Clithero, is a modern borough and market town, situated on the eastern bank of the river Ribble, near the northern border of the hundred and county. At an early period this place was raised to the dignity of an honour; and the learned historian of the district, Dr. Whitaker, has given a long list of its lords. According to him, the hundred of Blackburn was granted by the Conqueror to Roger de Busti, and Albert de Greslet; but the Dr. doubts the authority of Dugdale, in placing "Ilbert de Laci, a Norman adventurer," as the first Lord of Clithero; and is inclined to identify Robert de Laci as the earliest possessor, "who was certainly Lord of Blackburnshire.,, The great, fee of Pontefract, in which was comprehended this lesser one of Clithero, after being dispossessed of it by Henry the first, for espousing the cause of Robert Curtois, was restored to him, after a temporary alienation; and the grant of the church of Whalley, by Hugh, or Guy de la Val, during his possession, to the monks of Pontefract, was annulled for want of Robert de Laci’s confirmation, though he ratified several other grants made during his attainder. The castle of Clithero, said to be built by this Robert, was fixed by him to be the seat of his barony, on an insulated conical rock of lime-stone, as the most eligible situation for his temporary residence, most convenient for transacting the business of the fee, which consisted of twenty-eight manors within the hundred, and as a fortress most desirable for defending his lands. His second son, Henry de Laci, his elder brother, Ilbert, dying without issue, founded a Cistertian Alley, at Barnoldswick, which was afterwards translated to the more genial climate of Kirkstall, on the river Aire, about three miles west of Leeds, in Yorkshire, wherein Robert, the second son of this Henry de Laci, after his death in 1193, without issue, was interred. He devised his estates, by the mother’s side only, to his sister Awbrey, whose husband, Richard Fitz-Eustace, Lord of Halton, and constable of Chester, died in 1178, as well as his son John in 1190; whose son, Roger de Laci, the terror and scourge of the Welch, succeeded to the fees of Pontefract and "Clyderhow," a fine having been levied, in 1195, between him and his grandmother Awbrey for that purpose, after his return from the siege of Acre, in the Holy Land, whither he had accompanied Richard the First, in the third crusade. To the Abbey of Stanlaw, which had been founded by John de Eustace, improperly called John de Laci, this Roger, his son, gave the advowson of the church of Rochdale, with four bovates of land in Castle- ton, and Brandwood in Rossendale. He was succeeded by his son John de Laci, to whose issue the earldom of Lincoln, in right of his wife, appertained; this was ratified by letters patent, in 1232. His son, Edmund de Laci, died before his mother, in 1258, and therefore never assumed the title of Earl of Lincoln; to whom succeeded Henry de Laci, the last and greatest man of his line, and the confidential friend of Edward the First, who, in 1290, appointed him first commissioner for rectifying abuses in the administration of justice, and in 1293 sent him ambassador to France, to demand satisfaction for plundering the ships of the English merchants, by subjects of that kingdom. In 1299 he led the vanguard at the memorable battle of Falkirk. He was also protector of England during Edward the Second’s unfortunate expedition into Scotland, and died in that office in 1310, at the age of sixty years. For his great services he was rewarded with the honor of Denbigh, in Wales: and in consequence styled himself Lord of Roos and Rowennock; and his statue, in his robes, is still preserved over the gate of Clithero castle. His eldest son, and the last male heir of the family, perished either here, or at Pontefract, by a fall. Henry liberally rewarded his servants; and gave the advowson of Whalley, and its dependencies, to the monks of Stanlaw, and afterwards procured their translation, which he personally attended, to that beautiful site, and laid the first stone of their conventual church. Both his sons died young; and one of his daughters, Alice, with an inheritance of 10, 000 marks a-year, was married to Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, whose weak, but restless mind, supported only by his vast possessions, gave much disquiet to the kingdom; and, after being overpowered by Edward the Second, a man as weak as himself, was beheaded at his own manor of Pontefract, in March, 1321, leaving no issue. All that we find of him, respecting Clithero, is, that by a charter, July 25, 1316, he gave to the abbot and consent of Whalley, Toxteth, and Smethedon, they having complained of their new situation, as wanting fuel, timber, and a sufficient extent of domain; but after this grant, all these inconveniences were removed, and the situation was retained. His widow, Alice de Laci, had for her dowry various lordships in Yorkshire, and the manor of Widnes in this county, and, after marrying two other husbands, died in 1348; the first of these was Eubulo L’Estrange, with whom she is stated previously to have lived in great familiarlly, and afterwards married without the king’s licence, of which circumstance he took advantage, and seized on her inheritance, both in this county and in Yorkshire. These remained in the hands of the crown until the beginning of Edward the Third’s reign, when, with the exception of Ightenhill park only, they were granted for life to Queen Isabella. But on the reversal of Thomas of Lancaster’s attainder, which was before her death, Henry Duke of Lancaster, by virtue of the entail on Edmund, the king’s brother, and his heirs, succeeded to this honor and hundred. This Henry founded an hermitage for two recluses, in Whalley church-yard: he also granted the bailiwick of Blackburnshire to the abbey and convent there; and the manor of Downham, to John de Dyneley. He died, March 24th, 1360, leaving only two daughters, co-heiresses, of whom, Blanch was married to John of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward the Third, Earl of Richmond, who was afterwards, in her right, created Duke of Lancaster. By this marriage he had the fees of Pontefract and Lancaster, and the hundred of Blackburn, or honor of Clithero, with the appurtenances, and died the 3rd of February, 1398, leaving Henry of Bolingbroke, his son and heir, Duke of Lancaster, who was then in banishment.

