The house was not used as a gentry house but rather given over to multiple occupation by families engaged in industry. Four (previously five) separate dwellings can be identified, each with its own entrance and staircase.[3] One part was let to Samuel Crompton during the 18th century, where he designed and built the first spinning mule.[2] About 1779, Crompton succeeded in producing a mule-jenny, a machine which spun yarn suitable for use in the manufacture of muslin.[4] It was known as the muslin wheel or the Hall i' th' Wood wheel[5] from the name of the house.[6]
An episode of the television programme Most Haunted was filmed in the hall in 2008.[8]
In Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1833, is a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon to an engraving of a painting of the hall by William Linton.[9] This dwells on the changes the hall has seen over the centuries.
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The hall closed in 2021 for essential maintenance, due to severe structural issues, including timber decay, damp, rot, and damage caused by vandalism. But in December 2024 it was announced that Historic England had pledged £47,500 towards Bolton Council's £95,000 plan for essential survey work.[10]
