Agecroft Hall

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Agecroft Hall is a Tudor estate on the James River in Virginia, United States, now operated as a museum. It was originally built in Pendlebury, Lancashire, England in the late 15th century. It was the home of Lancashire's Langley and Dauntesey families before falling into disrepair at the end of the 19th century. In 1925 it was sold at auction. Richmonder Thomas C. Williams, Jr. purchased the structure, had it dismantled, crated, and shipped across the Atlantic, and then reassembled in a Richmond neighbourhood known as Windsor Farms. Its original position was in the River Irwell Valley (Agecroft, Pendlebury) close to Agecroft Road (A6044) between Lumns Lane to the west and the Manchester to Bolton railway line to the east.

1 History
2 Babes in the Wood
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The hall was one of three Manors owned by the Prestwich family from 1292 when Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, granted land on the banks of the River Irwell to Adam de Prestwich. In 1350, Johanna de Tetlow, daughter of Alice de Prestwich and Jordan de Tetlow, married Richard de Langley, following the deaths of her parents and both brothers - possibly from the plague. The name "Agecroft" (from ache {wild celery} and croft {field}) was adopted c1376, the old name of Pendlebury being dropped for the manor but not for the village. Subsequently the Langleys lived at Agecroft Hall until 1561 when the male line failed.^[1] The Langleys went on to be a powerful local family for several centuries with major land holdings right across the area.

The first Robert Langley (1379-1446) was a ward of John of Gaunt and later supported the claim of Gaunt's son as Henry IV in the overthrow of King Richard II. The second Robert Langley (1462-1547) supported Henry VII and received a lifetime annuity from him. And yet another Robert Langley (1506-1561) was created a knight by Edward VI and later received a general pardon from Queen Elizabeth. By this time the Langleys were very prosperous and had intermarried with all the great Lancashire families. But Sir Robert and his wife Cecily de Trafford had no son and on his death the property was divided equally between his four daughters. Dorothy, the eldest, married James Assheton from Chadderton. Margaret married John Reddish of Reddish. Catherine married Thomas Legh a younger son of Sir Piers Legh of Lyme. Anne, his third daughter inherited Agecroft Hall as part of her portion and subsequently married William Dauntesey.

The Langleys of Middleton were probably connected to the Agecroft line in a distant way. Richard Langley was not their eldest son, but probably came from a branch of Yorkshire Langleys who used the cockatrice as their arms. The Langleys of Middleton did give rise to Thomas Langley who entered the service of John of Gaunt and became Lord Chancellor of England, Keeper of the Privy Seal and Bishop of Durham. He was also elected a Cardinal, but denied by the Pope. In the 1662 Hearth Tax returns, Agecroft Hall was recorded as having 11 hearths out of a total of 35 in the whole of Pendlebury.^[2]

At the end of the 19th century, industrialisation swept through the Irwell Valley. Coal pits were opened all around Agecroft Hall, railway tracks were cut across the manor and the sinking of an abandoned colliery made a dirty lake on the edge of the estate. The house fell into disrepair and was sold at auction in 1925 to Mr & Mrs Thomas C. Williams. Today, Agecroft Hall stands re-created on the banks of the James River, in a setting chosen to be reminiscent of its original site at Agecroft near the River Irwell.^[3]

[edit] Babes in the Wood

Cyril Bracegidle in his book Dark River:Irwell asserts that legend has it that the tale of the Babes in the Wood was inspired by an incident at the Hall during the Reign of Edward III. On the morning of the Feast of Ascension (the 40th Day after Easter Sunday) in 1374, young Roger Langley and his sister escaped from the villainous Robert de Holland and his men and hid in the forest which covered the slopes of the Irwell valley, cared for by loyal retainers, until their guardian, John of Gaunt, the first Duke of Lancaster rescued them.^[4] However, other sources attribute the story to an incident in Wayland Wood, Norfolk.^[5]