BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



Whalley Abbey and of the fifth or remaining part 

 of the manor. Roger Nowell thus became sole 

 lord." He was sheriff" in 1609-10," and was later a 

 zealous witch-hunter." A pedigree was recorded in 

 1 61 3.'* In 161 5-16 he obtained from the Crown a 

 charter for view of franicpledge, &c., in his manors of 

 Read and Simonstone." Roger Nowell died 1624, 

 and his son Roger h.iving died before him, the heir 

 was his grandson Roger, eighteen years of age. The 

 manor of Read was held of the king as duive by the 

 old rent of gj. 9a'. ; the Lower Hall was held of the 

 king in chief by knight's service and zs. \d. rent.'* 

 The heir in 163 1 paid ^£15 for having declined 

 knighthood.** 



Though the family had long been Protestant, 

 Roger Nowell at the outbreak of the Civil War took 

 the king's side. In face of the sequestration of his 

 estates he did not long persevere, surrendering before 

 December 1645, and soon afterwards petitioning for 

 'a favourable composition.' His fine was in 1649 

 fixed at ^£736 4J. 64?" After the Restoration he 

 showed himself an active persecutor of Thomas JoUie, 

 whom he had at first been inclined to favour, and his 

 nonconforming adherents." He recorded a pedigree 

 in 1664,^' and lived on till 1695, surviving his son 

 Alexander by a few months. Thus his grandson 

 Roger succeeded to the estates. His grandson Alex- 

 ander Nowell was the last of the line ; largely by his 

 extravagance the estates became much involved, and 

 after his death in 1772 were sold by order of the 

 Court of Chancery.'' 



The manor of Read was purchased by James 

 Hilton oi Pennington, who sold it in 1799 to the 

 Oakenshaw Printing Company. The estate, which 

 included also Parkhead and Moreton in Whalley, was 

 divided among the partners, Messrs. Taylor, Fort and 

 Hargreaves, and thus in 1 80 1 Richard Fort became 

 lord of the manor.'* He died in 1829, and has been 

 succeeded by his son John (d. 1842), grandson 

 Richard (d. 1868) and great-grandson Richard. 

 The last-named in 1896 sold the estate to Mr. Henry 

 Harrison Stuttard, now lord of the manor. No 

 rights of lordship are now in exercise."" 



READ HALL is a plain two-story stone building 

 of classic type, reconstructed from an older house 

 by Mr. Fort between 1818 and 1825."= The 

 south or principal front has a central semicircular 

 domed projection, with a colonnade of Ionic columns 

 on the ground floor supporting a railed balcony above. 

 The entrance is at the west under a portico of four 

 columns." The original building was an interesting 

 house with central hall and projecting end wings,'" 

 but it had been almost ruined by injudicious altera- 

 tions carried out by Alexander Nowell prior to 1772. 



In the time of Elizabeth there were a number of 

 disputes as to the right to dig stone and slate and 

 take turf on Read Moor," but the Nowells appear to 

 have gained decisions in their favour." It was found 

 by inquiry in 1598 that Read was not copyhold.*' 



The fifth part of the manor " held in 1 3 1 1 by 

 John de Holt" passed to his son John in 1324,*' and 

 about 141 o by Katherine daughter of a later John to 



widow Lcttice. She was a daughter of 

 Edward Braddyll, and the marriage had 

 takea place by 1577 ; Towneley MS. 

 C8, 13, B76. 



The will of Roger Nowell, dated 1585 

 and proved 1591,15 printed in Piccope, 

 Wilh (Chet. Soc), i, 113. He desired to 

 be buried under the 'throughe stone' on 

 the south side of Whalley Church where 

 his father and his son John were buried. 



-^ The Lower Hall, held of the queen 

 by knight's service and the rent of 25. 4^/., 

 was occupied by John Nowell before 1591; 

 but the fifth part of the manor, which 

 from the service seems to have been 

 involved with it, was acquired by the 

 younger Roger Nowell in 1595 from 

 Thomas Goodale ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdle. 57, m. 27. 



According to the inquisition of 1624 

 the Lower Hall, or Smarshalls farmhold, 

 had been purchased from Hamnet Ashton 

 or Elizabeth his wife. This, from the 

 entry in the Patent Roll, was part of the 

 Whalley Abbey estate. 



2< P.R.O. Lht, 73. 



*= In Potts' Ouco-uery (Chet. Soc.) he is 

 called ' a very religious, honest gentle- 

 man, painful in the service of his country.' 



