A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



In recent times one of the most noteworthy in- 

 cidents was the destruction of Clayton Grange by an 

 exasperated body of cotton operatives on strike. The 

 owner was the president of the masters' committee, 

 which insisted on a reduction of wages while the 

 mills were to be kept working full time ; the men 

 on the other side held out for ' short time ' if the pay 

 were reduced. The house was surrounded and burnt 

 down in May 1878, but was afterwards rebuilt. 



CLArTON was held of the honor 

 MANORS of Clitheroe by the service of thegnage 

 and 10/. yearly rent, the first recorded 

 tenant being one Spartling,*^ living about the middle 

 of the 1 2th century, the father of Ralph de Clayton, 

 who gave to the monks of Sawley the third part of 

 an oxgang of land, a ridding in Wingives Holme 

 which Eibi had improved from the waste and land 

 lying between Sideley Clough and Ruelay Clough. 

 Afterwards with the consent of his son Aldred he 

 gave them another ridding which Siward had made, 

 feeding at the time of mast-fall for 30 swine and 

 yearly for 20 sows.^ Aldred his son confirmed these 

 gifts and augmented the monks' holding to the six- 

 teenth part of the town (i oxgang).' William son 

 of Aldred became a tenant of Sawley holding part of 

 these tenements. In 1239 he and Beatrice his wife 

 gave the town to Adam de Blackburn in exchange 

 for five plough-lands in Rimington and G.i-eglll, co. 

 York.^ 



A few years later the grantee, as Adam son of 

 Henry de Blackburn, gave the manor to Adam his 

 son charged with the yearly service of lOi. due to the 

 chief lord.'' Adam the father was lord of Wibucll 

 and died in 1259. Many years later his eldest son 

 John gave to his younger brother AJam lands in this 

 town and in Salesbury, Ribchester and Button in 

 consideration of the sum of j^+o, which he afterwards 

 remitted.' Adam de Blakeburn, who is frequently 

 described as ' Master Adam,' died about 1280. His 

 manor-house in Clayton was known as 'Le Holme.' '" 

 Adam his son enfeoffed Hugh de Clitheroe in 1288 

 of his manor of Holme, hut apparently retained a life 

 interest and in 1292 leased his demesne to Adam de 

 Hudleston of Billington, who was returned as hold- 

 ing the manor at the death of the Earl of Lincoln in 

 13 II for 10/. rent and suit of court." Adam de 



^■^ One of this name (after 1 120) was 

 rector or dean of Whalley. 



'Sawley Reg. (Harl. MS. 112), 76. 

 These grants were made before the middle 

 of John's reign. 



'' Ibid. j6b. The principal tenement 

 extended along the windings of Maggeldes- 

 medow-clifFe from the confluence of Oxe- 

 dene dough with the Ribble to a syke on 

 the eastern side of the road called Stani- 

 strete running down to the Ribble. Other 

 lands lay in a cultivation called Bradeley, 

 lying to the south of a hill called Cadeshou; 

 on the south side of the hall which 

 Jordan de Claiton had built ; where Mikel 

 brook ran down to Lummelade and along 

 the boundary of Salesbury to the Tume 

 dyke upon Heseraorc and beyond to 

 Crumboc-halgh, thence to Blake brook 

 and Mikel brook ; also riddings {sarrum) 

 called Wimarke-riding and Margaret- 

 riding. Geoffrey Dean of Whalley and 

 Henry parion of Blackburn attest. 



' Curia Reg. R. 120, m. I5d. William 

 s^n of William and Beatrice quitclaimed 

 to Adam and his heirs ; Towneley MS. 

 DD, no. 2106. 



'' Ibid. no. 2060. Henry de Torbock, 

 then seneschal, attests. 



^ Ibid. no. 2062. 



'" IbiJ. no. 20t,7. In 1280 Amabel 

 de Rokeby, relict of Adam de Blackburn, 

 acknowledges receipt of 5^ marks from 

 Hugh son of Hugh de Clitheroe as farm 

 of the dower of all her late husband's 

 lands, by letter dated at ' Le Holme.' 

 She entered pleas at different times against 

 her sons Henry and William to obtain 

 dower in their lands in Mellor and Dutton ; 

 De Banco R. 34, m. 36 ; 95, m. 87. 



