A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



limlet of Ncn IriJgc, and then, 1 ccoming the eastern 

 bound.iry, flow; south 3^ Pendle ^\'.^tcr to join the 

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

 borders of Yorkshire, arc Whcathead and Briercliffe 

 on the Avest side of this stream and Blacko and Stone 

 Edge on the east side. Wanless stands on the 

 Foulridge boundar}- to the east of Blacko. Barrow- 

 ford village has Crow Trees on the north, Park Hill 

 and Ing to the east, and Fulshaiv 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 boundary, 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^ acres and in 1901 the population 

 numbered 5,44^- 



The principal road is that from N'elson north by 

 Xcw 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 v.irious cross roads. The Nelson 

 and Colne railway does not enter this township, but 

 the Leeds and Liverpool Canal crosses the evtern 

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



There .ire large cotton-mills at Barrowford and 

 Newbridge. The land is chiefly used for pasture, 

 there being 8 acres of arable LinJ, 2,17s acres in 

 permanent grass and l6| 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 

 1892 lor the southern half of the township and this 

 became an urban district council in 1894. The 

 ditrlct 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. Bl.icko 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 Bj.it Inn is a picturesque i:t'i- 

 ^cntury" two-story house with muliioned windows, 

 novv somewhat modernized but prescr\ ing externally 

 most of its ancient fe.iturcs. It was originally the 

 residence of the Hargie.ives family and was known as 

 Hargreaves House. The exterior is of rough-cast and 

 many alterations have been made inside to adapt the 

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

 room serving as the tap-room. The building stands 

 back from the road, and its surroundings now detract 

 much from its original picturesqueness. 



The site of Malkin Tower, which comes pro- 

 minently into the witchcraft trial of 1612 as the 

 meeting-place of the local w itches, 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 1 323-4 there were three vaccarics 

 in Barrowford proper and a close at 

 Blackay." Simon de Blakcy held two in Barrow- 

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

 third at 1 3/. 4/, 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 different 

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

 these being increases from the previous rents of ^^3 

 and j^4 10/." A number of tenants held them in 

 1459 by rents of £\ and £^ 6s. %d. respectively, 

 against previous rents of ^£5 and ^^5 13/. 4./." The 

 rents remained unchanged in 1464 when William 

 Leyland held both vaccaries," also in 1474, 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 ^4, 

 and Nether Barrowford with a parcel adjoining called 

 Rishton Thorns at £i^ \os., and they granted them 

 to the old tenants for copyhold rents amounting to 

 £\T. 13/. \d. 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 



1 The *hill called Bhkhou' was on 

 the boundary according to an inquiry 

 made on the spot in 13405 Cal. Pat, 

 I3jS-+o, pp. 555-6. 



^ Nugworth Bank occurs in a pleading 

 about Rishton Thorns cited later. 



8 Lond. Gjc. 4. Dec. 1874. 



■• Loc Get. Ed. Order 31617. 



" L.:r.ci. d-J Ches. Anriq. Sec. xriii, 

 ?+■ 



*A stone with the date 1607 is a 

 modern insertion, but may replace an 

 original one. The house probably belongs 

 to the first half of the I 7th century. 



" Pitts' D::ai'(rii (Chet. Soc ), introd. 



8 Gillow, Si hi. Diet, of Engl. Cath. iii, 

 120, ^ From a Colne newspaper. 



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

 Lanes, and Ches,), ii, 200. 



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

 Ches.), 72. * Blakay ' is here recorded 

 under Pendle. 



^-' Min?. Accts. bdle, 76, no. 1498. 



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

 Over Barrowford was occupied by Law- 

 rence Hargreaves, Nicholas Hartley, 

 Ralph Cronksh^w, Christopher Hartley, 

 William Hargreaves, Christopher Blackay, 

 Robert Balholt, James Robinson and Law- 

 rence Hargreaves the younger. Nether 



Barrowford was held by the =ame Law- 

 rence Hargreaves and others, 



'*• Ibid. bdle. 90, no. 1649. He had 

 a grant of them in 1462 j Whitakcr, 

 IVhalUy, i, 298. 



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



'* Ibid. no. 1662. 



" Duchy of Lane. Rental, bdle. 5, 

 no. 1 2. 'The other tenants were Christo- 

 pher Baldwin, Christopher Biakcy, Jamei 

 Hartley (3), Lawrence Hartley (2), John 

 Hargreaves, James Mitchell, Henry 

 Mitton, Christopher Robinson (2), Law- 

 rence Robinson, John Smith, John Sut- 

 cliffe and John Wilson. 



