BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



mission of the peace and a police force."' Gas 

 and water works'* were established by private com- 

 panies, but were purchased by the Corporation in 

 1878." The town-hall was built in 1879 ; a free 

 library was established there. The market in King 

 Street also was opened in 1879. 



Clitheroe is the head of a rural district council. 



The chapel of St. Michael within 

 CHURCHES the castle of Clitheroe was some- 

 times called extra-parochial and some- 

 times described as the parish church of the castle and 

 demesne, with the large forest districts of the honor .'° 

 In either case it was outside the parish of Whalley 

 ecclesiastically, but the abbot and convent, after long 

 contention, had it awarded to them," and they 

 treated the forest district of which it was the head as 

 a peculiar jurisdiction, holding regular visitations for 

 it in place of the bishop.'* These courts were held 

 sometimes in Whalley Church and sometimes in the 

 castle chapel itself" ; the principal matters dealt with 

 were marriage cases, proofs of wills, immorality, work- 

 ing on holidays, and minor offences, such as talking 

 in church. 



St. Michael's Chapel, no doubt coeval with 

 the casde,™ has long disappeared, and its various 

 dependent chapels — Newchurch in Pendle, New- 

 church in Rossendale, and Whitwell in Bowland 

 — became parochial ; the last-named is in York- 

 shire. 



Apart from the casde Clitheroe was in the chapelry 

 of St. Mary Magdalene, this chapel existing as early 

 as 1 1 20."" But little is known of its history or of 

 the chaplains who served it.™ The ancient stipend 

 of 4 marks was paid by the monks of Whalley.'"' A 

 chantry was founded in 1473 by Richard RadclifFe of 

 Winmarleigh,"' and in 1547 the priest in charge 

 was William Slater, who had been present at Flodden 

 Field, and whose stipend was 66s. lod. derived from 

 scattered pieces of land.'" In 1548 the visitation 

 list shows four priests at Clitheroe and the same in 

 1554 ; but in 1562 there was only one, and he was 

 a new-comer."" The casde chapel appears to have 

 been maintained until the Civil War, and afterwards 

 fell into ruin, an allowance of £S to the chaplain 

 being thenceforward annexed to the curacy of St. 

 Mary Magdalene."" The curate of Clitheroe was in 

 1635 excused from any contribution to ship-money 

 on account of the poverty of the chaplaincy ; he had 

 £\ from the vicar of Whalley and £'>, from the 

 auditor of the county, the parishioners contributing 

 the main part of his income.'"' Soon afterwards the 

 Archbishop of Canterbury must have increased this 

 allowance from the vicarage, for the minister in 1650 

 had an endowment oi £11 los. from the rectory of 

 Whalley and £7, los. from the duchy rents ; this 

 last probably in respect of the old chantry.'" About 

 1 71 7 the income was ^^22 i2j-. 6d. For the £6 

 received from the castle chaplaincy the curate was 



that Richard Shirebume and others had 

 held a court in the town in contempt of 

 the recently granted charter of Hen. VIII, 

 which charter they had taken from the 

 bailiffs and detained ; Duchy Plead, ii, 

 171. 



3^ The gasworks were erected in 

 1837. 



^* An Act respecting the water supply 

 was passed m 1854 ; 17 & 18 Vict. cap. 

 27. 



3^ By Act 41 & 42 Vict. cap. 84. 



36 Gastrell, Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc), 

 ii, 317-18. 



The * chapel of my castle of Clitheroe ' 

 is named in the grant of Whalley Church 

 to Pontefract about 11 20; Whitaker, 

 JVhalUy, ii, 507 ; Cal. Chart, R. 

 1226-57, p. 109. 



A note of the boundaries of the Castle 

 parish in Kucrden MSS. (iii, C 27) refers 

 to Bowland only. 



^'^ Henry de Lacy, after giving the 

 church of Whalley to the monks of Stan- 

 law, wished to except this chapel in his 

 castle, and causing the abbot and convent 

 to renounce their claim to it appointed 

 William de Nunny to be chaplain there. 

 In 131 1 the advowson was held by the 

 Earl of Lincoln ; the chapel was worth 

 j^il 6s. 8</. a year; Lanes. Inq. and 

 Extents, ii, 4. In 1334 the abbot's claim 

 to the chapel was allowed, and in 1339 

 the Bishop of Lichfield decided that the 

 vicar of Whalley was responsible for the 

 parishioners of the Castle chapelry. In 

 1349 the Earl of Lancaster surrendered 

 the advowson to the monks, and the 

 king after ratifying withdrew his con- 

 firmation. It was not tin 1365 that 

 the monks finally obtained possession 

 from John of Gaunt. They had to pay 

 considerable sums. See Whalley Couch, 

 i, 226-30; iv, 1064, 1169 ; Whitaker, 

 op. cit. i, 258-62, The monks denied 

 that it was a free chapel because it 

 had no font or burial-ground and had 



6 



no privilege from the apostolic sec. There 

 are references to the matter in Cal. Pat. 