Henry, on his return, deposed his unfortunate master, Richard the Second, and the honor of Clithero thereby merged in the crown; but, aware of his usurpation, he made a charter of separation of the duchy of Lancaster, lest it should, on any future contest for the crown, follow its fortunes; yet still continued to pass all grants of lands, &c. under the great seal of England only, until the third of Henry the Fifth, when the duchy seal alone was directed to be used, a practice which was followed until Henry the Sixth was deposed. Leland (See Collectanea, Vol. II. ) has thus related the manner in which that unfortunate king was betrayed and abused, on seeking a temporary refuge here from his enemies. "In A. D. 1464, King Henry was taken in Clitherwoode by the side of Bungerleyhipping stones in Lancastershyre, by Tho. Talbot, sunne and heir to Sir Edmunde Talbot of Bashall, and John Talbot, his cousin, of Colebry, which deceived him, being at his dyner in Wadyngton Haul, and brought him to London, with his legges bounde to the sterropes." For this good service there are no fewer than four patents, from Edward and Richard the Third, still extant. Edward the Fourth, on the contrary, passed an act, that the duchy should be incorporated with, and united to, the crown of England for ever; only providing that it should remain a corporate inheritance, and be governed by such officers as it had been during the three preceding reigns. But Henry the Seventh, the only legal heir to this honor, under the deed of settlement on the heirs male of John, Duke of Lancaster, and Blanch his wife, soon repealed Edward the Fourth’s act, and entailed on himself, and his heirs, the duchy of Lancaster, with its appurtenances, together with the crown of England. Thus it continued till the restoration of Charles the Second, who bestowed it, for his eminent services, on General Monk, and his heirs; and it is now the inheritance of Henry, Duke of Buccleugh; but whether it was devised in fee by the second duke of Albemarle to his duchess, and was included amongst the estates given to her stepson, John, Duke of Montague, and so passed to the ancestors of the present possessor, I am not at present able to ascertain."

