A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



of permanent gr3=s in the district, 13 acres of arable 

 land and the same of woods and plantations.' 

 Dr. Aikin, writing in 1795, says : — 



Haslingden ha? been greatly improved within the last twenty 

 years, chiefly from the increase of the woollen manufacture, 

 though much of the cotton trade has likewise been introduced 

 within a few years, particularly the branch of making twist for 

 warps, for which purpose alone several factories have been 

 erected in its neighbourhood. . . . The people were (forty years 

 since) chiefly employed by moneyed men at Rochdale ; but now 

 the trade is supported by capitals acquired on the spot by the 

 industry and enterprising spirit of the manufacturers, who have 

 erected inns for the entertainment of travellers, shops and 

 handsome houses for their own residence. A square is lately 

 planned here, and some capital houses are already built in it. . . . 

 .A. number of mills for carding cotton and sheep's wool and 

 spinning them into cotton twist and woollen yarn for the flannels 

 made here, are erected upon the Swinnell. There is also a 

 corn mill on the river, formerly belonging to the Holden family, 

 now extinct,® 



The principal buildings in the town include the 

 court-house, formerly called the town hall, buiit in 

 1852, the public hall. Conservative and Liberal clubs. 

 At Hclmshore also are political clubs. 



The Territorials are represented by part of a com- 

 pany of the 5th Battalion East Lancashire Regiment, 

 originally formed in 1862 as the Haslingden Rifle 

 \'oIunteers. 



A weekly newspaper is publi-hed, called the 

 Hr.ilir,:^ It- 11 Gur.r./ian. 



The lords of Clitheroe appear at fir-t 

 MJSORS to have regarded HJSLISCDEK as 

 part of their demesne immediately de- 

 pendent on Clitheroe itself,' though it is grouped 

 with Colne in the compoti of I 296 and i 305. Rossen- 

 dale was included in it. Later, however, it w.is a 

 member of the manor of Accrington,'' anJ, though 

 ■ imetimes named as a distinct manor,' the dependence 

 on Accrington continues to the present time. In 

 I 241 the annual v.ilue of Hnslingden to the lord was 

 estimated at ^^3 15;. 5a'.,"' while in 1305 the rents 

 received amounted to [^\ Gt^fid. ; I/, more was paid 

 for a new approvement of 3 acres, and the mill 

 yielded I \s. 4<z'." Somewhat different figures were 



recorded in 131 1 : tenants at will paid 61/. \d. for 

 183J acres of land, the water-mill was worth 10/., 

 and there were three free tenants, viz. Sir Robert de 

 Holland for the Ewood, 5/. ; Robert de Holden for 

 40 acres, i y. I \d. ; and Adam de Holden for 

 60 acres, zs. These rents were payable on St. Giles's 

 Day." The net amount of the rents in 1323 was 

 [(> 18/. S./." 



Of the free tenancies EWOOD seems to have been 

 held in 1269 by Hugh de Thewood, for Robert de 

 Haslingden, outlawed for felony, then held of him a 

 messuage and land by a rent of 12^'." In 131 1, as 

 shown above, it was held by Sir Robert de Holland, 

 and probably afterwards he was made mesne lord 

 between the other free tenants and the Earl of 

 Lancaster, for, as will be seen later, the Holdens in 

 the 16th and 17th centuries held of the owner of 

 Ewood. Yet Ewood does not seem to have been 

 called a manor, and the Hollands did not retain it." 

 Probably it became divided, and Ewood like Has- 

 lingden was used as a surname.'* The story is very 

 obscure, but the Andertons seem to have had an 

 interest there in the 1 5th century," and to have been 

 succeeded by the Gartsides in the 1 6th" and the 

 Gregor) s in the I 7th. Robert Gregory of Ewood 

 died about 1625 holding his land of the king as of 

 the castle of Clitheroe. The heir was a son 

 Charles, aged eight." Charles Gregory w.is a 

 member of the Presbyterian Clns'is in 1646,'° and 

 in 1662 John Gregory paid the rent of 5/. due for 

 Ewood." 



HOLDEN proper was no doubt the estate held 

 by Adam de Holden in 1311. Henry de Lacy had 

 in 1272 granted to Adam son of Robert de Holden 

 land which William son of Keelin and William his 

 son had held in Haslingden, and which had been 

 forfeited by the hanging of William for felony ; a 

 rent of 2/. was to be paid at Pentecost and Martinmas." 

