Towneley Hall is a country house situated in over 24 acres of parkland in southwest Burnley. The oldest parts of the hall were begun ca1400 and completed in quadrangular form ca1500 with remodelling in the 18th and early nineteenth centuries.
The hall was the home of the Towneley family for more than 500 years (the Towneley family were an important Catholic family and once owned extensive estates in and around Burnley, the West Riding of Yorkshire and County Durham). The male line of the family died out in 1878 and in 1901 one of the daughters, Lady O'Hagan, sold the house together with 62 acres of land to Burnley Corporation. The family departed in March 1902, leaving behind a building almost completely empty except for a couple of tables and a few pictures in the chapel. The park was opened to the public in June 1902, and in May 1903 the Great Hall and the south wing of the house were opened for a temporary art exhibition.
Today, the hall is operated by Burnley council as an Art gallery and museum which houses a variety of displays, encompassing natural history, Egyptology, local history, textiles, decorative art and regional furniture, together with a large collection of paintings, focusing on romantic Victorian and pre-Raphaelite art, with some earlier paintings. The hall contains period rooms including an Elizabethan long gallery and Victorian kitchen.
Towneley Hall is a Grade I listed building (English Heritage Building ID: 467230
Link British Listed Buildings).
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