BOOK S ECO N D 



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CHAPTER I. 



" One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh ; but the 

 earth abideth for ever." — Eccles. i. 4. 



\\r E have now reached that point when it becomes necessary 

 " '^ to trace the connexion of the present lord of the manor 

 with the district. History and existing records are sufficiently full 

 and explicit on this head ; and we shall experience no difficulty in 

 tracing the ownership from the time of the Conqueror down to the 

 present day. In order to do this clearly and satisfactorily, we must 

 view Rossendale as constituting a portion of the Hundred of 

 Blackburn, or Honor of Clitheroe, {a) parcel of the Duchy of 

 Lancaster. 



Previous to and at the time of the Norman Conquest, (a.d. 

 1066,) the four forests of Pendle, Trawden, Rossendale, and 

 Accrington were embraced in the general name of the " Forest of 

 Blackburnshire ; " and though the different subdivisions were pro- 

 bably well known by their distinctive appellations, yet we may form 

 a fair estimate of the limited extent of occupation and cultivation 



(a) " The term Honor implied superiority over several dependent manors, 

 whose proprietors were obliged to do suit and service to their superior baron 

 or chief, who kept his Honor Court annually with great pomp, all the inferior 

 landholders standing bareheaded in his presence, while he sat in a chair of 

 state." — CoRRV, Hist, of Lancashire, vol. i. p. 151. 



