Townships: Altham

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1911.

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'Townships: Altham', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp411-416 [accessed 8 November 2024].

'Townships: Altham', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online, accessed November 8, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp411-416.

"Townships: Altham". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1911), , British History Online. Web. 8 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp411-416.

In this section

ALTHAM

Alvetham, 1256; Altham, 1383.

This township extends from the River Calder southwards for more than 2 miles; the surface gradually rises till near the southern border a height of more than 600 ft. above sea level is attained. Through the centre a small brook flows north to join the Calder; the upper part of its course is down a wooded clough. Shorten Brook forms part of the eastern boundary. The hamlet of Altham stands near the Calder; by the canal are other hamlets called Higher Firs and Head o' th' Town; in the south-west corner is part of the village of Henfield in Clayton-le-Moors. The area is 1,439½ acres. (fn. 1) The population in 1901 numbered 785.

The principal road is that from Clayton-le-Moors to Padiham, which crosses the Calder at Altham Bridge. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal goes through the centre of the township from east to west.

The township is governed by a parish council.

To the county lay of 1624, which was founded on the old fifteenth, Altham paid £1 0s. 2¼d., Clayton 12s. 9d., Old Accrington 14s. 2d. and New Accrington £1 17s. 2d.—a total of £4 4s. 3¼d. when the hundred had to raise £100. (fn. 2)

Coal mines are worked and stone quarries also; bricks are made and there are chemical works. The soil is heavy, overlying clay, and the land is mostly used for pasture, 1,204 acres being in permanent grass and 44 in woods and plantations; there is no arable land. (fn. 3) The Corporation of Burnley have sewage works in the township.

Manor

Included in the honor of Clitheroe, ALTHAM was granted by Henry de Lacy, who died in 1177, to Hugh son of Leofwine, together with Clayton, Accrington and a moiety of Billington. (fn. 4) The service to be rendered was that due from half a knight's fee. Accrington and Billington were afterwards separated, but Claytonle-Moors continued to be a dependency of Altham, and the manor was sometimes called Altham and Clayton. Hugh endowed the chapel or church of Altham, (fn. 5) and was succeeded by a son William. He confirmed the grant of Accrington to Kirkstall, (fn. 6) and was followed by Richard de Altham, his son. (fn. 7) Richard's name occurs in deeds of the early years of the 13th century. (fn. 8) He was succeeded by a son Hugh, who made a grant in Clayton to Henry son of Henry the Clerk, (fn. 9) and died before 1242, when his heir was recorded to hold the eighth part of a knight's fee in Altham of the heirs of the Earl of Lincoln; it belonged to the dower of the countess. (fn. 10)

The unnamed heir was a son Richard, who occurs in 1256–8, (fn. 11) and was succeeded in turn by his sons Hugh and William. The latter was in possession from 1275 to 1299 (fn. 12); in his later years he made an effort to recover the advowson of Altham Chapel from the Abbot of Whalley, who had obtained it as appurtenant to the rectory. His successor Simon de Altham (fn. 13) was stated to hold half a knight's fee in Altham and its members in 1302, (fn. 14) while in 1311 he held of the Earl of Lincoln one plough-land in Altham and Clayton by the service of the eighth part of a fee, rendering 3s. 4d. annually and doing suit to the court of Clitheroe. (fn. 15) John de Altham appears in 1327, (fn. 16) and was recorded from 1349 to 1361 as holding the eighth part of a knight's fee, or one plough-land, in Altham. (fn. 17) He died in or before 1371. (fn. 18)

John's heir was probably a daughter Joan, who by her marriage with Richard son of John Banastre of Walton-le-Dale began the line of Banastre of Altham. Richard and Joan made a settlement of the manor in 1383 with remainder to their son Lawrence. (fn. 19) Richard was living in 1400, (fn. 20) but Lawrence had succeeded by 1419 (fn. 21) and in 1445–6 held the eighth part of a knight's fee in Altham. (fn. 22) He was found to have died in possession of the manor in 1451, holding it of the king as duke by knight's service and a rent of 3s. 4d. His heir was a grandson Richard, son of his son Thomas Banastre, aged ten years. (fn. 23) Some mistake must have been made, for by a later inquisition it was found that Lawrence Banastre died in 1477 holding the manor by knight's service and leaving a grandson Richard (son of Thomas) as heir, he being then thirty years of age. (fn. 24)

Banastre of Altham. Argent a cross patonce sable.

