A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Of the next incumbents practically nothing is known, 

 but in the Commonwealth time it was judged best to 

 appoint a preacher to visit the different churches and 

 chapels for a few years, till suitable ministers could be 

 provided."" After the Restoration Nonconformists 

 and Quakers appear to have been numerous, and con- 

 venticles were reported to the Bishop of Chester.'" 

 The district immediately attached to the parish church 

 has remained comparatively untouched by the manu- 

 factures which have caused great changes elsewhere, 

 but one or two new churches have been built within 

 it in recent times. 



In December 1360 Henry Duke of Lancaster gave 

 the monks Ramsgreave and other lands at Standen, &c., 

 for the maintenance of a recluse or anchoress to live 

 in a hermitage in the churchyard of Whalley. The 

 recluse was to have two servants to wait on her, and 

 a monk attended by a server was to sing mass daily 

 in the chapel of her inclosure, the abbey providing 

 all necessaries. The duke and his successors were to 

 nominate the recluses.'" The monks probably ob- 

 jected to the intrusion of women, particularly of the 

 servants who waited on the recluse, and the recluses 

 appear to have found their situation irksome, for 

 several are said to have run away ; and this course 

 having been taken by Isold Heaton, widow, nominated 

 by the king in 14^7, the abbot and convent petitioned 

 for relief" It was therefore ordered that the endow- 

 ment should be employed to maintain two chantry 

 priests to say mass daily for the soul of Duke Henry 

 and for the king.'" The chapels on the south and 

 north side of the church, called St. Mary's and St. 

 Nicholas', respectively, were so used down to the 

 Reformation.'" St. Mary's chapel, as the abbey pew, 

 was acquired by Ralph Assheton in i 593, but there 

 were long disputes over it."' 



In 1909 Whalley was chosen to give the title to 

 an additional suffragan or assistant bishop for the 

 diocese of Manchester, and the Rev. A. G. Rawstorne, 

 rector of Croston, was appointed. 



The grammar school probably origmated with the 

 monks. In 1548 a stipend of 20 marks a )ear was 

 assigned to it by Edward VI out of the late abbey of 

 Croxton's rectory of Tunstall.'" 



The charities of this large parish will be noticed in 

 sections, according to the recent reports, under the 

 several chapelries.'" 



CLITHEROE 



Cliderhou, 1175, and common to 1600, with 

 variants Gliderhou, Clederowe, &c. ; Clithero, xv cent. 



The town of Clitheroe stands upon a little hill 

 rising from the comparatively level stretch of land 

 which extends west to the Ribbic, but is dominated 

 itself by the great mass of Pendle to the east. Between 

 the lower slopes of this mountain and the town flows 

 a brook south-west to join the Ribble. The area of 

 the township is 2,385 acres,' including 50 acres of 

 inland water, and in 190 1 it had a population 

 of 1 1,414. 



Clitheroe Castle, formerly extra-parochial — i.e. 

 outside the parish of Whalley — was included in the 

 township in 1895.' 



The principal road is that which leads north from 

 Whalley through Standen to Clitheroe town and to 

 Yorkshire. Passing Little Moor to the east it crosses 

 the brook above mentioned at Salford, and then as 

 Moor Street goes forward to the centre of the town. 

 The castle hill with the remains of the keep stands 

 on the west side of the street. As Castle Street the 

 road continues till the open space called Market 

 Street is gained. There it divides ; one branch, as 

 Church Street, goes past the old parochial chapel 

 and by Pimlico (the ancient Greenlache) towards 

 Horrocksford, and then turns east to Chatburn ; a 

 second branch, at York Street, leads more directly to 

 Chatburn, passing the workhouse by the way ; while 

 the third, Wellgate, goes south-east to Pendleton and 

 Burnley. 



From the north end of the castle inclosure a road 

 descends to the west and south-west and leaving Low 

 Moor to the north reaches the river at Edisford 

 Bridge ; further north another road turns off north- 

 west to cross the river at Brungerley Bridge ; yet 

 more to the north there is a third bridge over the 

 Ribble at Horrocksford. The Blackburn and Helli- 

 field branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway 

 runs north-east through the township, having a station 

 on the western edge of the town. 



The story of Clitheroe has little of interest apart 

 from the great lordship of which its early Norman 

 possessors made it the head. It is not mentioned by 

 name in Domesday Book, though the castle appears to 

 be referred to.^ During the Scottish invasion in the 

 summer of 1 138 William son of Duncan was laying 

 waste the country around Clitheroe when he was 

 opposed by the English force arrayed in four bands. 

 They were soon put to flight by him, and in great 

 part either killed or taken prisoner.* At the rising 

 of Adam Banastre in 1 3 1 5 he seized the Earl of 

 Lancaster's castle at Clitheroe and took the bows and 

 spears found there — no great spoil, it would seem.' 



"» PhinJ. Mins. Accn. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 106 ; ii, 2.Z, 87. Jeremy 

 MarsJen was appointed and ^100 a year 

 out of the rent reserved to the (abolished) 

 see of Canterbury was allowed him from 

 165 I to 1655. 



^^^ The immediate neighbourhood of 

 the parish church seems to have had none ; 

 and in 1672, when one was reported, the 

 vicar stated that the man in whose house 

 it was said to be held was non compos 

 mt'-.tii ; Visit, returns. 



"2 Duchy of Lane. Anct. D. LS 119 ; 

 IVhallcy Couch, iv, 1 1 54. The recluse 

 and her attendants were to have weekly 

 17 conventual loaves and 7 others, 8 

 gallons of the best ale, also jtJ. for the 

 attendants ; and yearly 10 stockfish, a 

 bushel of oatmeal, a bushel of rye, z 

 gallons of oil for the lamps, a stcnc of 



tallow for candles, 6 loads of turf and i 

 of faggots. See also f^ar. Coll. (Hist. 

 MSS. Com.), ii, 11, 12. 



The name of the first recluse seems to 

 have been Ellen ; Pal. of Lane. Chan. 

 Misc. bdle. i, file 2. 



^^ Whitaker, op. cit. i, lor— 2 ; some 

 of the women servants had been 'mis- 

 governed and gotten with child within 

 the said place hallowed.' 



There was a tradition that Isold 

 Heaton in running away broke her leg on 

 Whalley Nab; ibid, ii, 12. Whitaker 

 (1818) removed the 'dirty cottages* in 

 the churchyard which he supposed to 

 mark the site of the old hermitage j ibid, 

 i, 103. 



1" Ibid. 



*^^ In 1 521 St. Henry (perhaps Henry 

 VI) seems to have been joined with 



St. Mary in the dedication ; Whitaker, 

 JVhalley, i, 119. 



"'Ibid, ii, II. For these and the 

 ancient pew called St. Anton's cage see 

 the description of the building, 



"' End. Char. Rip. for Whalley, 1903; 

 Lanes, and Ches. Rtc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes. 

 and Ches.), ii, 341 ; Local Glean. Lanes, 

 and Ches. ii, 117. 



"* See also Gastrell, Notitia Ctstr. ii, 



3°3- 



1 Including Clitheroe Castle, 6 acres, 

 9 inhabitants. 



' Loc. Govt. Bd. Order, P 1079. 



* Engl. Hist. Rev. xix, 22 t, 451. 



* Simeon of Durham, Opera (Rolls 

 Ser.), 291 ; in the continuation by John 

 of Hexham. 



' Coram Regc R. 254, m. 52. 



360 



