Notwithstanding the wars and rumours of wars which were then so common, and notwithstanding the religious excitement created by the persecution, first of the Roman Catholics and then of the Puritans, people seem to have prospered in the county. The towns and villages greatly increased in number, size and importance, and the time of Elizabeth especially witnessed the erection and rebuilding of some of Lancashire’s finest halls. The ancient domestic houses which had been the residences of the old feudal lords were now remodelled or entirely swept away, and the subdivision of the land brought out a new class of proprietors, who, though not descended directly from the old owners of the soil, soon took up the rank of gentry, and built for themselves those smaller though not less interesting mansions which at one time were found all over the county.
During the Tudor time were built such houses as Speke Hall, near Liverpool; Ordsall Hall, near Manchester; Little Mitton, the home of the Sherburns; Ince Hall, Cleworth Hall, Smithell’s Hall, Lostock Hall, Lydiate Hall, Rufford Hall, Belfield Hall, Rawcliffe, Rossal Grange, and a host of others far too numerous to mention. Many of these date back to very early days, and were originally built with a view to make every man’s house his castle; but with the end of the sixteenth century other views began to obtain, and an Englishman, for the first time probably in the country’s history, commenced to feel that his house was really his castle, and that it was defended for him by the strong arm of the law.
The houses of the middle and lower classes were nearly always built of wood and clay (“daub”); the richer people had houses which were usually divided on the ground–floor into a common hall, a small withdrawing room or parlour, and a kitchen, the upper stories being reached by wide staircases, often with ornately carved oak banisters. The higher class of houses or halls consisted of many chambers, and not infrequently there was a private chapel, and the rooms were wainscoted. Many views have been preserved of the exterior of most of our old halls (which were highly picturesque), but of the interior and general domestic arrangements we are left to glean such items as have been handed down to us through the medium of inventories and kindred records. These inventories, taken after the proving of wills, are often (where they exist at all) meagre and incomplete, yet they furnish particulars which we should look elsewhere for in vain. The inventory of the goods of Sir Thomas Butler, of Bewsey (near Prescot), knight, taken in 1579, will give some details of the contents of one of Lancashire’s old houses. The following are selected items:
Plate and Jewellery.—Basin and ewer, silver engraved bowls, silver salts with covers, silver spoons, a crystal cross.
Linen, etc.—Table–cloths, damask work, towels, napkins, flax sheets, bed–hangings, quilted and woollen blankets, mattresses, curtains of taffeta, curtains of darynx (a kind of damask made at Tournay), green silk coverlet, etc.
Furniture, etc.—Tables, chairs, stools, truckle beds, pair of playing tables, brass candlesticks, pewter in considerable quantities, and the usual kitchen and brewing apparatus.
Apparel.—Velvet hose, satin doublets, taffeta doublets, velvet breeches, riding–cloak lined with unshorn velvet, Spanish leather jerkins, a long gown of silk grogram (a silk material), velvet cloaks, black jersey stockings, a taffeta hat, a black felt hat.
Sundries.—Cross–bows, clock and bell, pictures of Christ and of the Queen’s majesty, drinking glasses, “a sylver toth pyke,” armour, weapons, guns, corslets, “cote of plate,” daggers, bucklers, “a black brydd and her cage, bought by Sir Thomas in London,” “the honey and wax of certen hyves,” an English Bible and other books (valued at £4), etc.
As a contrast to this house, furnished with all the luxuries of the time, take the inventory of one John Rodes, a husbandman fairly well–to–do, who lived at Inchfield, near Todmorden. By his will, which was dated November, 1564, he left his goods to his children, together with £5 apiece; his wains, carts and implements were also to go to his children; he left over £25 in legacies, and he held a lease of a farm for an unexpired term of years; yet, besides his horses and cows, hay and corn, and other farm stock, all his goods consisted of: