After stopping off at Rawtenstall for an hour or so, I got back on the bus with my Bury-Burnley (five pound, eighty) all-day saver ticket, and headed for Towneley Hall in Burnley.
I got off the bus less than a mile from Burnley town centre and soon found myself walking through the Towneley estate gates:
After which, I had a mile or so straight walk up to Towneley Hall itself:
Once there, the sheer beauty of the building had me taking pictures from every kind of angle and distance:
A quick look at the Internet tells me that Towneley Hall was the home of the Towneley family from around 1200, which once owned extensive estates in Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.
However, the male line of the Towneley family died out in 1878, and in 1901, one of the daughters, Lady O'Hagan, sold the house, along with many acres of land, to Burnley Corporation.
Moreover, Towneley Hall contains the 15th-century Whalley Abbey vestments, and has its own chapel, with a wonderfully carved altarpiece made in Antwerp around 1525. For this reason, I was a fool not to go inside Towneley Hall to have a look at its fine Catholic heritage, especially given that the building contains several priest holes (secret rooms where Catholic priests hid during the Reformation).
Thus, as I took one last glance at Towneley Hall from the fountain:
I vowed to return one day to take a look at its priest-holes and other great Catholic artifacts.
The silly fact is that if I hadn't stopped off at Rawtenstall earlier in the day, I would've had time to go inside Townely Hall, but now I must wait for another day ...
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