34 



A HISTORY OF LONG RIDGE. 



[Chap. 1. 



Soon after Stouyhurst had been founded, the factory and Hodder House came 

 into the market, and were put up for sale. Mr. Thomaa Weld, ' of Lulworth, 

 hearing that it was in the market, sent a man down to purchase it— one who was 

 unknown in Lancashire. He dared not attempt to buy it openly, since he was a 

 Catholic, ^ and if he had publicly bidden for it the bargain would never have been 

 struck. Mr. Weld, having secured possession, ordered the factory to be pulled 

 down immediately, as it was considered to be a place of perfect wickedness, and its 

 pleasant appellation at that time was " Hell Hole." 



The writer goes on to describe the difficulties the Society of Jesus 

 met with during their establishment at Stonyhurst.' 



From a very interesting article in the Preston Guardian, of August 

 loth, 1863, I have obtained the following information relating to 

 Longridge social customs, and to the LongriJge Guild, which is held 

 annually on St. Lawrence's Day, August 10th : — 



" From memoranda in the possession of and in part written by the 

 ' Poet Cottam,' himself a resident of Longridge during the latter part 

 of the last century, it seems that the usual madrigals composed for the 

 occasion of the ' Gilde ' were discontinued more than a hundred years 

 before his time." " A part of these remains," says the writer of this 

 article, " were some years ago placed in my hands by an old native of 

 the village, named Smith, still living, and whose usual cognomen while 

 at Longridge was ' Joe Bari-y.' " 



" The first song of Longridge Guild is the ' Merrie Saung ofe a 

 Cheppender,' in 1698 : — 



Ta Langrytch Gil naa lett we hie, 

 Saide Rogyer, and thay Dick saide yih. 



Cottam himself wrote as follows : — 



Now Ceres reigns, the God of grain 



Is dancing in the field ; 

 Here's harvest moon, and sickle soon, 



So let's to Longridge Guild. 



'Thomas Weld, Esq., of Lulworth, 

 was the Lord of Stonyhurst, besides 

 owning extensive estates in Chipping. 

 He was father of Cardinal Weld, the 

 first EngUshman that had been so 

 honoured since the Reformation. 



-These were the days of the odious 

 penal laws against the Catholics. 



'Stonyhurst does not come witliin the 

 scope of this work, but, as Hodder 

 House is just outside the Longridge 



boundary, I thought an exception might 

 be made in this case. Most of my 

 readers are, I have no doubt, well 

 acc[uainted with the numerous works on 

 this famous school which have been 

 written— notably Mr. A. Hewitson's 

 able book. May I add that the general 

 reader will find the Stonyhurst Magazine 

 to be far above the average of school 

 magazines. 



