Whalley, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

For list of all the churches in Whalley Parish, see "A Comprehensive List of Whalley Chapelries".

Parish History
WHALLEY (St. Mary), a parish, chiefly in the Higher and Lower divisions of the hundred of Blackburn, N. division of Lancashire, but partly in the wapentake of Staincliffe and Ewcross, W. riding of York; containing 11,741 inhabitants, of whom 1010 are in the township of Whalley, 4 miles (S. by W.) from Clitheroe. The name of this great parochial division is Saxon, signifying the "Field of Wells," expressed by the word Walalæh; and "no term," observes Dr. Whitaker, "more strikingly descriptive could have been chosen. Situated as Whalley is, upon a skirt of Pendle, and upon the face of those vast inverted mineral beds popularly denominated 'Rearing Mine,' the earth, if drained, bleeds almost at every pore; and there are no less than six considerable springs within the immediate precincts of the village." Whalley originally comprehended an area of 400 square miles, and included the parishes of Blackburn, Chipping, Mitton, Ribchester, Rochdale, and Slaidburn, with part of Saddleworth. The boundary at this early period consisted of the Ribble and the Hodder to the north, and of the Tarn and the Chaw to the south. Rochdale appears as an independent parish in Pope Nicholas' valuation in 1288; the other parishes were separated at different times. In its present state, the breadth of the parish, from the northern boundary of the parliamentary borough of Clitheroe to the southern boundary of the hundred in the Forest of Rossendale, within its limits, is fifteen miles 3 and its length, from the western boundary in the township of Oswaldtwistle to the eastern boundary, where the counties of Lancaster and York are separated by the division line at Wolfstones in Trawden Forest, is eighteen miles. It now comprehends an area of 180 square miles, or nearly a ninth part of Lancashire. The Yorkshire portion consists of the township of Low Bowland-Forest, and is three miles in length from north to south, and in breadth from west to east two and a half miles. The parish comprises the parliamentary borough of Clitheroe, which includes the townships of Chatburn, Downham, Mearley, Little Mitton, Pendleton, Twiston, Whalley, Wiswell, and Worston; the parochial chapelry of Altham, including Clayton-le-Moors, and New and Old Accrington; the parochial chapelry of Burnley, which includes the market-town of Burnley, and the townships of Briercliffe cum Extwistle, Cliviger, Habergham-Eaves, Ightenhill-Park, New Laund Booth with Filley-Close and Reedley-Hallows, and Worsthorn with Hurstwood 3 the parochial chapelry of Church, including Huncoat, Oswaldtwistle, and Yate cum Pickup-Bank3 the parochial chapelry of Colne, including the markettown of Colne, and the townships of Barrowfield, Foulridge, Great and Little Marsden, and Trawden; the parochial chapelry of Haslingden, including Henheads, and Higher and Lower Booth 3 the parochial chapelry of Newchurch-in-Pendle-Forest, including Barley-cumWheatley, Goldshaw-Booth, Old Laund Booth, RoughLee Booth, and Wheatley-Carr 3 the parochial chapelry of Neivchurch-in-Rossendale- Forest, including part of the consolidated chapelry of Bacup, and the hamlets of Deadwin-CIough and Wolfenden; and the parochial chapelry of Padiham, which includes the townships of Dunnockshaw, Hapton, Higham Booth with Hey-Houses, Read, and Simonstone. In the parish is also the township of Little Bowland with Leagram, separated by the Hodder from Yorkshire, to which county part of it was anciently considered to belong. Three-fourths of the land in the parish are in pasture. The rivers Calder and Ribble form a junction at its western extremity. The village is chiefly celebrated for the venerable ruins of its abbey. In 1296 Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, having given the advowson of Whalley to the White monks of Stanlow, in Cheshire, they removed hither, and founded an abbey of the Cistercian order, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin3 it was consecrated in 1306, and additions were made to the buildings for more than 140 years after that time. The remains are still considerable, and possess much interest, exhibiting portions in the early, decorated, and later English styles: the conventual church, however, which exceeded many cathedrals in extent, has been levelled nearly to its foundation. The parish church was originally called the " White Church under the Leigh," and is of high antiquity, as appears from the Status de Blagborneshire, and from the crosses of Paulinus in the churchyard, erected about the year 596 to commemorate the introduction (or reintroduction) of Christianity into this country. The present structure was built in 1283, is of large proportions, and principally in the early English style, of which the chancel is a very fine specimen 5 it contains eighteen ancient stalls, and some considerable remains of good screen-work brought from the abbey. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 3. 9. The patronage of it, and of thirteen perpetual curacies in the vicar's gift, has been recently transferred to Hulme's Trustees by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the vicar 3 in consideration of which, the living has been augmented with the annual interest of £5000, and each of the curacies with that of £100. The total net income of the vicarage is now £340. The early clergymen were styled deans, and the succession was hereditary. When the lordship of Clitheroe fell into the hands of the Lacys, soon after the Conquest, letters commendatory were given by that family upon every vacancy; and the deanery subsisted down to the Lateran council in 1215, when the marriage of ecclesiastics was finally prohibited. There are nearly 40 churches and chapels in different parts of the parish, erected by private individuals, by subscription, and various grants from Royal Bounty and Her Majesty's Commissioners. The dissenters' places of worship are also numerous. Whalley free grammar school, founded by Queen Elizabeth, was rebuilt by subscription in 1725, with a dwelling-house for the master, who receives an annuity of £12. 8. from bequests; it has an interest in thirteen scholarships founded in Brasenose College, Oxford, by Dr. Nowell, in 1572. In the township is also a national school, lately rebuilt.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 534-537. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51395 Date accessed: 03 August 2010.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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