Situated 6 miles W of Manchester, not far from the main road N from Warrington to Preston.
The house is located in a wooded estate on low ground just N of Worsley village. Half of the original moat survives to the S and W.
Wardley Hall has 2 storeys arranged in a quadrangular layout with 4 wings surrounding a cobbled courtyard. The main entrance to the courtyard is from the N through a gatehouse. The exterior brick has been redone as part of the extensive 19th c. renovations and the windows are all of a later style.
The household accounts of the Sherrington brothers, Gilbert and Francis, survive for 1581--1603. There are payments mostly for players, musicians and other entertainers whose origin is not specified.The Sherringtons were lawyers and moneylenders.
Owned by the Catholic diocese of Salford, the house continues to function as the bishop's private residence. Due to its continuous occupation for many centuries, the interior of the house has been renovated several times.
1547--53 Hall built by Thurstan Tyldesley on the site of a 14th c. medieval house.
ca. 1562--8 Sold to William and Gilbert Sherrington.
1601 Sold to Roger Downes.
1625 S range and gatehouse rebuilt in brick.
1679 Penelope Downes married the 8th Earl Rivers. Various subsequent owners leased the property until the 20th c.
1811 Renovations.
1836 The house was reported as being 'in a ruinous condition, one part being occupied as a farm-house, and the other formed into a cluster of nine cottages' (Baines, County Palatine Lanc 3.145).
1849, 1894 Extensive renovations.
1903 E range drastically remodelled.
1919--20 Capt. Thomas Nuttall took over tenancy, purchasing in 1924.
1930 Capt. Nuttall donated the hall to the Roman Catholic diocese of Salford and it became the bishop's residence.
REED Lanc 160--2
