| Ordsall Hall | |
|---|---|
 Ordsall Hall in 2014 | |
  Location within Greater Manchester | |
| General information | |
| Town or city | Ordsall,Greater Manchester |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 53°28′10″N2°16′39″W / 53.469444°N 2.2775°W /53.469444; -2.2775 |
| Designations | |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Ordsall Hall |
| Designated | 31 January 1952 |
| Reference no. | 1386169 |
Ordsall Hall is a large formermanor house in the historic parish ofOrdsall, Lancashire, now part of theCity of Salford, inGreater Manchester, England. It dates back more than 750 years, although the oldest surviving parts of the present hall were built in the 15th century. The most important period of Ordsall Hall's life was as the family seat of the Radclyffe family, who lived in the house for more than 300 years. The hall was the setting forWilliam Harrison Ainsworth's 1842 novelGuy Fawkes, written around the plausible although unsubstantiated local story that theGunpowder Plot of 1605 was planned in the house.
Since its sale by the Radclyffes in 1662, the hall has been put to many uses: aworking men's club, a school for clergy, and a radio station among them. The house was bought by the oldSalford Council in 1959 and opened to the public in 1972, as a period house and local history museum. The hall is aGrade I listed building,[1] and entrance is free.
Ordsall Hall is a formerly moatedTudor mansion, the oldest parts of which were built during the 13th century,[2] although there has been a house on the site for over 750 years. David de Hulton is recorded as the owner of the original hall, in 1251.[3] The manor of Ordsall came into the possession of the Radclyffe family in about 1335, but it was not until 1354 that Sir John Radclyffe established his right of inheritance. The manor was described in 1351 as amessuage, 120 acres (48.6 ha) of land, 12 acres (4.9 ha) of meadow and 12 acres (4.9 ha) of wood.[4]
During the 1340s, Sir John Radclyffe campaigned withEdward III in France, distinguishing himself at the battles ofCaen,Crécy andCalais. As a reward for his service, the King allowed Sir John to take someFlemish weavers back to his Ordsall estate, where he built cottages for them to live in. English weaving skills at that time were poor, and textiles fromManchester were considered to be of particularly poor quality, so the Flemish weavers were employed in instructing the local weavers. They also started up a silk weaving industry, the foundation for Manchester's later cotton industry.[5]
The Dutch humanist and theologianErasmus stayed at Ordsall Hall in 1499, and described it thus:
... the floors are made of clay and are covered with layers of rushes, constantly replenished, so that the bottom layer remains for 20 years harbouring spittle, vomit, the urine of dogs and men, the dregs of beer, the remains of fish and other nameless filth ...[2]
The originalcruck hall was replaced by the present Great Hall in 1512, after Sir Alexander Radclyffe was appointedHigh Sheriff of Lancashire. The hall is typical of others built at that time in the northwest of England, although it is one of the largest, and is unusual for the period in having no wall fireplace. The hall has an elaborate roof structure, as in the similarRufford Old Hall. There is a slightly later small room above the largeoriel bay, which may be an early addition as atSamlesbury Hall.[4]
Other alterations and additions were made during the 17th century, including a modest brick house added onto the west end in 1639, perhaps intended as a home for Sir Alexander's bailiff, as he himself no longer used the hall as his main residence by that time. The house was built at 90° to the timber-framed building, to which it was later joined. During theCivil War Sir Alexander, as aRoyalist, was imprisoned and suffered financial hardship. Reduced means eventually forced his heir, John Radclyffe, into selling the hall to Colonel Samuel Birch in 1662, thus ending more than 300 years of his family's occupation.[4][6]
At the time of the 1666hearth tax survey, Ordsall Hall was the largest house in Salford, with 19 hearths.[7] The Oldfield family of Leftwich, nearNorthwich, bought the estate at the end of the 17th century, and in 1704 it was sold again, to John Stock, a trustee ofCross Street Chapel. His family were probably the last owners to reside at the hall. The Stocks lived in the hall's central section, comprising "a large hall, lounge dining room, a chapel, six rooms on a floor, with brewhouse, large courts, stable, etc", while the two wings were leased to tenants from about 1700.[4] In 1756, the hall was sold to Samuel Hill ofShenstone, Staffordshire. Two years later, on Hill's death, the house passed to his nephew, Samuel Egerton ofTatton.[4]