The Borough of Clithero, which has been represented in parliament from the first year of Queen Elizabeth, is a small town, on an insulated eminence, having its castle at one end, on an elevated limestone rock, the remains of which consist only of a square tower, distantly surrounded by a strong wall. In the latter part of the civil wars of the seventeenth century, it was a post of the royalists, but in 1649 was ordered to be dismantled; and the town, the inaccessible parts excepted, had been entirely moated round. Mention is made of a chapel here in the grant of Hugh de la Val; this was within the castle, and was erected for the use of the baron, his family, tenants, and foresters: for the forests of Trowden, Rossendale, Bolland, and Pendle, were all considered as within its limits. This chapel had been always deemed a parish church, as appears from the deeds of many of the neighbouring gentry, though now totally ruined, having followed the fate of all the charities in the time of Edward the Sixth. The several chapels of Pendle, White- well, Rossendale, and Goodshaw, are under Clithero, and in the church, which is a chapelry belonging to Whalley, are the alabaster figures of a knight and his lady, probably some of the family of Hesketh. This parochial chapel is of high antiquity, being expressly mentioned in De la Val’s charter; and the fine Saxon arch between the nave and the choir, is a complete specimen of the style which prevailed until the time of Henry the First. All the ancient inhabitants of the forests, in the most inclement seasons, and by roads almost impassable in winter, were obliged to bring their dead here for interment, though in some parts nearly twenty miles distant, before the foundation of Newchurch, in Rossendale. But the castle, with the demesnes and forests, is, strictly speaking, extra-parochial; and to this day it is distinguished by the name of castle-parish.

This town has evidently assumed its name from the situation which it possesses. It is of an origin purely British, Cled-dur denoting a hill or rock by the water, and the additional syllable hou is purely Saxon, which also denotes a hill, and is merely an explanatory addition, adapted to the language and ideas of the Saxons. A fair, which had been held in the church-yard of Whalley, was by letters patent of the eleventh year of Henry the Fourth, transferred to Clithero, and appointed to be held there, on the eve, day, and morrow of the annunciation; and a confirmation of privileges by charter of the first of Henry the Fifth, to the free burgesses of Clyderhow, with an exception of the wood of Salthill, to be enclosed by the said burgesses at their own expense, and saving the king’s rights of trying criminal causes only by the laws of the land. Clithero must have been a place of considerable importance, as we read of "Lambert, physician of Clyderhow," probably in the time of Henry the First, or at least not much subsequent to the conquest, and physicians cannot be supposed to meet with practice in small places. We find also that it contained sixty-six free burgesses as early as the year 1240, which was a considerable number in those days of slender population: though the township alone now contains upwards of 300 houses, and between 13 and 1400 inhabitants.

The town seal, as appears appendant to a charter of the year 1335, consisted of a single lion rampant, the arms of Laci, circumscribed S. Bi. CWS. DE CLIDERHOW; but their modern seal is subsequent to the restoration. Clithero is now governed by two bailiffs, who jointly exercise the power of one magistrate or justice of the peace, and are also the returning officers for the borough. Freeholders only who have estates for life or in fee, or resident owners, are entitled to vote. It has an excellent grammar school contiguous to the church-yard. This strictly preserves its character as a classical seminary, and is of the endowment of Philip and Mary, under the regulation of certain statutes by order of Bishop Bridgeman. On the opposite side of the Ribble, at Edisforth, within the borough, was formerly an hospital for lepers, which was founded before dates were particularly attended to in charters. In one of these John, son of Ralph de Cliderhou, grants three acres of land in Sidhill; and various other grants are met with, till in the twenty-fourth of Edward the Third it had neither warden nor brethren, and it was ultimately settled on the abbot and convent of Whalley. The site of the hospital was on the Yorkshire side of the Ribble.

