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Crossing the Calder at the Stepping Stones, which mark 
a very ancient ford of the river, is the site of Pendle Hall, 
originally built in 1519. and now demolished. It was the 
oldest Hall in Pendle Forest and was at one time a residence 
of a branch of the Towneley family. 
Near at hand is Gawthorpe Hall, which dates back to 1600. 
It probably succeeded a tower, one of the old Peels of which 
there was but a small number in this district. The builder 
was the Rev. Laurence Shuttleworth. In 1849 the Hall was 
restored by Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of 
Parliament. Barry touched it very little ; he very rightly 
considered it a perfect example of Elizabethan architecture. 
Not far from the Hall is Habergham Church of which the 
foundation stone was laid in 1846. It is said that Sir James 
Kaye-Shuttleworth offered the living of the church to the 
Rev. A. B. Nichol, the husband of Charlotte Bronte and that 
this gentleman refused the offer. 
The Parish Church is a prominent landmark at Padiham. 
It was founded in 1451 by John Marshall, L.L.B. The 
present building only dates back to 1866-69. 
Altham Church lies quite near the river and has many most 
interesting links with the past. It is said that there are 
Saxon remains in some parts of the walls but of this there is 
no reliable evidence. Thomas Jollie, the Vicar of Altham 
during the Cromwellian period, was one of the ejected in 1662. 
Brief mention was made of Huntroyde, which was formerly 
one of the hunting lodges of John of Gaunt, and Simonstone 
Hall at which the family of the “ De Simonstones ” lived for 
several centuries. 
Read Hall, as it now stands, only dates back to the early 
19th century when it was rebuilt by John Fort. This Hall 
was the birth place of Alexander Nowell, D.D., whose life was 
a remarkable one. He took a foremost part in the English 
Reformation, and after going abroad, was recalled with other 
refugees, when Elizabeth came to the throne. He secured 
many preferments and ultimately became Dean of St. Paul’s. 
As the holder of this office he preached the sermon at the 
service of thanksgiving, at which the Royal family attended, 
on the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The last of the Nowells, 
Alexander, died at Read Hall in 1772. It was this Alexander 
who transformed the ancient chapel into a drawing room and 
in this very room he died. After his death the estate was 
sold for £28,000 and some years later for £40,000 to Taylor, 
Fort and Hargreaves, of Accrington. 
