BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



He died in 1 617, leaving Thomas, then nineteen 

 years of age, to inherit the family estate.™ Thomas 

 Birtwisle in or about 162 1 married Margaret daughter 

 of Thomas Clayton, late of Church," and about 



1630 compounded by an annual fine of jf 10 for the 

 two-thirds of his estate liable to sequestration for 

 recusancy ; his mother Dorothy at the same time 

 compounded for £^." His lands were, however, 

 sequestered under the Commonwealth for his re- 

 cusancy and delinquency," and though he protested 

 that he had never borne arms against the Parliament " 

 they were at last declared forfeit and sold.'^ He 

 survived his troubles and recorded a pedigree in 1 664,'° 

 but the Birtwisles afterwards disappear from view," 

 and it is not clear what became of their estate. 

 Huncoat Hall was in 1825 the property of Mr. Foot, 

 but before 1839 had been acquired by the Towneleys, 

 from whom it came to the present owner, the Earl 

 of Abingdon." 



The Banastres of Altham held land in Huncoat of 

 the king in socage.'' Edmund Townley of Green- 

 field held half a messuage in 1598, but the tenure 

 was not recorded.*" John Ormerod of Huncoat in 



163 1 paid j^io for having refused knighthood." 

 Only a few other references to the township have 

 been noticed." 



The Subsidy Rolls show the following owners of 

 land : 1524, Matthew Jackson and the wife of 

 Oliver Birtwisle ; 1543, George Birtwisle, Christopher 

 Jackson and the widow of Nicholas Grimshaw ; 

 1600, John Birtwisle, John Jackson and Janet his 

 mother ; 1626, Thomas Birtwisle and his mother 

 (both convicted recusants) and Christopher Jackson." 

 Thomas Birtwisle's house had seven hearths liable to 

 the tax in 1666, another house had four and two 

 had three ; the total number for the township was 

 thirty-seven hearths." The chief contributors to the 

 land tax in 1787 were Mrs. Chadwick and Messrs. 

 Brewer and Cams." 



St. Augustine's mission church was built in 1886 

 as a chapel of ease to Church. 



The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel, built 

 in 1844 and rebuilt 1869,** and the Baptists also 

 have one, dating from 181 7— 18, and rebuilt in 

 1871." 



ALTHAM 



Alvetham, 1256 ; Altham, 1383. 



This township extends from the River Calder 

 southwards for more than 2 miles ; the surface 

 gradually rises till near the southern border a height 

 of more than 600 ft. above sea level is attained. 

 Through the centre a small brook flows north to join 

 the Calder ; the upper part of its course is down a 

 wooded clough. Shorten Brook forms part of the 

 eastern boundary. The hamlet of Altham stands 

 near the Calder ; by the canal are other hamlets 

 called Higher Firs and Head o' th' Town ; in the 

 south-west corner is part of the village of Henfield in 

 Clayton-le-Moors. The area is 1,439^ acres.' The 

 population in 1 90 1 numbered 785. 



The principal road is that from Clayton-le-Moors 

 to Padiham, which crosses the Calder at Altham 

 Bridge. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal goes through 

 the centre of the township from east to west. 



The township is governed by a parish council. 



To the county lay of 1624, which was founded on 

 the old fifteenth, Altham paid ^^i Oj-. z^d., Clayton 

 12s. 9(2'., Old Accrington 14/. 2<2'. and New Accrington 

 £1 ijs. %d. — a total of £\ 4;. 'i\d. when the 

 hundred had to raise j^ioc* 



Coal mines are worked and stone quarries also ; 

 bricks are made and there are chemical works. The 

 soil is heavy, overlying clay, and the land is mostly 

 used for pasture, 1,204 acres being in permanent 

 grass and 44 in woods and plantations ; there is no 

 arable land.' The Corporation of Burnley have 

 sewage works in the township. 