Richard Banastre died in 1510 holding Altham of the king by the eighth part of a knight's fee. (fn. 25) His son and heir Nicholas, then only eight years old, proved his age in 1523, it being testified that he was born on the feast of St. Oswald the bishop, 1501, at Altham and baptized in the church there. (fn. 26) Nicholas died in 1537 holding the manors of Altham and Clayton of the king as duke by the eighth part of a knight's fee and a rent of 3s. 4d. (fn. 27) His son Richard, then eighteen, died in 1552, leaving a son Nicholas, aged ten years; the manor was held as before. (fn. 28) Nicholas Banastre had disputes concerning Henfield moor or waste, tenants of the adjoining manor of Accrington making claims. (fn. 29) He made settlements in 1587 (fn. 30) and 1608, naming in the latter Elizabeth his wife, Nathaniel his son and Nicholas the son of Nathaniel, (fn. 31) and he died in 1612, when the said Nathaniel, thirty years of age, succeeded. (fn. 32)

The heir was a Roman Catholic, and about 1632 compounded by an annual fine of £10 for the two-thirds of his estate liable to sequestration for recusancy. (fn. 33) He had paid a further £10 in 1631 on declining knighthood. (fn. 34) By his wife Elizabeth daughter and co-heir of Barnaby Kitchin he obtained a third part of the manor of Pilling. On the outbreak of the Civil War he took the king's side, and as a 'Papist delinquent' his estates were sequestered by the Parliament. He died in 1649 and was buried at Garstang, and then his son Richard, who was 'conformable to the Church of England' and 'a real Protestant and . . . a friend to the Parliament and their proceedings,' obtained a discharge of the estates. (fn. 35) He recorded a pedigree in 1665, when his eldest surviving son Nathaniel was seventeen years of age. (fn. 36) Nathaniel Banastre's house had ten hearths liable to the tax in 1666 out of forty-six in the whole township. (fn. 37)

Nathaniel, who died in 1669, was succeeded by a brother Henry, (fn. 38) and he by his son Nicholas, the last male heir. At his death in 1694 his sisters Mary wife of Ambrose Walton and Isabel wife of Charles Halsted succeeded. The Waltons on partition in 1699 had Altham. (fn. 39) Mary's son Henry Walton was succeeded by his son Banastre, (fn. 40) and on his death without issue in 1784 Altham passed to his cousin, the Rev. Richard Wroe, (fn. 41) rector of Radcliffe, who took the name of Walton in accordance with Banastre Walton's will. At his death in 1801 he was followed by his son Richard Thomas Wroe Walton, who died unmarried in 1845, his sisters being heirs. One of them died unmarried, and the other, Mrs. Maw, had no children, but they left their estates to distant relatives who were their next heirs, namely two sisters, Mrs. Hallam and Mrs. Fawcett. (fn. 42) These settled the property on their children in equal shares (fn. 43); the son of the former, the late William Hallam of Kirkby Stephen, became patron of the benefice, but the lordship of the manor is held by Mrs. MacDiarmid, Miss Hallam, Mrs. Haworth, Mr. R. T. R. W. Hallam and Mrs. Patton. No courts are held.

Few of the minor tenants appear in the records. (fn. 44)

The lands of the church appear to have been occupied by the lords of the manor. (fn. 45) In 1298 William de Altham claimed a moiety of the manor against the Abbot of Stanlaw. (fn. 46) The lands are described in a memorandum of the time of Henry V, printed in the Whalley Coucher. (fn. 47) An inquiry was made about them in the time of Cardinal Pole, when it was found that they were dispersed in the town fields. In 1616, at another inquiry, it was found that the scattered portions had been occupied by the lord of the manor or his ancestors for many years. In that way they were lost. (fn. 48)

Church

There appears to have been a religious house of some kind at Altham, its advowson being granted to Hugh son of Leofwine together with the manor about 1165. (fn. 49) Nothing further is known of it, but Hugh founded a chapel and endowed it with 4 oxgangs of land, designing to have a separate parish formed. (fn. 50) He obtained the assent of Geoffrey dean of Whalley and placed in it as vicar Geoffrey's son or brother Robert. A rent of one pound of incense was to be given to Whalley Church yearly on All Saints' Day (fn. 51) by Henry de Clayton, who about 1220 succeeded Robert as vicar, (fn. 52) but in 1249 Peter de Chester, having been appointed rector of Whalley, claimed Altham as a chapel appurtenant to his church, and succeeded in establishing his right. (fn. 53) The matter was again called into question after Whalley had been given to the monks of Stanlaw, but the jury decided that Altham was only a chapel of ease. (fn. 54) This continued to be its status for some centuries, the vicar of Whalley nominating the chaplains or curates.

