Ordsall Hall has had a long and fascinating history with many different uses since first mentioned in records in 1177! Today, it is a welcoming and friendly historic house telling the story of the Hall and some of the people who made it their home.

The name first appeared in print in 1177 when ‘Ordeshala’ paid two marks towards an aid, a feudal due or tax. There was probably a house at Ordsall by 1251 when William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, exchanged the manor for land in Pendleton, which belonged to David de Hulton.

The manor passed into the hands of the Radclyffe family of Radclyffe Tower, near Bury, about 1335 on the death of the childless Richard de Hulton. The first 20 years of Radclyffe ownership were very confused because there were several claimants. Still, in 1354 Sir John Radclyffe finally established his right to inherit the manor on his return from the French wars. During these, he was granted the right to use one of the earliest mottoes for services on the battlefield. ‘Caen, Crecy, Calais’. Sir John inherited a manor described in 1351 as a messuage, 120 acres of land, 12 acres of meadow and 12 acres of wood.

Ten years later, he had enlarged his house, which included a new chapel for which he received a license in 1361. When his son Richard died in 1380, the Hall was described as having a hall, five chambers, a kitchen and a chapel. It was associated with two stables, three granges, two shippons, garner, a dovecote, an orchard and a windmill, together with 80 acres of arable land and six acres of meadow.

The current Great Hall was built in 1512 when Sir Alexander Radclyffe (d. 1549) became High Sheriff of Lancashire for the first time. The new Hall was typical of others made in the North West, for example, at Rufford Old Hall, and is undoubtedly one of the largest. A hexagon on the floor marks the central hearth to heat the Hall. There are also two panels without quatrefoils that were meant to be open to allow smoke out through the roof. The Hall is distinguished by an elaborate roof structure displaying the carpenter’s skills who built it.

Further alterations and additions were made to the Hall in the 1600s. In 1639, Sir Alexander Radclyffe (d. 1654) built a modest brick house at the west end and at right angles to the timber-framed building, which may have been the home of the bailiff since by then Ordsall was no longer his primary residence. Later the house was joined to the main building.

Sir Alexander was already in financial difficulties. The expenditure of building the new brick wing was followed immediately by the English Civil War. As a Royalist, he suffered imprisonment and economic hardship, leaving his son and heir John in such straitened circumstances that in 1662 he had to sell the Hall to Colonel John Birch.