Towneley Park
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Towneley Hall
| image = Towneley Hall edit.jpg
| caption = Towneley Hall from the front
| locmapin = United Kingdom Burnley
| coordinates = {{coord|53.7738|-2.2225|display=inline,title}}
| location = Burnley, Lancashire
| area = 180 hectares
| built =
| architect = Various including Wyattville
| architecture =
| governing_body =
| designation1 = Grade I Listed Building
| designation1_offname = Towneley Hall
| designation1_date = 10 November 1951
| designation1_number = {{NHLE|num=1247299|short=y}} (Hall)
| designation2 = Scheduled Monument
| designation2_offname = Ice house at Towneley Hall
| designation2_date =
| designation2_number = {{NHLE|num=1005089|short=y}}
| designation3 = Grade II Listed Building
| designation3_offname = Towneley Hall
| designation3_date = 1 April 1986
| designation3_number = {{NHLE|num=1000954|short=y}} (Park and Garden)
}}
Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England.{{cite web|url=http://www.burnley.gov.uk/site/scripts/download_info.php?fileID=4147|title=Towneley Park Management Plan|publisher=Burnley Council|accessdate=3 June 2018|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831044037/http://www.burnley.gov.uk/site/scripts/download_info.php?fileID=4147|archivedate=31 August 2012}} The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, covering an area of some {{convert|180|ha|acre|abbr=off}}. At the southern end of the park is Towneley Hall, a grade I listed building housing Burnley's art gallery and museum. To the north are golf courses and playing fields and to the south 24 acres of broadleaf woodland. On the southern boundary is a working farm called Towneley Farm with pastures and plantations extending eastwards into Cliviger.
History
The hall was the home of the Towneley family from around 1200. The family once owned extensive estates in and around Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.{{cite web|url=http://www.forestofbowland.com/node/1864 |title=Welcome|publisher=Forest of Bowland|accessdate=3 June 2018}} 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 {{convert|62|acre|m2}} of land to Burnley Corporation for £17,600. The family departed in March 1902.{{NHLE|num=1000954|desc=Townley Hall [park]|accessdate=3 June 2018}}
Between 2005 and 2011, the Heritage Lottery Fund granted £2.1 million to help fund a major programme of restoration of the Park,{{cite web|url=https://www.burnleyexpress.net/whats-on/arts/woman-behind-3-2m-towneley-hall-transformation-scheme-leaves-1-3303439|title=Woman behind £3.2m. Towneley Hall transformation scheme leaves|date=19 April 2011|work=Burnley Express|accessdate=3 June 2018}} which is grade II listed.
Towneley Hall
The hall is a grade I listed building.{{NHLE|num=1247299 |desc= Towneley Hall [hall] }}
The hall not only contains the 15th-century Whalley Abbey vestments, but also has its own chapel – with a finely carved altarpiece made in Antwerp around 1525.{{cite web|url=http://www.atoz.myzen.co.uk/atoz/towneley_altarpiece.html|title=Towneley Altarpiece|publisher=|accessdate=3 June 2018}}
Collections
The art gallery contains important Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite works by Burne-Jones, Waterhouse, Alma-Tadema and Zoffany,{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/lancashire/articles/Fiona-Bruces-Britain-Towneley-Hall-Burnley-Lancashire/|title=Fiona Bruce's Britain: Towneley Hall, Burnley, Lancashire|date=3 September 2013|work=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=3 June 2018}} watercolours by Turner and local artist Noel H. Leaver, a collection of Lancashire furniture, the Whalley Abbey vestments, natural history and local social and military history relating to the Towneley family. The Deer Pond in Towneley Park is a Local Nature Reserve.{{cite web|url=http://www.lnr.naturalengland.org.uk/Special/lnr/lnr_details.asp?C=0&N=deer&ID=575 |title= Deer Pond|series=Local Nature Reserves|publisher=Natural England|accessdate=4 August 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=lnrIndex&query=REF_CODE%3D%271009307%27 |title=Map of Deer Pond
|series=Local Nature Reserves|publisher=Natural England|accessdate=4 August 2013}}
Traditions
According to folklore, the hall was haunted by a boggart. This spirit appeared once every seven years, just prior to the death of one of the residents. The boggart was linked to 'Sir John Towneley', who in life supposedly oppressed the poor of the district.John Harland and Thomas Turner Wilkinson (1882). Lancashire Folk-lore. (Reprint E Green Publishing, 1973). pp. 58–59. {{ISBN|0854097228}} According to writer Daniel Codd, there are later stories of a strange ghostly white apparition that appears by the River Calder.Codd, Daniel (2011). Paranormal Lancashire. Amberley. pp. 78–79, 149. {{ISBN|9781445606583}}
Gallery
File:TotemTowneley.JPG|An example of the woodland sculptures
File:Towneley Hall.jpg|Hall from the southwest
File:Folyds Cross 1520.JPG|Foldys cross
File:StatueTowneley.JPG|Towneley Cenotaph
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Towneley Park}}
- [https://towneley.org.uk Towneley Hall website]
- [https://burnley.gov.uk/parks-green-spaces/our-parks/towneley-park/ Towneley Park] - official site at Burnley
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120831044037/http://www.burnley.gov.uk/site/scripts/download_info.php?fileID=4147 Towneley Park Management Plan]
- {{Art UK venue|towneley-hall-art-gallery-museum-6220 | Towneley Hall Art Gallery & Museum }}
- [http://www.fotp.btck.co.uk Friends of Towneley Park (Registered Charity Number: 1144988)]
- [http://towneleyhallsociety.co.uk/ Towneley Hall Society (Registered Charity Number: 515939]
- [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/10268837/Fiona-Bruces-Britain-Towneley-Hall-Burnley-Lancashire.html Fiona Bruce's Britain - Towneley Hall (The Telegraph)]
{{Borough of Burnley buildings}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Parks and commons in Burnley
Category:Museums in Lancashire
Category:Country houses in Lancashire
Category:Art museums and galleries in Lancashire
Category:Historic house museums in Lancashire
Category:Grade I listed buildings in Lancashire
Category:Grade II listed parks and gardens in Lancashire
Category:Buildings and structures in Burnley
Category:Local Nature Reserves in Lancashire