A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



relative, in May 165 I, and, as he had never actually 

 been convicted of recusancy, the validity of the grant 

 was admitted and the sequestration discharged." His 

 mother, Dame Julian, then requested discharge of her 

 son's goods ; he was absent abroad by licence of the 

 Council of State. Time was then allowed him to 

 return, but it was intimated that he must abjure his 

 religion if he wished to recover his property. ''° 



Richard Walmesley recorded a pedigree in 1664, his 

 son Thomas being then six years old.^^ He died in 

 1679 ^^^ ^^^ succeeded by a younger son, Bartholo- 

 mew, who died in 1701.^' His son Francis dying 

 without issue, the whole estate went to a surviving 

 sister Catherine, who married Robert seventh Lord 

 Petre and after his death in 1 71 3 Charles Lord 

 Stourton. She had no children except a son by the 

 first marriage. She died in 1788, and Dunkenhalgh 

 and other Lancashire estates went according to her 

 will to her grandson Lord Petre's younger son, 

 George William Petre, born in 1766,^' from whom 

 they descended regularly to Mr. George Ernest 

 Augustus Henry Petre, who was born in i860 and 

 succeeded his father, the late Sir George Glynn 

 Petre, in 1905.'^ Mr. Petre is lord of the manors of 

 Rishton and Billington. 



DUXKENHJLGH HJLL is situated at the south- 

 west corner of the township on slightly rising ground 

 above the Hyndburn Brook, which forms the boundary 

 of the p.irk on the west side. In 1 799 Dr. Whitaker 

 wrote : ' The house of Dunkenhalgh, with the stables 

 and offices, nearly surrounds a large quadrangle, with 

 an arched and embattled gateway. From the style 

 and appearance great part of the building must have 

 been erected by Sir Thomas Walmesley, the judge, but 

 the south and part of the west side are of much higher 

 antiquity.' ™ In the following year, however, the 

 greater part of the house, which seems to have been 

 in a ruinous state, was pulled down and shortly after- 

 wards rebuilt '' in the castellated Gothic style of the 

 period, the present elevations dating from that time. 

 There is therefore very little ancient work to be seen 

 in the building, though no doubt much of the old 

 w.illing was incorporated in the restored structure. 

 The plan probably follows more or less that of the 

 original house, which seems to have been of the usual 

 type of central hall and projecting wings, but the 

 internal arrangements and fittings are almost wholly 

 modernized and the hall divided up. The building 

 is of two stories, its principal front facing north, and 

 is approached directly from the road between Clayton 

 and Rishton through a gate-house and avenue of lime 

 trees. The gate-house is apparently of 17th-century 

 date, but has been restored and the south front to tl^e 

 house faced with cement. It is built of coursed 



ashlar blocks, and is of two stories with battlemented 

 parapet and mullioned and transomed windows, one 

 at each side of the opening of two lights, and two of 

 three lights each, above. The gate-house is about 

 3S ft. in length and 18 ft. from front to back, the 

 gateway, which has a semicircular arch, being 10 ft. 

 wide. The elevation is similar on both sides, and is 

 divided at about half its height by a string course. 

 There is a projecting chimney at each end, and the 

 roof is flat. Over the archway facing the road is a 

 shield of six pieces, the first two of which, however, 

 are obliterated, and on the south side facing the hall 

 a blank panel. 



The north front of the hall, which is about 

 58 ft. in length with slightly projecting wings, is 

 faced with coursed ashlar blocks and has mullioned 

 and transomed windows, those to the recessed middle 

 part being of wood, and the detail is all thin and 

 poor. On the west or garden side, which is about 

 44 ft. long, the elevation is faced with cement, and 

 has as its principal feature a garden entrance porch 

 carried up in two octagonal turrets above the roof. 

 The house proper lies to the north and west of a 

 small irregular courtyard,'^- which is inclosed on its 

 east and south sides by stables and offices, and is 

 entered from the east end of the north front by a 

 modern Gothic archway, but so much rebuilding has 

 been done about the house that it is impossible to say 

 how much of the structure follows the original plan. 

 The south wing, which contains the kitchen and 

 offices, is slightly swung round to the east, suggesting 

 a reconstruction of an older building. The house 

 contains some oak panelling and fittings brought from 

 Hacking Hall, Billington, and has a handsome oak 

 staircase with square newels and turned balusters, 

 apparently of early 18th-century dnte. 



In the garden on the south side is a rather elaborate 

 undated facet-headed sundial, with cup-shaped dials 

 on a circular stone pedestal, and further away on the 

 same side a simpler dial, with plate but no gnomon, 

 the square sto;ie shaft of which bears the initials 5"^, 

 and the date 1685. In another part of the gardens 

 are a number of old stones, including fragments of 

 the 17th-century house, a carved angel and shield 

 panel taken from the gable of an old house in 

 Billington, and two small stone corn-mills which 

 were found in a sandpit at Rishton.'' 



Further Sparth, or Sparth House, was purchased 

 from Ralph Rishton by Christopher CunlifFe in i 556,''' 

 and by him bequeathed to his son Robert in 1563.'' 

 Robert, who died in 1580, likewise bequeathed it to 

 his son Christopher,'^ and Christopher dying in 1614 

 was found to hold his messuage in Clayton-le-Moors 

 of Nathaniel Banastre of Altham in socage by i Ja'. 



«■• Cal. Com. for Comp. It, 2880. 



" Ibid. Richard Walmesley was stay- 

 ing at the English College at Rome in 

 1647-8 ; Foley, Rec. S. 7. vi, 63;'. 



« Dugdale, Fisit. (Chet. Soc), 327. 

 Three of his daughters became nuns. 



^ This outline of the descent is derived 

 from the pedigree in Whitaker, Whalley, 

 ii, 280. 



«s Son of Robert Edward, ninth lord 

 (d. 1801), son of Robert James, eighth 

 lord (d. I 7+2), son of Catherine Walmes- 

 ley ; G.E.C. Complete Parage, vi, 248. 



" The later descents have been : G. W. 

 Petre, d. 1857 -s. Henry William 

 (who beque'ithed Samlesbury and Darwen 



to his youngest son Edward) d.v.p. 1852 

 —eldest 8. Henry, d. 1 900 -bro. Sir 

 George Glynn, d. 1905. Sir George was 

 employed in the diplomatic service ; 

 K.C.M.G. 1890. 



'» Hht. of Whalley (ed. 1, 1 800), bk. iv, 

 ch. IT, 391. 



'' Whitaker adds in a note, ' Since 

 this was written the greater part of the 

 house growing ruinous was pulled down, 

 and the portraits are thrown into a 

 garret.* 



'- This may represent the ' large quad- 

 rangle' of Dr. TVhitaker, but if so his 

 description was scarcely correct. 



'^ There is also a stone inscribed, 



422 



'Erected by Catherine Lady Stourton, 

 1782,' and another 'Erected by Will" Ic 

 Jane Smith 1773.' The latter was found 

 in one of the garden sheds on the east 

 side of the house, but to what building 

 either stone originally belonged is doubtful. 



" Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. i6, 

 m. 24. 



" Will dated and proved 1563 5 Grace 

 his wife and other children are mentioned. 

 Sparth was held in socage. Three Cun- 

 liffe wills referred to arc printed in }VilU 

 (Chet. Soc. new ser.), iii, i, 2, 19. 



'"• Will dated 1578 and proved i?8oi 

 his wife, d.ju^'hteri and a number of kint- 

 men are named. 



