HALL I' TH WOOD

This 15th century half-timbered black and white Manor House is the birthplace of Samuel Crompton's "Spinning Mule", which created it's own industrial revolution in the spinning of cotton. Samuel Crompton lived at the house, which in the 18th century had been divided into tenements, from 1758 until 1782. The house was built by the Brownlow Family, but the great-grandson of the builder, Lawrence Brownlow, got so heavily into debt in building expensive additions to the house, that he had to sell it to the Norris Family to recoup some of his money. The house was given to the Bolton Corporation by Viscount Leverhulme in 1900, and was opened to the public as a museum. There are three ghosts at Hall-i'-th-Wood. The first is that of a Cavalier, one of the family of Royalists whose property was confiscated at the end of the Civil War. His ghost was seen until fairly recently, racing up the wide staircase. His appearances always took place at Christmas time and he was never seen after 6th January, until the following December. Since the ghost has only been seen going upstairs, and not down again, it is thought that the Cavalier must have been apprehended and killed in one of the upstairs rooms. The second ghost is that of a man dressed in green, who was seen carrying a sack over his shoulders, disappearing through a wall in the direction of the West Wing, which was demolished in the 17th century. This ghost is thought to be that of Alexander Norris, the man responsible for the demolition of the West Wing, and he is thought to be searching for some lost family papers. The third ghost is that of a little old lady, wearing a long black dress with white lace around her neck and cuffs, who has been seen fairly recently in the kitchen. She is described as being a charming old soul, who is totally incapable of frightening anybody