The church of ST. JAMES, formerly known as St. Mary's, (fn. 55) stands on low ground in a rural situation close to the left bank of the Calder at the extreme north-east of the township. It consists of chancel 25 ft. by 17 ft. 6 in., clearstoried nave 43 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft. 6 in., with north and south aisles 7 ft. 6 in. wide, south porch, and west tower 10 ft. 6 in. by 12 ft. 6 in., all these measurements being internal. There is also a small vestry on the north side of the tower. Though the foundation is an ancient one the present structure has so little ancient work that nothing can be said of the development of the plan. What appears to be a late 12th-century tympanum, however, is built into the lower part of the south aisle wall under one of the windows, but this is the only fragment now remaining of the original church. It is a semicircular-shaped stone 4 ft. 2 in. in diameter and 2 ft. high, covered with star diaper pattern. Under another window on the same side is an incised grave slab with plain Calvary cross, and there are other somewhat similar slabs used as lintels to the south door and to the east window of the north aisle. These probably belong to a later church which was pulled down about the end of the 15th or the early years of the 16th century to make way for the present building. To this structure also probably belonged the east window of the north aisle, which is different in character from all the others, but whether the church occupied the same space as at present can only be conjectured. The rebuilding at the beginning of the 16th century comprised the whole of the nave and probably the chancel, though the date of this is not certain, as no record of it has been kept. At the beginning of the 19th century the chancel was described as 'long since dilapidated and visible only by the foundations,' (fn. 56) but during the incumbency of the Rev. William Wood the old walls were pulled down and a new chancel built, a belfry or turret was added and a gallery erected at the west end. This work, however, seems to have been badly done, (fn. 57) as in 1848 the building was in a dilapidated state, a portion of the belfry had fallen away, and the porch was in a ruinous condition; the interior of the building was covered with whitewash. The restoration begun soon afterwards comprised the rebuilding of the chancel, the addition of a west tower and the thorough overhauling of the nave and aisles, the ceiling and gallery being pulled down, and the old seating and three-decker pulpit removed. The work was brought to a conclusion in September 1859, when the building assumed its present aspect. Only the nave and aisles of the church, therefore, are ancient and dating from the 16th century.

Plan of Althan Church

The walling is of rough local greystone in long and narrow pieces, and the roofs, which have overhanging eaves, are covered with stone slates. The work is generally of a plain description and all the old windows, with the exception of the one already mentioned, are of three round-headed lights under a square head with external hood mould.

The chancel being modern has no antiquarian interest. It is built on the old foundations and has a three-light pointed window with traceried head at the east end and two pointed windows of two lights and traceried heads in the north and south walls. The chancel arch was discovered in 1859 in making the connexion between the new chancel and the nave and consists of two chamfered orders springing from moulded imposts. A small piscina, 16 in. wide by 8 in. high, with ogee head, has been built into the north wall 3 ft. from the east end. Externally the roof is much lower than that of the nave, and the chancel is architecturally without any very distinctive features, the gable being quite plain and the height of walling above the windows together with the rather slight projection of the eaves producing a flat appearance.

The nave is of three bays with pointed arches of two chamfered orders springing from responds and octagonal piers 18 in. in diameter with moulded caps 7 ft. 6 in. from the ground. Over each arcade is a clearstory of square-headed three-light windows, three on each side, with external hood moulds and rounded heads to the lights. The roof is a restoration and consists of five principals and spars plastered between, with similar lean-to roofs to the aisles. On the north and south sides the aisles are lit by two three-light windows similar to those in the clearstory, the westernmost, however, owing to the position of the south door, not being opposite one another. The south aisle has a similar window at each end, that at the east being differentiated externally by the character of the termination of the hood mould, which has shields held by an angel. The east window of the north aisle, as before stated, probably belongs to an older building, and is of 15th-century date of two cinquefoiled lights under a square head without a hood mould. The west wall of the north aisle against which the vestry is built is blank.

The south porch has been rebuilt and is very plain in character with a wide four-centred arch with flatpitched gable over. In the north-east corner is what appears to be an early font now mutilated, rent away on one side so as to form a seat.

The font is octagonal and is said to have been given by John Paslew, last Abbot of Whalley. Its sides are carved with the emblems of the Passion and the sacred monograms AΩ, MR, IHC.

At the west end of the nave is a gallery containing the organ, approached by a stone stair from the floor of the tower. The gallery front projects only 4 ft. 6 in., however, into the nave, the length of the plain wall space before the first opening of the arcade, the greater part of the organ being situated within the tower.

The tower is of three stages with diagonal buttresses and embattled parapet. The belfry windows are of two lights under a pointed head, with similar but larger windows to the stage below and a single-light window on the south side on the ground floor. There is no vice, the belfry, which contains one bell, being approached only by a ladder.

