A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



hanilet of Ncwbriogc, and then, becoming the eastern 

 boundan-, flows south as Pendle Water to join the 

 Calder. At the north end of the township, on the 

 borders of Yorkshire, are Wheathead and BricrclifFe 

 on the west side of this stream and Blacko and Stone 

 Edge on the east side. Wanless standi on the 

 Foulridge boundary to the east of Blacko. Barrow- 

 ford village has Crow Trees on the north, Park Hill 

 and Ing to the east, and Fulshaw to the west. On 

 the south-west border stands Carr Hall, with Laund 

 to the north, and the former hamlet of Rishton 

 Thorns to the north-west. The hills rise up on 

 each side of the stream. In the north-west at 

 Wheathead on the border of Twiston and further 

 north on the county border, heights over 1,250 ft. 

 above sea level are attained, while in the north- 

 east, also on the county boundar)', 1,000 ft. is 

 reached at Blacko Hill' West of Barrowford the 

 hills rise from 380 ft. at the beck to over 800 ft. on 

 the border of Roughlee, by Noggarth End.' The 

 area is 2,365 J acres and in 1 901 the population 

 numbered 5,448. 



The principal road is that from Nelson north by 

 New Bridge through Barrowford and Blacko into 

 Yorkshire. From Barrowford other roads branch out 

 to Colne on the east and the forest townships on the 

 west ; there are various cross roads. The Nelson 

 and Colne railway does not enter this township, but 

 the Leeds and Liverpool Canal crosses the extern 

 side ; for the service of it there is a large reservoir. 



There are large cotton-mills at Barrowford and 

 Newbridge. The land is chiefly used for pasture, 

 there being 8 acres of arable land, 2,178 acres in 

 permanent grass and 16^ acres of woods and planta- 

 tions. The soil and subsoil are clayey with sand in 

 places lying upon sandstone rock. 



A local board of nine members was formed in 

 1S92 for the southern half of the township and this 

 became an urban district council in 1894. The 

 di-trict is divided into three wards — Central, Higher- 

 ford and Newbridge — each with three members. A 

 school board was formed in 1874.' In 1894 two 

 new townships were created,' viz. Barrowford, the 

 urban council district, and Blacko, the rural portion 

 to the north ; a small fragment of the township near 

 Carr Hall, where it had about 6 acres on the left 

 bank of Pendle Water connected by a ford with the 

 right bank, was separated from it and added to the 

 new township of Nelson. Blacko has a parish 

 council. The new township of Barrowford has an 

 area of 1,385 acres, including 39 of inland water ; 

 Blacko has 974 acres, including I of inland water. 

 The populations in 1901 were 4,959 and 485 

 respectively. 



Black's Cross stood in Barrowford.' 



The White Bear Inn is a picturesque 17th- 

 Lcntury" two-story house with mullioned windows, 

 now somewhat modernized but preserving externally 

 most of its ancient features. It was originally the 

 residence of the Hargreaves family and was known as 

 Hargreaves House. The exterior is of rough-cast and 

 many alterations have been made inside to ad.ipt the 

 house to the requirements of an inn, the old dining- 

 room scrv ing as the tap-room. The building stands 

 back from the road, and its surroundings now detract 

 much from its original picturesquencss. 



The site of Malkin Tower, which comes pro- 

 minently into the witchcraft trial of 1612 as the 

 meeting- place of the local witches, has been identified 

 with that of a building in Blacko, also called Blacko 

 Tower.' It stands in the extreme north-east corner 

 of the township, close to the Yorkshire border. 



William Hanson, born at Barrowford about 1595, 

 went abroad to become a Benedictine monk, taking 

 the name Alphonsus. He was sent on the English 

 mission, and, being captured by the Parliamentary 

 soldiers in 1644, he and another Benedictine were 

 driven so hard that they died of exhaustion.' 



Richard Baldwin, born at Park Hill in 1672, 

 became provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and died 

 in 1758, leaving his fortune to the college." 



There was no manor of Barrowford, 

 MANOR but in 1323-4 there were three vaccarics 

 in Barrowford proper and a close at 

 Blackay.'" Simon de Blakey held two in Barrow- 

 ford at a rent of 28^., John the Parker had the 

 third at 1 3/. 41/., and the close of Blackay was 

 tenanted by Richard de Marsden, who paid 20/." 

 Richard Shireburne in 1422 had both Over Barrow- 

 ford and Nether Barrowford, though by difierent 

 leacs, the former at ^^5 and the latter at ^^6 rent, 

 these being increases from the previous rents of jf 3 

 and j^4 loj." A number of tenants held them in 

 1459 by rents of ^4 and ^^4 6s. Sd. respectively, 

 against previous rents of ^^5 and ^^5 13/. 412'." The 

 rents remained unchanged in 1464 when William 

 Leyland held both vaccaries," also in 1 474, when 

 Robert Banastre was the tenant of Over Barrowford 

 and John Walton of Nether Barrowford." Richard 

 Banastre and John Walton similarly held them in 



The commissioners for deforesting in 1507 found 

 that Over Barrowford had been let to farm at £^, 

 and Nether Barrowford with a parcel adjoining called 

 Rishton Thorns at £^ lO^., and they granted them 

 to the old tenants for copyhold rents amounting to 

 _£i2 13/. 4^, in all. The rental of 1527 shows that 

 there were nineteen separate tenements formed, occu- 

 pied by John Hayke, Lawrence Hargreaves, Bernard 

 Hartley and others.'' The principal tenants in 



^ The *hiU called Blakhou* was on 

 the boundary according to an inquiry 

 made on the spot in 13+0; Cal. Fat. 

 1338-+0, pp. 535-6. 



^ Nugworth Bank occurs in a pleading 

 about Rishton Thorns cited later. 



* Land, Gd-z. 4 Dec. 1874. 



•* Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 3 161 7. 



" L::ncs. and Chcs, An::q, Soc. xriii, 

 54-, 



^A stone with the date 1607 is a 

 modem insertion, but may replace an 

 original one. The house probably belongs 

 to the first half of the 17th century. 



■ r.tts' D:scci'erie (Chet. Soc ), introd. 



» Gillow, Bibl. Diet, 0/ Engl. Cath. iii, 

 120. '^ from a Colne newspaper. 



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

 Lanes, and Chea.), il, 200, 



1^ Lana. Ct. R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.}, 72. *Blak:ay' is here recorded 

 under Pendle. 



^- Mins. Accts. bdlc. yS, no. 1498. 



^ Receivers' Accts. bdle. 89, no. 1648. 

 Over Barrowford was occupied by Law- 

 rence Hargreaves, Nicholas Hartley, 

 Ralph Cronkshaw, Christopher Hartley, 

 William Hargreaves, Christopher Blackay, 

 Robert Balholt, James Robinson and Law- 

 rence Hargreaves the younger. Nether 



542 



Barrowford was held by the same Law- 

 rence Hargreaves and others. 



''' Ibid. bdle. 90, no. 1649. He had 

 a grant of them in 1462 ; Whitaker, 

 fVhalleyy i, 298. 



^^ Receivers' Accts. bdle. 90, no, 1650. 



i« Ibid. no. 1662. 



" Duchy of Lane. Rentals, bdle. 5, 

 no. 12. The other tenants were Christo- 

 pher Baldwin, Christopher BUkcy, Jamci 

 Hartley (3), Lawrence Hartley (2), J' hn 

 Hargreaves, James Mitchell, Henry 

 Mitton, Christopher Robinson (2), Law- 

 rence Robinson, John Smith, John SuU 

 cliffc and John Wilson. 



