Marry on, don't lose your head!

The ceremony yesterday was the first in the 14th century hall since the building was granted a civil licence earlier this summer. And it couldn't have been more different from the services held secretly when the Southworth family lived there in the 1600s.

The Great Hall, the oldest part of the 14th century building, was garlanded with flowers in autumnal colours of burnt orange and crimson and a string quartet played during the ceremony, which was followed by a meal and dance with a ceilidh band.

The celebrations were a long way from the secrecy likely to have surrounded the last weddings at Samlesbury Hall, when the Southworth family held fast to their Catholic faith despite persecution by Protestants.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, they may have had their marriages sanctified in their private chapel by priests who toured the country in secret with a constant fear of arrest. If found guilty of being a priest, the penalty was often death.

Bride Lorraine said she was following in the footsteps of her parents Jean and Les Blackledge, of Hoghton, who held their wedding reception there 33 years ago.

Lorraine said: "I've known the hall for years as my parents often took me to antiques fairs there. We chose it because I love the character of the building. I thought it was perfect."

Lorraine and Nigel weren't even sure if they would be able to hold the ceremony there when they first booked the hall three months ago, as the owners were still waiting to hear if their application for a civil licence would be successful.

Since then, the couple have been frantically arranging their big day while also starting up their own business, the perfume and cosmetic chain H2S.

Lorraine, 31, said: "We won't be able to have a honeymoon but we had a pre-honeymoon at Lake Como in Italy earlier this month."

Nigel, 41, of Cheshire, said: "We have been juggling trying to start a new business and make wedding arrangements too. It's been frantic but now it's all finished and it's a lovely day."

Nigel's nine-year-old son Theo was his best man and his 11-year-old daughter Talia was Lorraine's bridesmaid.

No records now exist of ceremonies that took place in the chapel before the Southworth family were finally forced to sell in 1678.

Burnley-based Father David Lannon, archivist for the Roman Catholic Salford Diocese, said it would have been too dangerous to keep records of priests' activities and marriages in the 16th and 17th Centuries.

He said: "Private chapels operated illegally and records could have been used against them -- when priests were caught they could be hung, drawn and quartered." History of Samlesbury Hall:

1325 Gilbert de Southworth builds Samlesbury Hall for his bride Alice D'Ewyas.

1560s and1570s Their great-great-grandson John Southworth, a Roman Catholic who refuses to swear allegiance to the Church of England, works for the cause of Mary, Queen of Scots. He is frequently arrested and fined and his estate begins to decay.

1654 One of his sons, also called John Southworth, is hung, drawn and quartered for practising as a Roman Catholic priest. His body is stitched back together by Catholics and taken to France. Centuries later, he is buried in Westminster Cathedral and made a saint.

1678 Facing financial ruin, Gilbert's descendant Edward sells the hall to Thomas Braddyll, who later lets it to several families of weavers.

1830 The Hall opens as an inn, the Braddyll Arms.

1850 It becomes a private girls' school.

1862 It again becomes a family home, and is sold several times.

1925 An appeal is launched to buy and renovate the dilapidated building. It is bought by public subscription to be run by a board of trustees "for the use, pleasure and enjoyment of the people of Blackburn and district". HISTORY MAKERS: Nigel Tobias and Lorraine Blackledge, the first couple in centuries to be married at Samlesbury Hall, step outside to be serenaded by the Highgate String Quartet (from left) Roger Boyes, Grace Winder, Joy Ellison and Penny Holt.