Dr. Whitaker takes notice of a tract of country between the Ribble and Pendle Hill, bearing a "distinct and peculiar character." After some general observations on the nature of the soil from Lancaster to this place, as abounding with "coals, iron, and other kindred minerals," and as possessing "a set of native plants adapted to itself;" he observes that, "here on a sudden the crust of the earth appears to have undergone a violent disruption, in consequence of which the edges of the beds" of minerals "are thrown up into the air, and downward towards the centre of the earth. At an angle of no less than forty-five degrees, immediately beyond this appearance, rises the huge mass of Pendle, which seems to have been thrown up by the same convulsion; and immediately to the north again, appears a surface of lime-stone, with its concomitant system of plants and minerals, which, had the strata to the south maintained their natural position, must have laid at a vast depth beneath. The effect of this convulsion is felt over a tract of forty miles to the north, scarcely a seam of coal being found before we arrive at Burton in Lonsdale. This fact serves to shew how much more the character of a country is determined by soil, than by climate; since, on the north of Pendle, and even on a declivity to the north we see wheat, peas, beans, and other usual productions of a more southern husbandry, ripening, at least in favourable seasons; while on the south, upon a declivity also, the hardy black oat itself is often indebted to the frost of November for all that resembles maturity about it." This hill of Pendle, noted in the boasted rhyming phraseology of the country, makes a conspicuous figure on the south side of the plain; and we have the authority of Mr. Pennant, for asserting that "the sides are verdant, and the top moorish and very extensive." On this stood Malkin-Tower, celebrated, in 1633, for being the rendezvous of witches. Seventeen poor wretches were condemned on perjured evidence: the affair was scrutinized into, and the poor convicts set at liberty. A witness swore he saw them go into a barn and pull at six ropes, down which fell flesh smoaking, butter in lumps, and milk as it were flying from the said ropes, all falling into six basons placed beneath; and yet, mortifying reflection! the great Sir Thomas Brown, author of the book against Vulgar Errors; and Glanvil, one of the first promoters of the Royal Society, which was instituted expressly for the detection of error, and establishment of truth, were sad instances of credulity in the most absurd of all circumstances. On this hill are two large earns, about a mile distant from each other: these were more probably the ruins of some ancient Specula, or beacon towers erected by Agricola after the conquest of the country. There is another, of more modern date, which answers to one in Ingleborough-hilly twenty miles to the north. From this may be seen a most amazing extent of country: York-minster is very visible, and the land towards the German ocean as far as the powers of the eye can extend. Towards the west the sea is very distinguishable, and even the Isle of Man, by the assistance of glasses: to the north the vast mountains of Ingleborough, Wham-side, and other of the British Apennines. The other views are the vales of Ribble, Hodder, and Calder, (the first extends thirty miles) which afford a more delicious prospect, varied with numberless objects of rivers, houses, woods, and rich pastures covered with cattle; and in the midst of this fine vale rises the town of Clithero, with the castle at one end, and the church at the other, elevated on a rocky scar: the abbey of Whalley, about four miles to the south, and that of Salley, as much to the north, with the addition of many gentlemen’s seats scattered over the vale, give the whole a variety and richness rarely to be found in any rural prospects. It is also enlivened with some degree of commerce, in the multitude of the cattle, the carriage of the lime, and the busy noise of the spinners engaged in the service of the woollen manufactures of the clothing towns.

The church is a neat structure; the Free Grammar School originally founded by Philip and Mary, has been handsomely rebuilt. The market is held on Saturdays, and horse-racing frequently takes place upon a moor in the vicinity of the town.

The municipal government is in two bailiffs, who act together as one magistrate, and are the returning officers of the borough. The two representatives sent to parliament are elected by the resident owners of houses, or rather by such freeholders, only, who have estates for life, or in fee. The real number of these is said not to exceed forty-two.

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CLITHEROE is a market town and municipal borough, pleasantly seated on the river Ribble (which separates this county from Yorkshire), and on the high road from Blackburn and Preston in Lancashire to Gisburn in Yorkshire, 3 miles south of the highest point of the Pendle Hills, with a station on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, 223 miles from London, 11 ½ north-north-east by rail from Blackburn, 8 north-west from Burnley, 24 ½ from Bolton, 35 north-by-west from Manchester, 46 from Liverpool, 27 from Bury, 15 from Accrington, 40 from Blackpool, 40 from Fleetwood, 20 from Preston, 36 from Southport and 18 from Skipton.

The town is in the centre of a union, and is also the head of a county court and petty sessional division, in the Clitheroe division of the county and upper division of Blackburn hundred, and a township in the parish and rural deanery of Whalley, archdeaconry of Blackburn and diocese of Manchester.

The town is a borough by prescription. Its first charter was granted by Henry de Laci, who died some time after, the year 1147: it was formerly governed by two bailiffs; but on the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 (5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76), it was incorporated, the corporation consisting of a mayor, four aldermen and 12 councillors. The borough has a commission of the peace and a police force.

