction, and indeed the appear- 

 ance of the exterior of the whole of the building has 

 an I 8th or even early 19th-century Gothic character 

 which deprives the house of any pretensions to archi- 

 tectural merit. The back elevation of the middle 

 wing, however, consists of a plain classic design and 

 suggests an entire rebuilding of the wall on that 

 side.120 



Following on his remodelling of the hall Richard 

 Towneley in the year following entirely reconstructed 

 the south-east wing, taking out the first floor and 

 forming two lofty apartments 20 ft. in height on the 

 ground floor with large round-headed quasi-Gothic 

 windows under square hood moulds along the east side 

 and at either end. To this period, too, probably 



who died in 1878, having had an only 

 son who had died the year before. 



There is a pedigree in Foster's Lanes, 

 Pedigrees. 



"5 Whitaker, PThalley, ii, 214. The 

 following recoveries of the 'manors' of 

 Towneley, Hapton, Cliviger and Birt- 

 wisle are later than the date named by 

 Whitaker : 



1712 — Richard Towneley tenant, 



Thomas Harrison vouchee ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 495, m. 5. 



1736 — William Towneley a vouchee, 

 Richard Towneley a demandant ; ibid. 

 542, m. 10 d. 



1760— Charles and Ralph Standish 

 Towneley vouchees 5 ibid, 592, m. 5, 



"6 Hist. ofWhalley (ed. 4), ii, i86. 



"' Taylor, Old Halls in Lanes, and 

 Ches. 97. 



^^^ The evidence of the masonry hardly 

 supports the tradition. 



^'^ This date is given by Whitaker. 

 The spout- heads are dated 1726, but they 

 may have been erected when the south- 

 east wing was altered In the following 

 year. 



'*" The outer walls of the middle wing 

 may have been considerably rebuilt or 

 altered in the 17th century. 



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