Gawthorpe Hall

The Hall displays a number of extravagant period rooms. It retains many original Elizabethan and Jacobean features that were fused with contemporary Victorian styles during the restoration carried out by Sir Charles Barry between 1850 and 1852.

The dining room is an example of this, with the raised dais and minstrels gallery reminiscent of its days as a Great Hall paired with the Gothic revival designs of renowned Victorian architect and designer AW Pugin.

As well as a new fireplace and wall panelling being added, the fabulous plaster ceiling was restored during Barry’s refurbishments to the designs of the 1605 original.

The Drawing Room (which was previously used as the dining room) has altered little during its history, and still displays the Jacobean decoration of the early 1600s. The room includes a highly ornate plasterwork ceiling and frieze which is a credit to its Yorkshire creators, Francis and Thomas Gunby. The frieze includes the plaster figures of Sir Richard Shuttleworth and his wife Margaret.

The stone fireplace was refurbished by Barry in the 1850’s with the addition of a fire grate designed by Pugin. The drawing room also contains furniture designed by Pugin for the family including a beautiful inlaid octagonal table and matching Teapoy which contains the initials of Janet Kay-Shuttleworth. 

The tiles on the floor of the entrance hall are the same as the ones used by Barry in the Houses of Parliament and the oak staircase was a beautiful new addition to the house in the 1850’s.

At the top of the house are the Huntroyde bedroom and Long Gallery both of which had minor alterations made to them during the 1850’s yet they still retained their original function and many of the original Jacobean features have been kept.

The mottoes of the Shuttleworth and Kay families, “Iusticia et Prudentia” (Justice and Practical Judgement – Shuttleworth) and “Kynd Kynn Knawne Kepe” (Keep your own kin-kind – Kay), were included as features in the design of the house, and can be seen throughout, including above the front door and around the top of the tower. The initials “KS” also appear frequently in the interior design as a result of the Victorian refurbishments of the Hall.