BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



BLACKBURN 



England.' Thomas Starkie, son of the vicar of that 

 name, was born at Blackburn in 1782, and, like his 

 father, was Senior Wrangler at Cambridge ; he 

 became a legal writer and professor of note and a 

 county court judge ; he died in 1 849 J Edward 

 Cardwell, D.D., 1787-1861, was also a native of the 

 town ; educated at Oxford, he attained distinction as 

 a Church historian, publishing books and making 

 collections for the history of the Church of England 

 in the period I 546-1 7 1 7.* Another native was 

 William Winstanley Hull, 1 794-1 873, who was a 

 Low Church writer on liturgical subjects and hym- 

 nology.^ A distinguished resident was Alexander 

 Balloch Grosart, LL.D., 1827-99, of Scotch birth, 

 and for many years (1868-92) minister of the Pres- 

 byterian Church at Blackburn, editing numerous 

 reprints of the Puritan divines and old English 

 writers.!" Yet another was the author of the excel- 

 lent history of the parish frequently quoted in the 

 present work, William Alexander Abram. He was 

 the son of a Congregational minister and born at 

 Lydiate in 1835 ; he spent most of his public life at 

 Blackburn, where he edited the Times, and contri- 

 buted many essays and other works to newspapers, 

 magazines and the Record Society ; he served on the 

 school board and town council. He died in May 

 1894.11 



The manor of BLACKBURN, assessed 

 MJNOR as two plough-lands, perhaps formed part of 

 the royal manor of fourteen plough-lands 

 in 1066,12 ^ud was, according to later tradition, held 

 by the rectors. The difficulties of the descent have 

 already been touched upon in the account of the 

 advowson, and it is clear that the church was held 

 in moieties during a large part of the 1 2th century. 

 Probably the manor was also divided. Each of the 

 lords, therefore, would hold one plough-land of the 

 lay-fee. The glebe may have remained in common. 

 So far as the church was concerned the whole was 

 acquired by the Lacys for the monks of Stanlaw, and 

 a moiety of the manor also. This moiety became 

 annexed to the rectory in consequence, and after the 

 suppression of the abbey was granted, by exchange, 

 to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and so has come 

 into the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. 

 Its seat was at Haudley or Audley Hall. 



The other moiety, that held by Adam de Black- 

 burn in the time of Henry III, must have been kept 



separate from the grant of Adam's part of the church 

 to Stanlaw, for it descended otherwise. A traditional 

 account states that Adam married Agnes, one of his 

 daughters, to David de Hulton, and Beatrice, 

 another daughter, to William de Hulton, brother of 

 David, and divided his manor of Blackburn between 

 them. There being no issue of the latter marriage, 

 David and his issue succeeded to the whole of Adam's 

 estate in Blackburn. It descended, like Over Hulton, 

 to Richard de Hulton, who about 1330 sold it to 

 Robert de RadclifFe.i' From that time it descended 

 in the same way as Smithills in Halliwell until the 

 middle of the 18th century. 



Some support, or r.ither correction, is afforded to 

 the tradition by a fine of 1256, by which David de 

 Hulton allowed his plough-land in Blackburn, ' where- 

 soever it la/ in that town,' to Beatrice widow of 

 William de Hulton in lieu of her dower In Black- 

 burn, Hulton, Heaton and Pendleton. 1^ It is note- 

 worthy that Richard de Hulton, father of David and 

 William, gave a release of the advowson, that David 

 had the whole after his brother's death, and that 

 Beatrice claimed as widow only, not as heir ; so 

 that Adam de Blackburn's 1* grant must have been to 

 the husbands of his daughters or to Richard de 

 Hulton. After the manor came into the hands of the 

 Radcliffes the Abbot of Whalley put forward a claim, 

 alleging that it had been included in the grant of 

 the church to his house ; he asserted that it was the 

 free-alms of St. Mary's, Blackburn, while Cecily, 

 widow of another Robert de Radcliffe, tenant for life, 

 said that it was a lay-fee.i^ This may have been the 

 continuation of some previous dispute, for in 1335 

 the Abbot of Whalley had called upon Richard de 

 Hulton to hold to a convention regarding a moiety 

 of the town of Blackburn. i' The abbot's claim 

 appears to have failed. 



