A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Thomns Fish for part of the same 



John Vate for the lands late of Gyles Yate 



Walton, clerke, for part of the lands 



late of James Yates .... 

 John Ormeroid for part of the same 

 Marianna Fleetwood for part of the same . 

 James Covvper for part of the same . 

 William Houlden for part of the same 

 William Rothwell for the lands late of 



James Knowles ..... 

 James Walmesley for the lands late of 



Elizabeth Sharpe .... 

 William Yates ..... 

 John Holden for part of the lands late of 



Robert Brindle ..... 

 Andrew Houlden, gent., for part of the 



same ...... 



Robert Yates 



17 8 

 3 10 



2 8 



Total 



. o 8 



. 17 8 



/9 '9 iif 



BOROUGH 



&<^ 



The town of Over Darwen, now 

 usually called DJRIf'EN, adopted the 

 Local Government Act of 185^ the 

 same year, and was incorporated in 1878. The 

 borough is divided into six 

 wards and governed by a 

 mayor, six aldermen and 

 eighteen councillors. The 

 wards are named Central, 

 West Central, North - west. 

 North-east, South-east, and 

 South-west. A commission of 

 the peace was granted in 

 1881. The boundaries of the 

 borough were extended so as 

 to include portions of Lower 

 Darwen and Eccleshill in 

 1879 and 1884.66 Water- 

 works were established in 

 1847 by a private company, 



being afterwards purchased by the town. There are 

 three reservoirs, at Sunnyhurst Hey, and in Earns- 

 dale. Gas-works were established in 1839 by a 

 private company, and were afterwards purchased by 

 the corporation. Sewage disposal works were com- 

 pleted in 1897 and an electrical generation plant in 

 1900. The public cemetery on the south side of 

 the town, with three mortuary chapels, was opened 

 in 1 86 1 and enlarged in 1893. The market hall 

 completed in 1882 contains a council chamber, 

 municipal offices and at the west end a fish market. 



Borough of Darwen-. 

 Or afesie luavy cotiicd 

 •wavy azure befween 

 three branches of the 

 cotton plant proper. 



The free public librar)' and technical school in Knott 

 Lane was originally established in I 87 1 in succession 

 to a mechanics' institution, founded in 1839." Newr 

 buildings were opened in i 894, and contain reading 

 rooms, a school of art and offices for educational 

 purposes. In 1908 a free library building was given 

 to the town by Mr. Carnegie. There are public 

 baths in Peel Street erected in 1854 and enlarged in 

 18S3. Whitehall Park lies on the south side of the 

 town ; Bold Venture Park to the south-west below 

 Darwen Hill. 



The market is held on Monday and Saturday, the 

 annual fair on the third Monday in July. 



The first notice of the existence of 

 CHURCH ST. JJMES'S, Darwen, occun in 

 1577.6* It had no endowment, and 

 was irregularly served,*' till about 1648 the Parlia- 

 mentary Committee ordered ^^40 a year to be paid 

 to Joshua Barnett, minister at Darwen. In 1650 he 

 was called ' an able and godly divine.' ™ In the same 

 year j^SO a year was allowed him from the profits of 

 Kirkham rectory sequestered from Thomas Clifton, 

 ' delinquent.' " Such grants would cease altogether 

 at the Restoration, and in 1683 there was only a 

 monthly service in the chapel.'^ Many of the people 

 were Nonconformists, and in 1687, a licence for 'a 

 meeting-place erected in Darwen ' having been ob- 

 tained, they seized the existing chapel ; but on the 

 vicar complaining they had to relinquish it and the 

 licence was forfeited." The vicar then appointed a 

 curate for Darwen and Tockholes jointly, the chapels 

 being served on alternate Sundays, and this arrange- 

 ment lasted till further endowments were procured ; 

 from 1720 there seems to have been a resident curate. 

 The certified income in 1717 was £() 161. 8a'.'* 

 Augmentations have been secured, and the net value 

 of the benefice is now stated to be ^^468." The 

 vicar of Blackburn presents the incumbents, who are 

 styled vicars. A district chapelry was formed for it in 

 1842." The church was restored in 1852. The 

 following have been incumbents : — 



oc. 1672 Clayton 



1695 William Stones " 



1 ^ zz 

 1772 

 1789 



1790 

 1816 



1851 

 1868 

 1902 



John Folds, B.A.'S (Brasenose Coll., Oxf.) 

 Henry White, M.A7» (Oriel Coll., Oxf) 

 Jeremiah Gilpin, M.A.*" (St. John's Coll., 



Camb.) 

 Thomas Exton ^^ 

 Matthew Yatman Starkie, LL.B.^'' (St. John's 



Coll., Camb.) 

 Charles Greenway, M.A. (Dur.) 

 William Hodgson Blamire 

 James Blackburn Brown, M.A. (Dur.) 



" 42 & 43 Vict. cap. 202 ; 47 & 48 

 Vict. cap. 210, altering the previous Act. 



^ Abram, op. cit. 495. 



^ Tiiia account is derived mainlj from 

 Abram, op. cit. 511-17. 



*' .■\t the Bishop of Chester's visita- 

 tion in 161 1 James Metcalfe, curate at 

 Darwen, was presented for not wearing 

 the surplice or living conformably. He 

 appeared and said there was no surplice 

 there ; if one were provided he would 

 either wear it or leave his place. He 

 was still there, as little ' conformable,' in 

 1 6 14; Visit. Rec. at Chester. He was 

 'maintained by the inhabitants' ; Hist. 

 AISS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 10. He 

 was buried at Blackburn 25 Sept. 1621. 

 James Walton is mentioned at Darwen in 



1637 ; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), ixii, 

 70. 



'** Commoniv, Ck. Surv. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 161 ; he is called 

 Josiah Barnard. 



" Plund. Mint. Accti. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 93, 237. Joshua Barnett 

 was at Tockholes in 1652 (ibid, ii, 27), 

 and in 1657 Jeremy Marsden was de- 

 scribed as 'minister of the Gospel in 

 Whalley and Darwen* ; ibid, ii, 185. 



It was proposed to make Darwen a 

 parish in 1658 ; ibid, ii, 241. 



^* Abram, loc. cit. 



"8 The vicar's letter to the Bishop of 

 Chester and the king's reply are printed 

 by Abram. 



'•* Gastrell, tlotit'ia Ceitr. (Chet. Soc), 



274 



ii, 283 ; all divine offices were performed 

 every other Sunday. There was no chapel- 

 warden. 



" Manek, Dioc. Dir. 



'^ Lond. Gaz. 20 Sept 1842, 



" The church papers at Chester dio- 

 cesan registry begin with him. He served 

 both Darwen and Tockholes, as stated in 

 the text. 



^^ He had been licensed to Balderiton 

 just before. 



'^ Rector of Fyfield ; did not reside at 

 Darwen. 



** Sec Bolton-le-Moors and Broughton- 

 in-Fumess. 



" Alao at Balderston. 



^ Non-resident ; was rector of Rush- 

 bury 1 818. 



