BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



the termination 'stan ' is found in 1292. The loc;il 

 pronunciation is Simmonston. 



This township occupies part of the southern slope 

 of a long ridge to the north of Padiham and Nelson. 

 Going northwards from the Calder, which forms the 

 southern boundary, the surface rises from about 

 230 ft. above the ordnance datum to over 800 ft. 

 The village lies to the south-west of the centre ; 

 Huntroyde, with its extensive demesne, is on higher 

 land to the north and east. A considerable part of 

 the eastern boundary is defined by Huntroyde Brook, 

 which runs down a wooded clough to join the 

 Calder. Simonstone Brook flows south through the 

 centre of the township. The area is 1,026 acres * ; 

 there was a population of 491 in 1901. 



The principal road is that through the village, 

 joining Whalley and Padiham ; another road between 

 the same places runs about a mile to the north. 

 Near the southern bouniary is the road from 

 Padiham to Blackburn. A cross-road connects these 

 three. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's 

 loop line from Blackburn to Padiham and Burnley 

 crosses the lower ground in the south, and has a 

 station named Simonstone. 



The soil is clayey with subsoil of clay and rock. 



WHALLEY 



The land is in pasture. In 1552 there is mention 

 of coal-getting on the king's waste of Simonstone.^ 



The township is governed by a parish council. 



In the 13th century SIMONSTONE 

 MJNOR is found to be a member of the honor 

 of Clitheroe and held in thegnage by a 

 number of local families. It appears to have been 

 assessed as 5 oxgangs of land, and in 1258 four parts 

 rendered \zs, 9 J/ a year to the lord, while the 

 remaining fifth part— Huntroyde — was held by the 

 service of a pair of spurs or 2^'.^ The lordship of 

 the manor, with one of the oxgangs, was inherited or 

 acquired by Robert de Holden,^ who in 1311 held 

 it by the yearly rent of 3/. 2 J^. at the Feast of St. 

 Giles and suit to the three weeks court of Clitheroe.* 

 Soon afterwards the manor descended to his son 

 Nicholas,* who died about 1344, leaving his son 

 Robert to succeed him.' Robert was living in 

 1399,^ and was in 1411 succeeded by his grandson 

 Thomas Holden.^ Randle Holden occurs in the 

 reign of Edward IV. '*^ 



William Boswell '' of Chevct in Royston died in 

 I 5 13 holding messuages and lands in Simonstone of 

 the king as of his manor of Clitheroe in socage by a 

 rent of %ii, for puture of the bailiffs of the forest of 



' The Census Rep. 1901 gives 1,027 

 acres, including 5 acres of inland wster. 



'^ Duchy Plead, (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), iii, 133. 



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

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 217. Simonstone 

 continued to be reckoned among the mem- 

 bers of Clitheroe as late as 1699 ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 243, m. no. 



■• Deeds relating to the estate are in 

 Add. MS. 32104, no. 836, &c., but the 

 manner in which the Holdens acquired 

 possession does not appear, unless Nicholas 

 * the vicar' was their ancestor. To him 

 Alan son of Richard de Simonstone re- 

 leased all his title in a fifth part of the 

 viU — namely, that which Alan had from 

 Adam son of Adam de Simonstone — for 

 the rent of a barbed arrow ; and Geoffrey 

 son of Robert de Simonstone gave a parcel 

 of land ; ibid. no. 891, S97. 



Robert de Holden obtained a messuage 

 and three butts from Robert son of 

 Geoffrey de Simonstone, and another 

 messuage from Richard son of RobL^rt de 

 Braddeth ; ibid, no. 894, 850. From John 

 son of Roger the Cook he obtained a 

 capital messuage, part of the water-mill, 

 and the reversion of lands held by John's 

 mother Margery ; Towneley MS. DD, 

 no. 999, 1012. Roger the Cook's estate 

 seems to have been acquired in various 

 ways ; ibid, no. 1005, 1009, loii, 1016. 

 Geoffrey son of Robert de Simonstone 

 released to Master Roger the Cook of 

 Landeforet the rent of jl^d, due from 

 certain lands ; Add. MS. 32104, no. 878. 

 Alan son of ElHs de Simonstone 

 granted all his land in the territory of 

 Simonstone (held of Richard son of Adam) 

 to Robert son of Eustace de Warton ; 

 ibid, no, 889. The same Robert obtained 

 further land from Hugh son of Alan de 

 Simonstone, and from Geoffrey son of 

 Robert he had half of Goosclache in 

 Simonstone and land inRavensdenfield in 

 Read-^ DD, no. 1003, 1015, These ac- 

 quisitions he gave to Isabel his daughter ; 

 ibia. no, looo. Fossibly they descended 

 to the Holdens by marriage. 



