25 JULY 1908, Page 25

History of Wardley Hall, Lancashire. By Henry Vaughan Hart-Davis and

Straehan Holme. (Sherratt and Hughes. 31s. 6d. net.)—Wardley Hall is in the township of Woraley, about six miles from Manchester. It was built on the site of an older house in the time of King Edward VI. The property came into the possession of the Bridgewater family, and now belongs to Lord Ellesmere. We cannot follow the story of the house and of its owners, but we may say that, thanks to the careful preserva- tion of many documents, it forms a curious and interesting record of English life. The house has gone through various vicissitudes —part of it was once occupied as labourers' dwellings—and it was in great peril of destruction from the sinking of soil common in mining regions. It is now happily restored and seeured.