 1330-4, P- 528; 1343-5, P- 425 i 

 1345-8, p. 85; 1348-50, p. 469; <^^^- 

 Close, 1346-9, p. 95 ; Lanes, and Ckes. 

 Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 

 362, 366 ; Inq. a.q.d. 19 Edw. Ill, no. 

 22 ; Coram Rege R. 342, m. 78 d. 



The following incumbents occur : — 

 William Chaillon, 'parson,' 1321 ; 

 Richard Camel, pres. 1322; Roger de 

 Lysewy, pres. 1322 ; John de Wood- 

 house, pres. 1331 ; Richard de Moseley, 

 rector of Earl's Barton, pres. 1333, res. 

 1334; Henry de Walton, 1349; Cal. 

 Pat.', Towneley MS. 'Fountains, &c,', 

 fol. 210. John de Stafford claimed the 

 incumbency in 1365 ; Lich. Epis. Reg. 

 V, fol. 46^. The papal collector in 

 England in 1373 in the pope's name 

 ordered the Bishop of Lichfield to make 

 inquiry as to the position of the chapel 

 of Clitheroe; Whalley Couch, iv, 1172. 

 This probably refers to the Castle chapel ; 

 see Cal. of Papal Letters, iv, 70. 



^ The records 1500-38 are printed in 

 Whalley Act Bk, (Chet. Soc. new ser.). 

 The places under this jurisdiction were 

 Pendle, Rossendale, Trawden, Bowland, 

 Chatburn, Clitheroe (Castle), Ramsgreave 

 and Hoddlesden. 



33 Op. cit. 52. The following are 

 named as chaplains of St. Michael's : 

 1521, Christopher Feyser ; 1528, Robert 

 Whitehead; 1532, John Hodgson, who 

 was there in 1537. In 1521 the chap- 

 Iain received ^^4 a year from the abbey ; 

 Whitaker, op. cit. i, 258. This payment 

 was continued after the Dissolution, and 

 in 1663 was increased by £z ; Gastrell, 

 Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc), ii, 318. 



100 In 171 7 nothing but the walls re- 

 mained, and they were decayed ; ibid. 

 319. The chapel is not named in the 

 visitation lists. 



if'^ It is mentioned in the Pontefract 

 charter cited above. The tithes were 



369 



worth j^i 7 a year in 1 298 and the 

 altarage £\ ; Whalley Couch, i, 214. 



103 Whitaker (ii, 91) gives : Hugh and 

 Peter, c. 1190 {Whalley Couch, i, 286) ; 

 John son of Henry, 1339; Hugh de 

 Mitton, 1397. 



About 1527 an acre of land was given 

 to the church of Clitheroe by Richard 

 Kendall *for one priest to sing prayers 

 for the health of his soul ' ; Farrer, 

 Clitheroe Ct. R. i, 79. 



^**3 Whitaker, op. cit. i, 87. It seems 

 to have been raised to £^, for this was 

 the ^old allowance' afterwards paid by 

 the Archbishop of Canterbury out of the 

 rectory ; Hist. MSS. Com, Rep. xiv, App. 

 iv, 10 ; Gastrell, op. cit. ii, 320, 



10^ Shireburne Abstract Book at Lea- 

 gram. Elizabeth his wife was joined with 

 the founder. The names of those for 

 whom mass was to be said were to be set 

 in a table of stone in the parish church 

 of St. Mary Magdalene of Clitheroe. 



^^^ Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc), 140. 

 In 1535 Thomas Silcock was cantarist ; 

 f^alor Eccl. (Rec. Com.}, v, 230. The 

 lands were at Edisford, near the bridge, 

 at Ashley, Claughton, Clitheroe, Chat- 

 burn and Worston. 



For sales of those lands see Farrer, 

 Clitheroe Ct. R. \, 165-6 ; Pat. 11 Jas. I, 

 pt. viii. 



106 Visit. Lists at Chester Dioc. 

 Reg. 



i"7 Gastrell, op. cit. ii, 317-19. Ralph 

 Ryder was curate of the Castle parish in 

 1580-1 ; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), 

 xxii, 58. About 1610 it was called a 

 donative ; there was no minister ; Hist. 

 MSS. Com. Rec. xiv, App. iv, 10. 



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

 i, 109. 



103 Commontv. Ch. Sur-v. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 165. As nothing is 

 said of the Castle chapel it may be 

 assumed that it had ceased to be used 

 by 1650. 



47 



