Gawthorpe Hall

Gawthorpe Hall is an Elizabethan house of about 1600 beside the River Calder at Padiham, remodelled in the 1850s by Sir Charles Barry, architect of the Houses of Parliament, working with A.W.N. Pugin and J.G. Crace. Owned by the National Trust and run with Lancashire County Council, it holds the North West's largest loan of portraits from the National Portrait Gallery and the Gawthorpe Textiles Collection founded by Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth, shown across five rooms. The estate is the final stop on the Bronte Way, with over 40 acres of woodland looking to Pendle Hill, formal terraces, a hidden walled garden and a den-building play area; the grounds are free to walk and dogs on leads are welcome outside the hall. Reviewers praise the knowledgeable volunteers, the carved Elizabethan furniture and the textiles. Tips from regulars: there is no cafe, the hall keeps far shorter hours than the grounds, and the 420-year-old Great Barn is closed while its roof is repaired.