Person:Ann Barcroft (1)

BARCROFT HALL

Of all the historical houses in the locality, few can be more absorbing or full of character than the early-17th century hall of the Barcroft family. Situated in a secluded hollow between Mereclough and Cliviger and about a mile distance (as the crow flies) from Towneley, this romantic hall was on the verge of ruin due to mining subsidence, but has gradually been restored to some of its former charm. When Burnley Corporation acquired Towneley Hall from Lady O'Hagan in 1901 her ladyship as her new home chose Barcroft Hall, but she changed her plans later and moved to The Hollins. Barcroft, which had fallen into disrepair, was put up for sale, and the Rawsthorne's, a farming family from Hurstwood, bought the property and have lived there ever since. The main feature of the house is its fine banqueting hall, with its long mullioned windows, flagged floor and attractive inglenook of immense size in fact, large enough to allow a large family to sit round the blazing log fire, in comfort. At the opposite end of the room is a fine minstrels' gallery running the length of the wall. The size of this elegant example of the Elizabethan era is 36ft. by 24ft. and is 14ft. high. The plan of the house is shaped in the "F" style, supposedly in deference to the Virgin Queen, and an inscription over the doorway States simply: "William Barcroft 1614." However, this porched doorway was formerly a window, and the original doorway is in a corner to the left. It has been recorded that William the Conqueror donated land to an ancestor of the Barcrofts for services rendered to the Conqueror, and the hall, built on the site of an older house, was erected by William and Susan Barcroft in 1614, although part of it is even earlier.

The Barcroft family occupied a high position among the local gentry during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, but on the death of William in 1620 it seems that the family influence began to wane. He left one daughter and three sons, the second of whom was described as an idiot. With regard to this unfortunate second son, tradition has it that he was imprisoned in the hall by the younger brother, who, by spreading the report that he was insane, endeavoured to obtain possession of the property. He confined his brother in a chamber or cellar beneath the hall, where the unfortunate youth became demented. It is said that his inhumane brother was one night entertaining friends in the banqueting hall when the lunatic burst into the room upon the revellers and pronounced a curse on the estate and family prophesying that the hall should pass into strangers' hands and the race of Barcroft become extinct, which curse, in the neighbourhood at least, was soon fulfilled. On the walls of the cellar below the house were scratched disjointed words and sentences said to have been written by the lunatic, but the cellar has been filled in for many years now. Records show that the names of the three sons were Robert (1598-1647), the eldest; William, the lunatic, died 1641, and Thomas, who died in 1668. Thomas had one son and three daughters, but as the son died in childhood the estate passed to one of the daughters, Elizabeth, who married Henry Bradshaw, of Cheshire. The property passed through various descendants until the last member, Thomas Bradshaw Isherwood, who was unmarried, died in 1791, whereupon his executors, in 1795, sold the hall to Charles Towneley, the celebrated antiquary. Thus the estate became the property of the Towneleys. An interesting feature of the Barcroft story is that the high table now on exhibition in the main hall at Towneley Hall formerly stood under the window in Barcroft Hall. Dated 1613, the table is inscribed "W.B., S.B."

One tradition of the Barcroft family is that one of their number, William, was a major in Cromwell's army and was offered an estate in Athlone for his services. This he refused because he had in the meantime become a member of the Society of Friends, and he could not accept what had been acquired by the sword. The estate was then offered to and accepted by his second in command, the ancestor of the present Lord Castlemaine. John Barcroft, son of the major, became a well-known Quaker, and made many visits to these parts, and visited the birthplace of his father on at least two occasions. He died in 1723. Since that time other descendants of the family have visited Barcroft, and not many years ago one of the family from Ireland actually spent the night at the hall at his own request. The following story is a very ancient one, and probably dates from a time long before the present Barcroft Hall was built. It is said that the farmer's wife at Barcroft on rising in the morning would often find the house swept clean, the fire lighted and other household matters attended to by unseen hands. One cold winter's night the farmer called out from his bedroom to his son to rise and fetch in the sheep into the barn for shelter, when a small squeaking voice called up the stairs: "I'll do it!" After a short time the small voice was again heard, crying out: "I've done it, but there was a little brown one that gave me more trouble than all the others." On examination the following morning the farmer found that a fine hare had been housed with the sheep. Mortal eyes had as yet never seen the boggart who had proved himself so useful to the household, till the farmer's son, filled with curiosity to see him, bored a hole through the oaken boards of the ceiling above the chamber where the boggart appeared. Peeping through the hole early one morning, he saw a little shrivelled man barefooted, sweeping the floor. Thinking to perform an act of kindness, the boy got a pair of small clogs made for the old man, and placing them by the fireside at night, he rose early in the morning on purpose to look through the hole and see how his well-meant gift was accepted. The elf walked up to the clogs and took them in its hand, and looking at them carefully, it said: "New clogs, new wood, t'hob Thurs will never do any more good." After this everything went wrong in the household. Mischief of every kind was found each morning - pots broken, cows sick, and, to crown all, the bull was found across the ridging of the house when the farmer rose early one morning for his day's work.

His patience gave way at this last signal proof of the boggart's malevolence, and, picking up his goods, he determined to leave the luckless house. Having loaded a cart with furniture, he proceeded on his way across a small bridge at the bottom of the dough, when he heard a small voice from beneath calling out: "Stop while I've tied my clogs and I'll go with you." "Nay", replied the farmer, "if tha'at going with me, I'll go back again."

Leslie Chapple 'Romantic Old Houses and Their Tales'