Gawthorpe Hall

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Gawthorpe Hall

Smaller than Chatsworth House or Tatton Park and situated in Padiham, Burnley, Lancashire, the National Trust describes Gawthorpe Hall as an Elizabethan gem in the heart of industrial Lancashire. Given its state of complete repair and history stretching back to the English Civil War the description is justly deserved.

The house is full of antique artifacts on display in the hall's many sumptuous rooms preserved and cared for by the curators who attend each room to provide tourists with a commentary of what they are seeing.

From the outside the complete hall makes a perfect photographic subject set in a small woodland which in the Autumn months provides a glow which bathes the hall itself in golden light.

Gawthorpe began as a pele tower, a strong square structure built in the 14th century as a defence against the invading Scots. Around 1600 a Jacobean mansion was dovetailed around the pele but the true glory of the hall was the 1850 re-design of the house by Sir Charles Barry. He honed his skills at Gawthorpe before going on to design the Houses of Parliament.

The hall should not just go down in architectural history but also in the history of English literature because Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) was a family friend of the Shuttleworths and spent some time at Gawthorpe.

Gawthorpe Hall was owned by the Kay-Shuttleworth family from its construction until 1970.

The mottoes of the Kay-Shuttleworth family, "Iusticia et Prudentia" and "Kynd Kynn Knawne Kepe", can be seen throughout the house, including above the front door and around the tower at the top of the building. The initials "KS" for Kay-Shuttleworth also occur frequently throughout the hall, and can be seen on the front door and on one of the ceilings, as well as in other places within the house.

A tea room within the grounds offer refreshments.

Local football team Burnley train on two football pitches that have been built on the grounds near the entrance.

[edit] Opening times

Hall: 1st April to 31st Oct. 1.00pm – 5.00pm, every day except Monday and Friday but open Good Friday and Bank Holiday Mondays. (Last admissions 4.30pm)
Gardens: All year, daily from 10.00am – 6.00pm.