* Lanes. Inq. and Extents, il, lO. The 

 iame inquest shows that Ellen de Laundy 



held an oxgang of land in thegnage by a 

 rent of 3i. z^J.^ and that Geoffrey de 

 Simonstone and Alyott de Simonstone 

 held half an oxgang and an oxgang (? half) 

 by rents of 15. y^d. and is. y^d. respec- 

 tively. The other portion, with a rent of 

 3i. I ft/., has not been recorded ; it may 

 have been held by John de Simonstone of 

 Huntroyde. 



** In 1313 Robert de Holden granted 

 all his lands, &c., in Simonstone to his 

 son Robert and his issue at a rent of 

 461. Sd. ; Add, MS. 32104, no. 851. To 

 the younger Robert, perhaps as trustee, 

 lands were in 13 15 given by Richard son 

 of Alan de Read ; ibid. no. 862, 856. He 

 was no doubt the Robert de Holden, 

 clerk, to whom in 1326 Thomas son of 

 Richard de Simonstone gave a messuage 

 and lands and the reversion of his mother 

 Cecily's dower ; ibid. no. S58. 



Nicholas son of Robert de Holden 

 made a number of acquisitions between 

 1317 and 1338. In the former year he 

 obtained land in a field called the Rodes ; 

 ibid, no. 845, From another grant 

 (no. 846) it seems that he held for life 

 certain tenements from Adam son of 

 Alexander de Simonstone. The said 

 Adam in 1329 claimed a rent of 71. from 

 Nicholas de Holden, but the latter showed 

 that he had it by Adam's own grant ; 

 Assize R. 427, m. 2. 



^ In 1328 Nicholas son of Robert de 

 Holden gave to Robert his son all his 

 messuages and lands in Simonstone ; 

 Add, MS, 32104, no. 867. In 1335 

 Nicholas and Margery his wife were re- 

 enfeoffed of their lands, Including the 

 reversion of the dower of Cecily widow 

 of Richard de Simonstone ; Ibid. no. 854. 

 Again in 1341 a settlement was made of 

 Nicholas's possessions, the reversion being 

 to his son Robert and his issue by liis 

 wife Katherine daughter of John de 

 Altham J ibid, no. 859, 853. In 1344 

 an agreement was made between Robert 

 the son of Nicholas and Margery the 

 widow as to her dower ; ibid. no. 876. 



^ Robert son of Nicholas de Holden in 

 1363 made a general feoffment of his 

 tenements, &c., in Simonstone, HasUng- 



497 



den and Chalgley ; Add. MS. 32104, 

 no. 870, This afibrds an indication that 

 the three Holden families of these town- 

 ships were related. Robert Page in 1369 

 granted lands in Simonstone and Read to 

 Robert de Holden ; ibid, no 847-8. In 

 1372 an agreement was made between 

 Sir John Savile and Robert de Holden 

 the latter's son John marrying Isabel 

 (? Savile), and having settled on him the 

 manors of Holden and Simonstone and 

 lands in Ewood and Byroun ; DD, 

 no. 1028. In I 399 Robert son of Nicholas 

 de Holden made a feoffment of these 

 lands; Add. MS. 32104, no, 849. 



Robert Holden and Alice his wife occur 

 In 1396 and \^o%-^ Lanes. Inq. p.vi. (Chet. 

 Soc), I, 41 ; Pal. of Lane. Chan. Misc. 

 1/8, m. 23/4. Alice was living in 141 3 ; 

 Towneley MS. DD, no. 998. 



^ Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App, 174. 

 Robert held the manor of Simonstone and 

 four messuages in the vill of the king as 

 of his duchy of Lancaster by the service 

 of thegnage. Thomas Holden son of John 

 son of Robert was thirty years of age. 



Thomas Holden occurs in 1426 and 

 1434 ; Final Cone, iii, 92 j Add. MS. 

 32104, no. 857, 869. 



1" Randle Holden and others as trustees 

 in 1479 demised to Thomas son of John 

 Harwood the third part of certain lands 

 in Blackburn ; John had married Joan 

 daughter of Randle Holden, The re- 

 mainder was to the heirs of Elizabeth 

 widow of Michael Harwood and sister of 

 Geoffrey Bastwisle, the former owner of 

 the land ; Add. MS. 32104, no. 875. In 

 the same collection of deeds is a bond 

 from Thomas Holden of Ewood, dated 

 1511 ; ibid. no. 874. 



^^ It is not known how the Boswells 

 acquired the estate ; for the pedigree see 

 Hunter, Doneaster Deanery, ii, 393. John 

 Boswell died In 1507 holding five mes- 

 suages, various lands and i2d. rent in 

 Simonstone of the king as of his manor of 

 Clitheroe by a rent of ^d. William Bos- 

 well, the son and heir, was about sixty 

 years old ; Add. MS. 32104, no. 836. It 

 will be noticed that the rent is not the same 

 as that of Robert de Holden in 1311. 



63 



