I HAVE always felt an affinity with Smithills Hall. As children, we used to visit there regularly as it was free then.

We were intrigued by the footprint of the Protestant martyr, George Marsh in the passageway and there was a room upstairs containing a heavily-carved four-poster bed. We called the room "the haunted bedroom" as we always felt a sudden chill when we entered! The land on which my house was built belonged to Peter Ainsworth of Smithills Hall and he leased it to the builder for a period of 5,000 years for the sum of £18 per annum. The signature "Peter Ainsworth 1851" is on my deeds. I paid a visit to Smithills Hall at the opening last weekend and was pleasantly surprised. The re-furbishment is superb and the highly polished, heavily-carved gothic furniture was a pleasure to look at. I found that the four-poster had been removed from the "haunted bedroom" and placed in an adjacent room.

Bolton should be proud of this magnificent, historical building - this and Hall i'th' Wood museum are two jewels in Bolton's crown!

Lawrence Holmes

Higher Bridge Street, Bolton

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.