BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



BLACKBURN 



1 564. Writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury, he 

 says : — 



Among many other things that be amiss here in your great 

 cures ye shall understand that in Blackburn there is a fantastical 

 (and as some think a lunatic) young man which says he has 

 spoken with one of his neighbours that died four years since or 

 more. Divers times he says he has seen him and talked with 

 him and took with him the curate, the schoolmaster and other 

 neighbours, which all affirm that they see him too, ... It is 

 too lamentable to see and hear how negligently they say any 

 service there and how seldom. . . . The old vicar of Blackburn, 

 Roger [Randle] Linney, resigned for a pension and now [liveth 

 with Sir John ByronJ.'* 



The lack of suitable ministers at the time is strikingly 

 shown by the failure of a man like Archbishop Parker 

 to place one at Blackburn. The vicars as a rule 

 appear to have resided in the town."' Little is known 

 of the story for some time, but in 1580 Hulton was 

 induced or compelled to resign "* and a strong Puritan 

 was presented to the vicarage,'" who refused to wear 

 the surplice and was at last deprived in 1606.'" From 

 the later history he had probably the full sympathy of 

 the Protestant population of the parish. His successor 

 was more compliant, but in 161 1 was censured for not 

 wearing a hood and for receiving persons of other 

 parishes to the communion at his church."' The 

 next vicar's tendencies are shown by his acceptance 

 of the Presbyterian discipline in 1646, when Blackburn 

 became the head of a classis embracing the parishes 

 in the hundred."' During the Commonwealth the 

 various chapelries were fully served, stipends being 

 provided out of royalist or episcopal sequestrations, but 

 on the Restoration the old neglect returned."' This 

 led to curious incidents in 1687, the chapel at Darwen 

 being seized by the Protestant Nonconformists and 

 that at Langho by the Roman Catholics. The vicar 

 recovered possession, but appears to have taken more 

 care afterwards for the serving of them, though it was 

 not for a long time that each of the chapels of ease 

 had its own curate."' The first additional church 

 was built in 1789 in Blackburn, and since then with 

 the growth of population church-building has gone on 



rapidly, both in renewing the old and in providing 

 fresh places of worship. Most of the later vicars 

 have been men of some distinction. 



A Blackburn archdeaconry was formed in 1877 out 

 of the archdeaconry of Manchester.'" 



Before the Reformation there were two endowed 

 chantries in the parish church. A chapel of St. John 

 Baptist ' le Soth ' is named in the will of Henry 

 Rishton of Dunkenhalgh, 1427 ; he desired to be 

 buried there under his father's tomb."" The earlier 

 of the chantries was founded at the high altar in 1454 

 by Geofilrey Banastre, then vicar, and in 1547 the in- 

 cumbent, William Rishton, was celebrating according 

 to his foundation statutes. His stipend of £\ I 3/. \d. 

 was derived from a charge on the rectory of Preston."' 

 The second chantry was founded in 1 5 14 by the 

 Earl of Derby and the parishioners at St. Mary's altar 

 in the south aisle of the church. The chaplain was 

 to celebrate for the souls of the founders and others, 

 ' to maintain the one side of the choir to the uttermost 

 of his power every holy day,' and to keep a free 

 grammar school or song school. Thomas Burgess was 

 incumbent in 1547 and duly fulfilling his trust. His 

 clear income was _^5 8/. 'id., derived from lands in 

 Burnley and elsewhere.'" About the same time there 

 was a ' rood service ' before the principal crucifix in 

 the church, lands in Ribchester being assigned for its 

 maintenance in 1516-17."^ 



The grammar school is traced back to the chantry 

 of 15 14 ; it was refounded in 1567.'" 



Ofiicial inquiries were made con- 



CHARITIES cerning the charities in 1826 and 



1904, but on the latter occasion the 



county borough of Blackburn was excluded.'" The 



following details are taken from the reports :■ — 



For the whole parish, apart from the school, there 

 are few endowments. An ancient poor's stock of ^^30 

 and a gift of ^2 from Widow Duckworth for bread on 

 Good Friday for poor communicants, both existing in 

 1826, have been lost since. A gift of ^10 for books, 

 made by Vicar WooUin, has been lost or merged 



"" Farker Corres. (Parker Soc), 222. 

