T 



CHAPTER IV. 



" Rise, honest Muse ! and sing the man of Rois."— Pope. 



IHE following interesting note occurs in "The Sheriff's cf 

 Shropshire," {a) — 



"Henry Rossyndale, of Rosindale, near Claderow, county 

 Lancaster, gentleman, had lands given him and his heirs in the 

 lordship of Denbigh, Anno 12, Edward I., by Henry Lacy, Earl 

 of Lincoln and Lord of Denljigh, upon condition of serving, with 

 a certain number of horses, certain days in the Castle of Denbigh, 

 in all the wars between the King of England and the Prince of 

 Wales, at his own charge and cost. This Henry of Henllan, (the 

 name of the place or parish in Wales where he lived), had issue 

 Robert his son, who was called Lloyd, after the manner of Wales." 

 MS. at Ynysymaengwyn. 



So far as I am aware, this is the earliest known record of any 

 actual Rossendale inhabitant, and the date would be 1 284, which 

 is the 1 2th year of the reign of Edward L above mentioned. It 

 would be the merest speculation to attempt to fix the particular 

 locality of his abode in Rossendale. 



It has been recounted in a previous chapter that the house of 

 Lacy, the first of which family in this country, Ilbert de Lacy, came 

 from Normandy with the Conqueror, became the possessors of the 

 Hundred of Blackburn or Honor of Clitheroe, of which the Forest 

 of Rossendale forms a part. The Forest continued in their 

 possession through a series of generations, and on the marriage of 



(a) The Sheriff's of Shropshire by the Rev. John Brickdale Blakeway, 

 M.A., F.A.S., Minister of St. Mary's, Shrewsbury, 1831. 



