A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



timber construction rermini, however, the moulded 

 oak «j11 posti and roof principals being still in 

 position ai well as the wood ceilings of se^■eral ot the 

 lower rooms. A corridor runs the greater length on 

 the north side on both floor;, from which the various 

 rooms open. The chapel which was at the east end 

 of the wing probably occupied the sp-ice (32 ft. 6 in. 

 by 20 ft.) of the present librar\ and the room 

 adjoining it on the west, and may have been the full 

 height of the building, with a family pew over the 

 west end approached from the upper floor as at 

 Smithills, but this must remain a matter of con- 

 jecture. Before the 18^5 alterjtions, liowever, a 

 v.'ooJ screen, apparently of 16th-century date, with 

 can'ed posts and traceried upcni-.u'j, stood here,"' but 

 no traces of it now remain. The south window of 

 the chapel, now in the library, which is of four 

 cinquefoiled lights with elaborate tracery under a 

 5-juare head, is said locally to have come from 

 W'halley Abbey. The only other indication of this 

 end of the housc having been uicd .is a chapel is a 

 rourd-headed piscina in the end of the south wall of 

 the present library, and pu~ liilv in the xured 

 monogram car\'cd in the spandrels below the ba\ 

 !■. indow on the upper flocr facing the couruard. 

 The 1 i>cina is very plain and has no drain, and very 

 possibly belongs to an earlier structure. 



The it.iircase and fittings generally of the entrance 

 hall are modern, and the dining-room, which is 

 2^ ft. by 1 5 ft. 6 ill., retains vcr) little of its former 

 .ippc-.irar.cc. The ceiling, however, ij the original 

 one of oak divided into compartments Iv moulded 

 beams. The old arched stone fireplace w.is elaborately 

 re ; ircd in the 'sixties and has mm all the appearance 

 of modem Guthic n.h in colour and gilding. Over 

 the opening are the arms of Southworth quartering 

 Samles! jry, H oghton quartering Assheton, and 

 Langton, e.ich with crest and initials above, together 

 with the inscription, 'Thomas Sothworth Kt. 

 A-. D". .M^'CCCCCXLV.' 



.At the east end of the corridor over the door to 

 the library is a carved oak panel with head of 

 Henry \'II1, and at the west end a similar one «ith 

 the head of a queen, appirentl)- Anne Holc^n. In 

 the upper rooms the original c.iricd roof remains 

 Aith moulded side posts and purlins, and shaped 

 pieces enriched uith cir\ing in traceried and vine 

 patterns. The upper floor seems to have contained 

 ti\o l.irge room;, apparently the principal apartments 

 of the house, being much more lofty than those on 

 the ground floor ; but the original disposition of the 

 upper plan can now be only conjectured. 



In the time of Edward IV Lord Lovel and 

 Richard Southworth g.ive puture to the sheriff at 

 Samlesbur^- ; in I'i62 John Southworth paid yearly 

 to the bai'.iif of the wapentake 10/. SJ. for the 

 Upper Ha'u and deir.esne, whilst Richard Walmsley 

 paid 6J. for his lands called Seedhouse.'- 



ROJCHER //^iZ,.— Richard Houghton, kt., had 



a small estate here at bi^ death in 1631." Roacher 

 Hall stood oa the ri^ht bank of tTie I'arwen, near 

 Roacher Bridge, and was a two-storj' stone house with 

 muliioned and rransomed windows and central round- 

 headed doorway, above which was a stone with the 

 arms and initials of Henry Hoghton. Another stone 

 in an end wall bore the Hoghton arms, and was 

 inscribed : 'This building was erected Anno Domini 

 1675 by Henry Hoghton, esq., son to Sr. Gilbart 

 Hoghton, Knight and Baronet.' A barn in the rear 

 had the initials and date H. H. 1673, and another 

 stone in the barn had the same date and initials 

 along with those of Hoghton's wife Mary Stanley.'* 

 Part of the hall was taken down in 1881 and the 

 rest in 1882, when the present house of the same 

 name was built. "^ 



The SJMLESBURr LOWER HJLL stands close 

 to the left bank of the Ribble about three-quarters of 

 a mile north-east of the church. It is now in ruins,"'^ 

 and a modern farm-house has been built close to it on 

 the south side. The house was appareiuly of late 17th 

 or early 1 8th-century date, and w.is of two stories, 

 the front, which f.iccd south, being about 96 ft. in 

 Icnyth. The «alls were of red sandstone roughly 

 dressed, and the roof ran the length of the building 

 >\ith overhanging eaves and a gable at each end. 

 The long line of the south front was broken by a 

 slight projection 1 i ft. wide marking the entrance, 

 faced with ashlar v-jointed blocks, and going the full 

 height of the building with a gable in the roof. On 

 each side were four square-headed windows on each 

 floor, originally of two lights with mullion and 

 transom, but sashes had been introduced before the 

 house \\.is abandoned. The front walls stand now 

 only to the height of about I 2 ft. or 14 ft. just above 

 the sills of the lirst floor \\indo\vs, and the back walls 

 facing the river have almost completely disappeared. 

 The windows in the front wall arc mostly built up 

 ivith lirick, the whole being a picture of the most 

 complete ruin, open to the sky and overgrown with 

 weeds. A large apartment in the house was used as 

 a chapel h)- the Roman Catholics of Samlesbury for 

 a long period.'' Since its acquisition by Thomas 

 Walmsley in the time of James I the Lower Hall 

 citate has descended with the Petre half of the 

 manor. 



FLEETWOOD HALL, %Und\ng on the south side 

 of the River Darwen upon an estate of nearly 

 200 acres, was formerly the residence of a branch of 

 the Fleetwood family of Penworthara, who were for 

 several generations farmers of the rectorial glebe of 

 Blackburn, of which this estate formed part, as 

 representing the ancient glebe of Samlesbury Chapel. 

 In 1877 it was the property of Mr. Kay of Bury. 



SowerKutti Green '*• has been for more than two 

 centuries the property of the Culcheth family of this 

 place and of the Hubberstys as heirs-general of the 

 Culcheth^. In 1877 Mr. Robert Hubber>ty was 



' It wi« sketched hj the Rev. S. J 

 Allen, ,.. 1835, and is Ul-stratra in Ta\ ior, 



op. Cit. 



''MS, at Huntroyde; MS. fena W, 

 Farrcr. 



^ Duchv* of Lane In :. p.ni. xirii, I ;. 

 Jodn SciM-.hw rth of 'Rocher' settled 

 a mess^Jtr t'.erc worth 50J. a year on 

 his diu.h'.rr Margirct ani her husband 

 ThooiAi Baci.e, wh.ch wa? seijaestcred for 



Biscoe's ' delinquency.' In 16;; George 

 Blacoe, feoflfee of Margaret, begged for dis- 

 charge of the estate ; Cal. Com. for Camp. 

 iv, 323-. ■< Abram, Blacklmrn, 6-0. 



■'■' Ei inform. .Mr. W. Stjbbs, borough 

 engineer, Blackburn. 



" It was apparently intact erterna.ly in 

 1S7-. See Abram, Hist, of B.a;khurn, 

 G'l, where an illustration is given, and 

 Lroitun's Sj^i.ahur^-, ii.71. 



310 



" Abram, op. cit. 671. 



" In 1609-10 Thomas and John 

 Southworth demised a messuage lor lives 

 to Thomas So .■ < rbutts. The estate wa< 

 «ei) jejtered for the delinquenci of Thomas 

 Sower!) jtts, jun. In 1654. John South- 

 worth successfully claimed the reversion 

 from the committee for compounding j 

 CjI. Com.fr Comf. 3075. 



