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ORSLEY HALL, 



LANCASHIRE, 



THE SEAT OF THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF ELLESMERE. 



W ORSLEY is a township in the parish of Eccles, and the Hall occupies a commanding position, 

 about seven miles from Manchester and two miles from Paticroft, on the Manchester and Liverpool line 

 of railway. The building is quite modem, dating from the year 1846. It is built of Hollington stone, 

 in the mediaeval style of architecture, from designs by Mr Blore, and presents a noble and highly 

 interesting appearance. The old manorial residence, standing at the northern extremity of the gardens, 

 is a picturesque building of the Elizabethan period, intimately connected with many historical reminiscences, 

 and formerly containing the curious and rare collection of oak carving from Hulme Hall, Manchesterj 

 now deposited, by the late Earl of Ellesmere, in the new mansion adjoining. Two other ancient 

 residences close at hand, Kempnall and Wardley Halls, the latter an old half-timbered relic of the reign 

 of Edward VI, invest the locality with an interest of more than common order. 



The view from Worsley "new" Hall, as it is called to distinguish it from the other, across the 

 gardens to the southward, is remarkably fine, ranging to the centre of Cheshire, the towering peak of 

 the solitary Wrekin, and the far-distant elevations of two counties in North Wales. Eastward the view 

 extends to the high and wave-like hills of Derbyshire ; and that to the north sweeps onwards to 

 the blue outlines of the Westmoreland mountains. In fact, nine counties are visible to the naked eye 

 from this commanding situation in clear weather. 



All this, to the lover of nature, is beautiful and imposing, and, while gazing upon it, he might easily 

 be led to forget for the moment that within a short distance millions of human beings, and an array 

 of machinery of almost fabulous extent and power, are toiling unceasingly on to maintain unimpaired the 

 commercial relations of England with the whole civilized world. But so it is, and in striking contrast to 

 the wonderful results produced by a unity of wealth and enterprise, the noble Bridgewater canal, with its fifty 

 miles of lock-less navigation, connecting Manchester with so many important districts, runs at the foot 

 of the hill before the Hall, a memorial of the comprehensive judgment, undaunted energy, and resources 

 of the one nobleman who bore that name, and the felicitous and ardent skill of the engineer Brindley.* 



In the village, opposite the principal entrance to this fine establishment, stands the handsome 

 church of St Mark's, erected and endowed by the late Earl of Ellesmere in 1845, at a cost of £14,000. 

 Numerous schools, and other charitable institutions on the estate, testify to the munificence and piety of 

 their noble founder. 



Brindley died in the year 1772, and was buried in the churchyard at Ncwchapel, Stafford shire. 



