BURNLEY

Towneley Hall was the home of the Towneley family for more than 500 years. This Lancashire family were influential in the scientific, technological and religious developments which took place in the 17th and 18th centuries. The male line of the family died out in 1878 and in 1901 one of the daughters, Lady O'Hagan, sold the house together with 62 acres of land to Burnley Corporation. The hall contains the 15th-century Whalley Abbey vestments and has its own chapel, which contains a finely carved altarpiece made in Antwerp in about 1525.