The fittings all belong to the time of the restoration of 1859, the pew-ends having tall cast-iron poppyheads, rather disturbing in their effect, and painted to look like wood. On the easternmost pier of the south side is a brass plate to John Cunliffe of Woodhead, who died in 1695, and Mary (Cheetham) his wife, who died in 1677, with coat of arms, and on the west pier on the north side a brass to James Walmesley, who died in 1761. There is a later brass to Thomas Royston, who died in 1809, and his daughter Anne, and in the chancel are modern mural tablets to members of the family of Lomax of Clayton Hall. In the nave between the clearstory windows are hatchments of the Forts of Read Hall and the Rev. Thomas Wroe Walker of Marsden Hall (d. 1845), to whom also there is a monument in the south aisle. At the west end of the south aisle is a painted board with coat of arms in memory of Elizabeth Cowper, born Lonsdall.

In the vestry is preserved an old sculptured stone with indistinct letters or numerals and the letter M at the top, probably of early 16th-century date; the two lower groups perhaps form the date 1512.

The plate consists of a chalice of about 1600 with engraved pattern below the rim, and a chalice, paten and flagon of 1887. There are also two pewter plates inscribed 'Altham Chappel 1745,' and a pewter flagon inscribed 'Altham Chappel.'

The registers begin in 1596.

The churchwardens' accounts began in 1732, but have been lost.

The commissioners of Edward VI took away a chalice, a bell and some vestments. (fn. 58)

The churchyard, which is principally on the south side of the building, was greatly enlarged in 1830 and 1900.

The old stipend of £4 (fn. 59) was increased to £10 before the Civil War, as in other cases; the parliamentary committee of the county gave £30 additional out of the sequestrations, (fn. 60) and this was in 1650 replaced by £50 a year out of the rectory of Kirkham, sequestered from Thomas Clifton of Lytham. (fn. 61) On the restoration of the old order in 1660 only the £10 remained, but fees brought the stipend of the curacy to £11 15s. in 1717. (fn. 62) Nathaniel Curzon in 1722 gave £200 towards the endowment, becoming patron instead of the vicar of Whalley. (fn. 63) Assistance from Queen Anne's Bounty and other sources has from time to time been given, and the net value is now £267 a year. (fn. 64) Earl Howe sold the advowson about 1820, (fn. 65) and the present patron is the representative of the late Mr. William Hallam of Kirkby Stephen.

As there was no endowed chantry, it is probable that before the Reformation there was usually only one resident priest, though two names are recorded in the visitation list of 1548. In later times the chapelry seems to have shared the services of the curate of some neighbouring chapel, Altham and Church being served together in 1690 and Goodshaw and Altham in 1717. Even after the augmentation the curacy was sometimes held by a neighbouring clergyman, who employed an assistant curate for this chapel. A parish was formed in 1866, when the benefice was called a vicarage. (fn. 66)

The following have been curates and vicars:—

oc. 1535 John Radcliffe (fn. 67)
oc. 1541 Lawrence Hey (fn. 68)
oc. 1575 John Martin (fn. 69)
oc. 1592 James Metcalfe (fn. 70)
oc. 1597 Thomas Barker (fn. 71)
oc. 1608 William Westby (fn. 72)
1610 Thomas Hamelton (fn. 73)
oc. 1619 — Worthington (fn. 74)
oc. 1622 — Postlethwaite (fn. 75)
Giles Clayton
1649 Thomas Jollie (fn. 76)
oc. 1671 Elisha Clarkson (fn. 77)
1676 John Taylor (fn. 78)
oc. 1718 Nicholas Houghton (fn. 79)
1730 John Anderton (fn. 80)
1742 Ashton Werden, B.C.L. (fn. 81) (T.C.D.)
1760 Charles Pindar, B.A. (fn. 82)
1761 Richard Longford (fn. 83)
1804 John Adamson (fn. 84)
1823 William Wood (fn. 85)
1848 William Sharp (fn. 86)
1891 Henry Haworth, M.A. (fn. 87) (St. John's Coll., Camb.)
1896 Walter Herbert Green, B.A. (Lond.)
1904 James Robinson, M.A. (fn. 88) (Peterhouse, Camb.)
1909 Harold Hindle Whittaker, M.A. (Dur.)

There is no other place of worship in the township.

Charities

In recent times considerable gifts have been made to the poor of Accrington, amounting to more than £150 a year, and there is another of £20 for Clayton-leMoors. There are also educational and ecclesiastical funds. Official inquiries were made in 1826 and 1899, the report of the latter, with a reprint of the older one, being issued in 1900. The following details are taken from it.

The only ancient charity known was a gift by Mrs. Catherine Cunliffe, who died in 1756, for Bibles and Prayer-books for Accrington; it seems to have been extinct before 1826.

