In the heart of the Forest of Bowland, in Lancashire, Browsholme Hall (say "Brewsome") is the oldest house in the county still held by the same family: the Parkers have lived here for more than five centuries, hereditary keepers of this ancient royal hunting forest.
A house of 1507 with a front of 1604
The core of Browsholme was built in 1507 by Edmund Parker. Then, in 1604, Thomas Parker enlarged and modernised the house, giving it its present Renaissance front: look at this frontispiece, where the three classical orders are stacked — Doric, Ionic, Corinthian — in the manner of the Renaissance architecture books. For a northern family, to display the antique orders on one's front was to say one was abreast of the fashion from the continent, even far from the court.
Keepers of the Forest of Bowland
The Parkers owed their rank to an office: Bowbearers of the Forest of Bowland, they watched over the king's deer. The house keeps collections gathered over the centuries — panelling, portraits, curiosities, including a fragment of a Bronze Age funerary boat. It is a rare example of a house never sold, where each generation has left its mark. Don't miss: the 1604 front with its stacked orders, the great hall, the family collections, the park and the forest.
Did you know?
The front of Browsholme stacks Doric, Ionic and Corinthian from bottom to top: this is no whim, but a rule learned from the treatises. The Renaissance had rediscovered that the Ancients ranked the orders — sturdy Doric below, elegant Corinthian above. To stack all three on a single front was to display, like an engraved diploma, one's classical learning.
Info
Browsholme Hall is near Clitheroe, in the Forest of Bowland (Lancashire); the private house of the Parkers, open to the public on certain days and for events. Hours to be checked.