AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



wealth, 41 and in 1715-17 other estates seem to have 

 been confiscated or threatened. 42 William Butler 

 was executed for taking part in the rebellion of 

 I7I5. 43 



The Old House at Badsbeny was in 1718 be- 

 queathed by John Cross to endow a school at Bils- 

 borrow. 44 Mary Cross of Myerscough in 1889 

 founded a charity for the poor. 45 Midghalgh was 

 early in the i8th century owned by a family named 

 Lund, 46 and was a Roman Catholic mission station/' 

 Anthony Lund, the heir of the family, was a 

 Douay priest ; he built the present chapel at Ferny- 

 halgh. 48 



BLEASDALE 



Blesedale, 1228. 



Although now in the parish of Lancaster, owing to 

 its inclusion in the forest, Bleasdale has remained in 

 the hundred of Amounderness, and was probably 

 once within Garstang. It occupies a hilly country, 

 divided into three main parts by the Rivers Calder 

 and Brock, which rise near the Yorkshire border and 

 flow south-west through it. The northern part lies 

 on the slopes of Grizedale and Stake House Fells, the 

 height on the border of Wyresdale ranging from 900 ft. 

 to 1,520 ft. above sea level. The central portion, 

 between the rivers, is occupied by Bleasdale Moors 

 on Oakenclough and Hazelhurst Fells ; most of this 

 is over 1,000 ft. level, 1,505 ft. being the highest 

 point. Bleasdale Tower lies on the north side of 

 the Brock. The part of the township south of this 

 stream is in the main lower, but on the eastern 

 boundary the ground rises very steeply, the flat- 

 topped Parlick at the south end of the ridge attaining 

 1,416 ft. above sea level, while Fairsnape Fell to the 



PART OF 



LANCASTER 



north attains 1,700 ft. on the boundary of Yorkshire. 

 In this part Admarsh Chapel is situated. The stream 

 which bounds the township on the south is also called 

 the Brock. There are 7,298 J acres 1 in the township, 

 and the population in 1901 was 40 3. 2 



There are few roads ; one leads from the western 

 boundary to Bleasdale Tower, while another leads 

 circuitously to Admarsh, Lower Fairsnape and Blind- 

 hurst. 



Some prehistoric remains have been found. 3 



The township is governed by a parish council. 



The North Lancashire Reformatory School was 

 built by subscription in 1857 for the training of boys 

 in farm work. The boys are now taught various 

 trades and work in the mills. 



In 1314 there was an iron mine. 4 The land is 

 now chiefly in pasture, 5 the soil being a peaty moss, 

 with clay subsoil. Butter and cheese are made. At 

 Oakenclough are paper-mills and a fish hatchery. 

 The water of the streams is impounded by the Fylde 

 Water Board, affording the chief supply for the 

 western part of the hundred. 



Cuthbert Anthony Parkinson of Blindhurst, 1666- 

 1728, was a Franciscan historian and missionary. 6 



The district of BLE4SDALE was in- 

 FOREST eluded in the forest of Lancaster before 

 the time of Henry II, and was therefore 

 excepted from the charter of the forest of 1 2 1 7. The 

 boundary as defined in the perambulation of 1228 

 included the greater part of the present township, the 

 Calder, instead of Grizedale Fells, being the northern 

 boundary. 7 The value to the earl in 1297 was only 

 ^\ marks a year. 8 



Bleasdale scarcely ever occurs in the records. 9 The 

 most important family of later times was that of Parkin- 

 son of Fairsnape, 10 a pedigree being recorded in 161 3." 



41 The cases of Sir T. Tyldesley and 

 Elizabeth Jepson have been mentioned. 



John Parker, recusant, in 1653 desired 

 to compound for two-thirds of his estate 

 sequestered ; Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 

 3174. Thomas Pierson of Newcastle 

 was allowed to compound for his estate 

 in Myerscough, though it had been 

 ordered for sale ; ibid, iv, 2958. Andrew 

 Thistleton of Myerscough House had his 

 estate sold in 1653 ; ibid. 3145. These 

 estates and that of Francis Westby were 

 ordered to be sold under the third Act, 

 1652 ; Index of Royalists, 44. 