Adam her eldest son impleaded her 

 in 1296 for making waste in his in- 

 heritance here and in Ribchester. She 

 pleaded that she demised the tenements to 

 John de Blackburn, whom Adam ejected, 

 and 80 she was disseised ; ibid. 1 1 5, 

 m. 129. 



" Towneley MS. DD, no. 2059, 2061 ; 

 Lanes. In^, and Extend (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 12. 



'^ Coram Reg. R. 297, m. 128 d. In 

 1297 Agnes relict of John de Blackburn 

 (apparently brother of Adam) brought 

 pleas demanding dower against Adam de 



Blackburn died before 13 19 without issue, when the 

 interest of this family in the manor terminated, but 

 was continued as to the mesne manor of Showlty, as 

 will presently be related. '- 



In 13 19 .\dam de Clitheroe, having succeeded his 

 elder brother Roger, son and heir of Hugh de 

 Clitheroe, brought a plea against Adam de Hudleston 

 the elder, and six years later against Richard son of 

 John de Hudleston and Robert his son, as heirs of 

 Adam, demanding tenements in Clayton, Dutton and 

 Ribchester, of which his father had acquired the rever- 

 sion in 1288. The proceedings were delayed by 

 respites until Midsummer, 13 ii, when Adam de 

 Clitheroe recovered seisin of the estates, which clearly 

 included the manor.^^ In 1343 after his death the 

 manor of Holme was delivered to Sibyl relict of 

 Robert son of Adam de Clitheroe together with the 

 reversion of lands held in dower by Cecily relict of 

 Adam de Clitheroe and the services of the free 

 tenants of the manor — viz. Adam son of John de 

 Blackburn, Henry de Clayton and Robert de Bolton. 

 The subsequent descent, which exactly follows that 

 of Salesbury, continued in the families of Clitheroe, 

 Talbot and Warren to George second Baron de 

 Tabley, who in 1866 sold the manor with an estate 

 extending to 657 statute acres to Mr. Henry Ward 

 of Blackburn. The Duke of Somerset acquired it 

 about 1894. 



Near to the old ford over the Ribble, a short 

 distance to the south of Ribchester Bridge, at the 

 extreme nonh-east corner of the township facing 

 south, is the house called NEW HALL to dis- 

 tinguish it from Salesbury Hall, which often went 

 by the name of the Old Hall. It is a small but 

 picturesque stone building of three stories, now a 

 farm-house, with low mullioned windows and central 

 projecting gabled porch the full height of the 

 building, with a small stone gable on either side. 

 The walls are of rough stone with dressed quoins, 

 and on the square door head are the date 1665 and the 

 initials G. T., probably those of George Talbot, while 

 on a panel over the window above is carved the 

 Talbot dog. The porch door is approached between 

 two high stone walls with moulded coping, forming 

 a narrow passage-way originally entered through a 

 stone gateway with ornamental square head, but now 



Biackburn in a messuage and 40 acres, 

 against Adam de Hudleston in 5 marks 

 of rent, and against John de Blackburn in 

 100 acres of land. She recovered her 

 dower; De Banco R. 118, m. 131. 



Adam de Blackburn gave Roger de 

 Clitheroe herbage for four horses in his 

 marsh of Dedhee in Clayton and stabling 

 in his manor of the Holme during the 

 time of herbage, so that Roger could 

 either feed them there or carry the 

 herbage to his house in Dinckley j 

 Towneley MS. DD, no. 11 51. 



1^ De Banco R. 231, m. 93; 255, 

 m. i82d. ; 256, m. 117 ; 273, m. 101 d.; 

 276, m. 164. The tenements were de- 

 scribed as 14 messuages, 2 mills, 100 acres 

 land, 2; acres meadow, 200 acres pasture, 

 247 acres wood and 3 acres marsh, and 

 8j. ^\d. rent. The later proceedings arc 

 curi'jus in view of the fact that Sibyl 

 daughter of Richard de Hudleston had 

 been contracted in marriage with Robert 

 de Clitheroe in I 331. 



The pleadings are recited in a plea 

 before the king in 1 334 when an assize 

 came to recognize if Robert son of Adam 



256 



