Friday 16th November, 2007

Medieval Norley Hall

Norley Hall is a housing estate which lies about two miles west of Wigan town centre. The large amount of modern property in the area masks its medieval heritage.

The district is named after a manor hall which once stood there. In the Pemberton area there were at least three such buildings - Worsley Hall, Hawkley Hall and Norley Hall. All have disappeared but their names live on in the nomenclature of the region.

Norley, sometimes spelled Northleigh or Northlegh, was once part of Pemberton manor. Adam de Northlegh is mentioned in a document of 1292. His son Thurstan de Norley became lord of the manor in 1321.

The name probably means "North Meadow". The Old English word "legh" was usually applied to a "clearing in the wood", but it can sometimes have the sense of "meadow". The latter meaning is probably correct in this case as the term was often applied to marginal moss land. We know the land around Norley was marshy as two uncultivated fields on the estate were called the "carres". This comes from the Old Norse word "kjarr", which means "marsh". The fact that a nearby area is called "Marsh Green" further strengthens this supposition.

In 1315, Norley Hall was a victim in the Banastre rebellion - a conflict between the Holland and Banastre families. During the rebellion, Sir Adam Banastre, Sir William Bradshaw (of Mab's Cross fame) and other Lancastrian "gentry" rampaged through South Lancashire, looting and murdering, apparently at will. Thurston Norley was lucky to escape with the loss of only a few cattle.

We know a little about medieval Norley Hall, and the estate surrounding it, from the 1466 Legh terrier. This is list of the many properties held by a knight named Peter Legh. In 1950, A. J. Hawkes translated the document into modern English. Here is how the hall is described:

"...one fair hall with one chamber across the hall above the fire-place with a chamber called the Bedraghte (Hawkes suggests that this means bedrange, ie bedroom), and another chamber below the aforesaid high chamber and convenient to the said high chamber, and (another) chamber below the fire-place; with a foodstore or wine-cellar, a Pantry, a Kitchen, and a great Cow-shed for twenty oxen and cows, with a Barn, a Bakehouse, and a herb garden with an alder grove..."

The terrier also describes the area in the vicinity of the hall. It paints a picture of a fairly prosperous rural estate with a pleasant manor house as its administrative centre.

In the 19th century, the hall and surrounding land were acquired by Meyrick Bankes, the owner of the Winstanley Estate.

The 1871 census describes the hall as "Norley Hall (farmer's house)". It was occupied by William Thorburn, a land agent, and his family.

Links

To read what Rev. T.C. Porteus said about the Banastre Rebellion go here.

To read the truth about William Bradshaw and the Mab's Cross legend, go here.