Hall i'th' Wood at risk of being lost, says Historic England

Hall i'th' Wood Museum has been added to the Heritage at Risk Register 2024 published today by Historic England.

The Grade 1 listed site, which has been operating as a museum under the management of Bolton Council since 1900, was forced to close its doors to the public in 2021 due to severe structural issues. These problems include timber decay, damp, rot, and damage caused by vandalism.

The register gives an annual snapshot of the health of England’s valued historic buildings and places.

This is the first time the hall has been placed on the list.

(Image: The Historic England Archive, Historic England)

However, moves are in place to restore it and bring it back into use.

Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr Nick Peel, said: “Hall i' th' Wood is a treasured part of Bolton’s heritage, with deep historic significance to our community.

“This designation to the Heritage at Risk Register brings opportunity, highlighting the importance of preserving this landmark, and encourages us to take focused steps toward its restoration and protection.

“We’re committed to working with Historic England and local partners to ensure that Hall i' th' Wood remains a proud symbol of our town’s history for future generations.”

This Tudor timber-framed hall dates back to the early 1500s, and is renowned as the location where Samuel Compton invented the spinning mule, a crucial development in the Industrial Revolution.

Historic England states: "As one of only 48 Grade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester, Hall i'th' Wood represents a rare and valuable example of Tudor architecture."

The organisation adds: "Bolton Council and Historic England have joined forces to restore the building and improve its energy efficiency, reducing operational costs and carbon emissions.

"Historic England has pledged £47,500 towards Bolton Council's £95,000 plan for essential survey work."

Three more entries in the North West were added to the list this year.

The Heritage at Risk programme identifies the sites most at risk of being lost as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development.

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, said: “Heritage is so important to the North West. It plays a vital role in our society and boosts the regional economy.

“This year, we have seen partners and communities come together to help save the historic buildings and places that need it the most.

“It’s inspirational to see how we can harness the power of our heritage to benefit local people across the North West.

“Together, we can save our places and find new ways to enjoy the heritage that people value so much.”

Historic England awarded £1.53 million in grants over 2023 and 2024 for repairs to eight sites in the North West.

Its research has shown that the heritage sector in the North West is an important source of revenue, contributing £4.5 billion to the regional economy and employing 57,000 people every year.

READ MORE: The changing face of Hall i’ th’ Wood through the years

Hall i’th’ Wood Hall could get support from Historic England

Bolton: Reason why Hall i'th' Wood Museum remains closed

Heritage Minister Sir Chris Bryant said: “The UK has an abundance of heritage sites across the country that attract tourists and provide jobs in local communities. Many of these are in desperate need of support.

“The Heritage at Risk Register plays a vital role in our ongoing mission to protect and preserve our rich heritage across the country.

“Many beloved sites have been removed from the list this year and I hope that more will be saved thanks to their inclusion this year.”

Hall 'i'th' Wood Hall was built as the manor overseeing the township of Tonge with Haulgh which existed under the civil parish of Bolton le Moors.

The Brownlow family managed the hall and its estate until the early-17th century.

It was then sold to the Norris family in 1635, then to the Starkie family in 1654 who let the house out to various tenants.

This is when Samuel Crompton came to live in the hall, moving there with his family in 1758.

He invented the spinning mule in the hall’s upstairs rooms in 1779, a machine used to spin cotton fibres into yarn, which can then be woven into textile goods.

He left the hall in 1782, for a new lodging in Sharples.

Crompton lacked the means to patent his device, however, and never saw the profits it would make as a key tool in the early Industrial Revolution.

The Victorians developed a fascination with Hall i’th’ Wood soon after Crompton’s death.

This fascination can be understood as reflecting the hall’s importance as the birthplace of the spinning mule, a machine so foundational to the Victorian industrial economy.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon, a poet of the period, wrote a poem which imagined the various residents of the hall as symbolic of “Change, change, wondrous change”.

(Image: The Historic England Archive, Historic England)

The poem imagines “the feudal Lord” and “the Squire”, referring to the nobility who built and first inhabited the hall, before continuing on to Crompton, “the Man of skill” whose “thought and industry combined” yielded the invention of the spinning mule.

The financial burden of maintaining a Tudor property is by no means a struggle limited to the modern-day and the hall’s current owners, Bolton Council.

In 1899, Lord Leverhulme, the Victorian industrialist and philanthropist whose soap-manufacturing empire would become the modern-day Unilever, bought the hall and funded a large restoration project.

This project saw the interiors of the hall returned to a Tudor aesthetic, involving the installation of panelling removed from other 16th and 17th century houses and the insertion of plaster ceilings modelled on surviving examples in other period houses.

Lord Leverhulme gifted the property to the people of Bolton in 1902 following its repair, at which point Hall i’ th’ Wood was first opened to the public as a museum.

The name ‘Hall i’th’ Wood’ is quite self-explanatory, with the Lancashire dialect condensing the clunky ‘Hall in the Wood’ down to the familiar name. However, visitors to the hall for the last century or so will notice that the house is by no means situated in the thick of woodland.

Following the First World War, parts of the land owned by the Bolton Corporation as part of the Hall i’ th’ Wood estate were given over for residential development in the wake of a nationwide housing crisis. Over 400 houses were built as part of this development, with the aim of rehoming people living in Bolton’s slum areas.

A later development of flats and bungalows meant that, from one aspect, the hall no longer looked over parkland. A Bolton Evening News headline in 1965 asked: “Was it worth hiding the Hall?”, with the article lamenting the “damage done” to the hall as a result of housing development.