BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



RIBCHESTER 



Hoghton and Frances his wife to William Shaw the 

 younger. 80 The present lord is stated to be Mr. 

 William Cross of Red Scar in Grimsargh. 



In 1357 the tenants of Dilworth and those of 

 Ribchester arrived at a settlement of various disputes 

 as to the wastes and common rights. 81 



Few of the minor landowners* names occur, but 

 some of those in Ribchester seem to have held in this 

 township also. The Knights Hospitallers had some 

 land. 231 Dilworth 23 and Moton, 24 Catterall 85 and 

 Ravenshaw,* 6 have left some record of themselves.*' 

 Later the Cottam family, who seem to have had the 

 mill, became prominent. 28 Of this family was the 

 B. Thomas Cottam executed for his priesthood 



*° Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 387, 

 m. 114. 



21 Add. MS. 32106, no. 763. Sir 

 Adam de Hoghton, Thomas son of Sir 

 Adam Banastre, William de Hornby, 

 rector of Ribchester, Robert de Singleton 

 the elder, Richard de Catterall and Richard 

 de Knoll are the tenants of Dilworth 

 named ; those of Ribchester including 

 William de Whalley, Adam Bibby, Henry 

 de Kuerden, Robert Moton, Simon de 

 Preston. Ribchester is called a vill and 

 Dilworth a hamlet. 



22 Alan son of Richard de Singleton 

 confirmed his father's gift of 4 acres to 

 the hospital of St. Saviour under Long- 

 ridge and the brethren there serving God. 

 The land was between Cronkshaw Brook 

 and Whitacre Brook ; Dugdale, Man. 

 Angl. vi, 686. See the account of Stidd. 



83 In 1284 it was found that Juliana 

 widow of Hugh de Dilworth had died 

 seised of two-thirds of a messuage and 

 land in Dilworth, tenanted by Margery 

 daughter of Hugh. Richard son of Hugh 

 and Juliana seems to have been the plain- 

 tiff. The tenant called the Prior of St. 

 John to warrant her; Assize R. 1265, 

 m. 4. 



Uctred de Dilworth granted to his son 

 William lands held of Sir Adam de 

 Hoghton; Add. MS, 32106, no. 109. 

 A rent of 6d. was due to the Hospitallers. 



Margery daughter of Adam de Dilworth 

 gave lands to Sir Richard de Hoghton in 

 1339 ; ibid. no. 113. 



24 This seems to have been a junior 

 branch of the Moton of Ribchester family. 

 In 1344-5 Thomas son of Gilbert son of 

 Alan de Singleton claimed portions of 

 land in Dilworth against Robert son 

 of Adam Moton and Henry and William 

 his sons, against Adam de Dilworth the 

 younger and Margery his wife, and 

 against Henry son of Beatrix de Kuerden ; 

 De Banco R. 339, m. 109 ; 344, m. 162. 

 The plaintiff was a minor. 



Sir Adam Banastre had in 133 1 given 

 the third part of his approvement in 

 Hesmundehalgh to Henry son of Robert 

 Moton of Ribchester and William his 

 brother; Add. MS. 32106, no. 87. 



25 Richard de Catterall of Whittingham 

 and Isabel his wife gave lands in Dil- 

 worth, &c, to their son Alan in 1369 ; 

 Add. MS. 32106, no. 96-7. 



26 Adam de Eller in 1327 gave all his 

 land in Osbem riding to Adam Chyry of 

 Ribchester; Add. MS. 32106, no. 102. 

 William son of Adam Chyry gave it to 

 John son of John de Ravenshaw in 1355 ; 

 ibid. no. 86. From this deed it appears 

 that the land had earlier been granted by 

 Alan son of William de Singleton to his 

 daughter Agnes. 



William son of Hugh son of Hugh 

 de Dilworth granted land to Randle de 



Singleton and Mabel his wife in 1343 ; 

 ibid. no. 99. Margaret widow of Thomas 

 de Knoll and daughter of Randle de 

 Singleton in 1358 granted her land in 

 the high field of Dilworth together with 

 half a messuage to the above John son of 

 John de Ravenshaw ; ibid. no. 126, 106. 

 The same John and Ellen his wife in 

 1376 obtained other grants from the lords 

 of the manor, Sir Adam de Hoghton and 

 Sir Thomas Banastre ; ibid. no. 90, &c. 

 In 1386 Ellen de Ravenshaw his widow 

 held his lands, with remainders to his 

 daughters Agnes, Christiana, Isabel and 

 Margaret ; ibid. no. 83. 



27 Edward Radcliffe in 1617 had lands 

 in Dilworth and Alston, held of Sir 

 Richard Hoghton ; Henry, his son and 

 heir, was of full age ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Rec. Soc), ii, 52. Ralph Radcliffe of 

 the * Written Stone ' was probably a 

 successor. 



28 In 1466 Henry son of Sir Richard 

 Hoghton granted to William Cottam of 

 Alston and his sons Ellis and Edmund 

 certain land in Dilworth for their lives, 

 the lease to begin at his father's death ; 

 Add. MS. 32106, no. 94. Uctred 

 Cottam appears in 1483 ; ibid. no. 98. 

 Uctred and Robert his son and heir made 

 a feoffment of their messuages, lands and 

 water-mill in the same year ; ibid.no. 92. 

