A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



road from Bbckburn to Whalley and Clitheroe 

 touches the eastern side of the toivnship, and the 

 Bolton, Blackburn and Hellifield Line of the Lanca- 

 shire and Yorkshire Railway Company passes through 

 it immediately to the west of the main road. The 

 nearest station is Wilpshire, distant i J miles. 



There is no manor of Ramsgreave, 

 MJNOR which was anciently parcel of the chase 

 attached to Blackburn Manor, and was till 

 the 14th century held by the lords of Clitheroe.' In 

 I 360 Henry Duke of Lancaster gave to Whalley Abbey 

 two cottages and various lands and wood in Ramsgreave.' 

 The place thus acquired an independent standing. 

 In 1478 the monks received £^ a year from it,' and 

 in 1538 the total receipts were £c) los. 3/ ; a large 

 part of the area was still woodland.' 



After the suppression of the abbey Ramsgreave was 

 in I 540 sold by the Crown with other lands to Sir 

 Alexander Radcliffe,' but he 

 soon transferred this part of 

 his purchase to Andrew Barton 

 of Smithills, lord of the manor 

 of Blackburn, who at his death 

 in 1549 was found to have 

 held twelve messuages, 5;c., 

 in Ramsgreave of the king in 

 chief by the eightieth part of 

 a knight's fee and a rent of 

 19/. z^d." The estate re- 

 mained in this family for some 

 time,' but has long been dis- 

 persed. The principal part, 

 the Ramsgreave Hall estate, 



has passed through a number of hands,'" and about 

 1S78 was acquired from Mrs. Mary Jane Rowdcn 

 Hindle, his sister-in-law, by the late Daniel Thwaites " 

 of Woodfold Park in this township, whose daughter 

 Mrs. Yerburgh succeeded in 1888." She is lady of 

 the manor of Mellor adjoining. 



The older owners included Gillibrand, Hoghton 

 and Sharpies." More recently James Shorrock of 

 Mellor was a considerable owner,'* and has been suc- 

 ceeded by the Mbscs Shorrock. 



The hearth tax returns show that twenty-one 

 hearths were liable in 1666 ; only one house had as 

 many as four." 



In I s 5 5 the Congrcg-Ttionalists of Blackburn erected 

 a small chapel at the 'Top of Ramsgreave.' '" 



S.VLESBURY 



Saile- 



Barton. Azure a 

 feae beticecn three ilagi' 

 headi caboaed or. 



Salebiri, Saleburi, Salesbyry, xiii-xv cent, 

 bury, xv-xvi cent. ; Salisbur}-, xvii cent. 



This is a rural township on the left bank of the 

 River Ribble, from which the land rises to an 

 elevation of 475 ft. above the ordnance datum on 

 Hazle Moor, a spur of the more distant Wilpshire 

 Moor. For some distance Dinckley Brook forms 

 the eastern boundary, whilst a tributary stream called 

 Park Brook flows through the centre of the town- 

 ship between Bolton Hall and Copterd Hall. The 

 subsoil consists of the Millstone Grit, except over 

 a small area near Dinckley Brook and around Loveley 

 Hall, where the Yoredale rocks occur ; the soil is of 

 clay and marl. The land is entirely under grass ; there 

 is a fair amount of woodland on the brows above the 

 Ribble, near Salesbury Hall, and in the ravines." The 

 area of the township is 1,215 acres, and in 1 90 1 the 

 population numbered 217 persons.' The main road 

 from Preston to Clitheroe passes through the town- 

 ship, and is intersected by the high road from Black- 

 burn to Ribchester. The nearest railway station is at 

 Wilpshire. 



The Romnn road leading from Ribchester to Ilkley 

 traverses the township near to Salesbury Hall. 



Thomas Talbot, son of the lord of Salesbury, was a 

 clerk in the Record Office in the Tower in the time 

 of Elizabeth, and won distinction as a genealogist.' 



