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Clitheroe in Lancaster County England History and GeographyCLITHEROE, an unincorporated borough, market town, and parochial chapelry, in that part of the parish of WHALLEY which is in the higher division of the hundred of BLACKBURN, county palatine of LANCASTER, on the eastern bank of the Ribble, 30 miles (N.) from Manchester, 49 (N.E.) from Liverpool, 26 (S.E.) from Lancaster, and 216 (N.N.W.) from London, containing 3213 inhabitants. Its ancient name, Cliderhow, is of a mixed derivation, from the British Cled-dwr, which signifies the hill or rock by the waters, and the final syllable how, a Saxon word for hill, thus being descriptive of its situation, which is on an isolated eminence, terminating in one direction in a lofty rock of lime-stone, on which stands the decayed keep of a castle, erected either in the reign of William the Conqueror, or in that of his son: some ascribe the foundation to Robert de Lacy the first, but on the authority of a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it is assigned to Robert de Lacy the second, in 1179, which account is confirmed by Dugdale, who states that the castle, and the chapel of St. Michael annexed thereto, were built by the latter. The castle originally consisted of a keep, with a tower and arched gateway, and was surrounded by a strong and lofty wall built on the margin of the rock: it was used as a species of fortress for dispensing justice and receiving tribute by the Lacies, who were lords paramount of the honour. This honour, which extends over the parishes of Whalley, Blackburn, Chipping, and Ribchester, the Forest of Bowland, and the manors of Tottington and Rochdale, and includes twenty-eight manors, formed part of the possessions of the house of Lancaster, from the time of the marriage of Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, with Alice, sister and heiress of Henry de Lacy, until that of the Restoration, when Charles II. bestowed it upon General Monk and his heirs: it is now divided between his grace the Duke of Buccleuch, and Lord Montague; all manors and estates, of whatsoever tenure, within its limits, being held of the castle: it has also a court for the recovery of small debts, extending over the hundred of Blackburn. During the wars of the roses, Henry VI., on his deposition, sought a temporary refuge here among the hereditary dependents of the house of Lancaster, but was betrayed to his rival by the Talbots of Bashall and Colebry, and sent bound to London. In the civil war this fortress was among the last surrendered to the parliament, by whose directions, in 1649 it was dismantled, the keep, a square tower rapidly mouldering away, being all that remains: the site, and a certain portion of ground occupied by the demesne and forests of the baronial edifice, are extra-parochial, and commonly designated the Castle parish. A modern castellated edifice has been erected within the precincts of the castle. Clitheroe was the scene of an engagement in 1138, between a small party of the English army and the Scotch, in which the former was totally defeated by superior numbers; some traces of this sanguinary confliet have been discovered near Edisforth Bridge and along the banks of the Ribble. An hospital for lepers, called the Hospital of Edisforth, was founded here by some of the earliest burgesses, and dedicated to St. Nicholas, which shared the fate of the smaller monasteries at the dissolution. The town, from its elevated position, is clean and pleasantly situated; the houses, which are generally of an inferior order, are built of stone; the streets are well paved, but not lighted, and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water from several springs: the neighbourhood abounds with an almost inexhaustible bed of lime-stone; and at Pimlico, a short distance north-ward from the town, ten kilns are kept burning forty weeks in the year, and produce in the aggregate four thousand windles, or twenty-eight thousand strikes weekly. Horse races of an inferior description were re-established in 1821, and are held annually on the 21st and 22nd of June, on salt-hill moor. There are extensive cotton manufactories and print works, in the town and its vicinity, which have flourished to such a degree that the population has nearly doubled during the last ten years. A communication by water has been opened with the principal navigable rivers and canals, thus affording a facility of conveyance to all parts of the kingdom. The market is on Tuesday: fairs are held annually on the 24th and 25th of March, 1st and 2nd of August, on the fourth Friday and Saturday after the 29th of September, and on the 6th and 7th of December; there is also a fair for cattle and sheep every alternate Tuesday. Clitheroe is a borough by prescription: its first charter, dated in the time of Henry de Lacy, who died in 1147, was confirmed by Edward I., who granted the burgesses the same privileges as those enjoyed by the citizens of Chester, and subsequently by Edward III., Henry VIII., and James II. The civil power is vested in two bailiffs, chosen annually by the burgesses at large, from their own body, at a court held for that purpose on the first Friday after the 9th of October: their joint authority is equal to that of one magistrate; they are coroners and lords of the manor, for which they hold a court lcet twice a year: in addition to this, there are a court baron and a court of enquiry, held under one or both of the bailiffs: these courts are held in the moot-hall, a neat modern edifice, ornamented in front with the borough arms cut in stone, and surmounted by a spire sixty-two feet high. There is also a court of pleas, having jurisdiction to an unlimited amount in actions of debt arising within the borough; it is holden every three weeks before the two bailiffs, and has existed from time immemorial. In addition to the bailiffs are the recorder, who is elected by the burgesses, and officiates as assessor to the bailiffs in the trial of causes in the borough court; the town clerk, who is also steward of the court leet; and the town serjeant, who is the executive officer and keeper of the gaol: the two last officers are appointed by the bailiffs. The borough did not return members to parliament until the 1st year of the reign of Elizabeth, since which period it has regularly sent two: in consequence of a petition to the House of Commons, that assembly determined, in 1694, ';that the right of election was in the burgesses and freemen; the burgesses were such as had, in any land or houses in the borough, an estate of freehold inheritance, and they were of two sorts; out-burgesses, who lived out of the borough, and in-burgesses, who lived in the borough, and had such an estate in houses or land there, and both these had a right of electing; the freemen were such as lived in the houses within the borough as tenants, and they had the right of electing when the landlords did not vote for these houses, but when they did, the tenants had no right of electing:' there are about one hundred voters: the bailiffs are the returning officers. The patronage of the borough is principally possessed by Earl Brownlow and Earl Howe, who concur in the nomination of one member each. The living is a perpetual curacy under Whalley, endowed with £10 per annum and £200 private benefaction, £200 royal bounty, and £1900 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of Earl Howe. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is of great antiquity, being designated the church of St. Mary Magdalene, in a deed of the 13th of Edward IV.: between the nave and the choir is a fine Norman arch; and a brass plate against the southern wall of the nave bears a curious enigmatical diagram, and an inscription in Latin to the memory of Dr. John Webster, the celebrated judicial astrologer, and formerly curate of Clitheroe, who was interred here, June 21st, 1682. There are places of worship for Independents and Methodists, and a Roman Catholic chapel. The free grammar school was founded in 1554, by Philip and Mary, and endowed with the rectorial tithes of the parish of Almondbury, and with certain messuages, burgages, and lands in the district of Craven, in Yorkshire: its concerns are under the superintendence of six governors, who appoint the master and usher, subject to the approval of the Bishop of Chester, as visitor. The head master receives a salary of £200, and has a handsome residence, recently erected, which he occupies rent-free: the second master is allowed £100 per annum, and both receive gratuities at Shrovetide. The surplus revenue of the institution is appropriated to the repairs of the school, and to the support of poor scholars at the university, but the latter purpose is seldom effected. The Rev. James King, afterwards chaplain to the House of Commons, and father of Captain James King, who accompanied Captain Cook in his voyage of discovery round the globe, also of the Right Rev. Walker King, late Bishop of Rochester, was, during the early part of his ministry, incumbent of Clitheroe. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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