BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



BLACKBURN 



Anciently the township, including the hamlet of 

 Dinckley, was rated as a plough-land, of which 4 ox- 

 gangs of land lay in the hamlet. In 1332 the town- 

 ship paid gj. z^d. upon the collection of a fifteenth 

 and tenth ; in the 17 th century 8i. was paid for 

 the fifteenth. 



The hearth tax return of 1666 records only one 

 house with as many as four hearths ; there were 

 twenty-three hearths taxed.* 



At the commencement of the 1 3th 

 MANOR century the manor was held by two 

 thegns, Siward and Swain, by the service 

 of ^!. Richard son of Siward de Wlipscire was 

 living in the time of John de Lacy, constable of 

 Chester (1213-32), and was the father of Adam 

 called ' Le Louerd,' one of the free tenants of the 

 town who in 1258 were parties to an arbitr.iment 

 with the free tenants of Salesbury touching the 

 boundaries between the two places.' Richard son of 

 Adam, called de Fernihurst, appears to have pre- 

 deceased his father without issue, and the estate passed 

 to his kinsman Henry son of Gilbert son of Simon 

 son of Siward, being held of Robert de Bolton, 

 ancestor of the Boltons of Loveley Hall in Salesbury, 

 who at this time did suit at the court of Clitheroe as 

 chief tenant of a fourth part of the manor.' Gilbert 

 son of Simon was one of the free tenants party to the 

 arbitrament of 1258 and had a numerous progeny 

 holding lands here, parts of which were afterwards 

 acquired by the Clitheroe family, whilst half an oxgang 

 of land which Siward had given to his son Simon 

 father of Gilbert appears to have passed to Bernard 

 de le Hacking, who held such a tenement of the Earl 

 of Lincoln in 13 1 1. This probably descended with 

 the estate of Hacking in Billington in the family of 

 Shuttleworth.' 



Swain de Wilpshire, who held another portion of 

 the manor, was the father of Robert, eldest of five 

 sons. To him Richard son of Siward gave lands 

 here before 1246 bearing lod. yearly thegnage rent." 



His lands passed to Adam son of his brother Henry, 

 which Adam was one of the free tenants of the manor 

 in 1258 and died without issue, having given land 

 to Stanlaw Abbey of which the ' Hore-stone ' and a 

 ' rene ' adjoining his 'wayne-gate' were two of the 

 boundaries named.' Part of his estate was acquired 

 by the Bolton family, of whom it was held by the 

 Dewhursts. At the death of the Earl of Lincoln 

 in 1 3 1 1 the thegnage service of 4/. was rendered 

 by Henry de Braddyll i e,d., John son of Walter de 

 Braddyll i id., Henry de Bolton i zd., and Bernard 

 de le Hacking cjd}" 



The HALLHEAD (now Hollowhead) estate and 

 lands, which formed part of the Loveley Hall demesne, 

 descended in the Boltons " and their heirs general 

 the Parkers " like the mesne manor of Loveley, in 

 Salesbury, and jiow form part of Mr. E. A. Le Gendre 

 Starkie's estate.'' 



DEWHURST was the residence of a family bearing 

 that name who were seated in this township for more 

 than four centuries. Robert de le Deuhihurst was 

 settled here at the beginning of the reign of Edward I 

 and was impleaded in 1277 with his neighbours by 

 David de Wilpshire for trespassing on his lands." 

 He died before 1 281, leaving sons Roger and Henry, 

 who both died without male issue before 1320. 

 Their kinsman Adam de Dewhurst contributed to the 

 subsidy levied in 1332 and was in 1335 holding his 

 estate here of Henry son of John son of Walter de 

 Braddyll with i 5a'. free rent, when the latter gave 

 certain tenements and this service to Robert son of 

 Adam de Clitheroe, kt., in exchange for tenements 

 here called Couhlllands and Blakeflatt." Roger 

 del Dewehirst paid poll tax in 1379. In 1447 

 John Dewhurst of Dewhurst, gent., and Henry his 

 brother were fined for taking too active a part in the 

 Talbot and Hoghton disputes mentioned in the 

 account of Salesbury." John Dewhurst of Dewhurst 

 died in I 547, leaving issue William the father of John 

 Dewhurst, who married Grace daughter of John and 



* Lay Subs. Laacs. bdle. 250, no. 9. 



* Towneley MS. DD, no. 2H3, 1131. 

 With David de Wilpshire he defended a 

 plea in 1 284 brought by Henry de Bolton ; 

 Assize R, 1265, m. 4 d. 



