A Visit to Gawthorpe Hall

Last week, I told you about our visit to Rufford Old Hall this past March. I also mentioned that our route was circular and that we'd stopped someplace else before we returned to our snug farm cottage on the Lancashire-Yorkshire border.

That "someplace else" was another National Trust property, Gawthorpe Hall. When I saw it in the Trust handbook, I couldn't resist wanting to see it because it reminds me of one of my all-time favorites, Hardwick Hall. When I read further to see that Gawthorpe also houses an international collection of needlework, lace and costume, I knew I had to go.

Unfortunately our timing wasn't the best because on the day that we could visit Gawthorpe Hall, it wasn't open. Instead of being able to see that collection of needlework, Denis and I would be resigned to wandering the grounds.

The Hall was originally a pele tower-- a fortified keep or tower house-- built by the Shuttleworth family on the banks of the River Calder in the fourteenth century as a defense against those invading Scots to the North. The Elizabethan part of the house was dovetailed around the tower some 300 years later.

By the time we'd finished touring Rufford Old Hall and driven to Gawthorpe Hall, the "sunny intervals" so beloved of UK television weatherfolk had disappeared, and the day had turned grey, damp and windy. We parked our rental car and began the trek to the house through trees, found our way up and down through series of stone steps, and finally approached the house from the left side. I've placed the following photos in the order in which we explored the exterior of the house. If you'd like to see any of them in a larger size, just click on the photo and it will open in a new window.

Approaching Gawthorpe Hall

Gawthorpe Hall from the garden

Old houses often speak to me, but Gawthorpe Hall ignored me. Perhaps it would have been more friendly if we'd come on a day when we could see its interior. Who knows? But in looking at it as I walked the grounds, it looked sad to me. When the weather decided to warm, the sun remembered to shine, and the trees, shrubs and flowers came to life, I hope it shed its gloomy appearance and cheered up a bit.

From the right as we walked around the house

A braided tree limb?

When walking around the grounds of these stately homes, you're often looking at trees that have been around almost as long as the house... sometimes longer. I've gotten used to seeing some interesting pruning methods, but as I came around the side of Gawthorpe Hall and saw a large old tree that looked as though one of its limbs was braided, I had to blink and rub my eyes. How did they do that?

Looking toward the River Calder

As I stood in the gardens of Gawthorpe Hall, I made a mental note to see some of these places in spring or summer. I watched the River Calder flow silently along and tried to picture leaves on the trees and the flowers in bloom.

The back of Gawthorpe Hall from its gardens

Looking out to the countryside from the gardens

Gawthorpe Hall stonework

The motto of the Shuttleworth family is "Prudentia et Justitia" or "Prudence and Justice." You can see it at the top of the pele tower.

Decorative stone planter

I took a fancy to the decorative stone planters with tile insets that are in the garden.

Stone balustrade

It was easy for me to see how lovely the grounds would be to walk in when spring arrived. Even on a dark, damp, cold and windy day, I could hear birds all around us in the trees.

Snowdrops

Little did these brave snowdrops know, but they would be buried in the white stuff in two or three days!

Tree creeper

When we decided we'd had enough of the wind, we walked slowly back to the car park. We sat for awhile, running the car engine so the heater could warm us up, drinking bottled water and talking about what we'd seen.

There was one more surprise in store before we left. As we talked, I happened to see something moving on a tree trunk right in front of our car. I hurriedly took a couple of photos through the windshield before it could scuttle around to the other side out of sight. When we got back to the cottage, I looked it up in my UK bird book. (Of course I've got one!)  After seeing two beautiful old homes, we'd gotten to watch a tree creeper looking for a meal. Denis and I decided to order from a local Indian takeaway while we warmed ourselves up with big mugs of tea.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter of our UK trip. Hopefully next week I'll be able to show you some of Cambridge!

A Visit to Rufford Old Hall

It's been two months since Denis and I returned from our month-long holiday in the UK, and I've shown you very little of what we saw and experienced. I'll make up for that a bit right now. (As always, to see any of the photos in larger sizes, all you have to do is click on them, and they'll open in a new window.)

I don't know why, but I fell in love with half-timbered houses the first time I saw a photograph of one when I was a child. Perhaps it's some vestige of ancestral memory because when I visited Bolling Hall in Yorkshire where some of my ancestors lived before they began their migration to the colonies, part of it was in that style. For whatever reason, I decided that I really wanted to see a few prime examples while Denis and I were over there. I'm happy to say that, while we were staying in the East Lancashire/West Yorkshire area, we were able to carry out my (almost) lifelong wish before blizzard conditions lowered and we were snowed in.