The hall remained in occupation until 1871, the last residents being the descendants of John Markendale, who had taken over the lease of the building in 1814. The land surrounding the hall was used by the Mather family of cowkeepers and butchers for many years. During the last quarter of the 19th century, Ordsall Hall became engulfed "in mean streets and industry".[8] From 1875, Haworth's Mill rented the hall and used it as aworking men's club.[4] The Great Hall was converted into a gymnasium after being cleared of the inserted floor and later partitions, and provision was made elsewhere for billiards, askittle alley, and a bowling green. In 1883, the hall was bought byWilbraham Egerton, 2nd Baron Egerton, and restored during 1896–98 by the Manchester architectAlfred Darbyshire at a cost of £6,000[8] (equivalent to £815,300 in 2023[a]). The restoration allowed Lord Egerton to found a clergy training school at the hall. Provisions for the school included the construction of a church dedicated to StCyprian in the north forecourt, and a new servants' wing on the south side. In 1908, the school was moved to Egerton Hall, changing its name to the Manchester Theological College. The men's social club at Ordsall Hall survived until 1940. During the Second World War, the hall was used as a radio station.[8] In the 1960s, the church and servants' wing built for the clergy school were demolished.[4]
Salford Corporation purchased Ordsall Hall from the executors ofMaurice Egerton, 4th Baron Egerton in 1959. After major restoration work, it was opened to the public in April 1972, as a period house and local history museum.[4] Like many old buildings, Ordsall Hall has stories of hauntings. A White Lady who is said to appear in the Great Hall or Star Chamber is popularly believed to beMargaret Radclyffe, who died of a broken heart in 1599 following the death in Ireland of her brother, Alexander.[9]
In March 2007, the Extraordinary Ordsall Campaign applied for a grant of £5.1 million from theHeritage Lottery Fund, to regenerate Ordsall Hall and secure its future.[10] After supporters had raised £1 million by September 2008, the Heritage Lottery Fund provided the remaining £4.1 million. Only 40 per cent of the building was then open to the public, but following restoration work further rooms were expected to be opened. The building closed for refurbishment in early 2009,[11] and re-opened to the public on 15 May 2011.[12] In 2013, the newly restored building received a Bronze Award in the Small Visitor Attraction category organised by tourist bodyVisitEngland, one of 320 nominations from across the country.[13]
There are two separate elements to the present-day house: the timber-framed south range built in the 15th century, and the brick west range constructed in 1639. The hall was originally built around a centralquadrangle, but the other wings making up that space are no longer present. Drawing on the earliest description of the house, from 1380,Salford City Council describes how it comprised "a hall, five chambers, a kitchen and a chapel. It was associated with two stables, three granges, twoshippons, a garner, adovecote, an orchard and a windmill, together with 80 acres (32 ha) of arable land and 6 acres (2.4 ha) of meadow."[4]
Substantial alterations appear to have taken place during the early years of Samuel Egerton's ownership in the mid-18th century. The canopy at thedais end of the Great Hall was destroyed – although part of it can still be seen in the north wall – when a floor was inserted and new rooms were formed withlath and plaster partitions. The east wing of the hall was probably demolished at about the same time, but certainly before 1812, the date of the earliestestate map.[4]
There are believed to have been underground passages leading from the hall into Manchester. One, running under theRiver Irwell to the Hanging Bridge Hotel at the northern end ofDeansgate, was described in 1900, following the rediscovery of theHanging Bridge after it had been buried for 200 years:
... I was shown a door in Hanging Bridge Hotel cellar where the arches could be seen and a door made up ... it was the entrance to an underground passage under the Irwell, possibly to Ordsall Hall ... the owner had not traversed the passage himself, but the previous owner had, but had to turn back because of bad smells ....[15]
— Letter to theManchester Guardian, April 1900
Harrison Ainsworth, in his 1842 novelGuy Fawkes, wrote about the local story that theGunpowder Plot of 1605 was planned byGuy Fawkes andRobert Catesby in Ordsall Hall's Star Chamber. Fawkes is supposed to have escaped capture by the King's soldiers by way of a tunnel from Ordsall Hall to an inn at the cathedral end of Hanging Bridge, at the northern end of present-day Deansgate. There is no firm supporting evidence, but the Radclyffes were prominentRoman Catholics and were acquainted with the Catesby family. The legend is remembered in the name of the modern road that runs to the east of the hall, Guy Fawkes Street.[16]
53°28′09″N2°16′39″W / 53.4693°N 2.2776°W /53.4693; -2.2776
