BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



estate at Cowden Brook or Cole Clough descended to 

 the Veevers family.'' 



TOWNELEr^' was about 1200 granted by 

 Roger de Lacy to Geoffrey son of Robert the Dean 

 of Whalley, who was authorized to maintain a dwell- 

 ing-place there for use when hunting in the district. 

 The land was assessed as 2 oxgangs and was to be 

 taken from a tract of country the bounds of which 

 began at Thorny Clough, went down the Calder, 

 and followed this stream as far as Bradbridge ; going 

 thence to Dedsyke, to Hawksnest Clough head, 

 Pikedlow, Crombrook to its head, Withenslack head, 

 Middlehill, Thornley syke head, and Thorny Clough. 

 Geoffrey was to share in the common pasture of 

 Burnley and have right of chase outside the lord's 

 demesne heys. Lands in Coldcoats and Snodsworth in 

 Billington were quitclaimed to him. For the whole 

 estate, 8 oxgangs of land in all, Geoffrey and his heirs 

 were to render the service due for the tenth part of a 

 knight's fee.'' 



The succession of the Deans of Whalley has been 

 related in the account of the church there. The 

 early descent of Towneley is far from clear. In 1242 

 Henry Gedleng held the tenth 

 part of a knight's fee in 

 Towneley, Coldcoats and 

 Snodsworth, all being in- 

 cluded in the dower of the 

 Countess of Lincoln.'* The 

 name ' Gedleng ' does not 

 occur again ; Henry was pro- 

 bably the Henry de Towneley 

 who, together with his brother 

 Richard and son William, 

 attested a charter by which 

 Adam Abbot of Kirkstall 

 (1249-59) granted to Walter 

 the chaplain of Towneley 



certain land in Cliviger." Henry de Towneley attested 

 a Worsthorne deed about the same time." The next 

 in possession, so far as is known, was a Richard de 



TowNKny of Towne- 

 ley. Argent a Jesse tuith 

 three mullets in chief 

 sable. 



Towneley, whose heirs in 1295-6 paid 10/. as relief 

 on succeeding to the threefold estate," but a Nicholas 

 de Towneley is named among certain county mag- 

 nates in 1292." In 1302 John de Catterall and his 

 parceners held the eighth part of a fee in Towneley 

 and its members." Cecily de Towneley in her 

 widowhood in the following year granted to John 

 son of Gilbert de la Legh all the lands she had by 

 reversion of dower in Towneley, Brunshaw and 

 Worsthorne.'" In 1 3 1 1 the heirs of Towneley held 

 Brunshaw and Towneley for homage and by the 

 service of i8j. 3a'., doing suit at the court of 

 Clitheroe from three weeks to three weeks." 



Light is thrown on the succession by a pleading in 

 1315, when Robert de Gretton and Agnes his wife 

 complained that John de Legh and Cecily his wife, 

 Philip de Clayton and Isabel his wife had refused to 

 make partition of the manor of Towneley, which 

 Agnes, Cecily and Isabel had inherited from their 

 brother Nicholas de Towneley.*^ The three co-heirs 

 appear again in 1322 holding as in 1302.'" John 

 de Legh was in 1323 charged with unlawful hunting 

 in the East Moors in Towneley and in Cliviger, but 

 he justified himself on the ground that it was his 

 wife's right." 



John de Legh was the son of Gilbert de Legh of 

 Hapton, otherwise Gilbert son of Michael, the head 

 stock-keeper of the Accrington vaccaries in 1296 and 

 later.*' John de Legh was living in 1333*° and 

 1339," but may have died before his father," being 

 succeeded by his son Gilbert. Gilbert de Legh and 

 others held the tenth or eighth part of a knight's fee 

 about 1350.'' In 1372 the feoffees of Gilbert son 

 of John de Legh granted to other trustees that third 

 part of the manor of Towneley which had formerly 

 been held by Philip de Clayton and Isabel his wife,'" 

 and in 138 1 William son of Richard the Parker re- 

 leased to Gilbert de Legh and John son of Richard 

 de Towneley all his right in that third part which 

 formerly belonged to his kinsman John son of John 

 de Catterall." Thus the whole manor was reunited. 



^^ There was a succession of John 

 Sagers, the last of whom (about 1772) 

 gave his estates to his nephew Thomas 

 Veevers son of his sister Ellen ; Clitheroe 

 Ct. R. 



