BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



was followed by another brother, Sir John ; he died 

 the following year, when the baronetcy became 

 extinct, and on a division of the estates the manor of 

 Whalley went to his nephew Sir Ralph Assheton of 

 Middleton,^^ son of his sister Anne, and descended 

 to the Curzon family, who alienated it.^" 



The Braddyll estate, or moiety of the manor, on 

 the death of John Braddyll in 

 September 1578, descended 

 to his son Edward, then aged 

 forty-four .^'^ Edward Braddyll 

 acquired the Portfield estate,'^ 

 which became the chief resi- 

 dence of the family, and died 

 at Billington in 1 607, leaving 

 a son John, aged fifty.'' This 

 John died at Portfield in 

 1 616, leaving a son of the 

 same name, aged twenty-five 

 or m o r e.'* In 1633 a 

 settlement of the manor of 

 Whalley and various lands 



was made by John Braddyll and Margaret his wife.'^ 

 On the outbreak of the Civil War he took the 

 Parliament's side,'* and his eldest son John at once 

 raised a company of ' stout men ' who made a 



Braddyll of Whalley. 

 Argent a cross loxengy 

 •vert over all a bend 

 gobony ermine and azure. 



name for themselves,'' but their captain was killed 

 in July 1643 at the siege of Sir William Lister's 

 house at Thornton in Craven." John Braddyll the 

 father survived till 1655, and was followed by his 

 son Thomas, who recorded a pedigree, in 1664," 

 and lived to see the Revolution, dying in 1 706, aged 

 eighty-four.^" His son John, who married Sarah 

 Dodding, the heiress of Conishead, lived at Ulverston, 

 and his descendants retained it till some fifty years ago. 

 The Whalley estate was sold by Wilson Gale Braddyll 

 to James Whalley of Clerk Hill. Thus in 1794 the 

 lords of the manor were Penn Assheton Curzon 

 and James Whalley.*"" No manor is now known. 



The Cistercian ' Locus Benedictus de 

 JBBET Whalley' was founded in 1296, and none 

 of the buildings on its site are anterior 

 to that date.'*! Gregory de Northbury, Abbot of 

 Stanlaw, with twenty monks, on 4 April 1296 took 

 up his residence in the old parsonage pending the 

 building of the new abbey. The site of this par- 

 sonage is probably marked by the early 1 6th-century 

 building which was the abbot's lodging at the time 

 of the forfeiture in 1536, and became the residence 

 of the Assheton family. 



The first stone of the buildings was laid on the 

 morrow of St. Barnabas (12 June), 1296, by Henry 



tions concerning his note-books, including 

 the following : ' Whereas I have taken 

 much pains in the progress of my life in 

 taking and transcribing divinity notes out 

 of several books and authors as I have 

 haply met with in my reading, my desire 

 is that some knowing and diligent scholar 

 may be employed seriously with leisure to 

 peruse them all over, being in three folio 

 books with parchment covers, and if any- 

 thing should be found in them worthy of 

 printing, that then some course may be 

 taken for the publishing of them ' ; ibid. 



For disputes as to the mills, 1687-92, 

 see Exch. Dep, (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 72-3. 



"9 G.E .C. loc. cit. 



'" This Ralph Assheton,"second baronet, 

 died in 1716, leaving three daughters as 

 co-heirs. Mary, the second, married Sir 

 Nathaniel Curzon of Kedleaton, and was 

 succeeded at Whalley by a younger son 

 Assheton Curzon, created Baron Curzon 

 of Perm 1794 and Viscount Curzon 

 1802. At his death in 1820, his son Penn 

 Assheton Curzon having died in 1797, he 

 was succeeded by his grandson Richard 

 William Penn Curzon-Howe, created Earl 

 Howe in 1 820 ; Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 23 ; 

 G.E.C. op. cit. iii, 113 ; Complete Peerage, 

 ii, 444 ; iv, 270. Earl Howe, who died 

 in 1870, sold Whalley in 1834 to Robert 

 Whalley, John Taylor and Adam Cottam ; 

 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1 870), ii, 10. A settle- 

 ment of the manor of Whalley was made 

 in 1756 by Sir N. Curzon and Maty his 

 wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 354, 

 m. 175. A recovery is recorded in 1787; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 646, m. 5 d. Also 

 a fine in 1805 — Hugh Leycester v. Vis- 

 count Curzon ; Lent Assizes 45 Geo. III. 



" Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, no. 

 85. The estate is not described as a 

 manor but as a capital messuage, and 

 twelve other messuages, &c., in Whalley, 

 held of the queen in chief by knighf s 

 service. John Braddyll was buried at 

 Whalley 18 Nov. 1578 ; Reg. His will 

 (1575) is printed by Piccope, Wills (Chet. 

