A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Tumuli at Winkley 10 are supposed to mark the 

 scene of some ancient struggle for the passage of the 

 river, but the chief historical event is the stay of 

 Cromwell at Stonyhurst on two occasions in August 

 1648. u The Jacobite rising of I 71 5 caused some 

 excitement. In Chaigley there are remains of a 

 barracks in which soldiers were then stationed in order 

 to quell the country. 12 



Apart from the Shireburnes the most distinguished 

 native was Henry Holden, D.D., a Roman Catholic 

 divine born in 1596 at Chaigley. He took part in 

 the controversies of the time, and was himself sus- 

 pected of Jansenism, unjustly as it appears. He lived 

 abroad for the most part and became vicar-general of 

 Paris. He died in 1662. 13 



In 1836, apart from agriculture, the industries 

 were hand- loom weaving of cotton, wood-bobbin 

 making, lime burning and stone quarrying. 14 At 

 present little corn is grown, the land being mostly 

 pasture ; the areas are thus returned for Aighton, 

 Bailey and Bowland with Leagram : arable land, 

 32 acres; permanent grass, 7,262^ ; woods and 

 plantations, 641 J. 15 Oxen seem to have been used as 

 draught animals down to recent times. 16 



The deer park at Stonyhurst existed till 1855. 17 

 There are remains of a number of ancient crosses. 18 

 At Aighton there seems to have been a St. Michael's 

 Well. 19 In Chaigley is St. Chad's Well. 



In 1086 AIGHTON, assessed as one 

 MANORS plough-land, was recorded among the 

 king's manors in Amounderness which 

 twenty years earlier had been held by Earl Tostig as 

 appurtenant to Preston, and after him by Roger of 

 Poitou. 20 Afterwards it belonged, for a time at least, 

 to Warine Bussel, one of Roger's knights and ancestor 

 of the lords of Penwortham. Again coming into the 

 king's hands, it was in 1102 given by Henry I to 

 Robert de Lacy, and from that time onward formed 

 part of the great fee or honor of Clitheroe. 21 



Robert immediately bestowed Aighton, together 

 with Great Mitton and other manors, upon Ralph le 

 Rous, who was to hold them by the service of half a 

 knight's fee. 22 This grant was between 1 1 3 5 and 

 I 141 confirmed by Ilbert de Lacy, who in his charter 

 styled Ralph ' my brother.' Ralph was ancestor of 

 the Mitton family, who retained possession for some 

 150 years, though there is little to record of their 

 tenure. 23 In 1204 Stephen de Hamerton claimed 



a plough-land in Aighton against Hugh de Mitton, 

 but released his right in 120S on receiving 14 marks 

 from Hugh. 24 Ralph son of Robert de Milton in 

 1235 secured from Jordan de Wheatlcy the acknow- 

 ledgement of his title to half an oxgang of land in 

 Aighton, 25 and seven years later Ralph was holding 

 the fourth part of a knight's fee in Aighton, &c, 

 being part of the dower of the Countess of Lincoln.'-' 6 

 He was party to various suits in 1246 respecting 

 tenements in Aighton, 27 and his widow Margery was 

 claiming dower in certain lands there as late as 

 1 2 9 1 , 28 



Before 1300 Aighton was either sold or reverted to 

 the Earl of Lincoln as lord of Clitheroe, or else a 

 mesne manor had been created in favour of Margaret 

 de Holland, whose second husband Robert de Hephale 

 held of the earl the eighth part of a knight's fee 

 there. 29 Robert granted his manor of Aighton with 

 various lands to Ralph son of Sir Ralph de Mitton for 



Cross of St. Paulinus on the Fells, 

 Aighton 



life. 30 It appears that Ralph de Mitton held some 

 lordship in Aighton as early as 1276 31 ; in 1284 he 

 claimed a tenement there against Anabil widoA of 



10 Lanes, and Ckei. Antiq. Soe. zii, 30 ; 

 xiii, 27. 



11 Cromwell and his force, hastening 

 to meet the Duke of Hamilton, on 

 1 6 Aug. ' came at night to Mr. Shire- 

 burne's house called Stonyhurst, about 

 Hodder Water, where the general lodged 

 that night, and his army encamped within 

 the park. Had a council of war that 

 night in which it was concluded to fight 

 the duke if he abode ' ; War in Land. 

 (Chct. Soc), 65. After his victory over 

 the Scots he again stayed at Stonyhurst 

 for a night ; ibid. 67. 



There are several allusions to it in 

 Crom-wclTs Letters (ed. Carlyle, 63, 64). 

 He crossed the Hodder probably by the 

 old higher bridge (predecessor of the pre- 

 sent one), at which point a council of 

 war was held ; Gerard, op. cit. 62. The 

 second stay was probably on 24 Aug. 



18 T. C. Smith, Longridgi, 31. 



ls Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Gillow, Bibl. Diet. 



of Engl. Cath. iii, 332-8 ; Pal. Note Bk. 

 ii, 56, 127. 



14 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 370. 



15 Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



16 Gerard, op. cit. 98. v Ibid. 80. 



18 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soe. xviii, 

 30-4. There are eight ancient crosses 

 named and several modern ones. The 

 oldest, perhaps, is that known as St. 

 Paulinus' Cross, of peculiar form ; it is 

 placed at Kemple End, high up on the 

 FelL 



Another ancient socket has had a new 

 cross shaft inserted by Mr. W. W. Simp- 

 son of Winkley. 



19 In 1540 John Gill of 'Aghton' 

 (r Aighton) was charged with putting his 

 hemp into St. Michael's Well, near a cer- 

 tain stream called the Stone Brook. The 

 place may be Aughton near Ormskirk. 



*> V.C.H. Lanes, i, 288i. 

 81 Fairer, Lanes. Pipe R. 382 ; five 

 plough-lands in all were given. 



" Ibid. 385. 



23 Whallty Couch. (Chet. Soc), iii, 680. 

 The succession — Hugh, d. 1209 -s. 

 Robert -s. Sir Ralph -s. Jordan, -s. John 

 — is shown by the Cockersand Chartul. 

 (Chet. Soc), ii, 520-3. 



24 Cur. Reg. R. 33 ; Final Cone. 

 (Rec Soc Lanes, and Ches.), i, 34. 



25 Ibid, i, 60. 



26 Lanes, lnq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 150. 



27 He successfully resisted a claim for 

 an acre of wood put forward by Osbert de 

 Oaniscoles, while Vitalis de Hope with- 

 drew a claim against him ; Assize R. 

 404, m. 1, 11. 



w De Banco R. 90, m. 98 d. 



29 Lanes. In j. and Extents, i, 319. For 

 Margaret de Holland see the accounts of 

 Bolton and Chorley and Final Cone, ii, 

 80. 



30 Kuerden MSS. iii, A 3, no. 60. 



31 Assize R. 405, m. 3a. 