*^ Tunleia, c. 1200 ; Tounley, Toune- 

 ley, 1296; Thunley, 1302; Tounleye, 



IBIS- 

 ES Whitaker, Whalley, ii, 189. There 

 is an inaccurate abstract in Kuerden fol. 

 MS. 233. 



^ Lanes, Inq, and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 150. 



35 Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 198. The 

 chaplain may have been Walter de Towne- 

 ley serving the chapel at Holme in Cliviger. 



'' Ibid, ii, 229. 



" De Lacy Compoti (Chet. Soc), 13. 



'S Cal. Close, 1288-96, p. 263. He was 

 among those released from the common 

 summons of the eyre for common pleas 

 for Lancashire. He attested a charter 

 concerning lands in Burnley and Brier- 

 cliffe ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 85. Isolda, his widow, was 

 living in 1328 ; Final Cone, (same Soc), 

 ii, 75, ^^ Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 318. 



« Towneley MS. C 8, 13, T 61. 



^^ Lanes. Inq. and Extents, ii, 7, 



■•^ De Banco R. 208, m. 124 d. 



*3 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, ii, I 34. Here 

 ' Grettoa ' appears as * Brocton.' In 1 3 24 

 Robert de * Grotton ' claimed 10 acres in 



Burnley against William the Harper ; 



De Banco R. 251, m. 78 d. 



It is evident that Agnes had previously 



married John de Catterall, and had issue 



by him. 



■" Plac. Abbre-u. (Rec. Com.), 344, 347. 



The bounds within which his right lay 



were from Thriseden (Thursden) Head on 



the east to Bradley Brook on the west, 



and from Saxifield Dyke on the north to 



Crombrook on the south, 



** De Lacy Compoti, 38, 99. He had 



a grant of land in Cliviger in 1 302 ; 



Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 203. He was 



assessed at Cliviger in 1332; Exch. Lay 

 Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 74. 



He was living in 1336. For John son of 

 Gilbert de Legh and Cecily his wife, 

 daughter of Richard de Towneley, see the 

 account of Hapton, where other details of 

 the descent are given. 



*^ John de Legh contributed to the 

 subsidy of 1332 ; ibid. yS, In the same 

 year he and Philip de Clayton were jurors ; 

 Whalley Couch. \v, 995. Gilbert and John 

 de Legh were among the more important 

 parishioners in 1334, when a settlement 

 about the tithe of hay was made with the 

 Abbot of Whalley ; ibid, i, 313. Lawrence 

 son of John de Legh also occurs in 

 1342-3 ; ibid, i, 326, 329. 



*' In 1339 Gilbert son of John de la 

 Legh gave to John his father certain lands 



457 



in Burnley received from Philip de Clayton 

 and Isabel his wife ; Towneley MS. 

 C8, 13, L166. 



*s Part of an indenture dated 1356 testi- 

 fies that John son of Gilbert de Legh was 

 bound (to someone) to pay 100 marks a 

 year for the tenements he had had of the 

 gift of Cecily daughter of Richard de 

 Towneley and Adam de Botden in Burnley 

 and Worsthorne ; Towneley MS. C 8, 13, 

 T238. It is not clear that John was 

 living. 



^^ Gilbert de Legh, in conjunction with 

 the heirs of John de Catterall and of 

 Philip de Clayton, in 1 34.9 held the eighth 

 part of a knight's fee in Towneley, &c.; 

 Lansdowne Feodary in Baines' Lanes. 

 (ed. 1870), ii, 693. 



Gilbert de Legh alone in 1355 answered 

 forthe/(f«^-4part of a fee there formerly held 

 by Henry <GoldIng' ; Feud. Aids, iil, 88. 



50 C 8, 13, L 192, B 265. In the 

 former deed this third part is stated to 

 have been given by the grandfather Gilbert 

 to Gilbert son of John. It was purchased 

 from the Claytons by Gilbert de Legh 

 in 1328 ; Final Cone, ii, 75. In 1379 

 Gilbert son of John de Legh made a 

 feoffment of the third part of the manor 

 of Towneley, with his chase, &c. ; Towne- 

 ley MS. C8, 13, L163, 



51 Ibid. P 58, T 89 i Final Cone. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), Iil, ii. 



