Honour of Clitheroe facts for kids
The Honour of Clitheroe was a large area of land in Lancashire, England, that included many smaller estates called manors and special hunting grounds known as royal forests. It was all centered around Clitheroe Castle. An "Honour" was like a huge land package given by the king, and its different parts weren't always connected. The Honour of Clitheroe was generally found around an old administrative area called the wapentake of Blackburnshire.
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A Look Back: History of the Honour
Before the Norman Conquest (when William the Conqueror took over England in 1066), the lands of Blackburnshire belonged to King Edward the Confessor. Another area called Bowland was owned by Tostig, who was the son of a powerful earl named Godwin.
In 1092, a man named Roger de Poitou gained control of a big part of what is now Lancashire, including the area known as the hundred of Blackburnshire.
By the end of the 1000s, Poitou's lands were taken away. They then came into the hands of the De Lacy family, who were powerful lords from Pontefract and also controlled the Lordship of Bowland.
In 1102, King Henry I gave the lands of Blackburnshire, along with other areas like Hornby, Chipping, Aighton, and Dutton, to Robert de Lacy, the second Baron of Pontefract. The King also confirmed that Robert de Lacy owned Bowland. These lands became the foundation of what was later called the Honour of Clitheroe.
Over time, the Honour grew. In 1205, Roger de Lacy bought the area of Penwortham. By 1212, he had also added the manor of Rochdale. In 1235, his son, John de Lacy, acquired the lands of Tottington.
The Honour then passed through marriage to Thomas, Earl of Lancaster in 1311. Later, it became part of the Duchy of Lancaster, which is a large private estate owned by the British monarch. In 1327, Queen Isabella took control of the Honour after she removed King Edward II from power.
In 1507, King Henry VII passed a law called the Act of Disafforestation. This law was made because more and more people were moving into the Royal Forests, which were originally protected hunting grounds. This act allowed for more settlements in the Forests of Accrington, Bowland, Pendle, Rossendale, and Trawden.
Later, in 1625, King Charles I sold Rochdale. In 1628, the manor of Penwortham was also sold.
In 1661, King Charles II gave the Honour to General George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, as a thank you for his help in bringing the monarchy back to England during the Restoration. The Honour then passed down through different noble families, including the Dukes of Albemarle, Dukes of Montagu, and finally, the Dukes of Buccleuch.
In 1835, the part of the Honour in Bowland was sold to Peregrine Towneley.
In 1845, Lord Henry Douglas-Scott-Montagu inherited the Honour. In 1896, he created the Clitheroe Estate Company to manage and profit from the coal and other minerals found on the Honour's lands.
In 1938, the Towneley family sold the Bowland portion back to the Duchy of Lancaster. The Coal Act 1938 and the later nationalization of the British coal industry (meaning the government took control of coal mines) led to the company closing down in 1945. In April of that year, a politician named Ralph Assheton bought the remaining land for £12,500. Since 1945, the Barons Clitheroe have called themselves Lords of the Honor of Clitheroe.
How the Honour Was Managed
Before 1660, when a law called the Tenures Abolition Act 1660 introduced the idea of freehold (meaning you fully own your land), the Lord of the Honour was like the top boss over all the smaller lords who held land within the Honour.
The Lord managed the Honour through special courts for manors and forests.
The main court for Blackburnshire was called the Great Court Leet. It was held every three weeks at Clitheroe Castle, with the Steward of the Honour in charge. This court handled matters for the smaller manors within Blackburnshire and the town of Clitheroe. However, it didn't cover the main manors owned directly by the Lord, like Slaidburn in the Forest of Bowland, which had their own local courts.
The forest areas within the Honour were managed under special forest law. Courts like woodmote and swainmote were held to deal with forest matters. These usually took place at the main manor closest to the forest. The Forest of Bowland was a bit different. For historical reasons, the management of the Forest of Bowland (centered at Whitewell) was separate from the management of the Liberty of Bowland (centered at Slaidburn).
These old manorial courts stopped being used in the early 1920s. Forest law was officially removed in the 1970s, but in Bowland, its forest courts had already stopped working by the 1830s.
Manors and Forests of the Honour
Over nine centuries, the way the manors were organized within the Honour changed a lot. A historian named Whitaker claimed in 1872 that there were 28 manors in the Honour, based on them being all the manors in Blackburnshire.
Manors
- Slaidburn was sold in 1835 but became part of the Honour again in 1950. It included land in Slaidburn, West Bradford, Grindleton, and Newton-in-Bowland.
- Accrington (also known as Accrington Old Hold) included land in Accrington and Oswaldtwistle, and the smaller manors of Haslingden and Huncoat.
- Accrington New Hold was created in 1507 from parts of the Forests of Accrington and Rossendale.
- Colne included land in Colne, Foulridge, and Great Marsden.
- Ightenhill included land in Ightenhill, Briercliffe, Burnley, Habergham Eaves, Little Marsden, Padiham, and Heyhouses.
- Chatburn, Worston and Pendleton were once separate manors but later joined together.
- Rochdale was bought in 1212 and sold in 1625.
- Tottington was acquired in 1235.
- Penwortham was bought in 1205 and sold in 1628.
- Downham was sold in 1558 but became part of the Honour again in 1945.
- Wapentake of Blackburn included land in Clitheroe, Chipping, Cliviger, Read, Simonstone, and Blackburn.
Forests
- Forest of Bowland was sold in 1835.
- Forest of Blackburnshire included:
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- Forest of Trawden
- Forest of Pendle
- Forest of Rossendale - Areas like Cowpe, Lench, and Musbury were added after Tottington was acquired.
- Forest of Accrington (which later became the Manor of Accrington New Hold after 1507).
- Hoddlesden (including Yate Bank and Pickup Bank) - This area was originally on the edge of the Forest of Rossendale. By the late 1200s, it was cut off from the main forest due to the growth of Haslingden. In 1296, it was recorded as a single cattle farm (called a vaccary) and stayed that way until the forest laws were removed.
Stewards of the Honour of Clitheroe
The Stewards of the Honour of Clitheroe traditionally worked at Clitheroe Castle, in the building where the Castle Museum is now. Before the 1900s, they were known as Gentlemen Stewards of the Honor of Clitheroe. They are usually appointed through a formal legal document.
Here are some of the Stewards:
- Laurence Robinson (around 1750)
- John Barcroft (around 1780)
- Martin Richardson (around 1800)
- William Carr (around 1810)
- Thomas Carr (around 1825)
- Dixon Robinson (1836 to 1878)
- Arthur Ingram Robinson (around 1890)
- Frederick Dixon Robinson (around 1920)
- Arthur John Dixon Robinson (around 1940)
- Geoffrey Nicholas Robinson (around 1960)
- Kenneth Shaw (around 1975)
- Robert Michael Parkinson (around 2000)
- Brian Rawson Rycroft (appointed 2010)
- Thomas Iain Manson (appointed 2019)
In recent years, the Steward of the Honour has been a partner at a land agency firm in Clitheroe called Ingham & Yorke. Michael Parkinson was the Steward from 1991 until he retired in 2010. After that, in 2011, he was appointed Chief Steward of the Forest of Bowland by its feudal lord, William Bowland.
