was found guilty and executed at Boughton in Chester. A footprint, supposedly left by Marsh, is said to bleed every year on the anniversary of his death (24 April). Nathaniel Hawthorne visited and described the hall when he was United States consul in Liverpool in 1855. Architecture Smithills Hall is built on a formal terrace, surrounded on all sides by parkland on the south side of a steep-sided valley formed a tributary of the Raveden Brook. The hall has three ranges around an open court. The oldest part of the structure is the great hall in the north range which was probably built in the early-14th century and once was surrounded by a moat. It has been altered but retains its original plan and medieval features. The oldest parts were built with timber frames and the oldest stonework is roughly coursed rubblestone. The 19th-century west wing is built in coursed, squared stone and has decorative timber framing. All the roofs are covered in stone flags. Park and gardens The gardens and pleasure grounds are on south facing sloping land on the edge of moorland with a steep wooded valley and lake to the north and formal gardens around the hall. Television Smithills Hall has appeared in several British television series: 2005 - Most Haunted, episode #85. 2012 - Great British Ghosts, series 2, episode 8. 2015 - Mr Bloom: Here and There, Series 1, episode 7: Smithills Hall. See also Grade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester Scheduled Monuments in Greater Manchester Listed buildings in Bolton Petrosomatoglyph References Notes Bibliography External links Smithills Hall - official site at Bolton Library and Museum Service History and photographs Smithills Hall, Bolton BBC History Magazine Grade I listed houses Grade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester Country houses in Greater Manchester Buildings and structures in Bolton Scheduled monuments in Greater Manchester Historic house museums in Greater Manchester History of Bolton Tourist attractions in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton