BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



RIBCHESTER 



window and door are now built up, and the south 

 buttress at the west end is broken at the top. The 

 doorway was probably the means of access from the 

 formerly existing buildings of the hospital to a gallery 

 at the west end of the chapel, the condition of the 

 external masonry at the south-west angle of the 

 building indicating a structural connexion at this 

 point. 



The roof, which is covered with stone slates, is for 

 the most part ancient, though patched and mended, 

 and consists of simple tie-beam trusses without king 

 posts, but with a species of very small collar and king 

 post close to the top. One of the tie-beams has the 

 sacred monogram carved on its underside, and another 

 has a floreated ornament, and the space between the 

 spars is plastered. The floor is flagged, and the 

 interior is generally in a rather neglected condition. 

 The walls are plastered and whitewashed, and there 

 being no means of heating the building, which is 

 little used but in the summer months, it has naturally 

 suffered in the course of years. The piscina remains 

 at the east end of the south wall, and has a trefoiled 

 head, but the bowl has gone. The sanctuary is still 

 marked by a late 17th or early 18th-century oak 

 screen standing 1 3 ft. from the east wall, now in a 

 very dilapidated condition, the framework with some 

 turned balusters along the top being all that is left. 

 The screen is 5 ft. 11 in. high, and finishes at the 

 south end against the pulpit, which stands against the 

 south wall immediately to the east of the I 2th-century 

 window. It is of oak, with nine sides, and stands 

 on a rough stone base 3 ft. 3 in. high, with stone 

 steps on the west side, the topmost one of which is 

 level with the sill of the window. The pulpit is 

 probably of late 17th-century date, and is 4 ft. high 

 with plain panelled sides. It appears to have formerly 

 had a suspended canopy, the chain of which with 

 turned oak spindle still remains. The font is in- 

 teresting, and belongs to the first half of the 1 6th 

 century. It is of dark gritstone, octagonal in shape, 

 each side with a shield bearing sacred, heraldic and 

 other devices, some of which have been differently 

 interpreted. 55 Against the north end of the screen 

 facing the nave is a long oak seat with panelled back, 

 and there is a square oak pew in the north-east corner 

 of the sanctuary. The altar table is of oak, and is 

 probably the one given in 1703. 66 There are no 

 communion rails, and the seats in the church are 

 modern benches without backs. 



The floor of the sanctuary is slightly raised round 

 the table and along the north side. Below the table 

 is a 14th-century double sepulchral stone, 3 ft. 9 in. 

 square, with two floreated crosses marking the burial- 



place of Sir Adam and Lady Alicia de Clitheroe. 

 The inscription, which is very much worn and 

 defaced, is read as : ' amen, hic jacet dominvs ada 



DE CLIDEROV M(lLEs) (p)rOPICIETVR DEVS HIC JACET 



. . . ADE. CVIVS A1E PROPICIETVR DEVS.' 57 On 



the south side of the sanctuary are two other 

 sepulchral slabs, one 6 ft. long with an incised cross, 

 broken at the top, and the other 5 ft. 9 in. long 

 with raised floreated cross within a circle. In the 

 floor close by, now partly hidden by seating, is the 

 tombstone with Latin inscription of Bishop Petre, 

 vicar apostolic of the northern district, who died in 

 1775 at Showley Hall. 



A scheme for the restoration of the chapel in 1888 

 was abandoned. 58 There is a small cemetery on 

 three sides of the building, and a public path through 

 the fields passes it on the west side. On the south 

 side is the base of an old cross. 



ALSTON WITH HOTHERSALL 



Alston, 1292 ; occasionally an h is prefixed. 



Hudereshale, 1 199 ; Hudersale, 1212 ; Huddres- 

 hal, 1254; Hordeshal, 1256; Hudersale, Huderis- 

 hale, Hodereshale, 1292 ; Hothersall, xvi cent. 



This township is within the hundred of Amounder^ 

 ness. Its area is 3,078^ acres, of which Alston has 

 2,040 and Hothersall 1,038^.' The population in 

 1 90 1 numbered 2,007. 2 The two portions, Hother- 

 sall being to the east and Alston to the west, are now 

 considered independent townships. Norcross is in 

 the south-west of Hothersall. The surface is hilly, 

 the general slope being from north to south, and 

 many brooks flow southwards through wooded valleys 

 to join the Ribble. In the bends of this river lie 

 areas of level land. There are no villages or note- 

 worthy hamlets in the greater part of the area, but 

 on the extreme northern edge lie6 a part of Long- 

 ridge. 



The principal road is one from Preston to Long- 

 ridge, and there is another near the northern border 

 from this town to Ribchester. The Preston and 

 Longridge line of the London and North Western 

 and Lancashire and Yorkshire Companies' railways 

 runs along the north-western boundary. 



At Hothersall Hall ' a demon is supposed to be 

 " laid " under a laurel tree until he can spin a rope 

 from the sands of the River Ribble, which runs near 

 the house.' 3 



Before the Conquest it is supposed 

 MANORS that Alston was a part of Dilworth. 

 Afterwards, when Dilworth proper be- 

 came part of the honor of Clitheroe, Alston and 



*■ See Smith, Ribchester, 134-;, 

 where illustrations of the font and the 

 carved shields are given. The shields, 

 beginning at the west, are as follows : 

 (1) I • H • C ; (2) the sacred heart, hands 

 and feet ; (3) the initials T. P. ; (4) a 

 quatrefoil, on a chief a cross ; (5) arms 

 of Clitheroe of Salesbury .; (6) arms of 

 Hothersall of Hothersall ; (7) five bulls' 

 heads caboshed in cross ; (8) arms of 

 Newport of Salop. 'Every effort has 

 been made to identify nos. 4 and 7, but 

 without success.' It has been suggested 

 that the initials T. P. refer to the name 

 of the donor, that P. stands for Prior and 

 that the letters stand for Turcopolier, one 

 of the official titles in the Order of St. 



John. Smith suggests they are the initials 

 of Sir Thomas Pemberton, preceptor of 

 Newland, under which Stidd was a camera 

 and that the font was a gift from the 

 Preceptory. Whitaker assigns no. 4 to 

 the Knights Hospitallers, but gives no 

 explanation of the other arms. Smith 

 acknowledges indebtedness in his inter- 

 pretations to Sir Henry Dryden, bart., 

 F.S.A., and to Mr. Joseph Gillow. 



56 ' Dec. 1 1703. This day Mr. Ogden, 

 vicar of Ribchester, gave y e communion 

 table at Stid Church and caused the long 

 seat in the church to be fixt under the 

 south window ' ; Church Book quoted by 

 Smith, Ribchester, 132. 



6l 



57 Smith, op. cit. 136. There is an 

 illustration in Cutts's Sepulchral Slabs, 

 plate lxiv. 



58 A report on the state of the structure 

 with suggestions for its repair, a copy of 

 which has been communicated by the 

 present rector, was made in that year. 

 Some portions of it are quoted by Smith, 

 op. cit. 132—3. 



1 Alston, 2,037 acres ; Hothersall, 

 1,056 ; including 46 and 24 acres of 

 inland water respectively ; Census Rep. 

 1 901. 



2 Of these 1,865 were in Alston, in- 

 cluding Longridge. 



8 Harland and Wilkinson, Legends and 

 Traditions, 240. 