Before the passing of the Reform Act of 1832 Clitheroe returned two members to Parliament, but from that date up to 1885, one only, and by the “Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, the representation was merged in that of the county.

Gas works were established in 1837, and the town is well supplied with water from two reservoirs at West Bradford: both the gas and water works are the property of the Corporation, having been purchased from the Gas and Water Companies under the-authority of the “Clitheroe Corporation Act, 1878.”

St. Mary Magdalene, formerly a chapelry in the civil parish of Whalley, was formed into an ecclesiastical parish in 1868. The church (now the parish church) was almost entirely rebuilt in 1828, at a cost of £8,500, and consists of nave, aisles, a short chancel and a western tower, with an octagonal upper storey, and containing a clock and 8 bells: the only portions of the old church now existing are a part of the eastern wall of the chancel, containing a large Perpendicular window, and the 15th century western tower: the battlement of the latter was removed in 1846: the stained east window contains several shields of arms illustrative of the history of the honour, the borough and the parish: in the south side of the chancel is an ogee-headed niche containing a piscina, and the old font is still preserved: there is a brass, with a Latin inscription, to John Webster, born at Thorneycroft-upon-the-Hill, in the parish of Cuxwold; he was for a time master of the Clitheroe Grammar School, and died at Clitheroe, June 18th, 1682, in the 72nd year of his age. He is chiefly noted for his “Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft,” published in 1677, in which he denounced witchcraft as an imposture: on the north side of the church, under the staircase leading to the gallery, are two mutilated effigies of a knight and his lady, supposed to represent Sir Thos. Radolyffe, knight in Parliament for the county, d. 1441, and his wife, Katherine Booth; there is a monument by Westmacott to Thomas Wilson, master of the Grammar School, d. 1813; and mural tablets to John Thomas Walshman Aspinall, of Standen Hall, in this county, esq. d. 1865, and others of that name, and to the Rev. Joseph Heywood Anderton M.A. for 47 years vicar of Clitheroe, d. 1878: the church was restored again in 1903, at a cost of £8,000, and affords 1,100 sittings. The register dates from the year 1570. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £173, arising from 50 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of E. Haughton Jackson esq. and held since 1903 by the Rev. Joseph Henry Wrigley M.A. of the. University of Manitoba, Canada.

The Parish Sunday school, Church street, erected in 1884, is of Yorkshire stone, from the designs of Mr. W. S. Varley, architect, of Blackburn.

St. James is an ecclesiastical parish, formed in 1839, partly from the ecclesiastical parish of St. Mary Magdalene and partly from the civil parish of Whalley, parts having been since assigned in 1873 to the parish of All Saints, Pendleton; the church is a building of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and a western tower with pinnacles containing one bell: there are three stained memorial windows: the church has 858 sittings, of which 118 are free. The register dates from the year 1839.

The living was declared a rectory April 3rd, 1868, net yearly value £330, including 11 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of five trustees, and held since 1894 by the Rev. Robert Railton B.A. of Durham University.

The Catholic church, dedicated to St. Michael and St. John the Evangelist, in Lowergate, erected in 1850, is an edifice of stone in the Gothic style; there is a handsomely carved pulpit of various coloured marbles: and in the chancel are six life-size statues of saints by Mayer, of Munich: the church has seven stained windows and will seat about 750 people.

The Burial Ground, of 5 acres, was formed in 1862, on the road leading to Waddington, the land being purchased by public subscription; it has been consecrated as an extension of St. Mary’s churchyard and has a mortuary chapel and a caretaker’s lodge, erected in 1881; it was further enlarged and the new ground consecrated in 1896: there is also a Catholic cemetery on the same road, about 1 ½ acres in extent, with a mortuary chapel.

There is a Town Hall in Church street, and a Free Lending Library, opened in 1879 by the Corporation, and containing over 7,000 volumes of miscellaneous literature; it is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 6.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. and on Saturday afternoons from 3 to 5.

