BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



The Hospitallers 63 and Whalley Abbey had lands 

 in Ribchester. 64 



From the land tax return of 1788 it appears that 

 Mr. Walmsley and esquire Hinks were the chief 

 landowners. 65 



An Inclosure Act for Chipping, Mitton and Rib- 

 chester was passed in l8o8, 66 and under it the 

 boundaries of the manors of Ribchester and Button 

 were fixed. 67 



The parish church has been described. There is 

 a Church of England Evangelical Protestant Mission- 

 room in the town. 



The history of the Congregational cause at Knowl 

 Green goes back to preaching begun at Lum Mills 

 in 1814, but afterwards discontinued, 68 and the 

 chapel, 1827-31, owes its rise to the zeal of an 

 artisan. A new chapel was built in i867. 69 



Of the persistency of the Roman Catholic religion 

 in the township and district there are numerous 

 tokens. Various persons were presented to the Bishop 

 of Chester in 1622 as 'seducers and harbourers of 

 seminary priests.' 70 Again in 1635, when trade rivals 

 sought to check one John Cutler, a Ribchester shop- 

 keeper, they said he was ' by his confession a con- 

 victed recusant, an utter enemy of the blessed word 

 of God both in argument and life,' who ' commonly, 

 for the most part weekly, used to go to where priests 

 of his profession [were] harboured to say mass,' and 

 they wished him to be summoned before the assize 

 judges and required to take the oath of supremacy, to 

 discover ' whether there be in him any loyalty to his 

 majesty or not.' 71 



James Standford, the benefactor, in 1695 left 

 500 



for the maintenance of a good priest for ever at Stidd or Bailey 

 Hall Chapel, if times permitted that public service could there be 

 had ; otherwise to be for one who should serve in the country 

 two miles round about the places of Stidd and Bailey Hall ; and 

 he desired that the privilege of nominating one to enjoy the 

 benefice should remain to Mr. Tempest and Mr. Westby and 

 their families for ever, if they remained in the Catholic faith, 

 otherwise should redound to some eminent Catholic of good repute 

 in the said circuit ; provided that he whom they nominated 

 should be a very exemplary, virtuous, careful, vigilant and 

 sufficiently learned person, and that he should not be absent 

 from his flock for above two or three days and that only upon 

 extraordinary business 5 and he obliged him who enjoyed the 

 benefice to say four masses every year for him and his family. 78 



The mission was served from Showley during the 

 times of proscription. It is worthy of note that in 



RIBCHESTER 



1706-10 some baptisms and marriages are entered in 

 the parish church registers as performed by a Roman, 

 Romish, or Papist priest. The present chapel of 

 SS. Peter and Paul, situated close to the boundary of 

 Stidd, was opened in 1789. The priest in charge 

 acts as chaplain to the adjacent almshouses. 73 



DILWORTH 



Bileuurde (for Dilewrde), Dom. Bk. ; Dileworth, 

 1227; Dillesworth, 1284; Dilleworth, 1292. 



This township lies on the southern and western 

 slope of Longridge Fell, the altitudes ranging from 

 300 to 700 ft. above sea level. On the southern 

 border is a large reservoir of the Preston Waterworks. 

 The area of the township is 1,248 acres, 1 and there 

 was a population of 2,439 in 190 1. 2 



The greater part of the little town of Longridge 

 lies in the extreme west corner of the township, 

 having a railway station, the terminus of a line from 

 Preston, opened in l84O, 3 and owned by the London 

 and North Western and Lancashire and Yorkshire 

 Companies. From the town two main roads branch 

 off, one to the north-east and east along the northern 

 side of the Fell, and the other to the east, along the 

 southern side. An intermediate road, on the same 

 side of the Fell, but much higher, is not much used. 



Written Stone Farm, to the east of Longridge, 

 takes its name from a long stone inscribed : 



RAVFFE RADCLIFFE LAID THIS 

 STONE TO LYE FOR EVER. A.fc, ^655. 



It is at the entrance to the farmyard. There are 

 various legends connected with it. 4 



The Longridge gild day is 10 August. 8 

 Longridge has been governed by a local board 

 since 1883 ; this has now become an urban district 

 council of nine members. The area includes the 

 township of Alston and Dilworth. Gas is supplied 

 by a local private company and water by the Preston 

 Corporation, which has several reservoirs in the 

 township. 



Cotton-spinning and manufacture are carried on 

 to some extent. Nails are made and stone quarries 

 are worked. It is the stone trade, begun about 

 1830, which has caused the growth of Longridge. 6 

 A century ago there was a thriving besom trade. 7 

 There are several fairs for cattle, &c. The land is 

 mostly used for grazing. 



68 The rental of 1609 shows that their 

 lands in Ribchester were then held by 

 Robert Burley (grandson of Robert, living 

 1 544), who paid is. %d. rent ; John 

 Rodes, zs. lid.; John Greenwood, 

 2s. zd. ; Richard Walmesley, Fastand- 

 field, u. 6d.j &c. ; Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 

 132^. It was in 1544 that Richard 

 Crombleholme purchased Fastandfield, 

 land at Boys Bridge and other parts of 

 the Hospitallers' estate in Ribchester and 

 Dutton ; Pat. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. xvii. 

 He sold much of it in parcels. 



The lands held by the Holts of 

 Gristlehurst perhaps included both 

 Hospitallers' and Whalley lands ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvi, no. 25. 



64 The grants have been recited above. 

 In 1365 Robert de Kendal claimed from 

 Alice daughter of John Wilcockson, John 

 de Turnley and Cecily his wife acquit- 

 tance of the services demanded by the 

 Abbot of Whalley ; De Banco R. 421, 

 m. 157 ; 424, m. 266 d. 



About 1 540 Geoffrey Dewhurst held 

 land in Ribchester at a rent of zs. id. ; 

 Whalley Couch, iv, 1242. 



65 Returns at Preston. 



6(5 48 Geo. Ill, cap. 79. 



67 T. C. Smith, Ribchester, 70-1 ; 

 Lanes, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 56 (award dated 1812) 



68 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. ii, 

 "3- 



6 Ibid. 115-17. 



An Anabaptist was living at Dilworth 

 in 1699, as appears by an entry in the 

 church registers. 



70 Visit. P. at Chester Dioc. Reg. 



71 Smith, Ribchester, 56. For the con- 

 victed recusants in Ribchester and Dutton 

 c. 1670 see Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc.), v, 

 155-6. 



73 End. Char. Rep. (Ribchester), 12. 

 His first trustees were Stephen Tempest 

 of Broughton and John Westby of Alston. 

 The bequest, at that time illegal, was 

 faithfully observed, though part of the 



51 



capital was lost. In 1844 Sir Charles 

 Robert Tempest claimed the right to 

 nominate a priest to serve Stidd Chapel, 

 and withheld the endowment from the 

 Bishop of Salford's nominees, until advised 

 by counsel that he had no right to do so. 

 ' The trusteeship of the charity having 

 thus proved to involve no privilege,' the 

 legal estate was in 1884 transferred 

 to the Bishop of Salford and other 

 trustees. 



73 Smith, op. cit. 210-13. 



1 Including 33 acres of inland water. 



2 Including Crumpax. 



3 T. C. Smith, Longridgc, 42. It was 

 originally worked by horses, the first loco- 

 motive being used in 1848. 



4 Ibid. op. cit. 27-30. 



5 Ibid. 34. About 1 800 the festival 

 occupied two days, on one of which was a 

 horse race and on the other a foot race ; 

 ibid. 40. 



6 Ibid. 44. 



7 Ibid. 40. 



