| Summary : Buckshaw Hall lies within the grounds of the former Royal Ordnance Factory at Euxton (SD 52 SE 25). Originally owned by the Anderton family, the Buckshaw Estate was sold to Major Edward Robinson in 1652 and it was he who built the present hall in 1654. The estate was sold to John Walmsley in the 19th century and then passed to the Townley Parkers of Curedon and the Crosses of Shaw Hall. Between 1885 and 1892 it was sold to Richard Stock from whom the government purchased it in 1936, along with the surrounding farmland, for use as offices to the Royal Ordnance factory. The building is of two-storeys and is of square-panelled timber-framed construction throughout, on a plinth of large sandstone blocks, with both wattle and daub and later brick infilling. The hall has a symmetrical facade and in plan it is H-shaped, that is it has cross-wings at either end, with a baffle-entry. The two cross-wings each comprise one bay, flanking a central smaller bay incorporating the porcg with its gabled roof. Both wings have jettied first floors and gables with plaster coves and ovolo-moulded jetty bressumers carried on scroll brackets. Subsequent alterations included the construction of large stone back-to-back fireplaces and the rear staircase turret, both of which appear to be early to mid 18th century, and a Victorian spiral staircase in the northern cross-wing. Extensive restoration of the southern wing was carried out by Colonel T R Crosse in 1885, and there is a datestone marking this restoration on the southern gable. |