A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



an incre.vc on the old rent of 5 m.irks while Robert 

 Blakay had Xcther Ru.ijhlee for ^4.* In 1459 both 

 of the vaccariei were held together for a rent of /8 

 as against a former £<^ by William Nutter, Thomas 

 Robinson, Christopher Baldwin and Peter Jackson.' 

 Three years later William Leyland obtained a grant 

 of the herbage and pasture of a number of the vaLC.iries 

 in Pendle, including the Roughlee Booths ; in 1466 

 he obtained a ten years' leaie of them,' but in i 4-4 

 William Nutter held them at ^^8 rent/ A lease for 

 seven years at the same rent was in 1484 granted to 

 Hugh Gartside and Nicholas his son,^ and in 1495 

 Thomas Walton was the tenant.' 



In 1 507 the pasture and vaccary called Over 

 Roughlee and Nether Roughlee, otherwise Roughlee 

 Booths, old rent £(), were demised by copy of Court 

 Roll for £\l 6s. %J. a year to Christopher Baldwin, 

 Christopher Smith, Peter Smith, John Smith, John 

 Bibby, Henry jMitton, William Mitton, Richard 

 Nutter, Lawrence Nutter, Piers Robinson, John 

 Robinson, Bertram Robinson and Nicholas Robinson.^** 

 The five principal cop}hold tenants in 1527 uere 

 John Hartley, Miles Nutter, William Baldwin and 

 the wives of Christopher and John Baldwin." John 

 Smith of Roughlee was a freeholder in 1600.'- 

 John CunlifFe, Christopher Baldwin and Roger Mitton 

 had the l.irgest holdings in 1607 " ; and Christopher 

 Baldwin (late Henry Baldwin), John Hartley and 

 John Cunliffe in 1662.'^ 



The most interesting personage connected with 

 Roughlee is Alice Nutter, one of those accused of 

 witchcraft, and hanged at Lancaster in 1612. She 

 was the wife of Richard son of Miles Nutter, and 

 had a son Miles and other children ; her paternal 

 name does not appear to be known. She stood out 

 from the others accused as being ' a rich woman, 

 [who] had a great estate and children of good hope : 

 in the common opinion of the world, of good temper, 

 free from envy or malice.' The charges against her 

 were that she was present at the witches' meeting at 

 Malkin Tower, and that with old Elizabeth Device 

 she had conspired to kill Henry Mitton of Roughlee 

 because he had refused to give Device a penny. She 

 resolutely denied her guilt ; as the recorder says, 

 ' she died very impenitent, insomuch as her own 

 children were never able to move her to confess any 

 particular offence or declare anything, even in artkulo 

 mortis.' '' The estate of Roughlee Hall has been 

 recently acquired by Mr. Henry Bukock of Burnley. 



ROUGHLEE HJLL stands in a picturesque 

 situation a short distance from the left bank of 

 Pendle Water, which here flows in a north-easterly 

 direction. It is a long low two-story 16th-century 



buildiny, built of local stone and with stone slated 

 roots. The house is now in a very dilapidated state 

 and is fast going to ruin, only the north wing being 

 inhabited, and presents a very desolate appearance, 

 nearly all the windows being built up. The end 

 wings ha\e a projection of only 3 ft., which together 

 with the rather unusual length of the building, which 

 is over 90 ft., gives it a rather flat and low appear- 

 ance. The plan follows the usual type of central 

 hall and end wings, the hall window being of nine 

 lights, with smaller three-light windows on each side. 

 The other windows are of six, seven, eight and nine 

 lights, all with rounded heads and without transoms. 

 The lower windows in the south-west wing have, how- 

 ever, been replaced by square sashes, which in their 

 turn have been built up in brick. There is a large 

 projecting stone chimney, with two diagonally-set 

 shafts and ornamental panelling below at the north- 

 east end, and another plainer chimney at the back of 

 the south-west wing ; and at the south end of the 

 building is a small one-story projection under a lean- 

 to roof, in the lower part of the wall of which is an 

 inscribed stone, now nearly illegible, but said to 

 read, 'This house was builded by M. N. in the year 

 of Our Lord 1536.''° The initials are those of 

 Miles Nutter. The house is sometimes known as 

 the Witches' Hall, it having been the residence of 

 Alice Nutter. 



Wesley preached in Roughlee about 1 747 and 

 later, and the Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel 

 there.'" 



WHEATLEY CARR BOOTH 



Whetley, 1423 ; Wheteleycarre, 1464 ; Whiteley 

 Carre, 1474; Whitleycarr, 1495. 



This small township, only 254 acres ^ in extent, 

 was considered extra-parochial.^ It lies on the right 

 bank of Pendle Water, from which the ground rises 

 200 ft. towards the north-west to Wheatley Lane. 

 It was long divided into three tenements — Wheatley 

 Carr, Wheatley Laith and Higher Wheatley ; this 

 last is now the Inghamites' chapel. A small stream 

 flows through Higgen Clough, lying rather on the 

 eastern side, where villa residences have been erected 

 in recent years. A bridle road traverses the township 

 and crosses Pendle Water by a ford opposite Lome- 

 shaye Mills. 



The soil is clayey and the land is devoted to 

 pasturage. A small strip of the township along the 

 left bank of Pendle Water was in 1 896 added to 

 Nelson.' The population in 190 1 numbered 47. 



* Duchy of Lane. Mins. Accts. bdle. 

 76, no. 1498. The following note is 

 added : * A phit of new improvement in 

 Pendle near Blackbroolt, called Holtroud- 

 stones (old rent 4J.), nothing j because 

 the house lately built there by the tenant 

 has been removed and the place void, for 

 that it was to the injury of the vaccaries 

 of Over Roughlee and Nether Roughlee.' 



* Duchy of Lane. Receivers' Accts. 

 bdle. 89, no. 1648. 



« Whitaker, fFhalUy, I, 298. 

 ' Receivers' Accts. bdle. 90, no. 

 1650. 



^ Whitaker, op. cit. i, 299. 



* Receivers' Accts. bdle. 91, no. 1662. 

 '" MS. at Huntroydr. 



" Duchy of Lane. Rentals, bdle. ;, 

 no. 12. The other tenants were Peter 

 Smith, James, Nicholas and Peter Robin- 

 son, William Mitton, John Smith, senior 

 and junior, the wife of Christopher Smith, 

 John Hurst, Miles Robinson and Richard 

 Bibby. 



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

 i, 236. 



" Grimshaw MS. 



n Honor of Clitheroe MS. 



UPom' Discovery (Chet. Soc), O3. 

 The editor mentions stories that Jennet 

 Device was instructed to accuse her by 

 her own nearest relatives, who were 

 anxious to obtain her inheritance, and 

 that Roger Nowcll, the active prose- 



520 



cuting magistrate, had a grudge against 

 her through some boundary dispute ; 

 ibid. Iv. Miles Nutter of Over Roughlee, 

 aged fifty-five, was a witness in 1^41 ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Dep. Hen. VIII, xl, 

 R I, He was one of the jury at the 

 visitation in 1521; H^halley Act Bk. 

 (Chet. Soc), 73. 



"' Ormerod, CaUcrdale, 1 54. The date 

 is quite indecipherable, and is sometimes 

 given as 1586. 



" J. Carr, Annals of Colne, I 58. 



'The Census Ref>. of i^oi gives 151 

 acres, including 6 of inland water. 



'' That is, it belonged to Clithefoe 

 Castle parish. 



» Local Govt. Bd. Ordff 35017. 



