After the Cromwellian conquest, the Townley Family of Lancashire held the castle (though rented from the grantee, Erasmus Smith of Edmondthorpe) and in 1661, Henry Townley is recorded as having resided there, and his collected papers are a valuable source on the social history of the period. The castle was significantly altered again in the 1840s, with the latter additions resulting in a number of out-buildings being added to form a north-forming courtyard to the site.