 It was perhaps the same Adam who was still living in 

 I 31 I. About that time or earlier the feoffees granted 

 to Robert son of Adam de Holden various lands in 

 Haslingden, Habergham and Hundersiield, with 



' Statistics from Bd. of .Agrlc. (1905). 



* Aikin, Country Tound M.incA, 276-7. 

 In 1825 a coach parsed through it daily 

 on its way from Clitheroe by Whalley to 

 Manchester, returning in the evening, 

 and another coach went to Manchester 

 tlircc days a week, to Blackburn once, 

 and to Rochdale once; fiaines, op. cit. i, 

 6+9. 



^ In the court of Clitheroe in 1324 

 Adam the reeve '-f Haslingden was allowed 

 to resign his office, paving 21. ; Lanci. Ct. 

 R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.\ 5-. 



^ See the 16th-century pleadnr- calen- 

 dared in Ducatui Lane, and Wlii taker, 

 Whalley^ i, 2g2. 



^ c.g. in 16x5 and 1699; Lanes, and 

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

 ii, 292 ; Pal. of Lane Feet of F. bdle. 

 24;, m. no. 



l'-" Lanes, In^, and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, i;?. 



^^ De Lacy Compoti (Ctict. Soc), 100. 



^* Lanes, Ir.q, and Extents, ii, 9. 



" Ibid. 188. 



1' Itid. i, 255. Robert had killed 

 U'ion de Haslingden, 



** Thurstan de Holland in 1352 com- 

 plained that Henr)' de Holden of Rossen- 

 dale and others had depastured his grass 

 at Ewood ; De Banco R. 408, m. ; 5 d. 



'• John son nf William dc Ewood in 

 13^2 had as mainpernor Robert son of 

 Adam dc Holden ; Assize R. 434, 

 m. 5. 



" Oliver and James Anderton were 

 tenants in Haslingden in 1443 i Farrer, 

 C.':tfierce Ct, R, 502. 



'' In the time of Henry VII there was 

 a dispute as to messuages, &c., in Has- 

 lingden between Hugh Gartside and 

 Thurstan Anderton ; Dueatus Lane. (Rec. 

 Com.), i, 116. In 151 8-19 Hugh Gart- 

 side claimed Ewood against Oliver Ander- 

 ton and others ; ibid, ii, 16. Hugh Gart- 

 side contributed for lands to the subsidy 

 of 1543 ; Lay Subs. Lanes, bdle. 130, 

 no. 125, A little later, in 1546-7, James 

 (son of Hugh) Anderton claimed a mes- 

 suage, <kc., in Haslingden against Hugh 

 Gartside ; the plaintiff was nephew of 

 Christopher son of Ellen Anderton ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Writs Proton. 37 Hen. VIII ; 

 Plea R. 183, m. 9. 



The tenants of Haslingden complained 

 in 1554-5 that Roger Gartside had en- 

 croached on the common of Haslingden 

 in the lordship of Accrington, and a little 

 later Francis Gartside was plaintiff; Du- 

 eatiu Lane, i, 278, 295. Hugh and James 

 Anderton appear about the same time 

 (1555-60) in pleadings reif ecting Sunny- 



field, Swinehill, Dog Meadow, &c, ; ibid, 

 ii, 144, 219. 



Edward Rawstorne in 1587 acquired 

 from Hugh Gartside two mesFuages and a 

 water-mill in Haslingden ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 49, no. 71. 



Ralph Holden of Ewood was a free- 

 holder in 1600 and died in 1616, being 

 then described as a yeoman, holding his 

 messuage in Haslingden of Francis Gart- 

 side by 4ji/. rent.; Mise. (Rec, Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 235 ; Lanes, Inq.p.m. (same 

 soc), ii, 63. The heir was a son Oliver 

 Holden, aged eighteen. 



" Towneley MS. C 8, 1 3 (Chet. Lib.), 

 462. 



From a deed quoted later it appears 

 that a Charles Gregory was greave of 

 Haslingden in 1539, Another Charles 

 held land there in 1591 ; Dueatus Lane. 

 iii, 256, 



» The will of Charles Gregory of 

 Ewood, yeoman, was proved at Chester 

 in 1649. 



"1 Clitheroe Survey, a Towneley MS. 

 in possession of W. Farrer. 



"C8, 13, H 209; printed in Whit- 

 aker, ffhalley, ii, 301, Whitaker ai!erts 

 that the tenure of Holden was in later 

 times changed from freehold to copyhold ; 

 ibid, 304. 



428 