The tenure of this manor was by thegn- 

 MAtiOR age and the yearly service of 5/., the 

 ratable area being one plough-land. The 

 first thegn of Salesbury upon record was Ulf kil, living 

 in the time of Stephen and Henry II, who was the 

 father of Gilbert and Waldeve. Between the two 

 brothers the township appears to have been equally 

 divided, but Waldeve held his lands of Gilbert, who 

 is variously styled as of Salesbury or of ' Heley,' the 

 latter being the name of one of the village fields. As 

 Gilbert son of Ulfkil he, with the consent of his heir 

 and his homagers, gave to Sawley land in Elresbaru and 

 Uchtrede's Grcave to obtain sepulture for himself and 

 wife at the abbey church ; he also confirmed his 



^ In I 296 the receipts from Ramsgreave 

 amounted to 20j. \d. j De Lacy Compfjti 

 (Chet. Soc), 7. They were double this 

 in 1305, when 331. \d. was received for 

 herbage and 71. dd. for brushwood \ ibid. 

 102. 



This is named among the chases of 

 Thomas Earl of Lancaster in 13135 Cat. 

 Pat. 1313-17, p. 65. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Anct. D. LS119. 

 The gift was made to provide for the 

 sustenance of recluses at Whalley Church. 

 There was a confirmation soon after- 

 wards, 2 Jan. 1360— I ; Dep, Keeper i 

 Rep. xxxii, App. 343. 



The lords of the moiety of Blackburn 

 had probably some right in this woodland, 

 for as late as 1524. the feoffees of Andrew 

 Barton quitclaimed to the Abbot of 

 Whalley any title to a parcel of land 

 called Ramsgreave alias Broadhead and to 

 common of pasture there ; Add. MS. 

 32 104, fol. igS. 



^ Abram, Blackburn^ 627. 



« Tf balky Ccuci. (Chet. Soc), iv, 

 1222-3. ^^'^ principal tenants were 

 named Hey, Calvert, Bolton, Golbome 



and Rushton, The field names were 

 Broadhead, Ramsgreen, Nev. field and 

 Worple hills. There was a wood * well 

 replenished with old oaks and fijr timber, 

 containing by estimation one mile and a 

 half ' ; also * a fair spring,* a plantation 

 of three years' growth. 



■ Pat. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. iv ; L. and P. 

 Hen. Fill, xv, g. 942 {4), (7). 



^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no, 

 27. 



^ Margery wife of Robert Barton and 

 then of Richard Shuttleworth died in 

 1592 holding Ramsgreave of the gift of 

 her first husband with reversion to his 

 heirs ; ibid, xvi, no. 4-;- 



Randle Barton died in 161 1 holding 

 the Ramsgreave estate of the king as 

 before ; Lanes. Inq, p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes. 

 and Ches.), i, 211. 



It probably remained in the family till 

 the dispersal of the estates by Lord Fau- 

 conberg about 1720. It is named in a 

 fine of 16-9 relating to Smithills, &c. ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 202, m. 4. 

 Ramsgreave is never styled a ' manor.' 



^'^ Abram, op. cit. 629 ; It was owned 



252 



by Wilsons of Baxendale from about 

 1800 to 1870. 



^^ Conservative M.P. for Blackburn 

 1875-80; he married Elia daughter of 

 G. F. Gregory. See Pink and Beaven, 

 Pari. Repre. of Lanes. 320. 



^^ Information of Mrs. Yerburgh. 



^ Notices of them will be found in 

 Abram, op. cit. 629-30. '^ Ibid. 



^ Lay Subs. Lanes, bdle. 250, no, 9. 



"^ Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. ii, 87, 

 There had been a preaching station there 

 as early as 1833, and a Sunday school 

 was established. 



^ The agricultural returns for 1905 

 give permanent grass 1,061 acres, woods 

 and plantations 60 acres, 



2 Of this area 22 acres are inland water; 

 Census Rep. 190 1. 



8 Pal. Noic-Bk. iv, 176 ; Diet. Nat, Riofr. 

 Thomas was the eldest of nine children 

 of John Talbot (will, 1551) by hii 

 second wife, Anne daughter of Richard 

 Banaster of Altham, and was known as 

 * limping Thomas Talbot.' His collec- 

 tions are preserved in the Harteian, 

 Cottonian and Lansdowne MSS, 



