Towneley Park Gates

Hanbrig Castle or Handbridge House, Todmorden Road. This was built for Charles Townley during 1797 and 1798 at a cost of £687. The building was intended to provide an impressive entrance into the main carriageway leading to the Hall and was occupied by Towneley land agents, Thomas Forshaw and Edward Lovat. In 1888, the entrance through the gate was described as “not like the road to Silas Marner’s cottage through nutty hedgerows but charmed we are, how it opens our inward eye, what a feeling of peace creeps over us”. The castle was bought by the Corporation in the 1920’s but fell into decay and was demolished in 1958.