Visit to Smithills Hall

Over 20 of us met at the Grade I listed Smithills Hall, near Bolton, on a pleasant July day eagerly anticipating a guided tour by one of the Friends of Smithills Hall.  Our guide, Steve Brown, did not disappoint.  His knowledge of the Hall, the families who lived there and the historical timeline of events at Smithills impressed us all.

Steve began with evidence of the first inhabitants of the area dating back to the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.  The Venerable Bede recorded that in 579 there was a settlement of the King of the Derians in the area and in 793 the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Hexham visited the estate.

After the Norman Conquest the land was given to Roger de Poitou and in 1335 the Great Hall was built by William de Radcliffe, knight of the Shire of Lancaster.  This, together with the old kitchen, is the oldest part of the building.  It is an impressive room and still has the original wooden beams. The kitchen is a separate single-storey stone-built structure in which you can still see original features such as the alms window and the space where the kitchen range would have been.

As Steve guided us through the labyrinth of rooms and corridors it became obvious that each subsequent owner of the Hall had added on to the original 1335 structure and as such provided us with a rich timeline of architectural styles.  In the 15^th century it became unfashionable for all the residents of the Hall to live together in the Great Hall so new rooms were added such as the Bower Room and the Solar.  The latter now houses a four poster (tester) bed which is on loan from the nearby Hall i’th’ Wood.  The Withdrawing room, added in 1520, is lined with beautiful panelling made by Flemish craftsmen.  These linenfold panels also feature 38 carved heads of the Barton family who owned the Hall until 1723 until it was bought by the Byrom family from Manchester.  The Bartons also built the Chapel which was updated by the Byroms in the 1700s.  After a fire in 1856 it was rebuilt by the then owners, the Ainsworths.  The beautiful stained glass windows contain panels from the Tudor period.

The Ainsworths, who were successful cotton bleachers, owned the Hall from 1801 to 1938.  The family extensively renovated and modernised the Hall over three generations adding new living rooms and a library.  In 1938 they sold Smithills Hall to Bolton Council for £70,600.  The Council opened the Great Hall as a Visitor Centre in 1963 and since then have continued to make improvements to ensure that this wonderful historic Hall can be enjoyed by future generations.

After our tour we enjoyed a tasty lunch in the Bake and Roast cafe situated in the Ainsworth family’s former dining room.