Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, covering an area of some 180 hectares . At the southern end of the park is Towneley Hall, Burnley's art gallery and museum. To the north are golf courses and playing fields and to the south 24 acres of broadleaf woodland. On the southern boundary is a working farm called Towneley Farm with pastures and plantations extending eastwards into Cliviger.
Burnley is a town in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is 21 miles north of Manchester and 20 miles east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun.
The town is located near countryside to the south and east, with the smaller towns of Padiham and Nelson to the west and north respectively. It has a reputation as a regional centre of excellence for the manufacturing and aerospace industries.
The town began to develop in the early medieval period as a number of farming hamlets surrounded by manor houses and royal forests, and has held a market for more than 700 years. During the Industrial Revolution it became one of Lancashire's most prominent mill towns; at its peak it was one of the world's largest producers of cotton cloth, and a major centre of engineering.
Burnley has retained a strong manufacturing sector, and has strong economic links with the cities of Manchester and Leeds, as well as neighbouring towns along the M65 corridor. In 2013, in recognition of its success, Burnley received an Enterprising Britain award from the UK Government, for being the "Most Enterprising Area in the UK". For the first time in more than fifty years, a direct train service now operates between the town's Manchester Road railway station and Manchester's Victoria station, via the newly restored Todmorden Curve, which opened in May 2015.
Gawthorpe Hall is an Elizabethan country house on the banks of the River Calder, in the civil parish of Ightenhill in the Borough of Burnley, Lancashire, England. Its estate extends into Padiham, with the Stockbridge Drive entrance situated there. Since 1953 it has been designated a grade I listed building. The hall is financed and run by the National Trust in partnership with Lancashire County Council. In 2015 the Hall was given £500,000 funding from Lancashire County Council for vital restoration work needed on the south and west sides of the house.
