{{Short description|Building in Greater Manchester, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox Historic building |image=Wardley Hall2.jpg |caption= |name=Wardley Hall |location_town=[[Wardley, Greater Manchester|Wardley]], [[Worsley]], [[Salford]], [[Greater Manchester]] |location_country=England |mapframe = yes |mapframe-zoom = 10 |map_caption = Location within Greater Manchester |coordinates = {{coord|53.51589|-2.36697|type:landmark_globe:earth_region:GB|display=ti}} |completion_date={{circa|1500}} |architectural_style =[[Medieval architecture|Medieval]] |size= |designations = {{Designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = Grade I Listed Building | designation1_offname = Wardley Hall | designation1_date = 29 July 1966 | designation1_number = {{NHLE|num=1215022|short=y|postscript=none}} }} }}
'''Wardley Hall''' is an early [[Medieval architecture|medieval]] [[manor house]] and a Grade I [[listed building]] in the [[Wardley, Greater Manchester|Wardley]] area of [[Worsley]], Salford, in [[Greater Manchester]] (historically within [[Lancashire]]).<ref name="Images of England">{{cite web |title=Wardley Hall |url=http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=44262|website=Heritage Gateway|access-date=14 July 2025}}</ref> There has been a moat on the site since at least 1292. The current hall dates from around 1500 but was extensively rebuilt in the 19th and 20th centuries.<ref name="Hartwell">{{cite book |last=Hartwell |first=Clare |author2=Matthew Hyde |author3=Nikolaus Pevsner |author3-link=Nikolaus Pevsner |title=The Buildings of England: Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2004 |location=New Haven |pages=673 |isbn=0-300-10583-5}}</ref> Wardley Hall is the official residence of the Catholic [[Bishop of Salford]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nicholson |first1=Sue |title=Elbows, skulls and holy hands: Venerating England's saintly relics |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36398287 |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=29 May 2016}}</ref>
The skull of [[Ambrose Barlow|St Ambrose Barlow]], one of the [[Forty Martyrs of England and Wales]], is preserved in a [[Niche (architecture)|niche]] at the top of the main staircase.<ref name="NHLE">{{NHLE |num=1215022 |desc=Wardley Hall |access-date= 14 July 2025}}</ref> He was [[hanged, drawn and quartered]] at [[Lancaster, Lancashire|Lancaster]] on 10 September 1641 after confessing to being a [[Roman Catholic|Catholic]] priest.<ref name="Hulme">{{cite book |last1=Hulme |first1=Michala |title=Bloody British History: Manchester |date=7 September 2016 |publisher=History Press |isbn=9780750978972 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Bloody_British_History_Manchester/_oaPDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0}}</ref>
== History == [[File:Wardley Hall, 1890.jpg|thumb|Wardley Hall in 1890]] A moat has been on the site of the hall from at least 1292,<ref name="NHLE" /> however the current house was built by [[Thurstan Tyldesley]] during the reign of [[Edward VI]], and remained in the Tyldesley family possession until the late 16th-century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Camm |first1=Bede |author1-link=Bede Camm |title=Forgotten Shrines An Account of Some Old Catholic Halls and Families in England and of Relics and Memorials of the English Martyrs |date=2004 |publisher=Gracewing |isbn=9780852446157 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Forgotten_Shrines/anpVguz_mlMC?hl=en&gbpv=0}}</ref><ref name="Diocese">{{cite web |title=Wardley Hall |url=https://dioceseofsalford.org.uk/diocese/visiting-us/wardley-hall/ |website=Diocese of Salford |access-date=14 July 2025}}</ref> Politician and lawyer [[Roger Downes]] bought Wardley Hall in 1601, and it was owned by his family for three generations.<ref name="Diocese" /><ref name="HOP">{{cite web |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/downes-roger-1638 |website=History of Parliament Online |title=DOWNES, Roger (d.1638), of Wardley Hall, Lancs.|access-date=14 July 2025}}</ref>
In 1760, [[Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater]] bought various estates around Lancashire including Wardley Hall. After his death, his estates, including the hall was left in trust to his nephew [[George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland]] and the latter's son [[Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere]].<ref name="Diocese" />
Captain Thomas Nuttall began living at the hall from 1919 or 1920, while he was serving with the [[Royal Field Artillery]] in Germany. He bought the hall for £5000 in 1924. After learning that the planned [[A580 road|East Lancashire Road]] would cut through the estate, Nuttall decided to move away from the hall. He offered the hall to the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford]] in 1928, who declined due to financial restraints. However, after Nuttall's representatives learned that the diocese was looking for land to use as a cemetery to the west of [[Manchester]], they re-entered negotiations. A deal was reached on 12 May 1930, when the diocese agreed to pay £7500 for the hall's surrounding land, with Nuttall offering the hall for free, with a stipulation that it would be preserved and use in accordance with its historic and respected condition. From then onwards, Wardley Hall has been the official residence of the [[Bishop of Salford]].<ref name="Diocese" />
