A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



in a building converted out of cottages. It was 

 replaced by a new building in 1SS2.'" 



The ecclesiastical parish of All Saints, Higher 

 Walton, was formed in 1865 out of the parish of 

 St. Leonard, \\'alton-le-Dale.'" The church, stand- 

 ing on an eminence overlooking the village, upon a 

 site given by Mr. Miles Rodgett, was erected in 

 1 861-2 from the designs of Mr. E. G. Paley ; a 

 tower, containing seven belh, and spire were added 

 in 1 871.'" In the church are several stained-glass 

 windows erected to the memory of members of the 

 Rodgett family. The registers date from the year 

 1862. The living is a vicarage in the gift of the 

 Bishop of Manchester and vicar of Blackburn alter- 

 nately. 



There is at Higher Walton a Wesleyan chapel, 

 built in 1869-70 to replace the preaching room 

 opened as early as 181 3.'" 



The ecclesiastical parish of St. Saviour, Bamber 

 Bridge, was formed in l 842 as a district chapelry out 

 of the ancient parish of Blackburn,"^ and was further 

 enlarged in 1869 by the transfer of Cuerden town- 

 ship from the parish of Leyland for all ecclesiastical 

 purposes.'" The church was erected in 1S36 upon 

 land given by the late Robert Townley Parker, and 

 was enlarged in 1882. The registers d.itc from 

 1837. The living is a viciragc in the gift of the 

 vicar of Blackburn. St. Saviour's Institute, erected 

 in 1903, contains reading and recreation roums. 

 The ecclesiastical parish of St. Aidan \va^ formed in 

 1897 from the parishes of St. Leonard, Walton-le- 

 Dale, and St. Saviour, Bamber Bridge. The church 

 1V.1S erected in 1895 ; the living is a vic.ir.ige in the 

 gift of the Bishop of Manchester. The mission 

 church of St. James, Lostock Hall, was built in 1891 

 as a chapel of ease to St. Saviour's. 



A Methodist Society has existed at Bamber Bridge 

 since 1763. Soon after that date services were held 

 in the house of Mr. William Livcsey, and about l~^\ 

 in the old hall at Little Walti>n, as this village was 

 then called. In 1821 the Wesleyan chapel was 

 built, in which services were held until the erection 

 of the present Wesleyan Methodist chapel in 1S-7.'" 

 There is also a Wesleyan .Methodist chapel at Lostock 

 Hall, built in i S75. 



The English BeneJiuines are known to have had 

 missions in Walton and the adj.Kent Cuerden from 

 the end of the i 7th century."" These were partlv 

 broken up by a government seizure in 1718, but a 

 priest is found at Little .^^)^in.1 in Walton in 1724.. 

 The seat of the mission became finally -ettled at 

 Brownedge, Bamher Bridge, about 1770," and a 

 chapel seems to have been built in 1780, succeeded 

 by the present St. Mary's in I^26."* A school- 

 chapel of Our Lady and St. Patrick was opened at 

 Walton in I S 5 5- -, and the present church was built 

 in iSSr. There is a cemeterj-.'" The chapel of 

 St. Paulinus, Lostock Hall, was opened in I 892, and 

 became an independent mission in 1902. The 



Benedictines still serve Brownedge and these off- 

 shoots. There is a convent of Sisters of Charity o( 

 St. Paul. 



Before 1672 the children of Walton 

 SCHOOL were taught in the chapel of Low, but 

 in that year Sir Richard Hoghton gave 

 land on which a school was erected, free only to the 

 inhabitants of the town. Peter Burscough had given 

 j^ioo in 1624, the interest to be applied to the 

 master's salary. During a vacancy of the mastenhip 

 in the time of the Civil War this sum was augmented 

 to jfi30. Other benefactors were Mr. Andrew 

 Dandy, citizen of London, j^ioo ; Thomas Heskcth 

 of Walton, £zo. The school in School Lane, near 

 Bamber Bridge, stands on a site taken in exchange for 

 the old premises in 1870, and is conducted as a 

 public elementary school.'" 