The Accrington Cross Street charity was founded by Adam Dugdale of Dovecote House, near Liverpool (£100), and others, property being purchased in 1840 for £230, which is now represented by £2,665 India stock, producing £79 19s. 4d. This is distributed in March and December each year in doles of 2s. to a number of poor elderly persons. The surplus of the Accrington Cotton Relief Fund of 1862, amounting to £420, was invested in a mortgage, producing £21 a year; this is given in food and clothing, maintenance in convalescent homes and pensions, but there is a considerable surplus unexpended. Elizabeth Hopwood, spinster, in 1856 left £500 for a distribution to poor persons, members of the Church of England, on Christmas Day, at the appointment of the incumbent and wardens of St. James's, Accrington. The will was proved in 1879, and the income, £13 14s. 4d., is given on Christmas Eve in doles of 5s. each. William Smith in 1897 gave £1,000 as a Jubilee Poor Fund, for the general benefit of the poor of Accrington; the income of £40 is given partly in pensions, partly in food and clothing and partly in money. James Duxbury by his will (1892–7) left £3,000 to the poor of Accrington, but the bequest does not take effect during his widow's lifetime.

For the poor of Clayton-le-Moors Robert Clayton Mercer in 1880 bequeathed £25 a year, to be spent in coal, clothing or food. The sum invested now produces £20 12s. 4d., which is distributed at Christmas through the district council in tickets for goods worth 5s. each.

