BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



Towneley."' The Townele}'s were usually farmers of 

 the mills," and numerous disputes occurred as to the 

 suit to these mills." In 1548 the copyholders of 

 Burnley complained that whereas they had had from 

 time immemorial unlimited right of common on Saxi- 

 field and Marsden Edge for pasture and turbary, various 

 inhabitants of Pendle Forest had lately sent horses, 

 cattle and various ' kind of nawte ' to feed there ; 

 when these had been impounded. Sir Richard Towne- 

 ley's servants had broken the pound and sent the 

 animals back to the waste. In reply, Henry Nutter 

 of Pendle Chase, Thomas Ryley of Hapton and 

 others asserted rights of pasturage on Saxifield." By 

 a survey made in 1594 it was found that in Burnley 

 and Habergham Eaves there were 378 acres of free- 

 hold land and 1,575^ acres of ancient copyhold ; there 

 were eight freeholders and fifty-five copyholders \vho 

 had no freehold land." Twenty-seven copyhold 

 tenements were recorded in a survey of 161 7.'' In 

 accordance with the decree of inclosure in 1 6 1 8 the 

 whole h.is long been divided." 



The following landowners contributed to the 

 subsidy of 1524: Richard Townley, Simon Hay- 

 dock, Hugh Habergham, Lawrence Shuttleworth, 

 John Woodroffe, Richard Tattersall, Richard Towne 

 and William Folds.'" To that of 1564: Alexander 

 Radcliffe and John Woodroffe in Burnley ; and 

 Lawrence Habergham, Hugh Shuttleworth and 

 Jennet Barcroft in Habergham Eaves." To that of 

 1597 : Nicholas Townley and Katherine his mother, 

 Simon Haydock, William Folds, Robert Ingham, 

 Lawrence Habergham, Hugh Halsted, James Bancroft, 

 John Whitaker, John Haworth, James Tattersall, 

 Richard Pollard.'* To that of 1626 : Richard Towne- 

 ley, Richard Shuttleworth, Nicholas Townley, John 

 Habergham, Evan Haydock, Hugh Halsted, Nicholas 

 Bancroft, Robert Tattersall, Robert Whitaker, Robert 

 Ingham, William Folds and George Halsted. Towne- 

 5ey and Haydock, being convicted recusants, paid 

 double, and a number of others paid %d. each for 

 other defiance of the laws concerning religion.'' 



In 1666 in Burnley there were 171 hearths to be 

 taxed. The largest dwellings were the following : 

 Nicholas Townley, nine ; Mrs. Isabel Townley, 

 eight ; William Tarleton, John Ridihalgh, John 

 Ingham and Simon Haydock, six each ; Thomas 

 Boulton, William Boulton, Thomas Jackson, John 

 Clarkson and James Walmsley the younger, five each.'* 

 With the gxovrth of the town a 

 BOROUGH century ago some change in its govern- 

 ment became necessary. An Act was 

 obtained in 1 8 19 giving the control of the watching, 

 lighting, cleansing and general 

 regulation of the town to a 

 body consisting of the chief 

 constable, deputy constables 

 and sixteen commissioners 

 chosen from the inhabitants.'* 

 In the same year a Private Act 

 was obtained for waterworks'"; 

 in 1824 gas-works were estab- 

 lished " ; a market place, also 

 owned by shareholders, was 

 opened near the centre of the 

 town in 1 8 3 1 ." By a further 

 Improvement Act in 1 846 the 

 number of commissioners was 

 increased to sixty, the boundary 

 being a circle drawn round the 

 town three-quarters of a mile 

 from the centre." At the same 

 time the water works were 

 purchased by the town,'" the 

 gas-works being acquired in 1854." 

 at Rose Grove was opened in 1856. 



In 1 86 1 a charter of incorporation was granted, 

 the government being vested in a mayor, eight alder- 

 men and twenty-four councillors." A coat of arms 

 was granted at the same time. The market and 

 market rights were purchased by the corporation in 

 1 866," and a new market hall was erected in 

 1868-70."' An attempt had been made in 1832 



Borough of Burnley. 

 Or a cheueron engrailed 

 gules betiveen in chiej 

 fwo lozenges sable and 

 in base a lion rampant 

 of the third, on a chiej 

 tva'vjr of the last a dexter 

 hand appaumy argent 

 betiveen ttto bees 'volant 

 of the field. 