2« Visit, of 1613 (Chet. Soc), 66 ; it 

 shows : Thomas Nowell -s. Roger -s. 

 Roger, living 1613 -s. Roger, aged thirty- 

 five — s. Roger, aged seven. 



^ Pat. 13 Jas. I, pt. iii. 



** Lams. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), iii, 420-9. The inquisition 

 records a number of family arrangements. 

 See also Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 69, 

 no. I. 



'^ Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 223. 



3" Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), iv, 233. He was 

 described as ' a strong malignant ' ; iVar in 

 Lanes. (Chet. Soc), 3 3. A brother Richard 



6 



was a captain in the king's army, and 

 was killed at the taking of Bristol in 

 1643 ; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), 221. 



»i Jollie's Note Bk. (Chet. Soc), 16, &c 



^^ Dugdale, Visit, loc cit. Settlements 

 of the manor of Read, &c, were made 

 by Roger Nowell in 1628 and 1654 ; 

 Pal. of Lane Feet of F. bdle. 114, no. 1 3 ; 

 153, no. 108. Roger, his son Alexander 

 and grandson Roger were at the Guild of 

 1682 ; Preston Guild R. (Rec Soc Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 192. 



^^ Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 39. The pedi- 

 gree (ibid.) shows a descent as follows : 

 Roger Nowell, d. 1695 -s. Alexander 

 -s. Roger, sheriff 1702, d. 1725 -s. 

 Roger, d. 1734 -bro. Alexander, d. 1750 

 -3. Alexander, d. 1772. 



The following recoveries of the manor, 

 &c, are recorded : 1718 — Pal. of Lane 

 Plea R. 509, m. 4, Roger Nowell j 1725 

 — ibid. 523, m. 4, Roger Nowell ; 1754 

 — ibid. 581, m. 2, Alexander Nowell, 

 An Act regulating the succession was 

 obtained in 1735-6 — 9 Geo. II, cap. 11 

 (private). 



For some later particulars of the 

 Nowell family see the pedigree in 

 Whitaker and corrections in Pai. Note Bk, 

 ii, 109. 



^* This part of the descent is from 

 Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 40. A pedigree 

 of Fort is inserted ; ibid. 41. John 

 Fort was M.P. for Clitheroe (Liberal) 

 1833-41, his son Richard in 1865, 

 and the later Mr. Fort in 1880 j Pink 

 and Beaven,Par/. Repre. of Lanes. 269-72. 



^^ Information of Mr. Stuttard. 



There are some Read deeds, letters, 

 &c., in Piccope MSS. (Chet. Lib.), iii, 

 138. 



3^ The architect was Webster of 

 Kendal, who did a great deal of work in 

 the district, as well as north of the Ribble, 

 at this period. 



505 



^^ Notes to Whitaker's PVhalley (ed. 4, 

 1876), ii, 39. 



^^ There is an engraving of the build- 

 ing as it was in 1750 in Whitaker's 

 Whalley, loc. cit. 



^3 Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 3 i 3 ; 

 iii, 376. 



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

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 238, 261, 274, 

 279. 



"*' Duchy of Lane Special Com. 563. 

 There was a further inquiry ten years 

 later ; ibid. 800. 



^^ It was called a fifth part because it 

 paid a fifth part of the oxgang rent, 

 xs. 3<^. ; in the later inquisitions this 

 becomes zs. ^d. 



■*^ Henry de Holt occurs in 1290; 

 Assize R. 1288, m. 14. He gave the 

 Abbot of Stanlaw in perpetuity a barn 

 which Peter de Chester had held for 

 life ; Whalley Couch. (Chet. Soc), i, 

 322. 



Siegrith daughter of Alexander de Read 

 gave to Henry son of Richard and her 

 sister Alice his wife all claim on the 

 third part of half an oxgang in Read ; 

 Towneley MS. DD, no. 523. John de 

 Whithalgh by Alice daughter of Hugh de 

 Read had three daughters, Agnes, Amery 

 and Alice (ibid. no. 535), of whom Alice 

 and Agnes made a release to Henry de 

 Holt and Alice his wife ; ibid. no. 529, 



530. 



*^ Lanes, Inq* and Extents^ ii, 186. In 

 1329 inquiry was made after the death 

 of John de Holt, who held a messuage 

 and land in Read of the castle and honor 

 of Clitheroe by a rent of i%d. yearly, and 

 it was found that his heir was a son 

 William aged twenty-six; Ibid, ii, 231. 

 This must refer to another Holt family. 

 Henry son of Thomas de Holt gave .1 

 release to John de Holt in 1320 j DD, 

 no. 526. 



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