BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



BLACKBURN 



son of Adam de Blackburn of land here adjoining to 

 Showley, as will be seen below. William son of 

 Henry de Honford also gave lands here to Adam son 

 of Adam de Blackburn.'' Henry de Boseden son of 

 William de Boseden, or de Honford, alienated the 

 manor before 1292 to John Deuyas,' from whom it 

 descended to the Southworthsof Samlesbury, who held 

 it for many generations.' In 1x45-6 Richard South- 

 worth held it by the sixteenth part of a knight's fee, 

 and in the time of Edward IV gave puture to the 

 sheriff in respect of his mansion here.' 



In 16 10, shortly before his death, John South- 

 worth purchased the manor from his sister Ellen 

 and her husband William Dewhurst, to whom it 

 appears to have been given or demised at their marriage. 

 In 1664 John Southworth, grandson of the last named, 

 who had succeeded to the Samlesbury estates on the 

 death of his cousin Thomas Southworth in 1 641, 

 joined with his cousins Elizabeth and Jane in convey- 

 ing this manor to trustees for sale.'" There is some 

 uncertainty as to the immediate purchaser, but very 

 shortly after this date the manor was held by William 

 Yates of Blackburn, who died in 1684. In 1746 

 and 1748 Mr. Maghull (or ' Maile ') Yates was in 

 possession," in 1779 Elizabeth his widow; but to- 

 wards the end of the year Mr. William Higginbotham 

 answered to the bailiff of Salford Hundred for the 

 manorial rent of 4/." 



Towards the end of the 1 8th century Mr. Henry 

 Sudell of Blackburn purchased the manor and several 

 estates, and imparked a portion of them with con- 

 tiguous lands in Pleasington and Samlesbury to form 

 Woodfold Park, in the midst of which stands Wood- 

 fold Hall, the modern manor-house of Mellor." The 

 park is inclosed by a stone wall 4 miles in circuit and 

 9 ft. in height. Mr. Sudell held a court leet for the 

 manor until 1827, when commercial difficulties neces- 

 sitated the sale of portions of the estate. The manor 

 and that part of the park lying in Mellor had been 

 settled upon Mr. Sudell's children, and were sold in 

 1 83 1 to Mr. John Fowden Hindle, a few months 

 before the latter's death. His son John Fowden 

 Hindle was Sheriff of Lancaster in 1 844 and died in 

 1 849. His brother and successor Mr. William Fowden 

 Hindle died four years later, leaving as heir his daughter 



Mary Jane, married in 1839 ^° ^^- George Frederick 

 Gregory. The manor and the Woodfold Park estates 

 were sold about 1878 to Mr. Robert Daniel Thwaites 

 of Blackburn, at whose death in 1888 they descended 

 to his only daughter Elma Amy, now lady of the 

 manor, who in 1888 married Mr. Robert Armstrong 

 Yerburgh, M.P. for Chester 1 886-1 906 and 19 10. 



STANLEY HOUSE appears to have been for a 

 long period the reputed manor-house of Mellor ; it 

 was in the i6th century the property of a family 

 from whom it took its name,"" and having come 

 into the possession of the Yates family was made 

 their seat. The building stands on high ground 

 on the south side of the high road between 

 Blackburn and Preston, about 2 J miles from 

 the former town, to the north of Woodfold Park. 

 It is a rather picturesque late 1 6th or early 17th- 

 century three-story stone building, now a farm- 

 house, with a frontage of about 60 ft. facing south. 

 The elevation is broken towards the east end by a 

 square projecting porch forming a kind of tower, 

 being taken some feet higher than the stone cornice 

 of the roof. The walling is of coursed rough 

 stones with angle quoins, and the windows are all 

 low mullioned openings of five and six lights to the 

 ground and first floors and three lights at the top. 

 The upper window in the tower has its middle light 

 raised, and all the windows have hood moulds. The 

 roof is covered with stone slates, and has a wide gable 

 at each end with a projecting chimney at the west, 

 and there is a modern addition at the back under a 

 lean-to roof The porch projects 6 ft., and is an 

 open one, with a four-centred arch under a square 

 hood mould, above which is a panel space, the panel 

 — which probably bore an inscription and date — • 

 having disappeared. In the west wall of the porch 

 is a round opening, the house having been approached 

 from that side, but the floor above has gone and the 

 whole of the east part of the building is in a state of 

 dilapidation. 



