Houses of Interest: Lancashire
And so the #ECWtravelogue turns it's attention to Lancashire. Hoghton (pronounced Horton) Tower is an Elizabethan fortified manor house. Strong connections to James I who stayed for three days, bankrupting the owners and knighting a loin of beef. (Yes, the story of how sirloin got its name is apparently true and took place at Hoghton Tower.) The Hoghton family were Royalists (and Papists to boot) as was much of the County. The Tower had a small garrison of about 30 musketeers. Sir Gilbert de Hoghton had a larger force, with which he was causing a bit of a nuisance in the Blackburn Hundred. So much so that in February 1643, Captain Nicholas Starky of Huntroyd led a 'small expedition of 300 men' from Blackburn to besiege Sir Gilbert's base. Sir Gilbert and his troops weren't at home, so the garrison capitulated after a very brief siege Starky's soldiers moved into the Tower, and in particular the peel tower which was home to the garrison's powder stor...