BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



BLACKBUR>1 



possessed of Studlehurst before 154.2, when he was 

 present as a foreign burgess at the Preston gild/' 

 and again twenty years later with his sons John and 

 Henry.** The latter succeeded his father, and as 

 Henry Lussell, gent., was returned among the free- 

 holders in the county in 1600.*' He was at the 

 gilds of 1582 and 1602 with his son Thomas.^* 

 Thomas his son died in 1616 seised of this estate, 

 which he held of Edward Osbaldeston in socage 

 for a pair of gloves and is. yearly, Edward his son 

 being aged four years. ^^ Edward Lussell died in 

 1637, his sister Grace |being his heir.^^ In 1650 

 and 1662 John Ingham paid iJ. of free rent for a 

 messuage and 30 acres (customary) called Studlehurst.*^ 

 By what means the estate passed to the family of 

 Livesey has not been ascertained, but in 1 806 Robert 

 Bell Livesey demised it to Robert Hubbersty, 

 yeoman, for a term of 1,000 years, and the latter 

 afterwards assigned it to Richard Hubbersty. After 

 the death of Richard Hubbersty in 1873 the estate 

 was conveyed the following year by his trustees to 

 Messrs. John, Edward and Joseph Dugdale of Black- 

 burn.so 



Another estate at Studlehurst was in the possession 

 of Robert Aspden of Arley, in Mellor, in 1543, and 

 was contracted to be sold in 1579 by his son James 

 and grandson Robert to Richard Brooke, citizen and 

 fustian maker of London.^^ But the sale was not 

 completed, and in 1590 the Aspdens passed the estate 

 and lands in Mellor to John Osbaldeston, esq.'' 



OXENDJLE. - This freehold estate was held by a 

 junior branch of the local family. In 1508 William 

 Osbaldeston and in 1524 his son Robert held the 

 estate. '^ Lawrence Osbaldeston rebuilt the hall in 

 1656.'* His son Lawrence, who was made a 

 governor of Blackburn Grammar School in 1687, 

 alienated the estate in 17 14 to William Fox of 

 Goosnargh, yeoman. After the death in 1802 of 

 William Fox, grandson of the last-named, the estate 

 passed to his daughter and was probably mortgaged 

 by her heir. In 1 846 the mortgagees of the estate 

 conveyed it to John Addison of Preston, whose 

 daughter Anne Agnes married Lt.-Gen. J. F. 

 Crofton of London and in 1874 joined with her 

 husband in conveying the estate to Messrs. John, 

 Edward and Joseph Dugdale." 



Oxendale Hall stands on the high ground to the 

 south of the river at a short distance from Osbaldeston 

 Hall, but well sheltered on the north side by woods. 

 It is a picturesque three-story stone-built house with 

 low muUioned windows and stone slated roofs. The 

 front, which faces south, is about 60 ft. in length 

 and has a wide projecting gable at its west end with 

 three smaller gables in the remaining length, the 

 middle one over a projecting porch which goes the full 

 height of the building. The front has been \trY 

 much restored, and all the windows are new with the 

 exception of those in the top floor in the gables and 



that over the porch. At the back, however, the 

 original 17th-century windows remain. The walling 

 is of rough stone with large quoins at the angles, and 

 over the door, which has a four-centred arch, are the 

 initials of Lawrence and Rosamund Osbaldeston and 

 the date 1658. A lead spout head on the side of the 

 porch is dated 1763 and has the initials W. F. 

 (William Fox). 



Alexander Osbaldeston's house in 1666 had fifteen 

 hearths, another had five hearths and another three ; 

 there were forty-two hearths taxed.'^ 



In 1787 Mr. Richard HIgham, probably the tenant 

 of the hall, paid land tax for more than one-third 

 of the township. Mr. William Fox was the next 

 largest contributor. 



A Roman Catholic mission was established here 

 about 1834 and in 1837 the chapel of St. Mary was 

 opened. 



BILLINGTON 



Billindon, 1203; Billinton, 1208; Bilingdon, 

 I 241 ; Belyngton, Bilyngton, xiv-xvi cent. 



This township, the northernmost in the parish of 

 Blackburn, lies to the west of Whalley, the winding 

 course of the River Ribble and of its eastern tributary 

 the Calder encompassing the northern half of the 

 township. The western boundary is formed by 

 Dinckley Brook and the eastern by a long ridge called 

 Billington Moor, which terminates towards Whalley 

 and the River Calder in the escarpment of Whalley 

 Nab, a prominent feature in the landscape of Ribbles- 

 dale as seen from the north. Here the land, rising 

 from an elevation of a little over 100 ft. above the 

 ordnance datum at the confluence of the Ribble and 

 Calder, attains an elevation of 606 ft. 



The Roman road from Ribchester to Ilkley, and 

 probably to Over Burrow and Whitley Castle, passes 

 through the township in a north-easterly direction. 

 The high roads from Preston and Blackburn unite near 

 the church, and continuing towards Whalley the road 

 passes over the Calder by a bridge below Whalley 

 Nab. The old turnpike road leading between Black- 

 burn and Whalley passes over Billington Moor and 

 unites with the main road at Whalley Bridge. The 

 Bolton, Blackburn and Hellifield line of the Lan- 

 cashire and Yorkshire Railway Company traverses the 

 township with a station at Langho. There are 

 several ancient estates or mesne manors : Hacking 

 Hall, near the confluence of the Ribble and Calder ; 

 Brockhall, a little further west ; Braddyll, the ancient 

 seat of the family of that name, near the last and 

 close to Dinckley Brook ; Chew, an estate once 

 belonging to the monastery of Whalley with a castle- 

 stead lying within a bend of the River Calder ; Cun- 

 liffe, the messuage from which sprang the family of 

 that name ; and Snodworth, in the southern extremity 

 of the township near the hamlet of Billington. The 



83 Guild R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 19. In 1543 he was assessed 

 to the subsidy upon £1 o{ land in this 

 township ; Lay Subs. Lanes, bdle. 130, 

 no. 125. 



8* Guild R. 27. Thomas Lussell was 

 required to furnish one long bow, one 

 sheaf of arrows, one scull and one bill at 

 the muster in 1574; Lanes. Liiulcnancy 

 (Chet. Soc), 1. 



** Misc. (Rec. Soc, Lanes, and Ches.), 



i, 235- 



96 Guild R.^z, 58. 



8^ Lanes, Inq. p.m. (Ree. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 64. 



8' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, 78. 



8' Abram, op. cit. 770 ; Surv. of 1662, 

 MS. penes W. Farrer. 



'" Abram, op. cit. 609. 



" Add. MS. 32106, no. 1056-7, 1096; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 33, m. 68. 



2>^S 



33 Ibid. 52, m. loi. Robert Aspden 

 had married Margaret Osbaldeston, aunt 

 of John Osbaldeston, about 1589 ; Add, 

 MS. 32106, no. 1056. 



^^ Abram, op. cit. 609 ; Lay Subs. 

 Lanes, bdle. 130, no. 32. 



^^ In 1650 Peter Osbaldeston and In 

 1662 Lawrence Osbaldeston paid a free 

 rent of jc/. for * Oxendcn.' 



''^ Abram, op. cit. 6ii. 



^^ Lay Subs. Lanes, bdle, 250, no. q. 



