Portrait of a gentleman, possibly John Towneley, three-quarter-length, in gold-trimmed black costume, with a ruff, holding a hat, in a sculpted niche

The Towneley family, one of Lancashire's oldest Catholic families, is first recorded at Towneley Hall, near Burnley, Lancashire, in the late 13th Century and the house remained the family seat until 1902. In the middle ages Towneley Hall was a courtyard house, but its eastern range was demolished in 1700, and the house underwent various waves of rebuilding and alteration under different generations of the family. Towneley Hall is now an Art Gallery and Museum owned by the Burnley Borough Council.