A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



valley the loner part of the hills consists of the Mill- 

 stone Grit with the Coal Measures above. The soil 

 varies from sand to clay. The land is parcelled out 

 in numerous farms entirely under grass.' The prin- 

 cipal industry is the manufacture of cotton cloth ; 

 there are also two paper-mills and colour works. The 

 high road from Blackburn to Over Darwen and Bolton 

 runs on the western side of the valley, on higher 

 ground on the eastern side is the main road from 

 Blackburn to Holcombe and Bury, along which are 

 traces of the Roman road which led from Blackburn 

 to Manchester. On the same side is the Bolton, 

 Blackburn and Hellifield branch of the Lancashire 

 and Yorkshire Company's railway, with a station at 

 Lower Darwen. 



Within the township is the hamlet of Guide at the 

 cross roads leading between Nether Darwen and 

 Accrington and between Blackburn and Haslingden. 

 Upon an acclivity near the village are the Guide and 

 Fishmoor reservoirs of the Blackburn Corporation. 



Close to Blackburn and separated from it by the 

 River Darwen is the village of Ewood, where are 

 several cotton factories. 



The first cotton mill in the village of Lower Darwen 

 was built about the year I 774 by Mr. Thomas Eccles, 

 yeoman and manufacturer.- 



By an Inclosure Act obtained in 1 7 79 the common 

 called Lower Darwen Moor, containing 600 acres, was 

 allotted and inclosed.' 



The boundary between Nether Darwen and Black- 

 bum was thus described by Henry de Blackburn, 

 living in the time of John : 'Beginning at Knouse- 

 dene (Knuzden), thence to Byrchinlache, to Rudde- 

 lache and so straight to Grimesputtes, thence to the 

 old cross, to the Asheneclogh and so down to the water 

 of Derewent.' '' 



Edward Harwood, D.D., a noteworthy Noncon- 

 formist divine and Biblical critic, w.is born at Lower 

 Darwen in 1728. He taught school, preached and 

 wrote, spending the last twenty years of his life in 

 London, where he died 14 January 1794.'' 



This was another of the manors granted 

 MJXOR with Walton-le-Dale about the year 1 165 

 by Henry de Lacy to Robert Banastre, 

 baron of Makerfield, to hold by the service of one 

 knight. Like Mellor and Eccleshill it was in the 

 possession of the Marsey family until early in the reign 

 of Henr}- III either by subinfeudation from Banastre 

 or by infcudation prior to that to Banastre. As re- 

 lated in the account of Mellor the manor passed from 

 the Marseys by sale to the lords ' between Ribble and 

 Mersey,' of whom it was subsequently held by the yearly 

 rent of 14J. payable to the bailiff of Salford Hundred. 



Under the Banastres the family of Blackburn of 

 Wiswell were lords of this manor before the period of 

 the first local evidences." So much as it known of the 

 early history of this line will be found in the account 

 of Wiswell. After the death of John de Blackburn, kt., 

 his widow Margaret daughter of the elder Robert de 

 Holand married secondly Robert de Hcj uall, who 

 died in i 1O4, and thirdly Adam Banastre, kt., who 

 was returned in the inquest after the Earl of Lincoln's 

 death in i 3 1 1 as tenant of two plough-lands in Nether 

 Darwen by the service of a quarter of a knight's fee 

 and 2/. lOi/. for castle-guard rent.' After his execu- 

 tion at Martinmas I 3 1 5 for rebellion against Earl 

 Thomas of Lancaster his widow probably remained 

 in possession for her life, and at her death was suc- 

 ceeded by her three daughters, co-heirs of Sir John 

 de Blackburn, her first husband. Agnes the second 

 daughter in her \vidowhood passed her third part of 

 the manor by fine in 1339 to Thomas de Arderne, 

 chivaler,* son of Robert de Arderne, who had 

 married Joan the youngest of the three co-heirs." 

 One-third of the manor descended for a few years in 

 the heirs of Alice the eldest of the three co-heirs, who 

 had married Robert de Shireburne of Aighton, kt., 

 and was living a widow in 1342. In 1349 Agnes 

 relict of Robert de HornclifF, but described as Agnes 

 de Lea, her first husband's name, answered for the 

 rent of the manor to the sheriff.'" 