On 29 July 1966, Wardley Hall was designated as a Grade I [[listed building]].<ref name="NHLE" />
== Ambrose Barlow's skull == [[Ambrose Barlow]] was a Roman Catholic priest active in Lancashire during the 17th-century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Freethy |first1=Ron |title=Riverside Rambles Along the Mersey |date=2004 |publisher=Sigma Leisure |isbn=9781850588122 |page=60 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Riverside_Rambles_Along_the_Mersey/ONaOD8C8_8oC?hl=en&gbpv=0}}</ref> He frequently visited Wardley Hall to conduct [[Catholic Mass]] and to visit the Downes family, his cousins.<ref>{{cite web|title=Blessed Ambrose Barlow, O.S.B.|publisher=St Ambrose Barlow|archive-date=4 August 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030804214618/http://www.stambrosebarlow.co.uk/visitor/html/ambrose.htm |url=http://www.stambrosebarlow.co.uk/visitor/html/ambrose.htm|access-date=14 July 2025}}</ref> In March 1641, all Catholic priests in Britain were ordered to leave the country within one month or face the threat of execution. Barlow, who was ill at the time, refused to leave and was arrested after celebrating Easter Mass and was sentenced to death.<ref name="Hulme" /><ref name="Fields">{{cite book |last1=Fields |first1=Kenneth |title=Lancashire Magic & Mystery Secrets of the Red Rose County |date=1998 |publisher=Sigma |isbn=9781850586067 |pages=75-76 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lancashire_Magic_Mystery/enpHZBBfsCoC?hl=en&gbpv=0}}</ref> On 10 September 1641, Barlow was [[hung, drawn and quartered]] and boiled in oil. His head was afterwards displayed on a spike outside the [[Manchester Cathedral|Collegiate Church]] in Manchester.<ref name="Hulme" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Glendinning |first1=Amy |title=Only saint in the south |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/only-saint-in-the-south-933990 |work=Manchester Evening News |date=12 January 2013}}</ref> A member of the Downes family managed to acquire the skull and placed it in a niche at the top of the stairs.<ref name="Diocese" /><ref name="Hulme" />
During renovations in 1745, one of the hall's chapel walls was removed and the skull was rediscovered in a casket. It was described as having "a goodly set of teeth and having on it a good deal of auburn hair".<ref name="Diocese" /> It is alleged that after its rediscovery, the skull was thrown into the moat; afterwards, the hall was ravaged by intense storms. So, it was ordered that the moat be drained and the skull was returned to its original position. According to legend, whenever the skull is moved, misfortune will fall upon the house.<ref name="Hulme" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Ben |title=Haunted Manchester: The Screaming Skull of Wardley Hall |url=https://www.manchestersfinest.com/articles/haunted-manchester-the-screaming-skull-of-wardley-hall/ |website=Manchester's Finest |date=26 October 2021}}</ref>
For a time, the skull was thought to belong to Roger Downes, who is claimed to have died in a drunken fight which severed his head. However, when his body was exhumed from the Downes family vault, his head was intact apart from a small piece missing from his skull.<ref name="Fields" /> During a forensic examination in 1960, it was identified that the skull belonged to a man aged between 50 and 60 years old, which matches the age of Barlow. It was also determined that a sharp object had been pierced through the head, which matches a spike.<ref name="Hulme" />
In 1970, Barlow and [[Forty Martyrs of England and Wales|thirty-nine others]] who died during the [[Reformation]] were canonised by [[Pope Paul VI]].<ref name="Hulme" />
== Architecture == The building is a quadrangular [[timber framing|timber framed]] with a slate roof. It was originally surrounded by a moat, however only a portion still survives on the west side of the hall. The Great Hall is one of the earliest surviving parts of the building and dates from the late 15th or early 16th century.<ref name="Images of England"/>
In 1561, the hall's founder Thurstan Tyldesley was granted an oratory license. He built a private chapel inside the gatehouse to the north of the hall.<ref name="Diocese" /> During the early 17th-century, Wardley Hall contained more than twenty bedrooms.<ref name="HOP" />
A major restoration was carried out by [[John Douglas (English architect)|John Douglas]] in 1894.<ref name="Hartwell" /> Other restorations were carried out in 1734 and 1904.<ref name="Images of England" />
==See also== {{portal|Greater Manchester}} *[[Grade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester]] *[[Listed buildings in Worsley]] *[[List of houses and associated buildings by John Douglas]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *[http://archiseek.com/2009/1898-wardley-hall-lancashire/#.URDe7_dFCM8 1898 – Wardley Hall, Lancashire]
{{Salford B&S |state=collapsed}} {{Diocese of Salford}}
[[Category:Grade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in the City of Salford]] [[Category:John Douglas buildings]] [[Category:Country houses in Greater Manchester]] [[Category:Houses completed in the 16th century]]