' Towneley MS. DD, no. 2122, 2125. 

 Adam enfeoffed Gilbert of his lands (ibid. 

 1123), and confirmed his grandfather's gift 

 of J oxgang and 10 acres in Fernyhurst 

 under (^d. thegnage rent to his son Simon 

 father of Gilbert. 



^ Ibid. no. 1 1 2 1, Henry son of Gilbert 

 gave land in Fernyhurst to Adam son of 

 Hugh de Clitheroe and Roger son of the 

 same. Henry in 13 16 gave the service 

 of fid, of Robert del Hey, whose daughter 

 Alice released her estate to Robert de 

 Clitheroe in 1364; ibid.no. 11 12, 11 24, 

 2102. In 13 16 Robert brother of the 

 same Roger gave to Adam de Clitheroe 

 lands lying between Halleheved and Stane- 

 yerd in width, and between Hesemore 

 and Wlypshiregge in length; ibid. 11 15, 

 2056. 



8 The land adjoined (east) Robert's 

 ridding, (weit) Ralph's ridding, (south) 

 the croft of Henry son of Swain and 

 (north) land of William de Bradil ; ibid. 

 II 19. Henry son of Swain gave to his 

 brother Robert land bounded by (west) 

 Romisike, (east) Egginsike. Alan the 

 clerk, then seneschal of John de Lacy 

 constable of Chester, attests the grant ; 

 Ibid. 2113. 



i> WhalUy Couch. (Chet. Soc), i, 128. 



*•* Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 12. 



John son of Walter de Braddyll died 

 before 1329 holding a messuage in Wilp- 

 shire, His heir was his son Walter, aged 

 thirty -four ; Inq. p.m. 3 Edw. Ill (ist 

 nos.), no. 37. 



" Robert son of Gilbert the Miller of 

 Wilpshire released lands, &c., in Wilpshire 

 to Nicholas son of Richard de Bolton and 

 Richard his brother ; Kuerden fol. MS. 

 256. The estate of Henry de Bolton and 

 Ellen his wife was in 1 3 13 settled on 

 Henry's heirs ; Final Cone, ii, 17. 



'^ Richard Parker of Salesbury was in 

 possession of Hallhead, in right of inheri- 

 tance, in 1568 ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. 

 Eliz. xxxvii, T 8. The depositions taken 

 in 1570 show that there was a dispute 

 with John Talbot respecting the Smithy 

 Croft in Wilpshire and other parts of the 

 Hallhead estate as Parker alleged. Wil- 

 liam Clayton of Little Harwood, aged 

 ninety-eight, said he had known Smithy 

 Croft for sixty years ; before that it had 

 been called Calf Croft. Richard Bolton 

 had owned it and it had been assured to 

 Margaret Clayton (sister of deponent), 

 who married Richard Bolton's son and 

 heir. Robert Bolton of Halifax, aged 

 sixty-two, said his father was a smith and 

 built the smithy which afterwards gave 

 the name to the croft ; deponent had been 



Z2,S 



born at Hallhead and knew that his father 

 paid the rent to a sister of William 

 Clayton, who had married a Bolton and 

 afterwards married Thomas Rishton. The 

 Talbots alleged that James Halsall and 

 Elizabeth his wife (to which Elizabeth 

 lands came by descent from the Boltons) 

 were tenants of land in the manor of 

 Salesbury, and that she and her son Richard 

 Parker accepted allotments in compensa- 

 tion for inclosures ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Dep. 12 Eliz, no. 17. It was afterwards 

 ordered that Richard Parker should hold 

 Calf Croft until the defendant could pro- 

 duce better evidence \ Decrees and Orders, 

 xvi, 12-16 Eliz. (17 May 1571). 



^^ In 1662 John Parker, gent., paid 

 free rents to the lord of Clitheroe for his 

 lands in Wilpshire called Loveley %d., and 

 for lands called Hallhead i%d. In 1331 

 Joan relict of William de Balderston gave 

 lands in Clayton and Salesbury which she 

 had of the gift of Richard son of Robert 

 de Bolton and a tenement in Wilpshire 

 called * Halleheved ' to Robert son of 

 Richard de Bolton ; Towneley MS. HH, 

 no. 437. 



!■* Ibid, DD, no. 1122, 1236; De 

 Banco R. 18, m. 25. 



15 Towneley MS. DD,no. 1164, 1291 ; 

 Exch, Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 84. 



i« Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 9, m. 8, 

 IX d. 



