Stubbylee Hall

Stubbylee Hall is situated in Stubbylee Park, accessed from New Line, a road leading from Newchurch Road, Bacup, towards Whitworth and Rochdale near Manchester. It was the seat of the Holt family, an offshoot of the Holts of Gristlehurst. It was erected near to, or on the site of, another house of the 16th or 17th century where the Holden family lived. Thomas Holt of Stidd (second son of Francis Holt of Gristlehurst) set up a lease dated 1 May 1606 to Richard Holden. Thomas Posthumous Holt, grandson of Francis Holt, sold Stubbylee to Edmund Barker of Greenhurst, who resold it to Richard Holden, who then sold it to James Holt of Stubbylee, a woollen manufacturer. John Holt settled in Stubbylee around 1750. On 26 December 1856, James Maden Holt Esq., M.A., J.P., a Justice of the Peace, succeeded to the estate. James Maden Holt sat in the House of Commons from 1868 for 12 years as an Independent Conservative. For more details about the life of James Maden Holt, click here.

The Stubbylee mansion was built in 1808 of stone, about half a mile from the populous town of Bacup. The hall includes a centre porch with Ionic engaged columns, flanking curved bays, and a domed staircase. James Maden Holt occupied the hall until his death in 1911 and bequeathed Stubbylee Hall and its grounds to Bacup. The park was presented to the Bacup Corporation for the cost of £2,832. The Holt estates originally covered all the south side of the River Irwell from Cowpe across Brandwood Moor to Shawforth and thence to Sharneyford.

Stubbylee Hall, Bacup

Map of Stubbylee Hall, Bacup, 1890