BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



RIBCHESTER 



hospital. 37 Grants which have been preserved indicate 

 that there had been an organized community there 

 for at least fifty years, 38 the endowments being given 

 ' to God and B. Mary the Virgin and the hospital of 

 St. Saviour under Longridge and to the master and 

 brethren serving God there.' 39 Some of the masters 

 or wardens granted or attested 1 3th-century charters. 40 

 In 1338 it was reported that the camera of St. Saviour 

 called the Stidd, under the preceptory of Newland in 

 Yorkshire, was demised to farm at 10 marks yearly, 

 but the farmer was bound to pay a chaplain singing 

 there. 41 From this it may be assumed that divine 

 service was maintained down to the Reformation. 42 



Nothing definite, however, is known, for the manor 

 was extra-parochial. 



After the Suppression the manor was given to 

 Thomas Holt of Gristlehurst 43 and remained in his 

 family for more than a century. It may have been 

 acquired later by Shireburneof Bailey, founder of the 

 Stidd Almshouses. 44 In 1 609, however, an independent 

 grant was made to George Whitmore and others, 46 

 who in 161 3 sold to Richard Shireburne of Stony- 

 hurst. 46 Apart from these manors the Crown had 

 sold various lands to Richard Crombleholme i7 and 

 others. 48 The manor was in later times claimed by 

 the Shireburnes and their representatives. 49 



37 In 1292 it was found that the 

 Knights Hospitallers had acquired from 

 a certain Adam, chaplain-warden of the 

 house of St. Saviour at Dutton, two 

 plough-lands, with wood and moor, and 

 40J. rent in Dutton, Ribchester and 

 Aighton during the minority of Henry de 

 Lacy and with the assent of Alice de 

 Lacy ; Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 

 376. The date must lie between 1258 

 and 1271. See B.M. Add. Charters, 

 no. 7364. 



83 The earliest part of the chapel may 

 be dated about 1 190. 



89 Charters of land in Ribchester and 

 Dilworth have been quoted in the accounts 

 of those townships ; see also Dugdale, 

 l\don. Angl. vi, 686-7. 



40 Alexander the Chaplain, master of 

 the hospital of St. Saviour, and the 

 brethren of the same place made a grant 

 early in the 13th century regarding land 

 in Salesbury ; Towneley MS. DD, no. 

 2021. Land in Hothersall was held of 

 the hospital by Richard de Ametehalgh 

 and to one of the deeds regarding it the 

 first witnesses were ' Brother Alexander, 

 rector of the hospital of St. Saviour ; 

 brother Adam of the same place ' ; Add. 

 MS. 32106, no. 5 (fol. 241). Brother 

 Alexander the prior and Adam the chap- 

 lain also occur ; note by Mr. Weld. 



A somewhat later deed was attested by 

 Adam de Blackburn and John his son, 

 master of St. Saviour ; Add. MS. 32106, 

 no. 119. 



In 1269-70 Richard son of the master 

 of the Stidd, or son of Alexander de la 

 Stidd, was defendant ; Cur. Reg. R. 

 199, m. 27 d. ; 202, m. 26 d. It does 

 not appear that Alexander was then 

 living, so that he may be identical with 

 Alexander the chaplain. 



Adam Prior of St. Saviour occurs as 

 witness to a Dutton charter which men- 

 tions land in Hayhurst belonging to the 

 house of St. Saviour ; Add. MS. 32106, 

 no. 170. 



The hospital may not have become 

 extinct on its transference to the Knights 

 of St. John, for Walter the Chaplain, 

 warden of the house of St. Saviour in 

 Dutton, was the first witness to a local 

 charter in 1314; Add. MS. 32106, no. 

 187. In 1339 Walter de Lofthousum, 

 warden of St. Saviour's by Ribchester, 

 was one of the defendants in a dispute 

 about land in Ribchester involving several 

 Dutton people. The chief plaintiffs were 

 Hugh son of John de Huntingdon and 

 Joan his wife ; Assize R. 427, m. 2 d., 3 d. 

 11 Hospitallers in Engl. (Camd. Soc), 

 in. In 1351 the Prior of St. John 

 granted the manor of St. Saviour called 

 the Stidd to Richard Tomelay {> Townley) 

 for life. The lessee was to maintain the 

 buildings and the chantry and pay £8 a 

 year to the treasury at Clerkenwell 



(Fontis clericorum). A mark was to be 

 paid at death as obit. When the pre- 

 ceptor or warden of Ribston should come 

 (not more than once a year) to hold the 

 prior's court, provision for men and horses 

 was to be made by the lessee ; MSS. Var. 

 Coll. (Hist. MSS. Com.), ii, 228. 



In 1292 Robert Spendloue and Amery 

 his wife were non-suited in a claim against 

 the Prior of the Hospitallers as to a tene- 

 ment in Dutton ; Assize R. 408, m. 22. 

 In 1337 the prior did not prosecute his 

 claim against Thomas de Dudhill of 

 Dutton ; Assize R. 1424, m. lid. 



William Hall (see Chipping) in 1506 

 held a messuage, &c, in Dutton of the 

 Prior of St. John of Jerusalem by a rent 

 of 71. 6d. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 

 no. 19. 



