Hall i' th' Wood

Hall i' th' Wood is a small manor house now used as a museum, located on Green Way off Crompton Way in Bolton. The building is Grade I listed.

The original structure dates to the early 16th century and was extended to the north west in 1591 and to the south west in 1648. The building was restored around 1900 by Jonathan Simpson and the architectural firm Grayson and Ould, commissioned by Lord Leverhulme.

The original building is timber-framed with a stone flagged roof. The timber framing is ornamental, comprising herringbone, quatrefoil scroll-work and chequerboard panelling, with coving to the jetty of the first floor and to the jettied gable apexes. The later additions of 1591 and 1648 are both constructed of coursed and squared stonework.

The original plan comprises a hall range with a northern cross wing. A lateral stack against the rear wall of the hall range and a second stack in the rear wall of the cross wing are features of the early structure; an end wall stack on the cross wing was added later.

The entrance is located in the angle with the cross wing, with an opposed western entrance to the rear in a storey porch projection. The hall forms a two-window range with five-light mullioned windows to the first floor, a high level band of low windows below the jettying at ground floor level, and a six-light mullioned and transomed window to the right. A gable return has paired six-light mullioned and transomed windows forming a long band at first floor. The projecting cross wing to the north features a seven-light mullioned and transomed window to the first floor and mullioned windows of four and two lights set high up in the ground floor. The northern return of this wing is stone faced with side and rear wall stacks. The 1591 extension comprises a single bay to the north west and includes a chamfered arched doorway to the west of the original building, with six-light windows on each floor, with transoms to the first floor.

The southern elevation of the late 16th-century addition has asymmetrically arranged windows in a gabled form: two three-light mullioned windows with an eight-light window above to the east.

The south-west wing was added in 1648, a date which appears on the rainwater goods and probably originally on stone over the entrance, now defaced. This addition is two-storey with a storey porch to the right. It features a round-arched entrance with a five-light mullioned and transomed window above. Obelisk finials ornament the parapet of the porch and the eaves parapet of the main range. The main range is a single-window range with ten-light mullioned and transomed windows on each floor, each with a continuous hoodmould forming a string course. A gabled return to the west has a full height canted bay window with a parapet decorated with obelisk finials.

The interior of the 17th-century extension retains its original staircase positioned behind the storey porch. The staircase features a closed string with fielded panelled decoration, turned balusters and heavy newels with acorn finials and pendants. Several rooms contain wood panelling and plaster ceilings which were installed in the early 20th century. The panelling was removed from other 16th and 17th-century houses, and the plasterwork was modelled on examples that survived elsewhere.

In 1758, the family of Samuel Crompton leased the house, and Samuel lived here while developing the spinning mule. Lord Leverhulme purchased the house in 1899 and gave it to the Corporation of Bolton in 1900. The installation of the period interiors was carried out under his auspices.