BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



purchased by the late Daniel Thvvaites." Some 

 other references occur.'*''' 



The Hoghton family acquired lands here in the 

 time of Henry III. Elias de Pleaslngton permitted 

 Adam de Hoghton to establish a mill dam on his 

 bank of the River Derwent, and Henry son of Elias 

 de Pleasington gave lands ' between Pleasington and 

 Hoghton ' to the same Adam. The water-mill of 

 Pleasington above named with a capital messuage ivas 

 given by John son of Elias de Tong in 1328 to his 

 brother Alexander in marriage with Alice daughter 

 of John de Hoghton. ^^ Their descendant Kathcrine 

 Tong, wife of John Seed of Ribchestcr, gave the 

 estate in 1426-7 to William Seed, and in 1457-8 

 Thomas Seed of Pleasington gave his lands and mill 

 to Richard Hoghton, kt.^' Included in the settlement 

 of his estates made by James Livesey of Livesey in 

 1 6 1 8 were the water-mill called ' Seed mylne,' formerly 

 known as 'Tong mylne,' part of the 'mjlne field,' 

 and certain mosses or turbary lying in Tickle Moss.^^ 



In 1 391 Richard Hoghton, kt., had licence to 

 enlarge his park of Hoghton by the inclosure of 

 150 acres of land, meadow, pasture, wood and moor 

 in Hoghton and Pleasington, adjoining the park on 

 the south and east sides.^' 



FENlSCOIf'LES (Fennyschull) in Pleasington was 

 given by Richard de Hoghton to his son Richard 

 early in the 14th century.'* In the 17 th century 

 it was in the possession of Thomas AinsHorth, who 

 made his will in 1668 as of ' Phenixcoales in Plea- 

 sington, yeoman.' '' Feniscowles Hall is a house 

 erected in 1808, now partly dilapidated. It stands 

 in a low situation near Feniscowles Bridge, at the 

 confluence of the Darwen and the Roddlesworth 

 stream. The old hall is finely situated on a high 

 bank overlooking the River Darwen, and is a two-story 

 stone-built house with stone slated roofs, probably of 

 17th-century date, but much modernized by sub- 

 sequent alterations and rebuildings. The principal 

 front facing south has two gables and a projecting 

 porch, and the building, which is now divided into 

 two houses, possesses very little architectural or 

 antiquarian interest, except for an ornamental plaster 

 panel in one of the bedrooms with the initials of 

 Thomas and Alice Livesey and the date 1726, and 

 an old stone now used as a hearth-stone with the 

 initials ,^e and the date 1709. The initials of 

 Thomas and Alice Livesey occur again on the head 

 of the door of the barn, a detached building on the 

 west side of the house, together with I. L. (probably 

 John Livesey) and the date 1732. 



BLACKBURN 



In 1662 a puture rent of is. was paid by the 

 township.38 Forty-seven hearths paid tax in 1666, 

 no inhabitant except Thomas Ainsworth being 

 returned as having more than two hearths."" 



The Roman Catholic church of St. Mary and 

 St. John the Baptist is the only place of worship m 

 the township. It was erected in I 8 19, for a mission 

 begun in 1 8 1 6, at the charge of John Francis Butler, 

 as a thankoffcring.'"' 



OVER DARWEN 



Overdcrewente, 1276; Ovcrdcrwend, '33^; 

 Derwent o' the Mores, 1380 ; 0\crdcr\vent, xiv-xvi 

 cent. ; Overderwyn, -darwyn, xvi-xvii cent. Pro- 

 vincially ' Darren.' 



The township lies in the upper part of the valley 

 of the River Darwen, from which it is named, and 

 extends over the expanse of moss and heath in which 

 that river takes its rise into the watershed of Brad- 

 shaw Brook, a tributary of the River Irwell, between 

 Turton and Entwisle. Along this range of hills are 

 elevations varying from i,oootoover 1,300 ft. above 

 the ordnance datum. On Darwen Moor, to the 

 south-west, are White Hill (1,318 ft.) and Brown 

 Lowe (1,280 ft.) ; above Cadshaw, in the southern 

 angle of the township, is Smith's Height (1,050 ft.) ; 

 on the south-east are Cranberry Moss (960 ft.) and 

 Grimehills Moor (900 ft.) ; and on Hoddlesden 

 Moss are Soot Hill (1,050 ft.) and Greystone Hill 

 (1,087 ft.). Where the old road to Manchester 

 passes over Blacksnape an elevation of 1,060 ft. is 

 attained. On the road are traces of the Roman road 

 which led from Blackburn to Manchester. ' The 

 Coal Measures underlie the whole township, except on 

 the west, where the Millstone Grit crops out on the 

 hillsides beneath the superincumbent Coal Measures. 