The cemetery 



that the lands were liable to be swept 

 away by the river, and the Committee 

 for Compounding were asked to provide 

 against it, as the people were afraid their 

 passage to church and market would be 

 stopped and their houses endangered. 

 The sequestration was due to John Grim- 

 shaw's recusancy ; Cal, Com. for Comp, 

 i, 489. 



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

 and Ches.), i, 94. 



" In 1508 Robert Rishton transferred 

 to Sir John Tov.neley the corn-mill of 

 Burnley for twenty- one years at ^^3 6s. id. 

 rent; Towneley MS. C 8, 13 (Chet. 

 Lib.), R 56. For later leases from the 

 Crown see Pat. 2 Jas. I, pt. xvii (to 

 BaskerviUe) ; 7 Jas. I, pt. xxxiii (to 

 Ferrers, Sec). 



^^ Ducatus Lane, i, 177, 246 ; iii, 28 ; 

 Lanes, and Ches. Ree. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 238, &c. Early in Eliza- 

 beth's reign Alexander Radcliffe had 

 Burnley Mill by lease from Henry VIII, 

 and complained that various freeholders 

 and copyholders were withholding suit. 

 The reply was that they were at liberty 

 to grind either at Burnley or at Padiham, 

 and before the Padiham Mill was built 

 (fifty years earlier) at Hapton ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Plead. Eliz. Ixix, R 5. 



™ Duchy of Lane. Dcp. Edw. VI, 

 Ivii, T I. 



" Folds D.; Whitaker, Whalley, ii, 179. 

 The freeholders were : John Towneley, 

 esq., Lawrence Habergham, Charles 

 Ryley, Hugh Halstead, John Woodroffe, 

 Edmund Robinson and Simon Haydock ; 

 also the glebe (35 acres). 



'" Towneley MS. ' Honor of Clitheioe.' 

 The holders were : Richard Towneley, 

 esq., Nicholas Townley, esq., Lawrence 

 Towneley, esq., Evan Haydock, gent., 

 the feoffees of Burnley School, Richard 

 Aspden, Thomas Barcroft of Lodge, 

 William Barcroft of Barcroft, Thomas 

 Brewer, Ralph Clough, Abraham Coult- 

 hurst, James Emott and John Banister 

 (in right of wives), James Folds, Richard 

 Folds, George Halstead, John Halstead 

 of Rowley, Robert Hodgson, Robert 

 Ingham of FuUedge, Henry Jackson, John 

 Peel, John Robert and Richard Wood, 

 Geoffrey Rushton, James Sagar, John 

 Smith, John Tattersall, Richard Towne, 

 Henry Walton and John Wilkinson. 



™ Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 179. 



■'"' Subs. R. Lanes, bdle. 130, no. 82. 



81 Ibid. bdle. 131, no. 212. 



82 Ibid. 274. 

 88 Ibid. 317. 



S"" Ibid. bdle. 250, no. 9. 



85 Act 59 Geo. Ill, cap. 34. There 

 are many amending and augmenting 

 Acts. 



88 Act 59 Geo. Ill, cap. 32. Reservoirs 



447 



were made at Heyssndforth and on 

 the south of the town, in Habergham 

 Eaves. 



^^ The company was Incorporated in 

 1826 by the Act 7 Geo. IV, cap. 36, 

 The first works were at Saunder's Bank 

 or Finsley Meadow, just beyond the 

 south border of the township. Further 

 works were erected at Stonyholme about 

 1850. 



^s On a piece of land called Thorncroft. 

 A new market-place was formed in 

 1852. 



^9 Act 9 & 10 Vict. cap. 119. The 

 area was divided into three wards : Burnley 

 North, Burnley South and Habergham 

 Eaves. 



90 New reservoirs were then formed in 

 Worsihorne and Extwistle, and great ex- 

 tensions have since been made. There 

 are reservoirs at Swinden, Hecknest and 

 Cant Clough, and a compensation reser- 

 voir at Lee Green. The corporation in 

 i88g acquired the Padiham Water 

 Works. 



i*^ Act 17 & 18 Vict. cap. ^■]. 



9^ The charter is dated 2+ Oct. 1861. 



^^ Act 28 & 29 Vict. cap. 24, 230. 

 The market limits are the townships of 

 Burnley and Habergham Eaves. 



^' There is a separate cattle market. 

 Abattoirs on the site of the old workhouse 

 were opened in 1879. 



