A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



area is 3,1 38J acres,' and in 1901 the population 

 numbered 1,442 persons. 



The soil is stiff and clayey, the land being prin- 

 cipally devoted to dair; produce. There is a fair 

 amount of woodland on Billington Moor and around 

 Hacking Hall and Braddyll.- There are cotton 

 manufactories at the Abbey and Whalley Mills, also 

 bobbin and clog sole works at Chew Mill. There is 

 a stone quarry free to the inhabitants. 



The homes of the Blackburn Orphanage for boys 

 and girh, founded in 1886, are situated in this town- 

 ship. There are also an Epileptic Colony and an 

 Inebriates' Reformatory. 



There is a parish council. 



' Bilington ' paid z8s. "jd. to the subsidy of a 

 thirtieth levied upon goods and chattels in 1237, out 

 of j^4l Is. id. from the hundred.' 



An inclosure award for Billington and \\'ilp3hire 

 was made under an Act of I 7S8.'' 



Not onl) in the name of the township 

 MANOR is there record of the first English settler 

 in this place, but also in the ancient name 

 of the escarpment on Billington Moor which forms 

 the southern buttress of the gorge through which the 

 Calder flows before joining the Ribblc. In the 13th 

 century this summit w.is known as ' BtKetenab,' ' the 

 head or top of the hill where was Bil's seat, now 

 contracted simply to Whalley Nab. Some idea of 

 the era in which this Englishman lived is suggested 

 by the fact that in 798 the hill ' Billingahoth ' " was 

 no lor ger associated with the person of the first settler, 

 but with his family or descendants, ' Billing.' At the 

 Conquest it is probable that there were two manor? 

 here, one of which may have subsequently remained 

 in the possession of the local family under the lords of 

 Clitheroe, whilst the other passed into the demesne of 

 the honor until granted in small freeholds to the 

 ancestors of Braddyll, Hacking, Cunliffe, Dean and 

 Bolton. The history of the first-named manor is 

 involved in that of the manor of Chew, which 

 reprcsi;nted half the vill of Billington ; that of the 

 other in the account of the mesne manors of Braddyll, 

 Brockhall and Hacking and other ancient freeholds. 



CHEW.' — The mancir-house standini; in a place 

 called the ' Chew ' gave name to the manor. About 

 the year I 170 Henry de Lacy enfeoffed Hugh son of 

 Leofwin of half a knight's fee in Altham, half of 

 Billington, and elsewhere ; consequently the mesne 

 lordship of this manor descended in the family of 

 Alvetham (Altham) and their descendants until the 

 commencement of the 14th century, if not later." 

 At the date of this feoffment the manor was un- 

 doubtedly held by a local family of whom the first 

 upon record was one Elias or Ellis de Billington,' 

 living in 1 203, when he was amerced before John 

 Bishop of Norwich and his fellow-justices in eyre it 

 Lancaster,^" and in 1208, when he agreed with his 

 tenant and probably kinsman Elias de Pleasington 

 about the tenure of Pleasington.'' He was father of 

 .\d.im de Billington, a juror from this hundred on 

 the inquest of the Gascon scutage in 1243, in which 

 he was incorrectly returned as holding 'half a 

 knight's fee in Billington, where a fourth part should 

 have been returned.'^ 



At this time, as for twenty-five years after, the 

 half-fee in Altham of which this manor was a member 

 was held in dower by Margaret Countess of Lincoln." 

 Three years later Adam de Billington was one of the 

 jurors of the hundred at a special county court held 

 at Lancaster.''' He had issue an only daughter Avice, 

 who married, first, Henry son of Hugh del Cho,"* by 

 whom she had no issue, and secondly, about I 240, 

 Geoffrey son of Henry de Whalley son of Geoffrey 

 the elder, Dean if Whalley, and had issue Adam de 

 Billington, Richard, Roger, Henry, Robert, Ralph 

 and William.'" Adam her son and heir had issue 

 an only son Adam, who probably died young," 

 whereupon his f.uher sold the manor to Adam de 

 HudJleston, kt., about mid-August 1287.'^ 



A very considerable interest in the manor of Chew 

 w.is acquired during the last half of the 13th century 

 by the Pontchardon family of Little Mitton mainly 

 through the marriage of Richard son of John de 

 Pontchardon to Beatrice daughter and co-heir of 

 Adam de Blakeburn. It is not easy to distinguish 

 the separate interests of Henry son of Hugh del Cho, 



* Surrey of 1848 ; but 3,136 acres ac- 

 cording to the survey of 1895 [Cemui Rep. 