Robert de Arderne appears to have been connected 

 with the Ardernes of Rothley, co. Leic, and not 

 with the Cheshire family. He was father of Thomas 

 de Arderne, kt., who was indicted in 1338, on com- 

 plaint of Queen Isabella, of hunting with many of his 

 neighbours in Bowland Chase." He was probabl) the 

 Thomas de Arderne, kt., of Roxton and Barford « ho 

 received pardon in 1350, in consideration of good 

 ser\'ice long rendered, for complicity with several 

 noted Lancashire knights in abducting the lady of a 

 Berkshire squire from her manor-house where the 

 king's son Lionel was then staying.'^ Sir Thomas 

 died before 1362, and six years later his daughter 

 Joan de Arderne released to her uncle John de Arderne 

 her right in estates in Roxton, co. Beds , and Nether 

 Darwen.'' The succession during the next thirty 

 years is not clear, but in 1391 John Arderne put his 

 estates in this county and in Bedfordshire in trust," 

 and died 31 May 1392 seised of eight messuages and 

 8 oxgangs of land and other tenements in this place 

 and in Chorley and Bolton-le-Moors, leaving as his 

 heirs four young daughters of ages ranging from ten to 

 seven years, two of whom had been married in his 

 lifetime.'* These were Joan wife in 1392 of William 

 son of Adam de Lever, from whom she was divorced 



' The agricultural returns of 1905 give 

 1,908 acres of perminent grass and i acre 

 of wood or plantation. 



^ Abram, Hist, of Blackburn, 466. 



^ Inclosure award at the county offices, 

 Preston. 



*Add. MS. 103-4, fol. 150. The 

 cross probably stood by the Roman road 

 which was crossed by the boundary. 



* Diet, Aj/. B:^^.] Abram, op. cit. 478. 



6 irhalUy Cju.'h. (Chet. Soc), i, 102 ; 

 iv, 1071. 



^ Land. !n<j. and Extents (Rec Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 11; Feudal -iiJi 

 (Rolls Ser.), iii, 85. See the account of 

 Aighton. 



'^ F1n.1l Cone. (Rec Soc Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, HI. She had already in 1335 



settled her own third part of the manor, 

 after her life and the life of Alesia widow 

 of Adam de Blackburn, upon John son of 

 Thomas de Arderne ; ibid. 95. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Assize R. ii, m. v d. 

 For Robert Thomas is read in another 

 place. 



'" Duchy of Lane Var. Accts. bdle. 32, 

 no. 17, fol. 6. 



" PF/ialley Couch, iv, 1085 ; Col. Pat. 

 1338-40, p. 75. 



'2 Ibid. 1345-8, p. 310, &c.; Cal. Clou, 

 1348-50, p. 467 J Inq. p.m. 21 Edw. Ill 

 (2nd nos.), no. 60. Thomas de Arderne 

 was one of the collectors of the subsidy 

 levied in 1 347 on all knights' fees ; Cal. 

 Clou, 1346-9, p. 356. 



" Inq. a.q.i. file 348, no. 15 (36 



Edw. Ill) ; Dods. MSS. xixijc, fol. \i,ok 

 Sir Thomas was living 10 Aug. 1360} 

 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. i, 347. 



"On 25 Nov. 1391 he enfeoffed 

 William de Wetherby vicar of Blackburn 

 and Roger de Longlegh of hit lands in 

 Roxton, Chawston, Coldsden and Bar- 

 ford, CO. Beds. ; Agccroft D. no. 366. 

 According to the pleadings in a suit in 

 1469 John Arderne was son of Thomat 

 Arderne, kt., and entered into possessioD 

 of Agnes de Lea's third part of the manor 

 after her death ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 5'', 

 m. 12 d. Alice relict of Sir Thomas ji 

 said to have survived until Lent, 1424 ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), ii, 9. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 16 Ric. II, no. 35 ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 60 j ii, 8. 



276 



