Worden Old Hall

SD 52 SE LEYLAND EUXTON LANE

9/28 Worden Old Hall

4.8.1975 II* -

Manor house, probably late C16 and early Cl7. Timber-framed, but refronted partly in stone but largely in brick at two dates around 1800. Two storeys. Originally rectangular plan of 7 bays to give 3 rooms with a through-passage, extended later along the front under 4 gables, of which the second from the left houses the round-headed porch leading to the passage. C19 and C20 windows and a C20 slate roof. Timber framing, often with wattle-and-daub infill, survives almost completely inside, especially in the upper storey rooms, which have chamfered ceiling beams and internal partitions with debased 4-centre doorcases, in much of the back wall and also in the original front wall (now half hidden behind the extension) which shows traces of herring-bone framing at the parlour end and quatrefoil panels around the front door. Main fireplace with chamfered 4-centre arch and a double cornice of brick chevrons towards the through-passage. History: original residence of the Faringtons of Worden, Lords of the Manor. Leyland; William Farington (1537-1610), comptroller of the household of the Earls of Derby, was probably the prototype of Shakespeare's Malvolio. Though now in a superficially poor condition, the building is one of the very few sub-medieval timber-framed gentry houses in the County.