The Public Hall, in York street, is a building of stone, erected in 1874 by a limited company, at a cost of £3.000; it has an interior area of 100 by 42 feet and will seat 1,000 people; attached are dressing rooms and offices.

The manufacture of cotton goods is largely carried on here. At Low Moor are the mills of Messrs. Garnett and Sons; at Primrose the mill of J. Mercer and the paper mills of Messrs. Carlisle, Son and Co.; at Foulsykes, the mill of The Foulsykes Manufacturing Co. Limited; at Upbrooks, the chair works of Messrs. J. Joyce and Son; and in the town are also the following cotton mills:-Shaw Bridge mill, Gaddum, Rusden and Co. Limited; Albion mills, P. Thwaites and Co.; Waterloo mill, Duckworth and Eddleston; Brooks mill and Jubilee mill, John Southworth and Sons; Salford Bridge mills, Thompsons Limited, Richard Ryden and the Castle Manufacturing Co. Limited. Here are also the extensive works of Messrs. Richard Briggs and Sons Limited, lime burners and quarry owners; the Horrocksford Lime Co. Limited; Messrs. James Carter and Sons Limited; the Clitheroe Portland Cement Co. Limited and the Isis Portland Cement Co. are in the immediate neighbourhood, and there are also others in the vicinity: there is also the bobbin turnery of Messrs. Francis Holden and Son and a brewery.

The market, King street, was opened by the Corporation in 1879: the market is held on Saturday for meat and vegetables, and on every alternate Monday for cattle. Fairs are held on the 24th and 25th of March, third Thursday in May, on the 1st and 2nd of August, the third Thursday after Michaelmas and on the 7th of December.

The Swan and Royal, in Castle street, is the principal hotel and posting house, and has good stabling and a large assembly room, holding 200 persons, which is frequently used for lectures and concerts.

The honor of Clitheroe, comprising the whole of the hundred of Blackburn, part of the hundred of Salford, the liberty of Bowland and the manor of Slaidburn, in Yorkshire, was originally granted by William Rufus to Robert de Laci, soil of Ilbert de Laci, who came into England with the Conqueror. By the marriage of Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, with Alice, only daughter and heiress of Henry de Laci, Earl of Lincoln, it became vested in the Crown and was granted by Charles II. to General Monk, Duke of Albemarle, for his services in, the restoration of that monarch and is now held by the trustees of the late Duke of Buccleuch K.G. The castle was built by one of the de Laci family in the reign of William Rufus and was dismantled during the Commonwealth by order of the Parliament: some few portions of the ancient keep are still standing on the summit of a rocky height, overlooking the valley; this keep is noticeable as being the smallest Norman keep in the country. Within the castle area was an ancient chapel dedicated to St. Michael, now removed. A spacious modern mansion, in the castellated style, stands on a part of the site and is occupied by Frederick D. Robinson esq. steward to the trustees of the late Duke of Buccleuch K.G.

Pendle Hill rises to a height of 1,831 feet, and on a clear day commands extensive views of the beautiful scenery on the banks of the Ribble, the ruins of Whalley Abbey, 4 miles distant, York minster and the Irish Channel. On the north side of the hill is a ravine, called” Brast Clough,” said to have been formed by the inundations to which the numerous springs occasionally give rise: the site has been associated from time immemorial with the watch fires of the middle ages and witchcraft, for which, during the reign of James I. many unfortunate women were tried and burnt.

The Clitheroe Estate Co. Limited are lords of the honor. Edmund Arthur Le Gendre Starkie esq. of Huntroyde, Padiham, and Col. Ralph John Aspinall D.L., J.P. of Standen Hall, are the chief landowners. The soil is clay and loam, and the subsoil is limestone. The land is chiefly pasture.

The area of the civil parish and municipal borough is 2,335 acres of land and 50 of water; rateable value, £43,891; the the municipal borough in 1881 was 10,177: 1891, 10,815, and in 1901, 11,414, including 8 officers and 124 inmates in the workhouse.

The population of St. Mary Magdalene ecolesiastical parish in 1901 was 4,869, and of St. James’, 5,148.

