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Smithills Hall, Bolton UK

Twin_Star

Gone But Not Forgotten
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I visited Smithills Hall on Sunday with my girlfriend, and can highly recommend it. 3 quid of anyone's money very well spent i would say.

Not only do you get pretty much the run of the place and free guided tours if you want them (no pressure) but you also get to see a whole range of Medieaval, Tudor, Victorian and Edwardian gems.

There's supposedly lots of spooks at Smithills, the main one being George Marsh, but unsuprisingly we didnt see or feel anything. Predictably, MH have done a broadcast from Smithills and the two tediums did themselves proud. Here's the first section of the programme, the rest is easy enough to find on youtube, if you like that sort of thing.

What really caught my attention, however, were certain carvings in the withdrawing room. The guide told us that more than 50 heads were originally carved, on the instructions of the owner, Andrew Barton. These heads supposedly included family members, both close and distant, and included the Barton motifs of Hart and Acorn.
drawingroom01.jpg


However closer inspection of the South wall of the drawing room put things in a different light:
drawingroomcu.jpg

drawingroompentagrams.jpg


It was then that i noticed the 3 pillars of Freemasonry carved at the top of the south wall.
Here's a shot with the middle and right pillar:
drawingroomincpillars.jpg


And here's all three, from left to right:
drawingroompillar01.jpg

drawingroompillar02.jpg

drawingroompillar03.jpg


Continuing the tour, in the chapel were further 'clues'. The east window is secular, and has the heraldic shields of King Henry, Archbishop Cranmer and various Stanleys and Bartons. On the south side of the chapel are 3 windows, all from the victorian era. Two have the acts of Christ and the Gospel writers, and one is this:
chapelwindow.jpg


The left top pane is Greek for Christ, the middle appears to be a motif to the family (a carved wooden one also appears in the withdrawing room. I wanted it to be a compound hebrew glyph at first, but nothing really fitted, so now i believe it to be 2 stylised letters M S.) and the top right is the Apha and Omega with the tools of the art included into the design.

I've already told the GF im writing a story about what went on at Smithills hall all those years ago. Interestingly enough, they found skeletons under the withdrawing room floor in the 1950s. The withdrawing room was shortened at the south wall to make space for the vestry of the chapel and experts believe the bodies to have come from the original graveyeard of the house. I'm more in favout of diabolical acts being carried out by the crazed Barton lord of the manor and his kabalistic minions. Dark, terrible crimes that called for the old favourite of infernal invokation: human blood!

I'd be fascinated to know if anyone else has been to this most interesting venue? Any other tales to tell?
 
Good stuff and excellent photos.

Twin_Star said:
I'd be fascinated to know if anyone else has been to this most interesting venue? Any other tales to tell?

Well my granddad nearly died there, choking on a piece of chicken, and was only saved my some last minute application of the Heimlich manoeuvre. Otherwise he'd be haunting those halls too, which he'd have probably enjoyed (as he was such a fan of their reasonably priced food).

General background:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithills_Hall
 
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