 Soc), ii, 106-13. 



John Braddyll acquired certain mes- 



suages in Whalley and Great Harwood 

 from Richard Assheton in 1554 ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 15, m. 132. Ed- 

 ward Braddyll made a purchase from John 

 Forster in 1586 ; ibid. bdle. 48, m. 106. 

 Ducatus Lane, (Rec. Com.), iii, 198, 213. 



'' Henry VHI granted Portfield on 

 lease to John Brown of Whalley, who by 

 his will of 1545 left one moiety to his 

 wife Joan and the other to his bastard son 

 John Brown. Joan granted her interest 

 in 1557 to her daughter Margaret, who 

 married John Seller, and after Joan's 

 death a little later John Brown claimed 

 the whole and tried to drive the Sellers 

 out, according to their statement, his com- 

 rades using violence and taking their 

 cattle off to Clitheroe ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Plead. Phil, and Mary, xl, S 9. John 

 Brown, aged thirty-one, in reply denied 

 any violence or injury to the cattle ; his 

 companions had merely come to help him 

 to sow his corn (in May). One of them 

 admitted having been at 'the fletcher's' 

 and bringing a bow and arrows of his 

 own, and then seeing a crow he shot at 

 it J * his arrow chanced to glance into the 

 highway, in which way John and Mar- 

 garet Seller came walking, and the arrow 

 came not near the said Seller by 100 

 yards ' ; Duchy of Lane. Dep. Ixxvi, S 3 ; 

 Ixxxi, 83^. 



William Seller died in 1596 holding 

 a messuage in Whalley of Ralph Assheton 

 as of his manor of Whalley in socage ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, no. 72. 

 The heir was a son Christopher, aged 

 about thirty. One of the name was 

 buried at Whalley on 7 Dec. 1599 ; Reg. 



Another (? the same) William Seller 

 was found to have died in 1603 holding 

 a messuage. Sec, in Whalley of the king 

 in chief by the two-hundredth part of a 

 knight's fee ; his son and heir Chris- 

 topher was over sixty in 1624 ; Lanes. 

 Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc), iii, 434. A Chris- 

 topher Seller was baptized at Whalley 

 6 June 1556; Reg. He died in 1631, 

 when his heir was a grandson William 

 (son of William), aged fourteen ; Duchy 

 of Lane Inq. p.m. xxviii, no. 60. 



^^ Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 86—9 ; the Whalley estate 

 was held of the king in chief by knight's 

 service. Portfield had been given to 

 John Braddyll and Elizabeth his wife, 

 daughter of "Thomas Brockholes of Claugh- 

 ton, in 1580. 



In Add. MS. 32104, fol. 2ioi, is the 

 short will of Edward Braddyll, dated 1606; 

 the inventory amounted to ,^116 Jj. 

 Towneley adds a note of the marriage of 

 his daughters ; Jenet to Thomas son of 

 the above-named Thomas Brockholes, 

 Dorothy to John Talbot of Carr, and 

 Anne to Thomas Southworth of High- 

 field (Lancaster). 



'* Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc), ii, 107- 

 10 ; the tenure was described as before. 

 Elizabeth widow of John was living at 

 Whalley in 1619. 



35 Pal. of Lane Feet of F. bdle. 123, 

 no. 13. Margaret was the second wife 

 and mother of the Thomas who suc- 

 ceeded, 



3® John Braddyll was added to the com- 

 mission of the peace by the Parliament in 

 Oct. 1642 ; Civil JVar Tracts, 60. He 

 does not appear to have taken an active 

 share in the war. 



3' War in Lanes. (Chet. Soc), IJ. 



'8 Whitaker, Craven (ed. Morant), 123, 

 quoting Towneley MSS. 



'1 Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), 47 5 his 

 son John was four years old . Several of 

 Thomas Braddyll's letters are printed in 

 the Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 

 where there arc various other allusions to 

 him. 



*^ See the pedigree in Whitaker, Whalley, 

 ii, 3, and the account of Conishead. The 

 descent is thus given : John Braddyll d. 

 1728 -s. Dodding d. 1748 -s. Thomas d. 

 1776, having bequeathed his estates to 

 Wilson Gale (son of Sarah daughter of 

 Margaret daughter of John Braddyll), who 

 took the name of Braddyll and died in 

 181 8. Their house of Portfield has long 

 been destroyed ; ibid. 19. 



'"» Preston Guardian Local Sketches, no. 

 1 126, 



" V.C.H. Lams, ii, m 



383 



