BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



occurs as a surname." The abbeys of Sawley " and 

 Whalley " had lands in Worston. 



The land tax return of 1787 gives Thomas Dawson 

 and Thomas York as chief owners. 



There is a mission room in this township in con- 

 nexion with Christ Church, Chatburn. 



MEARLEY 



Merlay, 1241 ; Merlee, 1272 ; Merleye, 1302 ; 

 Morleye, 1306. 



This township lies entirely on the summit and 

 western slope of Pendle Hill, Little Mearley being to 

 the north and Great Mearley to the south. There 

 is no village or hamlet, and in 1901 the population 

 numbered forty-one. The area measures 1,509 

 acres. Great Mearley alone having 1,008 acres. 

 A road from Pendleton to Worston crosses the 

 township northwards, passing the two ancient halls. 



The land is mostly used for pasture. The soil is 

 day, overlying blue clay. 



There is a parish meeting. 



In 1666 there were thirty-five hearths liable to 

 the tax. The largest houses were those of Joshua 

 RadclifFe with eleven hearths and Henry Standen 

 with eight ; the next in size had four hearths and 

 the next three.' 



A member of the Clitheroe fee, 



MJNORS MEJRLET with all its appurtenances 



was in 1 102 granted by Robert de Lacy 



to Ralph le Rous,' possibly an illegitimate son, and 

 the grant was confirmed about forty years later by 

 Ilbert de Lacy.' What became of the inheritance as 

 a whole is unknown, but the Mitton' and Heriz' 

 families seem to have been concerned in it, perhaps 

 by descent. Mearley was assessed as three plough- 

 lands, of which two were in Great Mearley and the 

 other in Little Mearley. 



The descent of GREAT MEJRLET may be 

 traced through a record of the time of Edward IL' 

 Jordan son of Ralph le Rous granted it to Stephen 

 de Mearley.' In 1241 Agnes daughter of Stephen 

 and Adam her son obtained a release of 1 4 oxgangs 

 of land in Mearley from Eve daughter of Ralph, 

 giving her 8/.^ Roger Nowell 

 the son of Adam in 1296 

 gave part of Mearley to his 

 son Roger," and in 1302 the 

 two Rogers were said to hold 

 the fourth part of a knight's 

 fee in Great Mearley of the 

 Earl of Lincoln." In 1 3 1 1 

 Roger Nowell held two 

 plough-lands in Great Mearley 

 of the earl by the fourth part 

 of a knight's fee and zod. 

 rent." Adam Nowell the son 

 of Roger was in possession 



before 1322," and occurs down to 1340." He was 

 succeeded by a son Richard, called ' the elder,' " 



Nowell of Read. 

 Argent three covered cupi 

 iahle. 



^ William ion of Hugh de Worston 

 was plaintiff in 1333 ; De Banco R. 296, 

 m. 194. ^ 



^ Sir Richard Tempest and the Abbot 

 of Sawley made an exchange of their 

 oigangs in 1529 j Farrer, op. cit. 88. 

 After the suppression of the abbey the 

 Sawley ojcgang was granted to Sir Arthur 

 Darcy ; ibid. 129 ; L. and P. Hen. Fill 

 xiii(i), g. 1115(13). 



^ It seems to have been only a bam 

 site, given by Hugh son of Ralph de 

 Worston in 1 340 ; Whalley Couch. (Chet. 

 Soc), i, 323. Inquiry was made and 

 licence for alienation in mortmain was 

 granted ; Inq. p.m. 14 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.), 

 no. 31 ; Cal. Pat. 1340-3, p. 23. The 

 Braddyll family afterwards had some 

 land in Worston ; Towneley MS. C 8, 13, 

 B 12. 



^ Lay Subs. Lanes, bdle. 250, no. 9. 

 ' Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 385. The 

 grant included Twiston, 2 oxgangs in 

 Clitheroe, Great Mitton, Aighton, and 

 other lands to be held by the service due 

 for the moiety of a knight's fee. 



^ Ibid. 386. Downham, or part, was 

 added. 



^ See the account of Aighton. In 1 242 

 Ralph de Mitton held the fourth part of 

 a knight's fee in Aighton, Mearley and 

 Livesey ; it pertained to the dower of the 

 countess ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 150. Ralph 

 and Jordan were names used in the 

 Mitton family. Richard Nowell was 

 among the tenants of the same fourth 

 part in 1355 ; Feudal Aids, iii, 88. 



