A Children's Guide to Towneley Hall

Towneley Art Gallery & Museum

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St Mary’s RC Primary School

You can learn Towneley isn’t just a random house, there is actually a museum full of fun exhibits to see and learn about.

You can see all kinds of things such as the military room, ancient Egypt and a chapel. You can learn the café was actually a horses stable and there is a little room where the priests could hide. You can learn what happened back then with the Towneley family.

You can learn who the first ever owner or who was the last owner (Lady O’Hagan) or if you are very curios who is alive right now.

Towneley’s Art Gallery & Museum ...through the eyes of children!

Photo © Jon Thompson

Children from St Mary’s RC Primary School in Burnley have written this guide. Years 3 & 4 visited Towneley several times and decided to concentrate on several areas of the Hall, family and museum’s history.

Towneley is a combination of four elements. These are the building itself and the influence the Towneley family had on it (as well as Burnley’s history) the park and surroundings and finally the history of the art gallery/ museum since 1903.

It is always refreshing to see and hear what young people think about Towneley. Hopefully, their understanding and appreciation will remain with them and be passed onto a new generation.

All grammar and spelling is as written by the children.

Mike Townend

Towneley Hall

Principal photography by Andy Ford and Jon Thompson Cover images © Jon Thompson

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There is lots of different shaped windows. On the front of the Hall there is a big clock with Roman numerals. There used to be a 4th part (to the Hall) but it got knocked down.

The Building

The building has a big clock with Roman numerals on it. It looks like a castle but it’s not. The smallest windows with criss crosses is the oldest. The Hall has a mark where a building used to be but unfortunately it got knocked down.

The building is separated into three parts. It is very big and looks like a castle. There is a lot of different shaped windows. They come in lots of different shapes and sizes and there is a really small window with criss crosses and that is

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The Kitchen

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Photo Š Jon Thompson

The food at Towneley Hall is fake now but years ago the Towneley’s had lots of food prepared for them. The big oven is chain powered and it will cook the food you have put on the trays. There is an oven called the dutch oven.

The dutch oven has a door to check the meat is cooking.

The chain goes round to cook the meat.

In the kitchen there are lots of utensils.

Also there are animals that are stuffed like the cat that’s curled up on the window sill. If your cat is dead they could put wool in it.

There was a man trap because if erchers (poachers) came who they tried to kill the animals they covered it up with leaves so they couldn’t see it then they would get them.

Louisa Sophie Foy was a cook. She was servant

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Shabtis looked after the dead person in the afterlife

Ptah-SakarOsiris figure

John Garstang collected Egyptian artefacts for Lady O’Hagan (the last person to live in Towneley Hall) because she sponsored him. At Towneley they have an ancient Egypt room where you can find out how they mummified bodies and you can see a real mummified body.

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Ancient Egypt

Surrounding the mummified body there are things an Egyptian would’ve needed in the afterlife.

You can see an artifact which looks like a monkey playing a harp. Although it is a small area there is knowledge that overloads the room. You can discover new things.

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Military Room In the military room you can see paintings of Victor Smith and Thomas Whitham.

These two people have been awarded the Victoria Cross. The Victoria Cross is a medal for bravery.

Victor Smith saved his friends by jumping on a grenade. Thomas Whitham saved people from a machine gun. Victor died so they put it (his Victoria Cross) in a museum, Towneley museum (both crosses are on display.)

Victor Smith

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Thomas Whitham

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On the wall in the dining room is a picture of a family called the Strachey family. There were eight children and two adults in the Strachey family.

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Family Dining Room

Photos Š Jon Thompson

The dining room is the third biggest in Towneley Hall.

The family always ate dinner and tea and breakfast there. They used knifes and forks made out of bone and steal. The man chair is only for men to sit on because women had long dresses. It has a triangle bottom. There is also a high chair for the young children.

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At the chapel you can find a wooden statue of Jesus and the Easter story. You can learn how Jesus died just by looking at the symbols on the wooden sculpture and you can see how he was crucified on the cross. Above there was a gallery to see into the room.

Photos © Jon Thompson

The Chapel You can also learn about the story of Francis’ head. Francis was part of the Towneley family and his head got chopped off. He was the fifth son of Ursula and his head got chopped of for being (reputedly) a traitor. You might get a fright because of the head of Francis but do not worry because the real one is buried in St Peter’s church.

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There are lots of rooms down the Long Gallery and the type of material is wood. Ladies who used to be here walked up and down. Also it was good for children to run up and down. In the long Gallery there were bedrooms for the guests. There are 4 bedrooms there. There is one room that has a chair with a pot underneath so they could go to the toilet. In the bedrooms there were spiders.

Priest Hide

At Towneley you can see secret rooms.

There is a secret abandoned room that many priests lurked in when guards came to capture them. The priests could hide. They persecuted priests because they were Catholics. The secret room is located under the bedroom but can only be accessed by pulling back a pile of short stairs.

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Photo © Jon Thompson

The Long Gallery and Bedrooms

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Photo © Jon Thompson

Towneley Hall used to be a habitat for people because people lived there. Outside the habitats are amazing homes. Some of the homes are trees/the pond/forest and under ground and some of the animals are deers/fish/frogs/spiders and don’t forget the birds. The tadpoles eat algae and the frogs eat flies.

On the field there are mud piles. In the wood there are burrows. The grass is a habitat for insects like spiders, ants and lots of insects.

Towneley Hall is also a habitat for bats. At night bats hover over the pond looking for something to eat at day they hide in the woods and Towneley Hall.

St Mary’s RC Primary School

Š Burnley Council 2019. Job_16009. creative-council.net

Habitats outside the Hall