 The soil varies greatly from sand to clay. The land 

 consists almost entirely of meadow and pasture ; there 

 is a fair amount of woodland in Earnsdale and in 

 ravines on the south side of the town.^ On the 

 northern side of Darwen Moor, above Sunnyhurst 

 Hey, during the construction of the town's reservoir, 

 there were seen beneath 2 ft. of surface-peat the 

 remains of many hundreds of prostrate trees, chiefly 

 oaks and birches.' The township extends to an area 

 of 5,136 acres, the municipal borough to 5,959 acres 

 by the incorporation of that part of Lower Darwen 

 not included in the municipal borough of Blackburn 

 and part of Eccleshill.* The population of the 

 borough in 1901 numbered 39,145 persons.' 



'1 Many interesting particulirs of the 

 EUingthorp family and estate will be 

 found in Abram, Blackburn Characters, 

 59-71- 



'^ Duchy Rec. (Rec. See. Lanes, and 

 Ches. viii), 260. John Smith of Shorrock 

 Hey was frequently a juror on inquests 

 temp. James I, and in i6z6 was assessed 

 to the subsidy together with William 

 Seller, John Livesey and James Astley 

 on land ; Subs. R. Lanes, bdle. 131, no, 



3'7- 



'"Dods. MSS. Ixir, fol. 160 ; cxlii, 

 fol. 23 ; Kuerden MS. (Chet. Lib.), fol. 

 397, no. 148. 



" Dods. MSS. cxlii, foL 39^-40, 144A. 

 One third of Thomas Seed's estates 

 in Pleasington, Livesey and Bolton- 

 le-Moors was awarded to George Clayton 

 in 1478 ; another third part, which had 

 descended to Thomas Sharpies, was 



awarded to his son Gerard Sharpies (Add. 

 MS. 32109, 88), who afterwards assigned 

 his third part to George Clayton ; Kuer- 

 den fol. MS. (Chet. Coll.), 388. It passed 

 to the Southworths and from them to the 

 Liveseys. 



^■* Lanes, Inq.p.m, (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 279. 



»» Cal. Pat. 1388-92, p. 459. 



36 Dods. MSS. Ixx, fol. i6o4. 



^ Will at Chester, proved 1668. 



38 MS. Surv.^ra«s W. Farrer. Wapen- 

 take rents were paid by Thomas Livesey 

 4^., William Marsden 4</., James Ains- 

 worth zd., Thomas Ainsworth zd., Richard 

 Ainsworth id., Thomas Lonsdale for his 

 ancient lands zs. zd., Thomas Robinson 

 and the heirs of John Lonsdale 6d., John 

 Robert for his ancient lands 191/., Richard 

 Webster ijd, and Richard Shuttleworth, 

 esq., zd. 



" Subs. R. Lanes, bdle. 250, no. 9. 



*° The mansion and chapel were known 

 as ' the Priory,' a fancy name, and in 

 their day were considered a great orna- 

 ment to the district, as may be seen by 

 Dr. Whitaker's remarks ; IVhallty, ii, 

 353-6. 



' For ancient remains at Over Darwen 

 see Trans, Hist. Soc. xviii, 273, 



' The agricultural returns for 1905 

 give arable land ij acres, permanent 

 grass 2,805 aeres, woods and plantations 

 1 14 acres. 



' Abram, Hist, of Blackburn, 489. 



■■ Over Darwen, 5,136 acres ; part of 

 Lower Darwen, 655 acres ; part of Eceles- 

 hill, 168 acres ; total, 5,959 acres, of 

 which 72 acres are inland water ; Ord- 

 nance Surv. 1849 and 1901-2; Census 

 Rep. 1 90 1. 



' Ibid. 



269 



