THIS is a look at the histories of certain buildings of Hurstwood.

The most imposing building in the old part of Hurstwood is Hurstwood Hall. It was built by Barnard Towneley in 1579.

He was an illegitimate son of the Towneley Family. In 1550 he carried off and married Agnes Ormerod when she was about 13-years-old.

Her father and brother were both dead by 1550. Barnard and Agnes were married until the death of Agnes in 1586. Barnard lived until 1602.

Barnard Towneley was an architect and builder. He purchased the land on which Hurstwood Hall is built from his wife's cousin, a man called Haydock.

Over the main doorway of the Hall is carved the inscription 'Barnardvus Townley et Agnes Uxor Ejus, 1579.'

The Hall was occupied by descendants of Barnard and Agnes Towneley until about 1775.

For a few years around 1795 an upper room was used for Methodist religious services. The Hall was lived in at this time by Joseph Eltoft, a Methodist lay preacher.

Some of his relatives were cotton manufacturers at Burnley.

In 1803, Charles Towneley of Towneley Hall made Hurstwood Hall part of his estate. In about 1900 it became part of the Thursby estate.

Between about 1855 and about 1877 the Hall was lived in by John Crabtree and his family. John Crabtree was a farmer and Baptist preacher.

From 1862 until 1870 Baptist services were held in probably the same upper room of the Hall as the earlier Methodist services. Crabtree moved to a farm at Bottin in about 1877.

From about 1930 until 1960, part of the Hall was used as a tea-shop. This was run by Mrs Elizabeth Stanworth who lived at the Hall also.

The Hall garden was used as a tea garden.

Mrs Stanworth died at the age of 76 in 1960. Hurstwood Hall then became unoccupied. It fell into dilapidation and suffered from vandalism.

The building was renovated and has been lived in since 1964. It has been one home ever since that time, instead of being partitioned into separate residences.

In 1975 there was a severe fire at Hurstwood Hall.

In 1996 part of a television serial adaptation of Anne Bronte's novel 'The Tenant of Wild Fell Hall' was filmed at Hurstwood Hall.

Almost opposite the front of the Hall is a large barn that used to be associated with the Hall and is about the same age.

Parts of the building used to be utilised as a stable, a cow shed, and a card shed, in the past. A section of the building was used for non-denominational Christian religious services from about 1879 until 1992.

Close to the barn is the former Hurstwood Baptist Chapel, which is a building that was erected in 1860. It was built as a branch of Vale Chapel, which is near Todmorden.

The architect of Hurstwood Chapel was Thomas Horsfield of Halifax. The building replaced the upper room at Hurstwood Hall as a Baptist place of worship.

Adjoining the former Chapel is the former Sunday School building which was erected in 1883. The Chapel was renovated in 1891.

The first minister of the Chapel was James Crabtree, who was almost certainly a brother of John Crabtree of Hurstwood Hall.

James and John are both buried in the churchyard. James and his wife and children were the first occupants of Hurstwood House in about 1860.

Hurstwood House stands very close to the churchyard.

Some other people buried in the churchyard include Smith Holgate who was a cotton manufacturer at Bankfield Shed on Bankhouse Street in Burnley, and James Shackleton who was the head gamekeeper for the Towneley Estate.

From about 1860 until about 1880, Hurstwood Baptist Chapel used to have large numbers of people regularly attending services until about 1930.

There was originally seating for about 300 people. After about 1950 often less than 30 people attended services.

Richard Collinge was the organist from 1903 until about 1973. He is buried in the churchyard.

Hurstwood Baptist Chapel closed in about 1984. However, in 1992 the building re-opened as a non-denominational Christian place of worship.

The congregation had previously used the barn mentioned earlier.

Spenser House stands almost opposite Hurstwood Hall. Spenser House was built in about 1530, members of the Spenser family lived there up until about 1690.

There is a very good chance that the great Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser was part of this family.

There is also a very good chance that he stayed at this house in 1579. That is also the same year that Hurstwood Hall was built.

In the period between about 1830 and about 1920, members of the Marshall family inhabited Spenser House.

A music hall comedian called Jack Sharples lived in one part of the house for a few years around 1930. At that time the house was divided into three homes.

In 1988 former Burnley footballer Eddie Cliff and his family lived at Spenser House until 1994.

Architectural features of Spenser House include mullioned windows, a porch, and old decorate carvings on some of the inside walls.

In 1996, the television serial version of Anne Bronte's novel 'The Tenant of Wild Fell Hall' was partly filmed at Spenser House was well as Hurstwood Hall.

Rupert Graves, Tara Fitzgerald and Toby Stephens played the main characters in the serial and they all acted in the scenes that were filmed at Hurstwood.