Included in the honor of Clitheroe, 

 MANOR ALTHAM was granted by Henry de 

 Lacy, who died in 11 77, to Hugh son 

 of Leofwine, together with Clayton, Accrington and 

 a moiety of Billington.' The service to be rendered 

 was that due from half a knight's fee. Accrington 

 and Billington were afterwards separated, but Clayton- 

 le-Moors continued to be a dependency of Altham, 

 and the manor was sometimes called Altham and 

 Clayton. Hugh endowed the chapel or church of 

 Altham,* and was succeeded by a son William. He 

 confirmed the grant of Accrington to Kirkstall,' and 



^^ hand. /«y./>.w. (Rcc. Soc.),ii, loi— 2; 

 the estate was the same as before, Thomas 

 Walmesley and Nicholas Grimshaw being 

 lords of Clayton. 



8' Towncley MS. DD, no. 5 So. 



'3 Trans. Hist, Soc. (new ser.), xxiv, 

 174. 



^' Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 182. He and his 

 family were destitute in 1653. 



8^ Cal. Com, for Advance of Money, iii, 

 1273. 



'* Index of Royalists (Index Soc), 42. 



'« Dugdale, t^isit, (Chet. Soc), 35. 

 Thomas Birtwisle was sixty-five years old 

 and his son John forty-one. 



'' An Edward Birtwisle entered Douay 

 in 1681, and was D.D. in 1694 ; Knox, 

 Douay Diaries, 49, 86. 



^ Information of Mr. G. Ernest Greg- 

 son. 



''So Nicholas Banastre in 1537 and a 

 later Nicholas in 1612 ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Inq. p.m. viii, no. 31 ; Lanes. Inq, p,m, 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 236. 



*'' Duchy of Lane. Inq, p.m. xvii, no. 

 >3- 



*^ Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 217. 



^"^ In 14T 3 Richard s:)n of John Collin- 

 son of Hillhouses agreed with Ralph son 

 of Thomas Aspden, who had married his 

 daughter Alice, that if he (Richard) had 

 no issue by Agnes his wife his lands in 

 Huncoat should go to Ralph and Alice, 

 to be held according to the custom of the 

 manor of Accrington ; Dunkenhalgh D. ; 

 Towneley MS. HH, no. 75. 



James Ashton in 1545—7 ^^^ disputes 

 with Joan widow of John Bulhalgh or 

 BuUaugh respecting a messuage and 

 lands at Whiteridding } Ducatus Lane, 

 (Rec. Com,), i, 179 ; ii, 93. 



The Ryley family occurs later, when it 

 appeared again that lands in Huncoat 

 were held of the manor of Accrington ; 

 ibid, iii, 74, 425. 



Lands called Erlnelield and Simhole 

 are named, ibid, iii, 329. 



*' Lay Subs. Lanes, bdles. 130, no. 82, 

 125 ; 131, no. 274, 317. 



^^ Ibid. 250, no. 9. 



^^ Land tax returns at Preston. 



<« Mannex, Dir. " Ibid. 



411 



^ The Census Rep. 1901 gives 1,438 

 acres, including 26 of inland water. 



^ Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 



23- 



* Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 

 ■* The charter is printed in Whitaker, 



PVhalhy^ ii, 265. See also Kuerden MSS. 

 ii, fol. 214. 



* See the account of the church. 

 Hugh had other sons, Henry the 



Clerk, Thomas and Alan. The first was 

 ancestor of the Clayton family, the 

 second, as Thomas son of Hugh de Alt- 

 ham, made a grant to Henry the Clerk of 

 Altham, his brother } ICuerden, loc. cit. 

 Alan de Altham also gave to Henry the 

 Clerk his brother 2 oxgangs of land in 

 Clayton to be held by knight's service of 

 his lord and brother William de Altham ; 

 Towneley MS. DD, no. 1619. One of 

 the witnesses was Stephen, Prior of St. 

 Katherine's. 



fi Whitaker, op, cit. ii, 286. William 

 son of Hugh de Altham, with the assent 

 of Richard his son and heir, was the bene- 

 factor. This cannot be the William of 

 1277 who was son of Richard. 



