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PREFATORY NOTE

THE late Mr. Weld of Leagram took a great interest in his inheritance there, alike in its past history and its present condition. He gathered up all the information about it which he could find in the county historians and in his own muniments, as well as what he could glean from neighbours, and with the assistance his life-long connexion with the place supplied he digested the whole into the following account. This has been placed at the disposal of the Chetham Society by the liberality of his daughter, Miss Weld of Leagram, and it is hoped that it will be received with favour as a useful contribution to the history of Lancashire.

More than a century ago Whitaker's Whalley laid the foundation for the detailed topography of the central portion of the county. Hardwick's Preston and Thornber's Blackpool continued the work each in its own way; Col. Fishwick's Goosnargh and his later parochial histories, published by this Society, have illustrated almost the whole of Amounderness. Mr. T. Smith's Ribchester and Chipping supplement Whitaker for the portion of Blackburn Hundred north of the Ribble; and the present volume aims at completing that task by a fuller account of Leagram than has yet been made public.

It is divided into five parts. Of these the opening ones are mainly historical, giving an outline of the story of the place first as a park of the Dukes of Lancaster and then as a manor or private estate of the Shirburne and Weld families. The third part contains a detailed description of the estate as it was about the time when this branch of the Welds made it their home: a description which seems of special value as a record. It is obvious that the author took great pains to make it accurate and complete, and it will of course increase in

value as time brings change even in this remote and tranquil spot. Then follows an account of the chapel and the mission attached to it; a record of piety steadfast through evil days and good in which Mr. Weld naturally rejoiced as regards his ancestors, while himself zealous to add to it. Last comes that section which will perhaps be of the most general interest -the account of the customs and folk-lore of the district. There is little that is new here, but it is important to have trustworthy and fairly complete statements of the habits and modes of thought of particular districts, and in one so secluded as Leagram old habits and superstitions had a better chance of surviving without contamination than in the industrial parts of the county.

As to the opening section of the book, there may be need for some apology, or at least explanation. The late Mr. Weld died in 1888. He had gathered together whatever he could learn as to the ancient history of the locality, but the publication of detailed calendars of the public records has proceeded apace since his time and other sources have become available. Something therefore could no doubt be added from sources now easy of access, but it has been judged better to leave the work as its author wrote it. In time to come the Forest of Bowland will attract its historian, who will be glad to supplement the information afforded by public sources by the details here given from private records. The editor has therefore restricted himself in general to such pruning of repetitions, verbal corrections, and transpositions as the author himself might have made had he lived to supervise the publication. The work seems to have been written chiefly between 1880 and 1885; it will therefore be understood that by "the present time " is meant a period now thirty years ago, and its present century" is our "last century."

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J. BROWNBILL.

History of Leagram

I. LEAGRAM AS A PARK.

THE Manor, formerly Park, of Leagram forms the most westerly extremity of the parish of Whalley; it is also considered to lie in Bowland and to be part of the Honor of Clitheroe. It forms a township in conjunction with Little Bowland-that part of Bowland situated within the county of Lancaster. It has the parish of Chipping on the south, west, and north-west, the forest or chase of Bowland on its north and eastern sides. A narrow strip of land, also accounted part of Bowland, lies between the out-fence of Leagram (the old park pale), and the Chipping brook on the west, also between the out-fence and the river Loud, on the south, which streams are here respectively reputed as the boundaries of Bowland.

The succession of Leagram is included in that of Bowland from its first acquisition by the Lacys with the fee of Clitheroe about 1102 down to its alienation in 1563.

It remained with the Lacy family until Alice, daughter of Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, brought it by marriage to Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster. After his attainder and execution at Pontefract, 22 March, 1321-2, the Honor of Clitheroe passed to the Crown, until Edward III granted it, in the first year of his reign (1327), to Isabella the QueenMother for her life. The attainder was afterwards reversed, and Henry Duke of Lancaster, the King's brother, and his heirs, obtained these extensive possessions. They remained with the ducal house of Lancaster until they passed by the marriage of Blanche daughter of Henry Duke of Lancaster to John of Ghent, fourth son of Edward III, whose son

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