 It is not clear that by * curate ' Pilking- 

 ton meant the vicar. 



'^^ The registers show baptisms of their 

 children, &c. 



"^ Dr. Halley states that he resigned 

 on account of his * ignorance, negligence, 

 and utter incompetence,' but gives no 

 reference ; Lanes. Puritanism, i, 114. 



1^2 He signed the address of the 

 preachers of Manchester to the Arch- 

 bishop of York in 1590, counselling great 

 tenderness in dealing with the Puritan 

 extremists ; Ciet. Misc. (Chet. Soc), v. 



'^■* At the 1592 visitation it was re- 

 ported that he did ' not use to wear the 

 surplice at any time,' and he was ordered 

 to conform himself. 'On 16 Sept. 1596 

 he personally appeared before the commis- 

 sioners at Chester, when he answered that 

 he neither did nor would refuse to wear 

 the surplice if the same was fit and 

 tendered to him in good sort ' ; Baines, 

 Lanes, (ed. Croston), iv, 9. Whatever 

 may have been the meaning of this 

 excuse or evasion, he was again prose- 

 cuted in 1604 and 160; for not wearing 

 the surplice ; Visit. Records at Chester. 



"5 Ibid. 



'^^ Some extracts from the minute book 

 are printed in Whitaker's Chalky (ed. 

 Nichols), i, 220-2. 



•*' Archbishop Bancroft's endowment 



to provide a remedy is mentioned in the 

 text. 



^■'^ In 17 17 there were seven chapels, 

 served by three curates : one each for 

 Harwood and Langho, Darwen and 

 Tockholes, Walton and Samlesbury ; 

 Balderstone was served once a month by 

 the same curates in turn ; Gastrell, op. 

 cit. ii, 281-2. 



'■" Land. Gaz. 17 Aug. 1877. 



'™ Dunkenhalgh D. 



IS' Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc), 152 ; 

 the name of the priest is wrongly given 

 as Usherwood. The chantry is noticed in 

 Valor Eccl. V, 230 ; William Rishton was 

 then incumbent, but his stipend is wrongly 

 given as 66j. %d. 



Robert Shuttleworth of Hacking in 

 1509 had the right of nominating a fit 

 person to the chantry in the parish church 

 of Blackburn ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 

 iv, 69. 



'*' Raines, op. cit. 154; Fahr Eccl. 

 loc cit. (66j. id. income). 



The foundation deed is printed in full 

 in Whitaker's WhalUy, ii, 322-5. Ed- 

 mund Bolton was to be the first cantarist, 

 and his successors were to be secular 

 priests, able to ' sing both prick song and 

 plain song,' and having a ' sight in 

 descant.' They were bound to say mass 

 every holiday and ' to sing mass of Our 

 Lady to note ' every Saturday j and once 



a quarter were with their scholars to sing 

 a solemn dirge, with Requiem mass next 

 morning ; every Wednesday or Friday 

 they were to say mass of Jesus or of the 

 Five Wounds, and to say mass on other 

 days of the week if * well disposed 

 thereto.' The time of service was to be 

 8 a.m. from Easter to Michaelmas and 

 10 a.m. the rest of the year. 



Part of the lands were sold by the 

 Crown in 1591 ; Pat. 33 Eliz. pt. xi. A 

 division of the * quire' on the south side 

 of the chancel was made by arbitration in 

 1612 ; the southern half was assigned to 

 Sir Thomas Walmesley and the northern 

 half to John Talbot ; Towneley MS. 

 HH, no. 2230. 



1^-' This grant was made by the 

 daughters and co-heirs of Christopher 

 Catlow of Oswaldtwistle ; Kuerden fol. 

 MS. 154, 387. 



^^^ Abram, op. cit. 312-49, gives a 

 full account. A report on its state in 

 1675-6 is printed in hocal Glean. Lanes, 

 and Ches. ii, 1 16. See also Records of 

 Blackburn School (Chet. Soc, new 

 ser.). 



155 Iji 171 8 the charitable endowments 

 amounted to about ^^240, all invested in 

 landed security, except ^25 in the vicar's 

 hands and ^^13 in John Sudell's j Gas- 

 trell, op. cit. ii, 280. See the account of 

 the Poor's Land. 



