[Atarah]

Hard to imagine we have had "Halls" in Accrington, eh?

Lower Antley Hall - Everything long since gone. Was situated near the railway line between Lonsdale Street and Newark Street. For many centuries the home of the Rishton family. In structure, Antley Hall was in the Tudor style of stone-built houses of the lesser gentry of the 16th and 17th centuries. This hall consisted of the middle block with two gabled wings. The windows were square-headed, divided by mullions with moulded head dripstones. There was no date on the hall itself, but the figures 1614 appeared on the stable wall. The west wing had two mullioned windows of six lights, with a window of three lights in the gable. The east wing had mullioned windows of three lights in the gable. The east side had a one-storey porch, probably built at a later stage than the hall itself. The row of cottages was built at a much later date, at a time when the hall itself had been divided into seperate tenements. Lower Antlley was one of the most ancient halls in Accrington

Many of our old halls have vanished from our view, and we have no pictures to look at, thank goodness this painting was done. An old book printed in 1928 says that a Mrs Mawer, who used to be landlady of The Antley Inn, used to have a painting of the hall. Maybe you know someone who is related to this person, the painting could still be in Accrington somewhere?

Higher Antley Hall - like many of the "lesser important" halls, this eventually became a farmhouse. It occupies a prominent position on the crest of the hill adjoining Bullough Park. It is one of the houses of the 17th century, so well built that it still survives today. It was from an old quarry, near this hall, that the stone for Broad Oak Mill (better known as The New Factory) was quarried. (Still there, top of Church Street, now used By Broughtons)


PS - Apparently Tewitt Hall (mentioned recently in a thread) was reputedly a building of a similar type to Higher Antley.
PPS - I am well interested in the tale of the Roman Road, just never heard of this before.