 Uctred's wife Ellen, perhaps a second 

 wife, appears in the same year ; ibid. 

 no. 103. Their lands seem to have been 

 given to Lawrence son of Edmund Cottam 

 in 1503 and 1511 ; ibid. no. 105, 107, 

 &c. From Lawrence Cottam Sir Richard 

 Hoghton purchased in 1529, and Robert 

 cousin and heir of Uctred Cottam 

 (perhaps a grandson) released his right at 

 the same time ; ibid. no. 89, 101. 



One branch of the family recorded a 

 short pedigree in 1613 ; Visit. (Chet. 

 Soc), 100. 



Lawrence Cottam, Dorothy his wife 

 and Thomas his son made a settlement 

 in 1605 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 296, 

 m. 2d. Lawrence died in 1619 holding 

 a messuage and land of Sir Richard 

 Hoghton by a rent of 2s. ; Lanes. Inq. 

 p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 115. 

 Thomas his son and heir, then thirty 

 years of age, died two years later holding 

 the same estate and leaving as heir his 

 son Thomas, aged fifteen ; ibid, ii, 232. 

 These Cottams were of High House ; some 

 further particulars of them will be found 

 in Smith's Ribchester, 242-3, from which 

 it appears that Lawrence Cottam, who 

 was fined for recusancy in 1667 and 1680, 

 died in 1682. His son and heir, also 

 Lawrence, registered his estate as a 

 'Papist' in 171 7; he had a leasehold 

 house valued at £27 a year ; Estcourt 

 and Payne, Engl. Catk. Non-jurors, 106. 



The Cottams of Knowl Green had a 



53 



in 1582. 89 Whitacre is named as if it were a 

 hamlet. 80 



In 1788 the principal owners were John Cottam, 

 double assessed for his religion, Margaret Wharton 

 and William Bowen. 



Longridge Church is in Alston ; it has a chapel of 

 ease in Dilworth, St. Paul's, built in 1890. 



The Wesleyan Methodists opened their first chapel 

 in 1836. It was called Mount Zion, and situated on 

 the Alston side of the boundary. The present chapel 

 was built in 1884.-5. 31 The Particular Baptists had a 

 Sunday service in 1888. 33 The Congregationalists 

 began to hold meetings in i860, the minister of 

 Knowl Green leading ; the chapel was built in 1 86 5 . S3 



house at one time called Dilworth Hall 

 and now the manor-house ; for an account 

 of them see Smith, op. cit. 243. John 

 Cottam of Ribchester paid ^ioou refusing 

 knighthood in 1631; Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 1, 218. The lands of 

 Richard Cottam of Dilworth were ordered 

 to be sold by the Parliament in 1652 ; 

 Index of Royalists (Index Soc), 42. A 

 later John Cottam (son of Ellis), as a 

 ' Papist,' registered his small estate at 

 Ribchester, Dilworth and Wrightington 

 in 1717; Estcourt and Payne, op. cit. 91. 

 John Walmsley also registered a small 

 estate ; ibid. 104. 



29 Thomas Cottam, brought up as a 

 Protestant, was educated at Brasenose 

 Coll., Oxf. (M.A. 1572), and taught a 

 school in London. Here he was recon- 

 ciled to the Roman Church and then 

 went abroad, his desire being to preach 

 the Gospel in the East Indies. Being 

 rejected by the Jesuits on account of ill- 

 health, he returned to the seminary at 

 Rheim8, was ordained priest and sent on 

 the English mission in 1580. On land- 

 ing at Dover he was recognized from the 

 report of a spy, arrested and imprisoned. 

 He was racked and tortured in the Tower, 

 but remaining constant was at last exe- 

 cuted at Tyburn 30 May 1582, together 

 with four other priests. One of these 

 was B. Lawrence Richardson or Johnson 

 of Great Crosby. Cottam was allowed to 

 hang till he was dead. His beatification 

 was allowed by Leo XIII in 1886. See 

 Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. i, 574 ; 

 Pollen, Acts of Martyrs, 280, 373 ; 

 Challoner, Miss. Priests, no. 15. He is 

 claimed as a Jesuit in Foley, Rec. S. J. vii, 

 174 (portrait). 



80 Adam son of Adam de Morca of 

 Euxton and Ellen his wife in 1309 

 granted Isabel daughter of Jordan de 

 Dutton clerk all their land in Whitacre 

 in the hamlet of Dilworth ; Add. MS. 

 32106, no. 91. Roger son of Thomas 

 Topping and John son of Roger de Bolton 

 in 1 3 1 8 granted land in Whitacre to 

 William the Tailor, son of Henry Moton ; 

 ibid. no. 84, 95. Six years afterwards 

 Henry Moton in exchange for this land 

 gave his son William the Newhey in 

 Ribchester, obtained from Robert Moton ; 

 ibid, no. 85. 



In 1357 Richard son of Adam de Rib- 

 chester acquired a messuage and land in 

 Whitacre and Dilworth from John de 

 Turnley and Cecily his wife ; Final Cone. 

 ii, 152. 



31 T. C. Smith, Longridge, 80 ; 

 A. Hewitson, Our Country Churches, 103 

 — the old chapel. 

 82 Smith, ibid. 



33 Ibid. 78 ; Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. 

 ii, 117, where it is recorded that efforts 

 had been made to establish a church in 



