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Burnley b&b, guesthouse and hotel accommodation

Visit Burnley and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:

Burnley, Lancashire. The name of Burnley can be traced back two centuries before the Norman Conquest, and the history of St Peter's Church is believed to go back to the 12^th century. The history of the Towneley family, conspicuous in Burnley, started about the beginning of the 13^th century when land was granted by the Normans. The woollen industry began in the late 13^th century, and Burnley grew as a market town; the Industrial Revolution brought great expansion due to the cotton-spinning industry which preceded the present emphasis on engineering.

Towneley Hall is to the South East of Burnley. Its 6-ft-thick walls have undergone so many alterations that it is difficult to decide on the hall's original character, The south-east wing was probably begun in the mid-l4^th century as a two-story building. The central part and the north-west wing were probably built about a century later on three sides of a square, as they stand today. The square was completed later, but a variety of alterations followed, including removal of this fourth side; and in the 19^th century, with the additions to the north-west wing, and the castellations and turrets, the hall's exterior assumed its present form. In 1725 Richard Towneley began alterations to the central hall, then decorated in neo-Classical style by Vassali, the Italian plaster sculptor. Other rooms contain an Adam-style fireplace and a hiding place for priests. Old English vestments of cloth of gold, 17^th-century panelling and a Spode dinner service are on display. Notable rooms are the bedrooms off the 85-ft Long Gallery, the dining-room, servants' dining-room and the chapel. A triumph of the Libraries and Arts Committee of Burnley Corporation, which bought the Hall in 1901, was to buy back the altar-piece. This has fine Netherlandish wood sculpture, probably early 16^th-century, in the oak reredos with scenes of the life of Christ. The altar itself is of later production, possibly late 17^th century, with three panel scenes. It was retrieved from the Convent of Notre Dame in Sussex, and in 1969 was replaced in the chapel where Charles Townely (1737—1805), the art collector, had placed it. He brought to England a collection of Greek and Roman art, later bought by the British Museum. Other Towneleys include Christopher (b. 1603), the Lancashire antiquary, and John (b. 1697), the translator into French of Hudibras. Besides being the town's art gallery, the hail is also a museum of geology, archaeology and natural history.

On the road to Padihani is Gawthorpe Hall the home of the Shuttleworth family since 1330. The present mansion was built round an earlier house about the beginning of the 17^th century, and elaborated by Sir Charles Barry in 1850. It is a fine specimen of the architecture of its period. It has many disp1ays of textiles and other crafts in a collection established by the late Hon. Rachel Kay Shuttleworth.

Nearby cities: Bradford, Preston, Manchester

Nearby towns: Accrington, Bacup, Colne, Clitheroe, Hebden Bridge, Nelson

Nearby villages: Altham, Barley, Barrowford, Baxenden, Billington, Brierfield, Chatburn, Church, Clayton-le-Moors, Cornholme, Crawshaw Booth, Ewood Bridge, Foulridge, Great Harwood, Hapton, Haslingden, Helmshore, Holme Chapel, Huncoat, Laneshaw Bridge, Oswaldtwistle, Padiham, Pendleton, Rawtenstall, Rishton, Sabden, Shawforth, Simonstone, Todmorden, Waddington, Walsden, Whalley, Worsthorne

Have you decided to visit Burnley or the surrounding villages? Please look above for somewhere to stay in:

• a Burnley bed and breakfast (a Burnley B&B or Burnley b and b)
• a Burnley guesthouse
• a Burnley hotel (or motel)
• a Burnley self-catering establishment, or
• other Burnley accommodation