Gawthorpe Hall - Padiham, Lancashire (NT)
Gawthorpe Hall was built between 1600 and 1605 for the Rev. Lawrence Shuttleworth, whose family had occupied the site since the 14th century. His brother, Sir Richard Shuttleworth, is believed to have planned the house, possibly in consultation with the architect Robert Smythson, whose other work includes Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire.
During the eighteenth century, the Hall was not lived in by the Shuttleworth family, but some Neo-classical alterations were made during Robert Shuttleworth's occupation early in the nineteenth century and a much fuller restoration by Sir Charles Barry was carried out in 1850-52. The Elizabethan and Jacobean styles which had been so unfashionable were reappraised by the Victorians and at Gawthorpe, Barry blended the old with the new in interesting ways.
In the Dining Room, some original elements from the old Great Hall can still be seen. There is a raised dais at the far end of the room and the minstrels gallery above the doorway. Barry supported this structure with new sideboards, replaced the fireplace and inserted new panelling. Here as elsewhere in the house, there are Gothic revival designs from Pugin and Crace, as well as a renewed plaster ceiling, following the design of the 1605 original. The Drawing Room is the least altered room in the house and the Jacobean decoration here dates from 1603-05. The stone arch of the fireplace was replaced in the 1850's and a Pugin fire grate introduced. The other furniture in the room is very much as it was following Barry's alterations. On display upstairs are two Victorian watercolours of the Dining Room and the Drawing Room and they provide vivid evidence of how little either room has changed in the century and a half since they were painted. The sideboards in the Dining Room do look new in the painting, but in reality have now aged gracefully into the patina of the surrounding paneling.
The oak staircase is a beautiful introduction by Barry, but he knew when to leave well alone - the Long Gallery upstairs retains its Jacobean plasterwork and its function. Although he replaced the stone fire surround, the plasterwork overmantel was preserved, bearing the date 1603 and the arms of James I. Also on display is the Huntroyde Room, so called by the 1st Lord Shuttleworth (created 1902) after the view it affords over the neighbouring Huntroyde estate. This was originally the best bedchamber, with Lawrence Shuttleworth's arms depicted on the overmantel of 1604.
During the early part of the twentieth century, Gawthorpe became a centre for the study and preservation of textile crafts under the aegis if the Hon. Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth. There is a fascinating and extensive display of her life and work and many techniques of needlecraft from all over the world.