4!l The estates of John Parkinson and 

 John Edsforth, ' Papist,' seem to have 

 been forfeited ; Lanes, and Ches. Rec. i, 

 174-5. The following 'Papists' regis- 

 tered estates in 1717 : Anne Baine, 

 James Brand, Robert Cardwell of Barton, 

 William Catterall, Elizabeth Crookall of 

 Badgebury (Badsberry) within Myerscough 

 and Francis Malley ; Estcourt and Payne, 

 op. cit. 



48 Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. i, 

 366. 



44 End. Char. Rep. (Lane.), 1903, 

 p. 115. 



45 Ibid. 117. The gross income is 

 8 i6i., which is given annually to nine 

 or ten persons in gifts of money. Miss 

 Cross, who founded many other charities 

 (see the Preston report), died in 1896. 



46 Anthony Lund the younger registered 

 his estate as a ' Papist ' in 1717; Est- 

 court and Payne, op. cit. 151. 



47 Gillow, Haydock Papers, 62-4. 



48 Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. iv, 



350. He died in 1811, having told 

 Midghalgh. 



1 Including 10 acres of inland water. 



a Including 124 in the Reformatory 

 School. 



8 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 243 ; Lanes, and 

 Ches. Antiij. Soc. xvii, 255 ; xviii, 114. 



4 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 28. 



5 There are only 8 acres of arable land 

 to 3,213 of permanent grass ; woods and 

 plantations occupy 319 acres. 



6 Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. v, 

 243. He joined the Franciscans at Douay 

 and was sent to the English mission 

 in 169$. He published his Collectanea 

 Anglo-Minoritica in 1726. 



7 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 421. The 

 bounds are thus given : From the source 

 of Calder south to Ulvesty, thence to the 

 summit of Parlick, down Mereclough to 

 the Brock, down the Brock to Wensnape, 

 thence up to Stogesthol and to Senesty, 

 thence going down to the Calder and up 

 this stream to its source. See also Cal. 

 Pat. 133 8-40, p. 427. 



A commission to define the bounds of 

 the forest of Bleasdale was issued in the 

 time of James I ; Lanes, and Ches. Rec. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 279. 



8 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 290. The 

 vaccaries of Blindhurst, Hazelhead, Fair- 

 snape and 'between the Brooks (Brocks) ' 

 existed in 1323 ; ibid, ii, 128. The 

 pasture between Calder and Grizedale was 

 also accounted for ; ibid. 178. 



9 In the time of Henry VII the tenants 

 of the Chase complained of distraints 



made by Sir John Booth, the king's re- 

 ceiver, on their cattle in the pasture lands 

 in Bleasdale ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), 

 i, 112. 



A mill site vras granted in 1609 at 

 Admarsh ; Pat. 7 Jas. I, pt. xi. 



By the county lay of 1624 Bleasdale 

 was required to pay 141. n^d. to each 

 ,100 contributed by the hundred ; Greg- 

 son, Fragments (ed. Harland), 23. 



10 Anthony Richardson, the queen's 

 lessee, had a dispute with Ralph Parkinson 

 in 1572 respecting Admarsh, Fairsnape 

 and the Fells, and the matter occur* 

 later ; Ducatus Lane, ii, 399 ; iii, 47, 

 275. 



11 Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 1 34 ; the succes- 

 sion is given as Ralph -s. Ralph -s. 

 Ralph s. Robert (living 1613). 



Robert Parkinson in 1602 and George 

 in 1642 were burgesses of the Guild ; 

 Preston Guild R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 57, 116. George Parkinson sold 

 or mortgaged Fairsnape and Blindhurst, 

 water-mill, &c., to Edward Hodgkinson 

 in 1649 > P a l- f Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 146, m. 103. A dispute occurred in 

 1659 between the widows of George and 

 Robert Parkinson ; Exch. Dep. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 34. 



One moiety of Fairsnape and Blind- 

 hurst passed by marriage to the Clifton s 

 of Lytham and thence by sale to William 

 Garnett of Salford. The other moiety 

 remained in the Parkinson family till the 

 1 8th century, when there was a further 

 partition between William Sharp of Lan- 

 caster (as husband of the granddaughter 



