Padiham
The parochial chapelry of Padiham comprises the townships or places of Padiham, Dunnockshaw, Hapton, Heyhouses, Higham, Read, Simonstone, and Westclose Booth. This portion of Whalley is in the centre of the parish, and comprehends an area of about 9000 acres, of which 1915 are in Padiham township. The country exhibits a wild aspect: the hills along the Calder are lofty and precipitous; to the south is the frowning and almost perpendicular fell of Hameldon, northward rise Padiham Heights, and still higher Pendle Hill. Coal and stone abound; and the cotton manufacture, which has been for some time established, employs a great part of the population. A fair is held for pedlery on the 12th of August. The Leeds and Liverpool canal passes through the chapelry, and the road from Burnley to Blackburn through the village of Padiham. The living is a perpetual curacy; total net income, £131; patron, Le Gendre Pierce Starkie, Esq. The impropriate tithes of the township have been commuted for £41. 5., and the tithes payable to the curate for £10; he has also a glebe of two acres. The chapel, dedicated to St. Leonard, was partly rebuilt in 1776, and the accommodation increased in 1822. At Heyhouses is another incumbency. There are places of worship for Wesleyans, Unitarians, and Baptists. A school was erected and endowed at Padiham, by subscription, in 1698; and there are schools in other parts of the chapelry.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.