Long Gallery Bedrooms

The bedrooms in the Long Gallery were created around 1700. Bedrooms 3 and 5 retain the original wood panelling, that in Bedroom 5 being more richly carved. For more on the architecture of these bedrooms see The Four Chambers in Chapter Two of "An Architectural History of Towneley Hall" by W. John and Kit Smith, published by Heritage Trust for the North West in 2004.

Initially the bedrooms displayed a wide variety of objects but from 1931 the main purpose of all four bedrooms was to display antique furniture and this has continued into the 21st century. All the bedroom doors have been removed but the one for Bedroom 5 survives and is in storage at Towneley.

Between bedrooms 4 and 5 is a small dressing room, named the Blue Dressing Room. It has never been used as a display room and and now stores costumes that are part of the Textiles collection.

Bedroom 3
The inventory of 1871 named it the yellow room . It was labelled Room III in 1903. When the museum was opened, it was first used to display the Egyptology collection but since 1924 it has always been used to display antique furntiture.

Bedroom 4
The bedroom was named as the Rose Room in the inventory of 1871. In 1903, this room was labelled as Room IV and was first used to display engravings and subsequently to display paintings by local artists. From 1907 to was used to display fossils, shells and butterflies. From 1931 onwards it has, like the other bedrooms in the Long Gallery, been used to display furniture. Oak panelling originally from Lymore, Montgomery was fitted in May 1939. The room then became known as the William and Mary Room and still displays the best of the William and Mary furniture in the collection. A plaque outside the door records the origins of the panelling.

Bedroom 5
In an 1844 Paintings Catalogue it was called the Antique Oak Room and contained the massive oak Todmorden Bed. In 1903, this room was labelled as Room V and used to display natural history specimens. After 1923, the natural history collection was moved to the North Wing ground floor and this room was used to display antique furniture and this use has continued into the 21st century. The Todmorden Bed was returned on loan in 2001.

Bedroom 6
Initially Bedroom 6 was two rooms, named in the inventory of 1871 as the Chintz Room and the Chintz Dressing Room. The partition between the two rooms was removed in 1903 but the two doorways remain. Initially photographs were displayed but from 1904 the room was used to display the Wright Collection. Oak panelling was purchased in 1928 and placed in Bedroom 6 in 1929 and the room used to display furniture.