 1901), of which 35 are ioland water. 



* The agricultural returns for 1905 give 

 arable land 4.0^ acres, permanent grass 

 3,123 acres, woods and plantations 1Z2^ 

 acres, in Billington and Dinclcley. 



^ Lay Subs. Lanes, bdle. 1 30, no. z. 

 ■* Ljrci. an J Ches. Antiq. Soc. vi, 123. 



* Jl'hjihv Couch. (CheL Soc), i, 133. 



^ Symeon of Durham, Opera et Coll. 

 (Surtees Soc. li), 35. 



' Le Cho 13— 15th cent., i.e. the jaw. 



s Whitaker, Whalley (ed. 1876), ii, 2. 

 In 1302 Simon de Alvetham held of the 

 Earl of Lincoln half a knight's fee in 

 Altham with the members, which included 

 half Billington j Lancz. Inq. and Extents 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches), i, 318. 



^ Hugh son of Leofwin had a brother 

 Efward ; Whitaker, Whalley, ii, 330. 

 This may be the Edward who was father 

 of Ellis de Billington; Harl. MS. 112, 

 t'ol. -oi. 



" Farrer, Lana. Pipe R. 168. 



1^ Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.}, i, 36. 



'- Lanes. Inq. and Extents (RlC Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 150—1. 



" r.CH. Lanes, i, 312. 



'* Lanes. Assi^L R, (Rec. Soc. Lanes and 

 Cht^.). 6t. 



^^ Adam son of Elias de Billington gave 

 to Henry son of Hugh del Cho and Avice 

 his wife * mv daughter ' land which Henry 

 and his ancestors had held of Adam and 

 his ancestors lying between the land of 

 Bernard de Dinckley and the meangate, 

 land between Bushburn and Calder called 

 ' le Cho,' and land called the Halgh for 

 6s. yearly ; Whalley Couch. 953. Henn' del 

 Cho had issue by a former wife Richard, 

 Thomas and John ; ibid. 954-5. 



^^ Whalley Couch. 937 et seq. The 

 very numerous dealings relating to lands 

 in Billington of Geoffrey and Avice and 

 their descendants with the monks of 

 Stanlaw and afterwards Whalley are re- 

 corded in the Coucher. In her widowhood 

 Avice gave to Stanlaw a barn near the 

 Fairhurst syke for the storage of their 

 tithe corn ; p. 1008. To Richard her son 

 she gave the land called Langale (Langho) 

 lying between Dinckley Brook and the 

 high road ; p. 1019. To William her son 

 she gave land called Potter Ridding ; 

 p. 1 04.0. To Roger her son she also gave 

 a tenement ; p. 958. 



In 12S2 and again in 1285 William de 

 Alvetham, the mesne lorJ, laid claim to 



326 



thirteen messuages and 155 acres of land 

 in the vill which he averred that his 

 great-great-grandfather William de Alve- 

 tham, whose heir he was, held in fee in 

 the time of Richard I. The tenants and 

 defendants were William de Billington 

 and Adam Oidebacon holding of him, 

 Richard and Henry de Billington, Robert 

 son of Robert de Cunteclyvc, John son of 

 Matilda, Ralph de Billington and Richard 

 son of Henry holding of him, Henry 

 Babel and Geoffrey de Braydel holding of 

 him, John de Billington and Richard son of 

 Edith holding of him. These all called 

 to warrant Adam son of Adam de Billing- 

 ton, who warranted and defended their 

 right ; De Banco R. 46, m. 4 ; 60, 

 m. 58 d. 



^^ In 1 309 Adam ie Huddlcslon opposed 

 the demand of Alice wife of William de 

 Hopwood for dower in five messuages, 

 257 acres of land, 51 acres meadow, a 

 water-mill and 50J. of rent in Billington 

 and Witton on the ground that she left 

 her hrst husband Adam de Billington and 

 lived in adultery with Hopwood her second 

 husband; De Banco R. 179, m. i64d. 

 This seems to refer to Adam the younger. 



'^ Whalley Couck. 973. AJ .m son of 

 Adam was lord of Witton ; ibid. 1 1 1. 