Footnotes

  • 1. The Census Rep. 1901 gives 1,438 acres, including 26 of inland water.
  • 2. Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 23.
  • 3. Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905).
  • 4. The charter is printed in Whitaker, Whalley, ii, 265. See also Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 214.
  • 5. See the account of the church. Hugh had other sons, Henry the Clerk, Thomas and Alan. The first was ancestor of the Clayton family, the second, as Thomas son of Hugh de Altham, made a grant to Henry the Clerk of Altham, his brother; Kuerden, loc. cit. Alan de Altham also gave to Henry the Clerk his brother 2 oxgangs of land in Clayton to be held by knight's service of his lord and brother William de Altham; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1619. One of the witnesses was Stephen, Prior of St. Katherine's.
  • 6. Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 286. William son of Hugh de Altham, with the assent of Richard his son and heir, was the benefactor. This cannot be the William of 1277 who was son of Richard.
  • 7. From William de Altham the descent is thus traced in the later pleadings: William (temp. Ric. I) -s. Richard -s. Hugh -s. Richard -s. Hugh -bro. William, the claimant in 1275 and 1295; De Banco R. 60, m. 50 d.; 109, m. 59; Whalley Couch. (Chet. Soc.), i, 301.
  • 8. Ibid. iv, 1073, 1075, grants by Geoffrey Dean of Whalley; Kuerden MSS. iii, B 1b, by Hugh son of Eilsi de Osbaldeston.
  • 9. Towneley MS. RR, no. 557; a confirmation of the grant by Alan above recorded. He attested a charter by John de Lacy; Whalley Couch. iv, 1075.
  • 10. Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 151.
  • 11. Richard de Altham in 1256 released his right to common of pasture in Huncoat; Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 129. He was a juror in 1258; Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 213.
  • 12. William de Altham claimed lands in Billington in 1275; De Banco R. 60, m. 50 d. In 1277 he released a messuage and plough-land in Accrington to the Abbot of Kirkstall; Final Conc. i, 153. In the same year he made an agreement with Henry de Clayton as to the approvements of waste of Altham and Clayton; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1626. As William son of Richard de Altham he made one or two grants in Clayton; ibid. no. 1616. The suits about the advowson, in which he was plaintiff, lasted from 1295 to 1299; De Banco R. 127, m. 86 d. In 1290 Henry son of Adam de Altham complained of disseisin by John de Shuttleworth and William de Altham; Assize R. 1288, m. 12.
  • 13. He is no doubt the Simon brother of William de Altham who quitclaimed to the Abbot of Whalley respecting the chapel; Whalley Couch. i, 295.
  • 14. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 318. In 1308 Simon de Altham and Ellen his wife made a settlement of the manor; Final Conc. ii, 1.
  • 15. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, ii, 11. Simon was living in 1316; Whalley Couch. iv, 1117.
  • 16. Ibid. i, 282, 290, 313.
  • 17. Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1870), ii, 693, for 1349; Feud. Aids, iii, 88, for 1355; Inq. p.m. 35 Edw. III, pt. i, no. 122, for 1361. John de Altham and his sons John, Simon and Richard took part in a riot at Potterford near Whalley in 1350; Assize R. 443, m. 5.
  • 18. He may have died by 1367, when it was found that Robert del Eves of Parr held the manor of Altham at farm by grant of John de Altham; the rent was 40 marks; Coram Rege R. 430, m. 22. In 1371 and 1372 John Banastre of Walton and Margery his wife claimed a third part of the manor of Altham, &c., against John Robinson del Eves and Joan his wife as the dower of Margery, who was formerly wife of John de Altham; De Banco R. 441, m. 398; 443, m. 286; 447, m. 189 d. It is possible that Joan was the heiress of Altham. John del Eves was complainant in 1374–5, alleging that William son of Thomas Talbot and many others had carried off his wife Joan, despoiled his goods, &c.; also that the Abbot of Whalley had done damage to his crops; Coram Rege R. 452, m. 94; 458, m. 64; 456, m. 64. John Banastre and Margery his wife prosecuted the claim for dower against Robert del Eves, probably the father; De Banco R. 461, m. 273; 463, m. 142 d.
  • 19. Final Conc. iii, 17; Towneley MS. C 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), B 484. John de Radcliffe in 1391 acquired land in Spotland from Richard Banastre of Altham and Joan his wife; Final Conc. iii, 39.
  • 20. Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 157.
  • 21. Ibid. 139. In 1442 he complained that various persons had broken into his house at Altham and ill-treated him; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 4, m. 6b.
  • 22. Duchy of Lanc. Knights' Fees, bdle. 2, no. 20.
  • 23. Lancs. Rec. Inq. p.m. no. 43–4. Lawrence had in 1450 made a feoffment of the manor. Thomas Banastre was living in 1445; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 8, m. 38.
  • 24. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. ii, no. 14; made in 1504, when Richard was living. Lawrence Banastre must have lived from 1383 to 1477.
  • 25. Ibid. iv, no. 34. His widow Isabel was living in 1552, as appears by a later inquisition. Richard Banastre also held lands at Padiham and Clayton-le-Moors. The son Nicholas had in 1510 been contracted to marry Elizabeth daughter of Ralph Langton, baron of Newton. Isabel widow of Richard Banastre and in 1541 wife of Nicholas Tempest claimed a third part of the manor as her dower against Richard Banastre; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 170, m. 12 d.
  • 26. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. v, no. 47. Henry Farington had been godfather and John Nowell had carried a candle at the baptism.
  • 27. Ibid. viii, no. 31. Nicholas left a widow Anne (Preston). The feoffees in 1531 granted him a messuage, &c.; Towneley MS. C 8, 13, N 21. The custody and marriage of the heir were given to John Greenhalgh; Duchy of Lanc. Misc. Bks. xxii, 153 d.
