BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



but in the other bearing the date 1596, the '96,' 

 however, in the second shield appearing to have been 

 newly cut. On the north-east side of the fireplace," 

 under the stairs, is a small recess in the wall with a 

 curiously shaped opening narrowing at the bottom. 

 Immediately above the windows and fireplace, at the 

 height of 9 ft., a moulded string course runs round 

 the hall, marking presumably the ceiling height, but 

 a large projecting stone corbel at the angle of the bay 

 makes it difficult definitely to reconstitute the hall in 

 its original condition. 



Of the south-east wing only the walls, or some parts 

 of them, remain, and many alterations seem to have 

 been made. In the south corner is a large fireplace 

 opening 1 2 ft. wide, partly built up and made into 

 a closet, and there are two outer doors on the south- 

 east wall. The kitchen is 19 ft. square and now 

 forms the living room of a farm-house. 



An unusually large number of superstitious and 

 other stories are associated with the house."' 



As all the land in Trawden was copj-hold, the 

 descents can be traced by the Court Rolls. In 1528 

 a complaint was made that Nicholas Hartley, priest, 

 and others had occupied land called Witle)- House, 

 &c., in Beardshaw Booth to the injur)- of the other 

 tenants, and an award w.is made by a special jury, 

 who arranged for compensation for land used for 

 roads.'' A little later Henr}' Emmott was presented 

 for breaking soil on the waste in Beardshaw at Cathole 

 Clough, and there mining coals without licence." 

 In 1532 the king forbade the subdivision of estates in 

 the forest into small ' quillets ' ; each tenement 

 granted was to be of the clear annual value of 26/. 'id. 

 above all charges." 



In 1565 the queen ordered a water-mill to be built 

 on a piece of land called Blackscarr Croft — Black 

 Carr on the east of Trawden village ; the water- 

 raise for the dam was to be taken up at a place 

 called Graneforth Hole. Henry Farrer, of the 

 Ewood family, the promoter of the scheme, was 

 placed in possession, paying 5/. rent to the Crown 

 and rendering services like the other copyholders.'^ 

 In 1 567 he gave it to James Hargreaves and Lawrence 

 Robinson of Barrowford, and four supervisors were to 

 be appointed to see that the mill was kept in good 

 order." In 1596 Henry Farrer gave his part of the 



water-mill in Trawden to James Folds and others ; 

 the queen's rent was ^s. ifl'.™ In 1686 there was 

 enrolled at the Colne manor court an agreement 

 made in 1629 for 'every man's particular part of 

 and for bringing and carrying the water to and from 

 the said mill.' In 1693 it was recorded that F^liza- 

 beth Hartley died seised of the mill ; William Hartley 

 of Chatburn, the next of kin, was admitted to suc- 

 ceed.'" The tenants of Trawden were in 1509 

 charged \\\x.\\ obstructing the highway between 

 Emmott Bridge and Shelfield (in Marsden)." An 

 undated paper records subscriptions to a bridge at the 

 mill called Yallani Bridge." 



In 1686 .1 survey of the forest was made, recording 

 its exact boundaries, and various particulars as to the 

 holdings, wastes and other conditions then existing. 

 Three of the jurors were styled 'gentlemen,' viz. 

 Nicholas Cunliffe, James Folds of Trawden and 

 William Emmott of Emmott." The following is an 

 account of the boundaries : — 



The bounds, beginning in the north-west at the point where 

 Trawden Water joined Winewall Water, went up the brook to 

 Winewall Bridge, eastward by the ring fence of Winewall 

 grounds, till the junction witll Laneshaw Brook and Wycoller 

 Water, except a close called ' Ewewood Holme ' *^ on the 

 north-east side of Winewall Water, being Robert Hargreaves' 

 " land. Thence the bounds went by the ring fence by Wycoller 

 Water to a mere or floodgate across it called Emmott Floodgate, 

 where Ratton Clough Brook came in ; then up this clough to 

 the south corner of a close called Madman Hole ; thence by the 

 old fence to Fowl Leach in the lower end of Booth Lane, this 

 being the king's highway between Colne and East Bradford. 

 By this lane and Newfield Head and Bracken Hill the bounds 

 went to a building called Robert Lathe, and thence by Worm- 

 stall Bottom to the Laneshaw, which divides Trawden from 

 Colne ; ascending the river east to the fence dividing the free- 

 hold land In Monkroyd and the township of Foulridge from 

 Trawden j then crossing the river to the tongue of Laneshaw, 

 * which divides the forest or chase of Trawden from the 

 commons and wastes of Colne, lately improved or to be 

 improved.' 