Petty Sessions for the Lancashire townships within the union are held, every fourth Monday, at the Police Court, in King street, at 11 o’clook & for the Yorkshire townships every fourth Monday, at Bolton-by-Bowland.

CLITHEROE UNION

Board day every alternate Monday, at the Union house, Chatburn road, at 10 a.m.

The Clitheroe union comprises the following townships & places in Lancashire:-Aighton, Bailey & Chaigley, Bowland (Little) & Leagram, Chatburn, Chipping, Clitheroe, Downham, Mearley, Mitton (Little) with Henthorn & Coldcoats, Pendleton, Thornley-with-Wheatley, Twiston, Whalley, Wiswell, & Worston. The following are in Yorkshire, West Biding:-Bashall Raves, Bolton-by-Bowland, Bowland Forest (Higher Division), Bowland Forest (Lower Division), or Whitewell,Easington, Gisburn, Gisburn Forest, Grindleton, Horton, Middop, Mitton (Great), Newsholme, Newton, Paythorne, Rimmington, Sawley, Slaidburn, Waddington & West Bradford. The area of the union is 117,768 acres; the rateable value for 1904, £159,819 (being Lancashire £92,168 & Yorkshire, £67,651); the population in 1901 was 23,377.

The Union Workhouse, in the Chatburn road & opened on the 21st of April, 1873, is a building of stone in the Italian style, with two projecting wings & a hospital; it is available for 200 inmates & the hospital has space for 36 beds.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of Services

St. Mary’s Church, Rev. Joseph Henry Wrigley M.A. vicar: 10.30 a m. & 6.30 p.m.

St. James’ Church, Rev. Robert Railton B.A. rector; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

St. Paul’s Church, Low moor, Rev. J. B. Waddington, vicar: 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.

Catholic Church of St. Michael & St. John the Evangelist, Lowergate, Rev. Robert F. Moss S.J. Rev. Alfred T. Hulley S.J. Rev. Matthew Newsham S.J. & Rev. Charles S. Beauclerk S.J.; 8, 9.30 & 10.30 a.m.& 2.45 & 6.30 p.m.

Baptist, Shawbridge street, Rev. Lewis John Shackleford; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.

Congregational, Castlegate, Rev. Wilson Murray; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Methodist Free Church, Moor lane; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Wed. 8 p.m.

Methodist Free Church, Low moor: 0 30 a.m. & 6 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, Lowergate, Rev. William Brown; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.

Wesleyan Methodist, Parson lane.

Wesleyan Methodist, Wesleyan row; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Tues. 7.30 p.m.

Salvation Army Barracks, Shawbridge street.

SCHOOLS

Royal Free Grammar School, York street, chartered & endowed by Philip & Mary A.D. 1554, with property to the amount of £430 yearly, & re-organised by the Endowed School Commissioners in 1878. This is a secondary boarding & day school, with exhibitions of £40 a year each to Oxford or Cambridge, tenable for four years. The scheme of education is classical, mathematical & commercial, & includes natural science & modern languages. The tuition fees are £4 yearly for boys below 12 years of age, & for those above it £6. There are now (1904) 47 boys. The governing body consists of 13 members, Col. Ralph John Aspinall, of Standen Hall, being chairman; Charles Matthew Henderson M.A. headmaster; J. E. Grindley B.A., T. Woodcock M.A., J. C. B. Noble & M. Mugge D.Ph. assistant masters.

Borough of Clitlieroe Education Committee.

Clerk to Education Committee, John Rastham, 21 Church street School Attendance Officer, George Booth, Chatburn road Public Elementary Schools.

National (mixed & infants), built in 1839 for 456 children; average attendance, 320.

St. James, Greenacre street (mixed & infants), built in 1897 for 633 children; average attendance, 368.

Catholic, Lowergate, built in 1870, & enlarged in 1895 by the addition of a new boys’ school; it will now hold 568 children; average attendance, 284.

Low Moor (mixed), built in 1824, for 264 children; average, attendance, 120.

Wesleyan (mixed & infants), built in 1851, extended in 1899, for 689 children; average attendance, 618.