Towneley Hall
Feb. 7th, 2010 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloWe went to Towneley Hall yesterday. This was my birthday treat- postponed from the back end of last month because of my father-in-law's illness. Towneley Hall is 15th century with 17th and early 19th century additions and subtractions. Since 1901 it's been owned by Burnley Town Council- which uses it as a museum and art gallery.
On our way into town we were instructed to make way- by police outriders on motorbikes- for the big black coach with smoked glass windows carrying the West Ham players to their match at Turf Park.
What I particularly wanted to see were the medieval church vestments which the Towneley family- who were recusant catholics- rescued from the dissolution of Whalley Abbey. Most medieval church vestments went on the bonfire- so these are rare. The late medieval English were famous for their needlework- and the productions of our workshops- known as Opus Anglicana- were exported all over Europe. These two vestments- a chasuble and a dalmatic- are very lovely- with a pattern of strawberries (or are they pomegranates?) on a background of white silk- and embroidered panels (aumbries) showing scenes from the life of the Virgin.
Otherwise the museum is a cabinet of curiosites, containing everything from Egyptian antiquities to First World War memorabilia. The paintings are mostly run-of the-mill Victoriana. The best is a portrait by Zoffany of Charles Towneley- 18th century connoisseur and taste-maker- sitting among the Graeco-Roman statues which, sadly for Burnley, left the family after his death and are now in the British Museum.
On our way into town we were instructed to make way- by police outriders on motorbikes- for the big black coach with smoked glass windows carrying the West Ham players to their match at Turf Park.
What I particularly wanted to see were the medieval church vestments which the Towneley family- who were recusant catholics- rescued from the dissolution of Whalley Abbey. Most medieval church vestments went on the bonfire- so these are rare. The late medieval English were famous for their needlework- and the productions of our workshops- known as Opus Anglicana- were exported all over Europe. These two vestments- a chasuble and a dalmatic- are very lovely- with a pattern of strawberries (or are they pomegranates?) on a background of white silk- and embroidered panels (aumbries) showing scenes from the life of the Virgin.
Otherwise the museum is a cabinet of curiosites, containing everything from Egyptian antiquities to First World War memorabilia. The paintings are mostly run-of the-mill Victoriana. The best is a portrait by Zoffany of Charles Towneley- 18th century connoisseur and taste-maker- sitting among the Graeco-Roman statues which, sadly for Burnley, left the family after his death and are now in the British Museum.