In 1349 it was recorded that William de Rad- 

 cliffe held of the Duke of Lancaster one plough-land 

 in Blackburn for the tenth part of a knight's fee, the 

 Abbot of Whalley holding the other plough-land in 

 alms.i* Sir Ralph Radcliffe died in 1406 holding a 

 moiety of the viU of Blackburn of the king as duke 

 by knight's service and a payment of 4/. yearly for 

 ward of the castle of Clitheroe, performing suit also 

 at the wapentake court of Clitheroe from three weeks 

 to three weeks.l' In 1445-6 his son Sir Ralph 

 Radcliffe held the tenth part of a knight's fee In 



^ Abram, op. cit, 358. 

 ' Diet. Nat. Biog. 



8 Ibid. 



9 Ibid. " Ibid. 



'^ There is a memoir (with portrait) 

 in his book entitled Blackburn Characters, 

 issued just after his death. 



12 y.C.H. Lanes, i, 286i. 



" Whitaker, WhalUy, ii, 31011. 



'•• Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 121. In 1302 the Abbot of 

 Whalley and John de Hulton held of 

 the Earl of Lincoln the fourth part of 

 a knight's fee in Blackburn ; Lanes. Inq. 

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

 i, 319. In 1 3 1 1 John de Hulton was 

 said to hold a plough-land and a half in 

 Blackburn of the same earl ; ibid, ii, 11. 

 In later inquests it is called a plough- 

 land only ; e.g. Richard de Hulton in 

 1322 ; ibid. 134. The Abbot of Whalley 

 then held the other plough-land ; ibid. 

 135. Each had to do the service of the 

 eighth part of a knight's fee. Beatrice 



de Blackburn in 1278 complained that 

 Adam de Blackburn had taken her goods 

 and done other damage at Wi swell ; De 

 Banco R. 27, m. 119 d. 



^^ It is probable that this was the Adam 

 son of Henry de Blackburn noticed in 

 the accounts of Clayton-lc-Dale and 

 Wiswell. An Adam de Blackburn occurs 

 at Rimington in 1244; Curia Regis 

 R. 132, m. 9d. 



"Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 317; the 

 husband was Robert de Radcliffe, 

 bastard. See De Banco R. 343, m. 329 



{1345); 345, m- 385 d.; 353, m- ^i^i-; 

 363, m. i7d. (1350). 



Robert de Radcliffe had twenty mes- 

 suages and 2CO acres of land in Black 

 burn of the Hulton inheritance in 1344; 

 Assize R. 1435, m. 40. 



For the descent see the account of 

 Halliwell and the pedigree in Whitaker, 

 Whalley, ii, 3 1 9. 



'' De Banco R. 301, m. 257 d. Richard 

 de Hulton in 1292 unsuccessfully claimed 



245 



tenements in Blackburn against Henry 

 de Lacy, John de Blackburn and Robert 

 de Hephale ; Assize R. 408, m. 59, 67. 

 At the same time John son of Adam 

 de Blackburn claimed 50J. rent in Black- 

 burn against the Abbot of Stanlaw, but 

 it was shown that Adam had had the 

 rent for life only 5 ibid. m. 4d, 



^^ Lansdowne Feodary in Baines, Lanes, 

 (ed. 1870), ii, 693. 



William son of Robert de Radcliffe was 

 in 1346 sued by Cecily widow of Robert 

 de Radcliffe concerning tenements in 

 Blackburn, but he had the king's pro- 

 tection as he was crossing the seas in the 

 company of Richard Earl of Arundel ; 

 Cal. Close, 1346-9, p. 83. 



William de Radcliffe, lord of a moiety 

 of the vill of Blackburn, attested a grant 

 of land there made in 1362 by Emma 

 widow of John de Blackburn to Henry 

 de Clayton her father ; Add. MS. 32105, 



no- 355- 



19 Towneley iVlS. DD, no. 1504. 



