BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



the tower in 1855 and recast the same year." There 

 is also in the belfry, though not included in the peal, 

 an old Flemish bell, which was brought from Church 

 Kirk about 1866,^' with ornament and inscription, 



' MARIA BEN IC VAN PETER VANDEN OHEIN GHEGOTEN 

 INT lAER MCCCCCXXXVII.'" 



The plate is all modern, and consists of an em- 

 bossed flagon of 1828-9, 'The gift of Adam Cottam 

 1829,' and a set of two chalices, two patens, a cre- 

 dence paten and a flagon, presented in 1 883 by Mr. 

 Richard Thompson. Two chalices, ' The gift of James 

 Whalley, esq., to the Parish Church of Whalley 1787,' 

 and a paten of 18 10 are now at St. Luke's Mission 

 Church, Barrow. Five 17th-century pieces, of which 

 a record remains, have unfortunately disappeared." 



The registers begin in 1538, and have the appear- 

 ance of having been uniformly copied at one time 

 either from an older register or from slips of parch- 

 ment till about the middle of February 1 600-1, after 

 which date entries were made as they occurred. The 

 first volume (l 538-1601) has been printed by the 

 Lancashire Parish Register Society.'' 



The churchyard is inclosed by a stone wall and iron 

 railings, and has entrances on the north, east and 

 west sides, the stone gateways of which were erected 

 by Adam Cottam,'* who died in 1838. Previous 

 to this inclosure, the first steps towards which were 

 made in 181 8, it appears to have been open or sur- 

 rounded at certain points by cottages. To the south- 

 west of the tower was a building called The Hermitage, 

 no vestige of which now exists, and the churchyard 

 was traversed by three pathways, which were stopped 

 as rights of way when the inclosure was made. There 

 was an enlargement on the south side in I 87 1. 



In the churchyard are some objects of great anti- 

 quarian interest, the chief being the three pre-Norman 

 sculptured crosses standing on the south side of the 

 church. They have been already described." To 

 the north of the tower is a sepulchral slab 6 ft. 6 in. 

 long with an incised floreated cross of eight arms within 

 a circle, on the south side a stone 7 ft. long with an 

 incised four-armed cross. There are also a number 

 of fragments of similar ancient stonework. In the 

 angle between the south aisle and the tower is a stone 

 coifin. The sundial, which stands on three square 

 stone steps, is dated 1757. The oldest dated grave- 

 stone is of 1 600. An early i gth-century stone records 

 the death of a woman on 3 1 April, and an inscrip- 

 tion to the memory of ' the principal innkeeper of 

 the town,' who died in 181 3, records that 'notwith- 

 standing the temptations of that dangerous calling, he 

 maintained good order in his house, kept the Sabbath 

 Day holy, frequented the public worship with his 

 family, induced his guests to do the same, and regularly 

 partook of the Holy Communion.' 



In 1066 the church of Whalley 

 ADyOWSON had two plough-lands as an endow- 

 ment, corresponding to the later 

 township and manor of Whalley.'' As at Blackburn 

 the rectors, though presented by the lord of Black- 

 burnshire, are related to have held by hereditary 

 right. They were called deans ; it is not said that they 

 had any sort of ordination, but they could not have 

 been in holy orders, for they sent priests to the bishop 

 to be licensed to serve the cure." The succession 

 Robert, Henry (d. 1 183), William, Geoflrey, Geoffrey, 

 and Roger seems to be proved, though the kinship is 

 not in each case known.*" How long this system 



^^ They bear the following inscrip- 

 tions : — Treble : ' Rev. R. N. Whitaker 

 Vicarius de Whalley, 1855.' (2) 'Richard 

 Fort de Read Hall, 1 8 5 5 .' (3 ) ' Rev. G. M. 

 Whalley de Clerkhill, 1855.' (4) 'Sing 

 ye merrily to God our Strength. S. 

 Brookes and William his son.' (5) 'John 

 Taylor de Moreton.* Tenor : ' Gloria in 

 Excelsis. Starkie.' 



'* Taylor-Taswell, op. cit. 93. 



^ 'I am Mary, cast by Peter Van- 

 den Ohein in the year 1537.' 



^* These were a chalice of 1 65 1, 

 given by William Crombock of Wiswell ; 

 a cup with cover, given in 1680 by Sir 

 Edmund Assheton, bart. ; a flagon and 

 patea, given in 1648 and 1686, also by 

 Sir Edmund Assheton ; and a silver 

 bowl, given in 1700 by Thomas Braddyll 

 and John Forrors (Taylor-Taswell, op. 

 cit. 44, 45, quoting the Whalley Poor 

 Stock Book). There was also a flagon 

 presented by Mrs. Ellen Waddington 5 

 but this, together with the Crombock 

 chalice, was stolen in 1674 (see Lond. 

