Ordsall Hall

Ordsall Hall
Ordsall Hall in 2014
Location within Greater Manchester
General information
Town or city	Ordsall, Greater Manchester
Country	England
Coordinates	53°28′10″N 2°16′39″W / 53.469444°N 2.2775°W / 53.469444; -2.2775
Designations
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Ordsall Hall
Designated	31 January 1952
Reference no.	1386169

Ordsall Hall is a large former manor house in the historic parish of Ordsall, Lancashire, now part of the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It dates back more than 750 years, although the oldest surviving parts of the present hall were built in the 15th century. The most important period of Ordsall Hall's life was as the family seat of the Radclyffe family, who lived in the house for more than 300 years. The hall was the setting for William Harrison Ainsworth's 1842 novel Guy Fawkes, written around the plausible although unsubstantiated local story that the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was planned in the house.

Since its sale by the Radclyffes in 1662, the hall has been put to many uses: a working men's club, a school for clergy, and a radio station among them. The house was bought by the old Salford Council in 1959 and opened to the public in 1972, as a period house and local history museum. The hall is a Grade I listed building,^[1] and entrance is free.