In a valley on the E outskirts of Padiham along the former River Calder. Owing to its pollution with manufacturing waste the Calder was diverted in the beginning of the 19th c. away from Gawthorpe Hall (VCH Lanc 6.464). An easy trip from some of the Ribble Valley households such as Dunkenhalgh and NE of the other Shuttleworth family home at Smithills. Built of grey coursed Padiham sandstone with ashlar dressings. Design attributed to Robert Smythson, architect of Hardwick Hall and Wollaton. 3 storeys with staircase tower. Compact plan without a courtyard or projecting wings. Some believe that Gawthorpe Hall was constructed around a pre-existing medieval pele tower (North Lancashire 128). However, others note that the original building accounts still extant make no mention of the pele tower, nor does the current building present any indications of the earlier structure.
The younger Sir Richard Shuttleworth's household accounts for Gawthorpe run almost continuously from 1608--21. The extant entertainment records are linked with his occupancy.
Now owned by the National Trust. Open to the public at specified times.
1600 Built for the Rev. Lawrence Shuttleworth possibly after plans made by his elder brother Robert with Smythson. Foundation stone laid 26 August.
1603 Main structure completed and roofed by June.
1605 Interior fittings completed in November.
1606 House ready for occupation, likely 1st by the Rev. Lawrence Shuttleworth's nephew and heir, Richard.
late 18th c. Abandoned and neglected.
1816--18 Renovated and refurnished in neoclassical style. Great hall converted to a dining room.
1850--2 Extensive renovations/Elizabethan restorations undertaken by Sir Charles Barry. Taylor notes that this work was 'not fully as conservative as it might have been' (Old Halls 104). Pevsner has called the renovation by Barry 'drastic' (Pevsner, North Lancashire 129). A new entrance porch and vestibule leading into the entrance hall in the SE corner of the house disrupted the original layout. References in the building accounts to a buttery and pantry adjacent to the hall seem to confirm that a conventional hall plan with screens passage and service rooms was part of the 17th c. design. Access to the kitchen in the basement would have been via the staircase at the end of the screens passage (Weaver, Archaeological Journal 127.282--3).
REED Lanc 170--9
