Towneley Hall
History
The hall was the home of the Towneley family from around 1200. The family once owned extensive estates in and around Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. The male line of the family died out in 1878 and in 1901 one of the daughters, Lady O'Hagan, sold the house together with 62 acres (250,000 m) of land to Burnley Corporation for £17,600. The family departed in March 1902.
Between 2005 and 2011, the Heritage Lottery Fund granted £2.1 million to help fund a major programme of restoration of the Park, which is grade II listed.
Towneley Hall
The hall is a grade I listed building.
The hall not only contains the 15th-century Whalley Abbey vestments, but also has its own chapel – with a finely carved altarpiece made in Antwerp around 1525.
Collections
The art gallery contains important Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite works by Burne-Jones, Waterhouse, Alma-Tadema and Zoffany, watercolours by Turner and local artist Noel H. Leaver, a collection of Lancashire furniture, the Whalley Abbey vestments, natural history and local social and military history relating to the Towneley family. The Deer Pond in Towneley Park is a Local Nature Reserve.
Traditions
According to folklore, the hall was haunted by a boggart. This spirit appeared once every seven years, just prior to the death of one of the residents. The boggart was linked to 'Sir John Towneley', who in life supposedly oppressed the poor of the district. According to writer Daniel Codd, there are later stories of a strange ghostly white apparition that appears by the River Calder.
Gallery
-
An example of the woodland sculptures
-
Hall from the southwest
-
Foldys cross
-
Towneley Cenotaph
See also
References
- ^ "Towneley Park Management Plan". Burnley Council. Archived from the original on 31 August 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
- ^ "Welcome". Forest of Bowland. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
- ^ Historic England. "Townley Hall [park] (1000954)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
- ^ "Woman behind £3.2m. Towneley Hall transformation scheme leaves". Burnley Express. 19 April 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
- ^ Historic England. "Towneley Hall [hall] (1247299)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ "Towneley Altarpiece". Retrieved 3 June 2018.
- ^ "Fiona Bruce's Britain: Towneley Hall, Burnley, Lancashire". The Daily Telegraph. 3 September 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
- ^ "Deer Pond". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
- ^ "Map of Deer Pond". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
- ^ John Harland and Thomas Turner Wilkinson (1882). Lancashire Folk-lore. (Reprint E Green Publishing, 1973). pp. 58–59. ISBN 0854097228
- ^ Codd, Daniel (2011). Paranormal Lancashire. Amberley. pp. 78–79, 149. ISBN 9781445606583
External links
- Towneley Hall website
- Towneley Park - official site at Burnley
- Towneley Park Management Plan
- Paintings at Towneley Hall Art Gallery & Museum , on the Art UK site
- Friends of Towneley Park (Registered Charity Number: 1144988)
- Towneley Hall Society (Registered Charity Number: 515939
- Fiona Bruce's Britain - Towneley Hall (The Telegraph)