There are four bedrooms adjacent to the Long Gallery, which were added in the 1600s along with the gallery, the oak staircase, and the eighty-four feet Long Gallery.
The Towneley family lived in the other wing and these bedrooms were used by guests and closed off when not in use.
There was a regular need to provide overnight hospitality as relatives might take many hours to travel even 20 miles. The gallery itself provided a communal meeting area rather like a hotel lobby.
Today the bedrooms are used to display the museum’s large collection of 17th Century furniture.
And as the Towneley guides will explain, the strings under the mattresses of the four poster or tester beds gave rise to the saying, “sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite”. If the strings were too slack, the mattress would sag to the floor, where the little critters could then munch on the sleeping occupant.