A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



plague in 1623 and later" — the Civil War shows the 

 dispu-ition of the people." For the Royalists Sir John 

 Talbot and RadclifFe Assheton of Cuerdale were 

 coll.ctorj for the hundred.'" In October 1642 Sir 

 Gilbert Hoghton, while conveying away the arms 

 which had been stored at Whalley, was set upon at 

 Blackburn by the clubmen of the hundred and his 

 purpose defeated." The town was then made a 

 garrison for the Parliament, and an attack upon it by 

 the same Sir Gilbert on the Christmas Day following 

 was repulsed." About the same time it was supposed 

 that Sir John Talbot had prepared a trap for the 

 local leaders for the Parliament, inviting them to a 

 friendly conference, but having 100 armed men 

 at hand to fall upon them. About 300 of 'the 

 Manchester men ' thereupon set upon his house, put 



him to flight and killed or drove into the river many 

 of his men, and in the house itself 'they found good 

 pillage.' " 



In March 1643 the Royalists took Blackburn and 

 rifled it, but were quickly compelled to give it up." 

 For more than a year it seems to have been left at 

 peace, but in June 1644, when Prince Rupert was 

 marching into Yorkshire after the relief of Lathum 

 and the capture of Liverpool, he passed through the 

 town, and some fighting took place. Colonel Shuttle- 

 worth being defeated by him." Walton-le-Dale, 

 from its position at the passage of the Ribble, saw a 

 little more of the war in 1644 " and 1648." The 

 Parliamentary rule was accompanied by the sequestra- 

 tion or sometimes confiscation of the estates of those 

 who had taken the king's side " or were Roman 



^* Lanes, and Ches. Arttiq. Notes, i, 97, 

 99. In 1631 the plague was prevalent 

 in the neighbourhood, but the town of 

 Blackburn remained free j Hist. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 48. 



1? In 1629 and a little later the follow- 

 ing compounded for the two-thirds of 

 their estates liable to sequestration for 

 recusancy, paying the annual fines ap- 

 pended : Billington — Elizabeth Speke, 

 £z 131. 41/.; Thomas Winckley, ,f 4 ; 

 Thomas Hothersall. £:, loj. ; Harwood — 

 Thomas Hesketh the elder, £z ; Robert 

 Squire, £z jRishton — Katherine Rishton, 

 ^3 6j. id. ; Walton — Robert Langton, 

 £2 ; Thomas Osbaldeston, £6 i6j. ; 

 Wilpshire — John Talbot of Carr, 

 ^6 ijj. 4i. i Witton — Henry Fielden, 



£\. £wan Berry of Rishton had con- 

 formed ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new »cr.), 

 xxiv, 174. 



1^ Pf^ar in Lanes. (Chet. Soc), 17. 



" Ibid. 12. 



^ Ibid. 21 ; Sir Gilbert marched from 

 Preston on 24 Dec. to McUor Lane head, 

 on the north side of the town, and during 

 the night and next day played upon it with 

 a small piece of ordnance ; no noteworthy 

 damage seems to have been done on 

 either side, the Royalists retiring without 

 having come nearer than J mile from the 

 town. The Parliamentary garrison con- 

 sisted of 400 of the militia ; Civil War 

 Tracts (Chet. Soc), 126. 



-^ Ibid. 70. Sir John is described as ' a 

 great Papist, but one that hath all this 



while stood as a neuter betwixt the king 

 and Parliament.' 



" Ibid. 96, 132. 



^ Abram, op. cit. 146, quoting Dug- 

 dale, %hort Viev of the late Troubles, 195. 



*^ JVar in Lanes. 55 ; some prisoners 

 \^ere brought to Blackburn. 



« Ibid. 6v 



2^ Some of the cases are more particu- 

 larly noticed in the accounts of the 

 several townships, as those of John 

 Southworth of Samlesbury, Sir John 

 Talbot of Samlesbury, and Edward 

 Walmsley of Banastre Hall. 



In Blackburn itself the only case was 

 that of Richard Hoghton, who in 1649 

 was allowed to compound for his ' delin- 

 quency' in assisting the king's furcet m 



236 



