More information : (SJ 68969927) Morley's Hall (NAT) (on site of) Hall (NR) Moat (NR) (1) Leland refers to the house at Morley as 'an all timber building on stone foundations which rises 6ft above the water of a great moat' (2a). A catholic priest was apprehended there circa 1641 (3). (2-3) The present Morley's Hall is largely modern, but probably fragments of the original building are incorporated in the fabric. The moat is well-defined and water filled. Published survey (1:1250) correct. (4)
Morley's Hall. Listed Grade II*. (5)
SJ 6896 9926. The sub-rectangular island on which the early 19th century Morley's Hall stands is surrounded by a spring-fed waterlogged moat 12-15m wide and 3m deep with an inlet at the at the north-eastern corner and an outlet at the south-eastern corner. The moat widens at the south-eastern corner into a `Cheshire Bulge' - traditionally considered to be a watering place for dairy cattle. Access to the island is by a late medieval brick and sandstone bridge that replaced an earlier timber drawbridge.
The Morley family were living here by 1303. At the time of Henry VII (1485-1509) the hall passed to the Leyland family. John Leland visited in 1540 and described the hall as a timber building on a stone foundation, and surrounded by a moat. The hall passed by marriage to the Tyldesleys on 1564. In 1641 the Benedictine monk Ambrose Barlow was arrested here and martyred at Lancaster. The House was sold to the Leghs in 1755 before passing to the Wilkinsons. It was largely rebuilt in 1804, although it retains much timber framing of the earlier buildings. The moat is scheduled.(6) |