  • 28. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 8. The will of Richard Banastre is recited. He made his wife Anne and his uncle William Banastre his executors, and names younger children—Lawrence, Thomas and Elizabeth. The custody of the heir was given to John Greenhalgh and Anne the widow; Duchy of Lanc. Misc. Bks. xxiii, 100.
  • 29. Ducatus Lanc. (Rec. Com.), iii, 33, 47; Lancs, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 257, 279.
  • 30. Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 49, m. 236. For Elizabeth wife of Nicholas see the account of Holden in Haslingden.
  • 31. Ibid. bdle. 71, m. 7; the deforciants were Nicholas Banastre, Nathaniel Banastre and Elizabeth his wife.
  • 32. Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 235. Nicholas Banastre was certainly a conformist in religion, for he was on an ecclesiastical commission in 1580 and was a justice of the peace in 1600; Cal. S. P. Dom. 1580–1625, p. 25; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 234.
  • 33. Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xxiv, 176.
  • 34. Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 218.
  • 35. Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 125–8. Richard's elder brother Nicholas had died without issue in their father's lifetime.
  • 36. Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 24. The eldest son Nicholas had died leaving two daughters.
  • 37. Lay Subs. Lancs. bdle. 250, no. 9. Two houses had four hearths and two had three.
  • 38. The remainder of the descent is taken from Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 269– 70. In 1671 Henry son of Richard Banastre claimed the manor of Altham, &c., against Amee widow of his brother Nicholas, who afterwards married Thomas Cockshutt. Nicholas had two daughters, who married; Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 48, 75. Henry Banastre by his will of 1684 devised his manor of Altham, &c., in succession to his son Nicholas and daughters Mary and Isabel and their heirs male, &c.; Whitaker, loc. cit.
  • 39. A settlement of the manor was made in 1700, the deforciants to the fine being Ambrose Walton, Mary his wife, Charles Halsted and Isabel his wife; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 244, m. 12. Henry Walton, on attaining the age of twenty-one (1719), joined with his mother and her husband Ambrose Walton in suffering a recovery of the entailed estates; Whitaker, loc. cit.
  • 40. Banastre Walton was vouchee in a recovery of the manor in 1756; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 582, m. 1a.
  • 41. Son of the Rev. Thomas Wroe, fellow of Manchester, by his wife Mary sister of Henry Walton. He paid almost the whole of the land tax for Altham in 1787.
  • 42. Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1870), ii, 54.
  • 43. Information of Mr. William Hallam, who died in 1910.
  • 44. Aythalgh, Ewood and Hindle were yeomen 1445–7; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 7 (end); 10, m. 12. In 1468 William Aythalgh complained that Gilbert Banastre and others had broken his close at Altham; Pal. of Lanc. Writs Proton. 8 Edw. IV. Lawrence Brandwood contributed to the subsidy for land in 1524; Lay Subs. Lancs. bdle. 130, no. 82. Henry Hodgson had a dispute with the lord in 1602; Ducatus Lanc. iii, 453, 462.
  • 45. Four oxgangs of land would be half the vill.
  • 46. De Banco R. 125, m. 224.
  • 47. Op cit. i, 305; they included—e.g. in Hoghtonfield in the Blakecroft eighteen selions lying one by one among the parcels of the oxgangs, and in the same field six butts likewise lying separately. The field-names, &c., give Tadrid Ees, Todgrave, Bankhouses, Muthom, Nether-eastfield and Over-eastfield, the hard Aspden, Townsteadfield, Britholm and others; the greengate, the farthings, the manor barn and tithe barn, the chaplain's house and the priest's garden. There was a 'great meadow' under Lords Hill.
  • 48. Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 267.
  • 49. Ibid. 265.
  • 50. Ibid. 266 n. Here the authority quoted says that Geofirey the younger, Dean of Whalley, gave it to his brother Robert.
  • 51. Whalley Couch. (Chet. Soc.), i, 296.
  • 52. Ibid. Robert de Whalley, rector of Rochdale, gave the 'church' of Altham in alms to Henry de Altham son of Henry son of Hugh as a perpetual vicarage. Geoffrey the Dean of Whalley at the same time confirmed the gift, which was further ratified by William de Cornhull Bishop of Lichfield from 1215 to 1223.
  • 53. Whalley Couch. (Chet. Soc.), i, 298– 301. The Prior of St. Frideswide's, Oxford, as deputy of the Dean of Warwick, to whom the pope had referred the investigation, gave sentence in favour of Peter de Chester against Henry de Clayton. The date of the last document is given wrongly. The gift to Henry de Altham was perhaps regarded as a personal one, so that the 'vicarage' died with him.
  • 54. Ibid. 301. William de Altham, the plaintiff in 1296, said that Henry de Altham was presented in the time of Richard I (i.e. before 1199) by Hugh son of Leofwine, a statement differing from that in the document relied on for the text and from the charters cited from the Coucher. It must refer to an incumbency before that of Robert de Whalley; see Clayton below. William also stated that Henry de Clayton was presented by his great-grandfather Richard de Altham in the time of Henry III, was instituted and at length died 'rector,' the vacancy in 1296 being due to his death. The vacancy must have been a lengthy one, for Henry de Clayton died about 1265. William further asserted that Altham was no chapel but a church, with rights of baptism and burial. Various pleadings will be found in De Banco R. 109, m. 59; 118, m. 2d.; 124, m. 52; 127, m. 86 d. Simon de Altham brother of William afterwards released all title in the chapel; Whalley Couch. i, 295. The endowment pertaining to the chapel is given in detail in a document (c. 1420) printed ibid. 305–6. It mentions a messuage on the east side of the chapel, with the chaplain's house. There is a confirmation of Altham and other chapels to the abbey in 1344 in B.M. Add. Chart. 1060.
