A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



corner of the township. Built into the wall of the 

 new house is a stone with the initials " A • R and 

 the date 1596, the )'ear in which the original struc- 

 ture was built. 



In the composition re tithes made in 1333 between 

 the Abbots of Whalley and Sawley these fields are 

 named : Dobberydyng, Monke-flattes, Rammes-holm, 

 Le Pughull (Pightle), Le Faceby-Stubbvng, Le 

 Blakewel-holm. 



Lebley was described as a hamlet in 1668." 



SM^ii^r. —In Easter term, 1328, Richard de 

 Balderston sued William de Smallegh, Cecily his wife, 

 Alan and William his sons, Alice, Avina, Annabel and 

 Agnes his daughters for breaking into his close in 

 Balderston, felling wood, and carrj'ing away the 

 young of his sparrow-hawks nesting there.'' William 

 de Smalley was a contributor to the subsidy levied 

 here in 1332." The custody of William son and 

 heir of William Smalley was claimed by William de 

 Scargill, chr., in 1364, from Cecily the relict of 

 William Smalley of Balderston." Thomas Smalley 

 of Balderston was sued for a debt in 144.5." 



Roger Smalley was the only person who was assessed 

 upon lands here to the subsidy collected in 1524."^ 

 Mr. Abram gives a short account of the family." 

 Roger Smalley, gent., was a freeholder in 1600, and 

 died in 1633. He left a son Robert, who sold the 

 reversion of his estate here, in 1650," to Ralph 

 Livesey of Livesey, gent., whose name appears in the 

 wapentake survey made in 1662 as holding Smalley 

 tenement for (>d. yearly service." It descended ivith 

 the other estates of this family. 



John Osbaldeston and Roger Smalley were asseised 

 to the subsidy collected in 1626 upon lands, and 

 twenty-one persons paid %d. each as ' non-communi- 

 cants.' " 



Alexander and John Osbaldeston and John Brooke 

 were returned in 1666 as owning three hearths each 

 out of forty-one in the whole township.'^ 



In 1 787 the principal landowners were John Calvert 

 — owning nearly one-fourth of the township — Le 

 GendreStarkie, Richard Cross and Thomas Wincklcv.** 



Among the names of twenty-one husbandmen and 

 labourers who paid the poll tax in 1379 were 

 Thomas de Birlay, William de Balderston, Jordan del 

 Hakkyng and William de Smallay." 



The church of ^T. LEONARD is a 



CHURCH modern Gothic building standing close 



to the site of the 16th-century chapel. 



This chapel had become a 'complete ruin ' by 185 I, 



in which year (April) it is said not to have been in 



o!^ for upwards of fifteen months. It bad been 

 restored or added to in 1755 and 1818, and wai 

 probably substantially of those dates, as it was 

 described at the time of its demolition as ' a plain 

 edifice of brick.' The foundation-stone of the new 

 church, which consists of chancel, nave and vestrj', 

 was laid in July 1852.'* A tower and spire were 

 added in 1907. 



The chapel is of uncertain founda- 

 ADFOIf^SON tion. It was not regularly served 

 before 1646, having no endow- 

 ment. In that year £^^0 was provided by the 

 county committee for Mr. James Shaiv, who had 

 been approved by the committee of divines at 

 Bolton earlier in the ^ear." He left before 1650, 

 when the commissioners reported that the chapel ivas 

 4 miles distant from the parish church, and was then 

 without minister or endowment, although eighty 

 families should resort to it.*" In 1683 the chapel 

 was reported to be in ruins ; next year the vicar of 

 Blackburn, answering the inquiries of Archbishop 

 Sancroft, made a similar report, adding that the 

 inhabitants would build their chapel, which was not 

 reparable, and would give yearly for life, being only 

 tenants for life, thirty-three fifteens — that is, j^20 ; 

 Mr. Osbaldeston, the lord of the manor, refused to 

 do more than what his tenants promised. In 1689 

 the chapel was again reported to be 'very ruinous 

 and long time discontinued from exercise of any holy 

 ofiiLes . . . overgrowne with briers and thornes and 

 requires a rebuilding.' Bishop Gastrell reported in 

 1717 that the endoument was £ti from land in 

 Thornley, purchased by Archbishop Sancroft, and £i 

 from the rector, which was divided among the curates 

 of other chapels, who in turn served this chapel on 

 the first Sunday in each month ; the inhabitants of 

 Balderston, Osbaldeston and part of Mellor resorted to 

 it." In 1742, and again in 1755-6, benefactions 

 and grants from Queen Anne's Bounty formed the 

 nucleus of an endowment which was worth £125 in 

 1835. The net value is now stated to be j^300.'" 

 A district was assigned to it in 1842." Only an 

 incomplete list of incumbents, who are presented by 

 the vicar of Blackburn, can be given : 



1646 James Shaw 



1700 Geoffrey Rishton, B.A." (Brasenose Coll., 

 Oxf) 



1720 John Folds 



1732 Thomas Knowles, M.A. (Glaj.) 

 Thomas Winder 



1737 Thomas Hunter " 



will 1748) and makes bequests to her 

 nephew Alexander, son and heir of her 

 brother Alexander Osbaldeston of Sunder- 

 land ; ibid. 378. 



The Alexander who married Catherine 

 Westb)' had a younger son William 

 (whose wife was Hannah Baxter), and his 

 son Alexander Osbaldeston, bom in 1764 

 and living in 1830, was the representa- 

 tive of the family ; Foster, Lane:. Fed. 

 under Westby of Mowbreck. 



'* Referring to the Christian names of 

 Alexander Osbaldeston and his wife Rosa- 

 mund. 



'* Exch. Def. (Rec. Soc Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 46. 



'^ De Banco R. 273, m. 121. In 

 another plea Richard de Balderston sued 

 William de Smallegh for 7 acres of land 

 in Balderston in which William had no 



entry, except by Alan de Smallegh, to 

 whom Richard de Balderston, grandfather 

 of Richard, demised the land whilst of 

 unsound mind ; ibid. 278, m. 86 d. 



'' Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes. 

 and Ches.), 75. 



'^ Coram Rege R- 414, m. 59. 



^^ Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 7, m. 10 d. 



*^ Lay Subs. Lanes, bdlc. 130, no. 82. 

 Robert Smalley was the only contributor 

 on land in 1543, but seTenteen others 

 contributed on goods ; ibid. no. 125, m. 1. 



^1 Blackburn^ 421. 



8* Rec. Soc. Land, and Ches. Publ. xii, 

 236 ; Cat. Com. for Camp. 3197. 



«3 MS. penes W. Farrer ; Exch. Def. 

 (Rec Soc), 92. 



^ Lay Subs. Lanes, bdle. 131, aa 



317- 



^ Ibid. bdle. 250, no. 9, 



^^ Land tax return at Prettoiu 



^^ Lay Subs. Lanes, bdle. 130, no. 

 28. 



^ On Christmas Eve 1852 the new 

 church, then building, was partly thrown 

 down by a storm. 



^ Abram, Blackburn^ 422, quoting 

 minutes of the classls. 



^ Commorfw. Ch. Sur\ (Rec. Soc 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 161. In 1658 it was 

 proposed to make a separate parish here ; 

 Plund. Mint, Acch. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 240. 



*i Notitia Ceitr. (Chet. Soc), ii, 282. 



W Manch. Dioc. Dir. 



^ Lond. Gax. 20 Sept. 1842. 



** The church papers at Chester Dioc 

 Reg. begin at this point. 



** Afterwards vicar of Weaverham 

 >755-77- 