Peter Burscough of Walton, yeo- 

 CHARITIES man, gave by will in 1624 ^^lo per 

 annum, which is now paid out of the 

 tithes of the township of Cuerden by the impro- 

 priators, for the relief of the poor of Walton. This 

 charity, with which is now included another oi £,2, 

 founded by Thomas Crook of Abram in 1688, is 

 distributed to the aged poor on Good Friday, and is 

 therefore called the Good Friday Dole. The number 

 relieved averages seventy-two, and each receives 3/. 

 The Shuttlingfields estate was devised by William 

 Gr.iJc!l in 1735, apparently for the use of the poor 

 of Walton and Brindle, subject to certain life interests. 

 The estate was sold in I 868, and out of the proceeds 

 /"l,300 consols were purchased as the share of 

 Walton, of which the interest is applied yearly for the 

 relief of certain pensioners chosen \>y the trustees, and 

 at present numbering about twenty-six persons. The 

 Red Lion trust was founded in 1874 to ensure to 

 children in the parish thorough instruction in the 

 C.itechism, liturgy and principles of the Church of 

 England.'" 



CUERDALE 



Kiuerdale, xii-xiv cent. ; Keuerdale, xiv-xvi cent.; 

 Cucrdall, xvi-xviii cent. 



The township lies between the Rivers Ribble and 

 Darwen to the north of Walton-le-Dale on a slight 

 ridgeof ground, varying from 150 ft. to 170 ft. above 

 the ordnance datum, which slopes down to the banks 

 of the two rivers. A detached portion of the town- 

 ship called Cuerdale Hey lies between the townships 

 of Samlesbury and Hoghton, south of Beasting Brook. 

 The subsoil is the pebble beds of the Bunter series, 

 except over a very small area on the south-east, where 

 it consists of the Permian rocks. Towards the River 

 Ribble a large area is covered by alluvial deposits. 

 The township covers an area of 684 acres, and the 

 population in 1 90 1 numbered 51 persons, occupying 

 nine houses.' The land consists of fertile meadows and 

 p.istures with woodland upon the steep bank above 

 the alluvial ground.' The main road from Blackburn 



'*' Abram, op. ciL 74.;. 



'" U-J. Gj^ 7 Feb. 1565. 



'*^ See A. Hcwitson, op. cit. 132-6. 



'" Abram, loc cit. 



'" Lend. Ga^ 20 Sept. 1 S+2, 



'« Ibid. loAuj. 1S69. SeeA. Hewit- 

 son, op. c t, 144. 



"' -Abram, ;p. c.L -42. 



'"This account is based on Mr. Ci- 

 low'i ^titeme:-t in Tram, Hiit. .i^-. (new 

 scr. , 1 11, 160-1. 



'** There were manj convicted recu- 

 sants in the time of Charles II ; Mhc. 

 (Cath. Rec Soc), V, 1,-5-5. The 

 number of known 'Patiiti' increased 

 from +99 in 1717 to 823 in 1767 ; 

 Trar.i. Hiir. Sw. ^new !cr.^,, xviii, 2l6. 

 Bishop M. Gibson confirmed 165 in 

 1784 ; ibid, xi'.:, 160. 



'^A. Hewitson, op. cit. 137-44, gives 

 a description of it about 1870. 



'^' Ibid. 128. 



300 



'" Nearly the whole of the endowment 

 has been lost under circumstances detailed 

 in the Ref. 0/ Endrwid Channel, 1 904, 

 P- 33- 



'" Ibid. 32-6. 



' The Cimut Rrp. of 1901 fives 689 

 acres, of which 19 are inland water. 



" The agricultural returns of 1905 were 

 arable land \\ acres, permanent grau 

 603 jcres, woods and plantations 52 

 acres. 