  • 55. Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 271. By his will, dated 1427, Henry Rishton gave directions that the money of St. Mary at Altham was to be placed in the care of his son Richard; he also ordered five candles, called 'le gaud,' to be placed before her image in the church of Altham and one of wax before the high cross there; Dunkenhalgh D. In Aug. 1471 (? 1461) Richard Rishton delivered to Henry Grimshaw the goods of St. Mary of Altham belonging to the town of Clayton, i.e. 24s. 11d. in good money; also 13s. 10d. in the approving of Robin Duxbury since 1454, also a cow with her provenance in the approving of Christopher Dubworth; 'to keep continually in his hands the said goods as for a stock and to approve with the grace of God all the remnant thereof to the use of our said Lady'; Add. MS. 32108, no. 573.
  • 56. Whitaker, Whalley (ed. 3), 404.
  • 57. In 1848 the whole of the exterior was whitewashed, and the new portions were described as 'very unseemly, being badly constructed and out of harmony with the rest of the building. . . . The new chancel had been built without buttresses and with a roof of much lower pitch than that of the nave'; see Preston Guardian, 7 July 1888.
  • 58. Augm. Office Misc. Bks. clxx, m. 6; Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc.), 269, 275, 277.
  • 59. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 10.
  • 60. Commonw. Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 166.
  • 61. Plund. Mins. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 84. The grant was confirmed in 1654; ibid. 139. A payment was made in 1652; ibid. 244. A grant of £30 was made in 1655; ibid. ii, 88, 116. An addition of £20 was made in 1657; ibid. 170. These grants appear to have replaced the £50 granted in 1650; ibid. 191.
  • 62. Gastrell, Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 306. There were two chapelwardens.
  • 63. Ibid. 307.
  • 64. Manch. Dioc. Dir.
  • 65. Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 273; the purchaser was R. T. Wroe Walton.
  • 66. –7 Lond. Gaz. 11 Dec. 1866.
  • 67. Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 273.
  • 68. Clergy List (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 18. The name occurs in the visitation lists of 1548, 1554, 1562, 1563 and 1565. He is named as 'preacher there' in 1569; Robert Nowell's Money (ed. Grosart), 384.
  • 69. Pennant's MS. Acct. Bk. at Chester Dioc. Reg.
  • 70. Visit. Returns; he did not wear the surplice. The will of Nicholas Hindley of Altham was proved before him in May 1592.
  • 71. Mr. Earwaker's note.
  • 72. Whitaker, loc. cit.
  • 73. Ibid.; said to have been curate of Marsden 1608–9.
  • 74. Named as curate of Accrington. In 1619 the curate of Altham (not named) was reported for not preaching; Visit. Returns.
  • 75. Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 68.
  • 76. He was the son of James Jollie of Droylsden and born in 1629. Educated at Trinity College, Camb., he settled at Altham when he was only twenty years of age. He was called 'an able divine' in 1650; Commonw. Ch. Surv. 166. He tried to avoid the conflict of Presbyterian and Independent at that time. The Church Book shows that he formed a sort of inner society to which he specially ministered. At the Restoration he refused to conform and suffered expulsion and imprisonment and much persecution till 1688. He afterwards ministered to the Nonconformists of the district from Wymondhouses in Pendleton, where he built a house and chapel. See Nightingale, Lancs. Nonconf. ii, 187–90 (with portrait); Jollie's Note Bk. (Chet. Soc.), containing pedigree and church book; Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 272; Dict. Nat. Biog. It is an illustration of the 'unpromising sphere' in which he laboured from 1649 that in 1661 his churchwardens complained to the Bishop of Chester that he took upon him authority as their minister, without any reason so far as they knew; that he neglected his duty, 'refusing the Lord's Supper to all the parishioners except three families and the baptizing of our children'; that he would not use the Book of Common Prayer, and would not bury the dead, so that this had to be done without any ceremony; Whitaker, loc. cit.
  • 77. Also served Padiham.
  • 78. Afterwards served Church also. He was 'conformable' in 1689; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 228. He was still at Altham in 1696 (Visit. Returns) and in 1705; Notitia Cestr. ii, 308. The church papers begin at 1694, but take Altham and Accrington as one curacy.
  • 79. Notitia Cestr. ii, 303, 308. Altham at that time was served with Goodshaw; the curate preached at the former chapel once a month; ibid. 306. Houghton had thus been curate of Altham for some years before 1721, when he was nominated to Accrington also by the vicar of Whalley.
  • 80. He was son of Stephen Anderton, a member of the Lostock family, who lived at Hardhill, Clitheroe. He became a Benedictine at Lambspring in 1709. Running away from his monastery he became a Protestant, returned to England and married, being curate of Newchurch in Pendle and Altham with Accrington. To Altham he was nominated by Nicholas Curzon and to Accrington by the vicar of Whalley. This double nomination continued as long as the curacies remained united in fact, i.e. till 1804. Anderton's descendants claimed the manors of Lostock, &c., as will be found in the account of them.
  • 81. Vacant by the death of J. Anderton.
  • 82. Vacant by the resignation of A. Werden.
  • 83. Vacant by the death of C. Pindar. Longford served Altham, &c., by an assistant curate.
  • 84. After the death of R. Longford Accrington was separated from Altham, John Adamson, who held Padiham also, being nominated to Altham by the Hon. G. A. W. Curzon.
  • 85. Mr. Wood had been assistant curate of Altham since 1804.
  • 86. Incumbent of Christ Church, Glasson, 1846–8.
  • 87. Vicar of Padiham 1896–1905.
  • 88. Vicar of Fence 1887, rector of West Bridgford 1894.