NINE modern new properties have been created within the historic Smithills Coaching House site but the history of the building goes back nearly a 700 years.

THE first historical records relating to Smithills Hall come from when William Radcliffe obtained the manor from the Hulton family in 1335.

When the last of the Radcliffe family to own the estate died in 1485 — without a male heir — the hall was passed on to the wealthy Barton family.

The Bartons remained in the estate for close to 200 years until it was passed by marriage to the Belasyse family in 1659.

PICTURES: Inside the plush new £600,000 homes at Smithills Coaching House

A period of neglect followed, but in 1801, the hall and estate were sold to the Ainsworth family, who were successful Bolton bleachers, and, under three generations of Ainsworths, Smithills was extensively rebuilt and modernised.

In 1870, Richard Henry Ainsworth, the nephew of Peter Ainsworth, inherited the house, and five years later he hired eminent Victorian architect George Devey to design the most significant improvements to Smithills Hall.

However, following the First World War, the British economy changed and the amount of income the Ainsworth’s could raise from the estate was reduced.

The financial burden of maintaining such a large property eventually became too great and in 1938 the site was sold to Bolton Council for £70,600.

The Victorian parts of the hall became an authority residential home and later a day centre until the late 1990s.

Conservation work on the older sections allowed part of it to be opened as a museum in 1963, and in the 1990s the museum was extended into some of the Victorian parts of the house.

The Coaching House itself had been built in the 17th century as the stable block of the hall, and was converted into a restaurant in 1966 by brothers Alan and Donald Clarke.

Current Bolton Council leader and former chef, Cllr Cliff Morris was previously the managing director of the Smithills Coaching House restaurant, which operated for 46 years until its closure in August, 2012.

People are being invited to bid for nine “extraordinary” properties which have been created within the historic Smithills Coaching House site.

Developer Jones Homes has announced that work to restore the 17th Century Grade II listed coach house and stables and transform it into a collection of two, three and four bedroom lodges has been completed.

Click on the picture below to have a look inside the properties