' This name occurs at Clitheroe, Mear- 

 ley, Twiston and Downham. 



' Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. II, no. 43. Adam 

 Nowell of Mearley alleged that Jordan 

 son of Ralph le Rous was formerly lord 

 of the lands and chase of Blackburnshire ; 

 that he granted to Stephen de Mearley, 

 great-grandfether of the plaintiff, the 



manor of Great Mearley, with liberty 

 to take wood for burning and building 

 from the woods of Sabden and Pendleton, 

 and with liberty of chase within the manor, 

 viz. between Sabden Brook and Remingden 

 Brook. The demesne hcys were excepted, 

 but animals might be followed into them, 

 though without bow and arrow, as far as a 

 horn could be heard. After the forfeiture 

 of Thomas Earl of Lancaster in 1322, 

 Adam's rights had been interfered with, 

 and on his complaint the king directed 

 an inquiry in 1326. The descent is then 

 given thus : Stephen -3. and h. Adam 

 Nowell -s. and h. Roger -3. and h. Adam, 

 the plaintiff. The jury found for the 

 plaintiff, stating that the service due for 

 the manor and chase was zod. for ward of 

 Lancaster Castle, finding a plough to 

 plough for one day in Lent in the demesne 

 of Standen, and a reaper to reap one day 

 in autumn ; the ploughmen to have ^d. 

 for their day's food and the reaper i^d. 



^ Ralph le Rous, the original grantee, 

 was living about 1 140, so that if he was 

 the same as the Ralph father of Jordan 

 the gift to Stephen de Mearley may be 

 dated about the time of Richard I. 



s Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 82. A Ralph de Mearley, who 

 may have been the father of Eve, about 

 the same time attested a grant by Alex- 

 ander the chaplain of Clitheroe to Geoffrey 

 son of Jordan of land in Mearley, which 

 he had received from the Lady Agnes de 

 Mearley ; a rent of %d. was to be paid on 

 St. Oswald's Day; Add. MS. 32104, fol. 

 140^. From this it appears that Agnes 

 held in her own right, so that the Adam 

 her son may be the Adam Nowell described 

 in the above-cited petition as son and heir 

 of Stephen de Mearley. If so he would 

 be grandson, not son, and this would make 

 the descent more probable. 



^ Final Cone, i, 181. Roger Nowell 

 married Elizabeth daughter and co-heir of 



375 



Richard Fitton ; see the account of Great 

 Harwood. A Robert Nowell occurs at 

 Clitheroe in 1274; Coram Rege R. 12, 

 m. 72. 



^0 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 3x8. 



^^ Ibid, ii, 13. In the same year he 

 made a claim against William son of 

 Alice de la Green (in Colne) for waste in 

 a tenement in Great Mearley. William 

 had pulled down a chamber, grange and 

 ox-house, and the jury awarded ,^20, as 

 treble damages ; De Banco R. 187, m. 

 41 d. ; 195, m. 203 d. 



^^ This appears from his claim of 1326 

 already cited. 



In 1302 Adam Nowell obtained a mes- 

 suage and the moiety of a mill in Great 

 Mearley from (his father) Roger Nowell ; 

 the remainder, in default of issue, was to 

 Adam's brother Roger ; Final Cone, i, 199. 



^^ Adam Nowell in 1327 granted half 

 his manor of Great Mearley to Richard 

 his son and Joan his wife j Towneley MS. 

 DD, no. 591. Adam Nowell and Richard 

 his son occur in 1341 ; ibid. no. 607. In 

 1342 Robert son of Sir Adam de Clitheroe 

 gave to Adam Nowell Thistleridding in 

 Mearley at a rent of 6s. Sd. j ibid, no, 

 920. This may be the Thistleridding in 

 Clitheroe afterwards held by the Radcliffes 

 of Todmorden. 



^'* In 1331 Adam son of Roger Nowell 

 gave a rent of 41. to his son Richard *thc 

 elder ' ; ibid. no. 606. In the following 

 year Richard surrendered to Adam his 

 father 2 acres by a deed to which Richard 

 son of Roger Nowell was a witness ; ibid, 

 no. 610. This may be the Richard *the 

 younger' whose existence is implied by 

 the former deed. One Richard Nowell 

 complained in 133 1 of depasturing in 

 Mearley by John Hitchcock j De Banco 

 R, 284, m. 64. Richard and William 

 Nowell were indicted for disturbing 

 Clitheroe market in 1350; Assize R. 

 430, m. 2. 