Road construction in Preston

Our circular route took us through the center of Preston, and naturally it went right through an area of road construction. Why is it that road construction isn't so bad in another country? Could it be that it gave me more time to gawk out the window at old buildings and shops, to get accustomed to road signs, to check out UK car models? Whatever the reason, it didn't bother me much, and we were soon out in the countryside and heading for our destination: Rufford Old Hall, a National Trust home that Denis vaguely remembered visiting when he was a mere lad at school. 

Rufford Old Hall was built by the Heskith family in 1530, and they owned it until 1936. The Great Hall is the only part of the original building that remains, with later brick wings added in the 1660s and 1820s. When we pulled into the car park, we showed our National Trust membership cards (which gave us free admission and parking), and it was obvious that the man at the booth had never seen a membership card from the American branch of the Trust. (The Royal Oak Foundation, if you're curious.) As we walked down the path, I watched ducks swimming in the canal that runs along the side of the property, and then I took a look at the house. If I didn't know any better, from that first look I'd never believe that there was anything half-timbered on the property!

My first look at Rufford Old Hall

Our path led us into a courtyard surrounded by outbuildings, a few of which had been converted to a tea room and a gift shop. We were facing the 1820s wing of the Hall.

The courtyard

Two doorways in the wall led out into the garden. One doorway had two sassy geese above it. I loved them and couldn't wait to see the grounds.

Geese above a doorway leading to the gardens

My first look at the grounds of Rufford Old Hall fired my imagination. I could just see lawn parties and ladies in Edwardian gowns walking in the shade of the trees on a summer's day....

One view of Rufford Old Hall's grounds

But as I walked out into the garden, I was still wondering where "my" half timbers were!

Shiver me, where's the timbers?

Bidding a fond farewell to those geese, I went in search of those timbers! (Were those feathered garden guards laughing at me?)

Farewell, geese!

A-ha! Did I just catch a glimpse of what I came to see?

Eureka!!!

I don't know about you, but I love old homes that have been added to over the centuries in varying architectural styles, and Rufford Old Hall is a prime example of that. And the pair of topiary squirrels on either side of the path made me laugh!

Rufford Old Hall from the garden

In case you're wondering, you're taking almost exactly the same tour Denis and I did as we walked around the house, and right at the moment, we're perambulating very slowly around the outside of the Great Hall.... By the way, the cupola on top of the Great Hall was added much later when a Victorian Heskith decided he wanted more light to shine down on his billiard table!

From this angle, you can't see the newer parts of the house!

The Great Hall from the outside

Once I'd inspected it throughly, wooden pegs, glittering windowpanes and all, I sat down to soak it all in. I didn't even care what the inside looked like; I was absolutely thrilled with the outside!

The bench where I sat to soak it all in

Where old meets older!

Put together seamlessly, aren't they?

The insets in the wood are stained glass

What Denis was doing while I was bench warming

Little did I know that the inside was so glorious that it made me want to cry. Master craftsmanship, soaring space-- and the young William Shakespeare once performed here!

Inside the Great Hall.

But of all the wonders in the Great Hall, it wasn't the fireplace that brought tears to my eyes....

The Great Hall fireplace

... and it wasn't the ancient carved lintels above the doorways...

Carved lintel #1

Carved lintel #2

It wasn't the suits of armor staring at me impassively...

One of the suits of armor in the Great Hall

It wasn't even the moveable screen that shielded the gentry at table from the sight of the servants carrying food in and out of the kitchens. The moveable screen at Rufford Old Hall is the only intact one of its kind in the UK-- and it weighs four tons! Moveable? I feel my back going out just thinking of moving that thing!

From sunlight to shadows, the moveable screen

Detail of the moveable screen

No... I wanted to cry when I looked up at that soaring ceiling high above me. I wanted to cry at the sight of the room glowing with light whenever the sun came out from the clouds. I wanted to cry at the sight of the beautiful patterns of wood and carvings....

The ceiling of the Great Hall

Walls and ceiling of the Great Hall

Does Shakespeare's voice still linger up there somewhere?

In the Heskiths' Great Hall, we are looked upon by two rows of angels. For a long time, I sat in that wonderful space. I looked all around me, and I looked up at those angels and smiled. Before Rufford Old Hall, I loved half-timbered architecture. Now that I've been to Rufford Old Hall, I'm passionate about it!

Angels above me, part one

Angels above me, part two

I hope you've all enjoyed your tour of Rufford Old Hall in Lancashire. If you'd like to see a more complete tour of the house (and you're one of my Facebook friends), I have a Rufford Old Hall album on my personal Facebook page.

Next weekend, I hope to show you the second stately home we visited that day. (There was a reason for our circular route!)