 Gax. Feb. 4, 8, 1674). 



'^ Vol. vii (1900), edited by Thomas 

 Backhouse Ecroyd. 



2^ His portrait, painted by public sub- 

 scription in recognition of his services to 

 the parish, is in the vestry. 



" V.C.H. Lanes, i, 265, where an illus- 

 tration of one of the crosses is given. 



'^ Ibid. 286^". The endowment is the 

 same as that of St. Oswald's, Winwick. 



'^ The document called the Status de 

 Blackburnshlre is printed in Dugdale's 

 Mon. (v, 642) and in Whitaker's Whalley, 

 i, 66-7. It represents the local tradition 

 of 1300 or thereabouts, but its historical 

 value is doubtful, for it has obviously been 



exaggerated in the lapse of time and con- 

 fused by speculation. A long list of the 

 older rectors or deans is given — viz. 

 Spartling, his son Liulph * Cutwolf,' Cut- 

 wolf, Henry senior the heir, Robert his 

 son, Henry the younger his son and heir, 

 William, Geoffrey senior, Geoffrey junior 

 his son and heir, and Roger his son and 

 heir. Geoffrey senior is stated to have 

 married a daughter of Roger de Lacy, 

 then lord of Blackburnshlre. All the 

 relationships asserted in it are here given. 



The monks of Pontefract, on claiming 

 the advowson, alleged that it had been 

 given to them about 1 120, and they had 

 presented A, B, C, D, all of whom had 

 been admitted j these included Sparling 

 and Liulph, surnamed Cutwolf because 

 one day, while watching his dogs running 

 in the forest of Rossendale, he had cut off 

 the tail of a wolf which flew past. After 

 Liulph's death a predecessor of the Earl 

 of Lincoln, the priory of Pontefract being 

 vacant, presented a certain Geoffrey, who 

 was called the cusios of the church, and 

 married a daughter of Gospatrick lord of 

 Samlesbury. His son Geoffrey succeeded 

 by hereditary right, obtaining this favour 

 on application to the pope. After his 

 death the Earl of Lincoln presented one 

 Roger, and then Peter de Chester, the 

 priory not venturing to protest j Whitaker, 

 op. cit. i, -jy. The title cuitoi does not 

 occur in other documents. 



The latter version, which is less trust- 

 worthy than the Status, makes the heredi- 

 tary succession occur twice only, and re- 

 quires Sparling or Spartling to be later 

 than 1 120. This is probable enough, 

 for the name occurs locally in the 12th 

 century ; see the account of Clayton-le- 



355 



Dale and Shevlngton. Both lists omit 

 Orm, Dean of Whalley, named in a 

 charter to be dated about 1 150 ; 

 Towneley MS. * Fountains, Whalley, and 

 Sawley ' (in possession of W. Farrer), 

 p. 684. 



^^ After the death of the above-named 

 Orm it is probable that Robert became 

 dean 5 the change from English to Nor- 

 man names may coincide with other 

 changes. Robert is known only from 

 his descendants ; e.g. Joslana daughter 

 of Robert formerly Dean of Whalley gave 

 a release to the monks of Fountains ; 

 Fountains Reg. (Add. MS. 18276), fol. 

 2o6i, II. 42. 



Henry Dean of Whalley is named in 

 the Pipe Rolls of 1 182-4, <^ying about 

 that time ; Farrer, La7ics. Pipe R, 50, 52. 

 He also occurs as witness to a charter 

 by Reyner Fleming ; Lord Ribbledale's D. 



William the Dean, who may have 

 followed, had a son John who attested a 

 charter by Geoffrey the Dean ; Whalley 

 Couch. (Chet. Soc), i, 286. From the 

 list in the Status it might be supposed 

 that William was not in the hereditary 

 line, and his son did not succeed. 



Geoffrey the Dean occurs repeatedly 

 in the Coucher. His parentage appears 

 from Roger de Lacy's grant of Towneley 

 to Geoffrey son of Robert the Dean and 

 from an Ashworth charter ; Kuerden 

 fol. MS. p. 233 ; Latics. Inq. p.m. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 448. He 

 was rector of Rochdale also in 1195 ; 

 Whalley Couch, i, 137. He is said to have 

 married a daughter of Roger de Lacy's ; 

 Status. It must be observed that he is 

 never called * clerk,' ao that he was 

 probably a layman. He had brother! 