Thence up the stream of Laneshaw to the rushbed in 

 the head of Laneshaw and thence to the east end of the 

 Wolf Stones, gives the bounds between Trawden and Icorn- 

 shaw. Thence descending the moors south to the Water- 

 shackles (sheddles) Cross and the standing stone, and down to 

 the crossing of a rivulet called Cockhill Clough or Oldsnopp 

 Clough, gives the boundary between Trawden and Oakworth. 

 Whence ascending the hill to the shrink of Crow Hill or 

 Crowbill Well, turning west to a mere called the Lad on the 

 top of Crow Hill or Skarth on Crow Hill, then down to a spot 

 opposite the end of the old ditch dividing Stanbury and 



" The illustration of the hall in Greg- 

 son's FortfoUo of Fragments, and the en- 

 - graving after H. Melville, 'Wycoller 

 Hall, Lancashire, Christmas 1650,' in 

 Baines, Lanes, (ed. i), iii, 244, show 

 the arrangements of the room reversed. 

 There is a measured drawing of the fire- 

 place end of the room in John 0' Gaunt 

 Sketch Book, vol. ii, pi. 50. 



'^ Ormcrod, Calderdale, 167. See 

 Manch. City News N. and Q. v, 173, for 

 legends connected therewith. The house 

 is supposed to be the original of Ferndean 

 Manor in Jane Eyre, and in the Thornton 

 edition of that work an illustration of 

 Wycoller Hall is given ; Shorter, Charlotte 

 Bronte (Literary Lives), 162. The 

 building is described by Halliwell Sut- 

 cliffe in Mistress Barbara Cunliffe. 



"^ Farrer, Clitheroe Ct. R. i, 294-8. A 

 measure called ' le metter of land ' was to 

 be used for allotting to the tenants the 

 parcels of compensation land. Old mes- 

 suages called * le asturs ' are named. 

 Occupation roads are called * aiez ' or 

 aUey«. 



'•■ Ibid. 305. 



^* Ibid. 317. The tenants made by- 

 laws for themselves ; e.g. ibid. 453. The 

 courts also punished unlawful games — as 

 ' scolcs ' (p. 423) or ' bawling ' (p. 453) — 

 the harbouring of beggars and other 

 offences. »* Ibid. 467. '' Ibid. 462. 



*8 W. Farrer's D. There were two 

 families named Folds or Foulds in Traw- 

 den from the settlement of 1509, one in 

 Wycoller and another in Beardshaw. 

 GeofFrey Folds appears In the latter in 

 1527 and his son James in 1547 ; 

 Farrer, op. cit. i, 375. James Folds of 

 Trawden died in 1635 holding lands 

 in Cold Conlston ; his son James was 

 thirty-four years old ; Inq. p.m. (W. 

 Farrer). A later James Foulds died about 

 1727, leaving a son James, aged sixteen j 

 Colne Ct. R. The son made his will in 

 1770, just before his death ; he left two 

 daughters as heirs, of whom the elder 

 (Mary) appears to have succeeded eventu- 

 ally to the whole property in Trawden, 

 Marsden and Colne. She died unmarried 

 about 1820, and was succeeded by a 



55'^ 



kinsman, James Pilling Foulds, who 

 failed to comply with one of the pro- 

 visions of the will of Miss Foulds, re- 

 quiring the tenant in tail to reside at the 

 mansion for a given period in each year. 

 After litigation the estate passed to a 

 cousin, William Pilling, who acquired the 

 fee simple and devised the property to his 

 numerous children, who, with the excep- 

 tion of one or two, have sold their estates. 



39 Elizabeth Hartley, late of Bradley, 

 was * daughter and heir of William 

 Hartley, son and heir of George Hartley 

 , surviving feoffee in trust of John 

 Hargreaves, late of Heyrod ' ; her heir 

 was her grandson George Hartley, who 

 died before admission, his kinsman 

 William succeeding. 



^^ Farrer, Clitheroe Ct. R. i, 247. 



^' W. Farrer's D. In the same col- 

 lection are Trawden rentals of 1608, 

 1675 and 16865 subsidy and assessment 

 accounts of 1664, 1678 and later. 



« W. Farrer's D. 



^3 The bounds of 'Ewood ' were settled 

 in 1553 i Farrer, op. cit. i, 400, 