The family of Blackburn of Showley, in the 

 adjoining township of Clayton-le-Dale, were enfeoffed 

 of lands here by the Honfords, as already stated. 

 William son of Henry de Honford gave to Adam 

 son of Adam de Blakeburn " land lying on the 



« Southworth D., Towneley MS. GG, 

 1087a, 1133; Kuerden foL MS. (Chet. 

 Lib.), 188, no. 207. 



^ Assize R. 408, m. 70. 

 ® In a demise of tenements in Mellor 

 made in 1336 to Nicholas de Bispham 

 and Alice his wife by Gilbert de South- 

 worth and Alice (Deuyas) his wife proviso 

 was made that if any iron ore or lead 

 should be found within the demised lands 

 Gilbert should allot other lands in ex- 

 change ; Kuerden fol. MS. (Chet. Lib.), 

 387, no. 76. 



' Duchy of Lane. Knights' Fees, bdle. 2, 

 no. 20 ; MS. at Huntroyde. Thomas 

 Southworth, kt, who died in 1546, held 

 his lands in Mellor in socage (sic) by the 

 yearly rent of i6d. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. vii, 23. In 1521 he and Hugh 

 Southworth were indicted of a rescue 

 of distress taken at Mellor by the king's 

 bailiff of Salford Hundred in respect of 

 arrears of rent of the manors of Mellor, 

 Eccleshill and Nether Darwen ; PaL of 

 Lane. Plea R. 13?, m. 18 d. 



" Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 78, m. 

 I i 173, m. 67. Edward Rigby, Elizabeth 

 Nowell, widow, and Jane Jackson were 



associated with Mr. Southworth in the sale. 

 Mrs. Nowellwas the eldersisterof Thomas 

 Southworth, who died 1641, and was at 

 this time widow of John Nowell of Little 

 Mearley. Jane the younger daughter 

 married (i) Timothy Sumpner of Chorley 

 and (2) John Jackson. The estate was 

 described as consisting of the manor, 

 30 messuages, 440 acres land, meadow 

 and pasture and 30J. of rent. 



In 1 65 1 John and Elizabeth Nowell of 

 Mearley, Timothy and Jane Sompner of 

 Chorley begged allowance of their title to 

 the manor of Mellor, in right of their 

 wives, daughters of Thomas Southworth, 

 their brothers Thomas and John, whose 

 co-heirs they were, being dead. They 

 had been dispossessed by their uncle John 

 Southworth, but regained possession after 

 application made to the court of wards, 

 but afterwards he procured the lands to 

 be sequestrated for his delinquency, so as 

 to receive one-fifth ; Cal. Com. for Comp. 

 1621. 



" Pal of Lane. Plea R. 565, m. 3 ; 

 570, m. 2. 



'' Duchy of Lane. Rentals, 14-25 m. 

 Mr. Abram gives the descent of the family 



261 



of Yates of Blackburn and Stanley House, 

 Mellor, in Blackburn, 408-g. Possibly 

 Mr. Higginbotham married the elder 

 daughter and co-heiress of Mr. Maile 

 Yates. In 1787 the heirs of Mr. Higgin- 

 botham and Edward Boulton held be- 

 tween them nearly one-third of the town- 

 ship ; Land tax returns. 



" Abram, op. cit. 589 ; 397-8. 



13a Peter Stanley occurs from 1532 

 to 1549; ibid. 593. In 1567 William 

 Stanley passed this estate by fine to Peter 

 Stanley ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 29, m. 9. Thomas Stanley of Mellor, 

 gent., was a freeholder temp. James I. 



" William, another son of Adam de 

 Blakeburn, sen., had a grant in 13 18 

 from Robert de Holand of all the lands in 

 Mellor which his brother William de 

 Holand had formerly held and the rever- 

 sion of the tenements which John de 

 Belewe and Joan his wife held as Joan's 

 dower ; Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 25*. 



In 1325 William de Multon and Joan 

 his wife (apparently widow of William de 

 Holand and John de Belewe) demanded 

 from Nicholas Deuyas the third part of a 

 messuage, 80 acres of land, 10 acres 



