UK Genealogy Archives logo
DISCLOSURE: This page may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we may receive a commission.

Clitheroe, Lancashire

Historical Description

Clitheroe, a market-town, chapelry, municipal borough, and township in Lancashire. The town stands near the river Ribble, and has a station on the L. & Y.R., 225 miles from London, at the foot of Pendle Hill, adjacent to the boundary with Yorkshire, 11 miles NNE of Blackburn. It was known in early times as Clyderhowe, a name partly ancient British, partly Saxon, and it seems to have possessed considerable importance in the time of Henry I. A castle was built contiguous to it, on an elevated limestone rock, in the time of Henry II. by Robert de Lacy, made a figure for tho Royalists in the later part of the Civil War, was dismantled in 1649, and is represented now by only a square tower and a distantly enclosing wall. General Monk presented to the borough a mace, which is still carried before the mayor. Fine views of the adjacent country are obtained from the castle tower and from Pendle Hill. The town occupies a rising ground, contains many modern houses, and presents the ordinary appearance of a seat of manufacture. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office, two hanks, several inns, a free library, a town-hall, a public hall, a court-house of 1864, three churches, six dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, a cemetery of 1862, and a good grammar-school endowed with £4.00 yearly, and with two exhibitions of £40 each to Oxford and Cambridge, tenable for four years. The church of St Mary Magdalene, now the parish church, has a fine tower and spire, and occupies the site of an earlier edifice. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester; value, £234 with residence. St James' Church is a modern structure in the Norman style, with a tower. The living is a rectory; gross value, £370 with residence. Patrons, trustees. St Paul's, built in 1871, is in the Gothic style. The living is a vicarage; net value, £300 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Manchester. The free grammar-school was founded in 1554 by Philip and Mary. A weekly market is held on Saturday for meat and vegetables, and on alternate Mondays for cattle, and fairs on 24 March, the third Thursday in May, the Thursday before the fourth Saturday after Michaelmas day, and 7 December. The May and October fairs include horses. A great number of the inhabitants are employed in cotton factories; there are also extensive lime works, quarries, and paper-works. The town is a borough by prescription, is governed by a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors, sent two members to Parliament from the time of Elizabeth till the act of 1832, from that date until 1885 one only, and the representation is now merged in that of the county. The municipal borough is conterminate with Clitheroe township. The township comprises 2375 acres; population, 10,828, including 13 in Clitheroe Castle. The manor belonged from 1348 to the duchy of Lancaster, was given by Charles II. to General Monk, and belongs now to the Duke of Buccleuch. The workhouse, with accommodation for 140 inmates, is situated in Chatburn Road, nearly a mile out of town. It was opened in 1873. The cost of the building including site was £13,531.

Clitheroe Parliamentary Division of North-East Lancashire was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 89,450. The division includes the following: — Colne —Barley-with-Wheatley Booth, Barrowford Booth, Colne, Foulridge, Goldshaw Booth, Marsden (Great and Little), Old Laund Booth, Roughlee Booth, Trawden, Wheatley Carr Booth; Burnley or Blackburn (Higher, except the parish of Hapton) —Briercliffe-with-Extwistle, Burnley, Cliviger, Habergham Eaves, Hapton, Heyhouses, Higham-with-West Close Booth, Ightenhill Park, Padiham, Read; Reedley Hallows, Filley Close and New Laund Booth; Simonstone, Worsthorne-with-Hurstwood; Clitheroe (part of) —Chatburn, Clitheroe, Clitheroe Castle, Downham, Mearley, Mitton Henthorne and Colcoats, Pendleton, Twis-ton, Whalley, Wiswell, Worston; Burnley, municipal borough; Clitheroe, municipal borough.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyLancashire 
Ecclesiastical parishClitheroe St. Michael 
HundredBlackburn 
Poor Law unionClitheroe 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Lancashire Archives, have images of the Parish Registers for Lancashire online.


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Clitheroe from the following:


Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Lancashire is available to browse.


Maps

Online maps of Clitheroe are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Lancashire newspapers online:

DistrictRibble Valley
CountyLancashire
RegionNorth West
CountryEngland
Postal districtBB7
Post TownClitheroe

Advertisement

Advertisement