LEYLAND HUNDRED 



CHORLEY 



Cherlegh, 1251 ; Cherle, 1252 ; Chorley, 1257 

 and common ; Cherley, 1276 ; Chorlegh, 1292 and 

 common. In 1 302 the defendant to a claim regarding 

 a \va)- in ' Cherlegh ' replied that there was no such 

 place in the county, though ' Chorlegh ' was 

 known.' 



The single-township parish of Chorley, though 

 physically quite sep.arate from the mother parish of 

 Croston, did not become independent ecclesiastically 

 until 1793, when an Act of Parliament was procured 

 for the purpose.' The parish, township and borough 

 are conterminous. The area is 3,614 acres, including 

 47 acres of inland water, and in 190 1 there was a 

 population of 26,852. 



The surface is hilly, a number of brooks, including 

 the Chor, running through the valleys to join the 

 Yarrow, which touches the township in the south-east, 

 and then, after bending to the south, flows northward 

 to form part of the western border. The town of 

 Chorley, on a piece of the higher land, is in the 

 centre of the township. To the north of it are 

 Knowley and Hartwood Green, to the north-west 

 is Astley Hall, to the west Gillibrand Hall, to the 

 south-west Kingsley. Chorley Moor lies to the 

 south of the town, and contains the hamlets of Red 

 Bank and Weld Bank to the south and the estate 

 called Lighthurst. On the east side of the town the 

 Blackbrook flows south to the Yarrow, and beyond it, 

 towards Anglezarke and Withnell Moors, is the 

 district called Healey ; part of the boundary on that 

 side is formed by Healey Nab, a hill 682 ft. above 

 sea level. Crosse Hall and Cowling are in the south 

 of Healey and Botany Bay in the north. 



The principal road is that from Manchester to 

 Preston, going north-west and north through the 

 middle of the township ; along it the town has grown 

 up. It is a modern road, the old one to the south 

 of the town being quite different. Of this older road 

 a fragment remains by the ' Image House ' ; it went by 

 Duxbury Woods and through Red Bank. ' Yarrow 

 Bridge Hotel, a great coaching establishment, men- 

 tioned by De Quincey in Confessions of an Opium Eater, 

 stood at the bottom of the houses near the river at 

 Red Bank. The present road was made during the 

 cotton famine succeeding the American [Civil] War.' ^ 

 On the east side of the towTi another road goes north 

 and then passes through Heapey and turns to 

 Blackburn. Several cross streets connect the two 

 main roads, from the former of which other roads 

 branch off south-west and west to CoppuU and Wigan 

 and to Croston and Leyland. 



The Bolton and Preston Line of the Lancashire 

 and Yorkshire Railway Company, formed in 1 846, 

 goes north through the town, where there is a station.* 

 From this point a branch line (1868) turns off north- 

 east to Blackburn. The old Wigan and Lancaster 



Canal, part of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, goes 

 north through the Blackbrook valley. 



In the centre of the town the Manchester and 

 Preston road, there called Market Street, runs 

 almost due north. About the middle of its course 

 Chapel Street leads east to the railw.iy station and 

 Steeley Lane. At the south end, the same main 

 road, named Bolton Street, is joined by Pall Mall, 

 the road from Coppull, and Gillibrand Walks or 

 Ladies' Walk. At the north end Southport Road 

 turns west, passing the new almshouses on the south 

 side, and Church Brow winds round the old church 

 site, turning eastwards towards the workhouse and 

 canal side ; the cattle market and gas-works lie on its 

 south side. To the north of Church Brow the main 

 road crosses the Chor, which thence flows west 

 through Astley Park ; the course of its higher stream, 

 now concealed, is indicated by Water Street,' going 

 north-east. Further north, as Park Road and Preston 

 Road, the main thoroughfare winds on, passing 

 Chorley Hall Farm on the west. 



Chorley has long been a market town and the 

 most important business centre in the hundred ; yet 

 about 1536 Leland described it as 'a wonderful 

 poor, or rather no market.' ° At a much earlier time 

 the place was associated with a charge of coining. 

 Richard Green of Heapey was accused of having 

 from 1437 onwards, at the inn of Jo.an Wastley at 

 Chorley, out of false metal made groats, half-groats, 

 pence and halfpence in imitation of the king's money, 

 and set it abroad at Settle and other places.' He 

 was acquitted, but soon afterwards charged with like 

 practices in his room at Heapey and at Chorley in a 

 place called Culmariclough in the Shaghthorngreve ; 

 he was again acquitted.* 



From the registers it appears that there was an 

 outbreak of plague in 1631. The growing impor- 

 tance of the place is illustrated by the issue of five 

 tradesmen's tokens between 1653 and 1669,' and, 

 though Blome in 1673 thought it but a small town, 

 he states that ' its market, which is on Tuesdays, is 

 well furnished with yarn and provisions.' '° 



Situated on one of the chief roads to the north, 

 the people must often have \^•itnessed soldiers on the 

 march, but the first recorded act of warfare belongs 

 to the Civil War. In 1643 Lord Molyneux, making 

 a dash from the north, and hearing near Rufford that 

 a Captain Edward Robinson and some of his troop 

 happened to be quartered at Chorley, hastened 

 thither and took them all prisoners. They were 

 detained at Lathom House, but soon set free." 

 Fragments of the Duke of Hamilton's Scottish force 

 in 1648, flying south before Cromwell, 'at some 

 places made some stands as if they would fight it out, 

 as upon Chorley Moor and Standish Moor,' but did 

 not do so." Colonel Thornhaugh was killed in one 



^ Assize R. +18, m. 4. 

 '33 Geo. Ill, cap. 24. 

 ' Information of Rev. G. Teebay. 



* There is a level crossing, with an 

 underground passage for foot passengers. 



* Water Street represents the old 

 Preston road. 



** Itin, vii, 49. A mile and a half from 



6 



Chorley (perhaps at Whittle-Ie-Woods) 

 he 'saw on a hill side a great (juarry, out 

 of which men, dig very great and good 

 millstones ' ; ibid, v, 96. 



"* Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 5, m. 19. 



^ Ibid. 8, m, 31. For the Green family 

 see Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), iii, 135. 



129 



^ Lanes, and Chcs. Antiq. Soc. v, 76 ; 

 the names were — ThomasAUanson, Hugh 

 Cooper, Robert Dicconson, Thomas 

 Wasley and James Wolstenholme. 



^^ Britannia, quoted by Baines. 



^^ War in Lanes, (Chet. Soc.), 39. 



^ Ibid. 66. At this time Cromwell is 

 said to have slept at Astley Hall. 



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