42 In 1501 Nicholas Talbot appointed 

 a priest to sing for twelve months at 

 Stidd, * where father and mother are 

 buried ' ; Whitaker, Whalley (ed. Nicholls), 

 ii, 465. In 1535 Thomas Bradley was 

 chaplain at Stidd ; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 

 v, 68. The bailiff there was John Talbot ; 

 he had a fee of 301. ; ibid. 69. 



48 Pat. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. iv. The 

 manor, with many other estates, was held 

 by the thirtieth part of a knight's fee ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, no. 46. It 

 is regularly named in settlements and 

 inquisitions 3 e.g. Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 158 ; ii, 81 ; 

 iii, 371. 



44 An estate called Stidd in Dutton 

 belonged in 1716 to John Shireburne, 

 younger brother of Richard Shireburne 

 of Bailey ; Payne, Engl. Cath. Rec. 144. 

 In 1725 John Shireburne of Sheffield — 

 where he was agent to the Duke of Nor- 

 folk — was engaged, to marry Margaret 

 Nelson of Fairhurst, £40 being settled 

 on her from ' the capital messuage called 

 Stidd, and demesne lands in Stidd, Rib- 

 chester and Blackburn ' ; Piccope MSS. 

 (Chet. Lib.), iii, 228, from roll 11 of Geo. I 

 at Preston. Next year John Shireburne 

 made his will. To Elizabeth widow of 

 his brother Richard he gave ^15 a year 

 out of Bailey Hall ; to his cousin Richard 

 Walmsley of Showley (who was one of 

 the residuary legatees) /io for the poor 

 of Bailey, Stidd, &c, and £10 for a piece 

 of plate. His executors were to build a 

 good almshouse on his estate at Stidd for 

 five poor persons to live separately therein, 

 and to endow it with £}0 a year, viz. 

 £5 for each inmate and £$ for repairs. 

 He died in Dec. 1726. See C. D. Sher- 

 born, Sherborn Fam. 73-6. 



45 Pat. 9 Jas. I, pt. xxvii. At the 

 same time an extent was made ; Kuerden 

 MSS. ii, fol. 1324-3*. It appears that 

 Stidd was occupied by Robert Goodshaw, 

 who paid 41. rent. There was a consider- 

 able number of farms, &c, in Dutton and 

 the adjoining townships. 



59 



This second manor may have been due 

 to a regrant to the Hospitallers by Queen 

 Mary of Stidd with numerous dependen- 

 cies ; Pat. 4 & 5 Phil, and Mary, pt. iv. 



46 Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 132. The 

 sale included the manor of Stidd, formerly 

 belonging to the Knights of St. John of 

 Jerusalem, with customary rents in 

 Chipping, Barbing, Thornley, Chaigley, 

 Aighton, Bailey and Belingfield, &c, 

 together with perquisites of the court of 

 Stidd ; but a rent of ^4 10s, o\d. for 

 Stidd, Forton and Cunscough was to be 

 paid to the Crown. 



In 1543 Sir Alexander Osbaldeston had 

 a lease of 'the manor or capital messuage 

 of the Stidd,' by purchase from John 

 Cowell, who had it from the Crown at a 

 rent of £5 n. %d. j Add. MS. 32106, 

 no. 1076. 



47 The grant to Richard Crombleholme 

 in Dutton, Huntingdon, Milneclough, &c, 

 appears to have been from part of the 

 Hospitallers' possessions ; Pat. 38 Hen. 

 VIII, pt. xvii. In the extent of 1609, 

 above referred to, Richard Crombleholme 

 is stated to have held Huntingdon and 

 'Bailey in Dutton ' by the twentieth part 

 of a knight's fee and 3*. id. rent, and to 

 have granted out many portions of the 

 lands. 



Richard Crombleholme the elder held 

 a messuage 'in Huntingdon in Bailey in 

 the township of Dutton ' and various 

 lands, and made a settlement of part 

 thereof in 1576. His son William hav- 

 ing died before him, he was succeeded by 

 a grandson Richard the younger (son of 

 William), who died at Dutton in 1588 

 holding Huntingdon, &c, of the queen by 

 the hundredth part of a knight's fee, and 

 other land in Dutton of Sir Richard 

 Shireburne as of his manor of Dutton. 

 Richard, the son and heir of the younger 

 Richard, was seven years old j Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, no. 40. See further 

 in T. C. Smith, op. cit. 238-9. 



William Crombleholme of Dutton was 

 arrested in 1584 on his way to the Con- 

 tinent to be educated for the priesthood 

 and was imprisoned in the Tower for some 

 time; Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc), iii, 17 j 

 Gillow, Bihl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. iii, 410 

 (quoting Bridgewater's Concertatto). He 

 is supposed to have become a missionary 

 priest in Lancashire. 



Huntingdon is now the property of 

 Mr. Holt of Stubby Lee in Spotland. 



48 Carlinghurst was in 1560 granted to 

 Thomas Reeve and Richard Pynde ; Pat. 

 2 Eliz. pt. iii. Afterwards it was held 

 by the Shireburnes. 



49 In a fine of 1 686 respecting the manor 

 of Stidd and various messuages, lands, &c, 

 in Stidd, Ribchester and Blackburn the 

 plaintiff was Edward Burdett and the 

 deforciants were James Stamford, Richard 

 Chorley, Richard Husband, Richard 



