An History of Towneley Park from Maps
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The story of Towneley Park in maps 1661-2007 Tony Kitto A brief history of Towneley Park from maps Introduction This history of Towneley Park is produced at a time when Towneley is undergoing a number of changes made possible by a Heritage Lottery Grant. The aim here is to put these changes into historical perspective. Just like Towneley Hall, Towneley Park was not created all at one time but has continually changed, for without change the park decays and becomes overgrown. These notes also aims to answer most of the frequently asked questions about the park and its main features, such as how old is it, who created it and how did they come to own it. Maps are used to describe the main influences that have formed the park and created its boundaries. The earliest records are very vague and there is no detailed map earlier than 1661. A good place to begin is that part of Towneley first opened as a public park in 1902. In 1896, Alice, Lady O'Hagan, offered to sell Towneley Hall and grounds to Burnley Corporation. This map was made to identify the land to be included in the offer. It remains today one of the best examples of a map of Towneley that clearly achieved its stated purpose. The green outline identifies the land for sale. Almost all the footpaths seen within the park are still in use in 2007. Another major feature is the Copy Clough stream, clearly shown in blue. High Royd is now a pitch and putt course. It had been pasture for cows and horses for many centuries. In the early 20th century it was available for Sunday school picnics at a cost of one guinea per day, which is a reminder that right from the beginning not everything was free. The major changes to be identified from this map are the demolition of many of the outbuildings. One of the first changes in 1903 was the creation of a bowling green in the kitchen garden. Few maps are completely free of errors and one mistake on this map is the labelling of Copy Clough Bridge on Todmorden Road as Boggart Bridge. In the following pages it will become clear that there was a Boggart Bridge at Towneley long before Todmorden Road was built. Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museums Burnley 2007-12 1 Towneley before 1661 The first map to show the name of Towneley was Christopher Saxton's Map of Lancashire in 1577. The map is dominated by hills and rivers. At this time, the roads were poor and nothing but three bridges are shown to indicate transport routes. The River Calder can be seen in the bottom right, flowing north past Holme in Cliviger, Towneley and Burnley. It then turns west to join the River Ribble and on towards Ribchester. Seven parks are highlighted in green and surrounded by fencing. The largest one is Hapton Tower (spelt as Hampton towre) but there is nothing to indicate any park at Towneley. Towneley is first mentioned around 1200. Roger de Lacy, a Norman baron, granted two bovates of land to Geoffrey, son of Robert the dean of Whalley, for a hunting lodge at Tunleia, together with the right to share in the common pastures of Brunleia (Burnley). A bovate was as much land as an ox could plough in a year, roughly 15 acres or 6 hectares. Today Towneley Park covers 30 bovates or 180 hectares. Over time Towneley was written in many ways including Tunleia, Tunlay and Touneley. It means the clearing belonging to the town. In what follows all the variations are used without further comment. The land granted by Roger de Lacy was part of a large area, known as the Honour of Clitheroe, given him by the King. He granted part to a select few people, called free-holders, and to the church. By a form of government now called the feudal system, most people had no land of their own but shared common land in exchange for working on their lord's land. They grew their own food in common plough land called the town field. They also had access to the commons, large areas of upland pasture, where their animals could graze. Much of the lower land was woodland, bog and marsh called the wastes. Around Burnley the main cereal crop was oats and the main commodity was cattle. The cattle were taken to pasture in the hills in the summer and returned to lower land before winter. Young animals needed constant protection from wolves and so clearings were made in the woodland and enclosed with fences to prevent the cattle roaming. A woodland clearing was called a rode or royd. High Royd was probably such an enclosure and, as common pasture for Brunleia, it caused all the surrounding area to be named Tunleia. Heyroyd near Colne has a similar origin and there are several like-named places in West Yorkshire. 2 Most people at this time did not use surnames. On legal documents they would be known as son of or they might use the name of an area where they lived. Around 1255, Adam Abbot of Kirkstall (Abbot between 1249 and 1259) granted land in Cliviger to Walter the chaplain of Tunlay. Among the witnesses was Henry de Tunlay, probably one of Geoffrey's sons. By 1295, the last of Geoffrey's male descendants was dead and the land was inherited through marriage by John de la Legh, whose family were the main free-holders in Cliviger. Henry de Lacy (1251-1311) was then Lord of the Honour of Clitheroe. During his lifetime, profitable vaccaries or cow farms were created. The de la Legh family helped to manage these vaccaries. In 1311, when Henry de Lacy died, they were free-holders of 260 acres in Cliviger. The de la Legh family purchased the manor of Hapton in 1328 and Hapton Castle became their home. John's younger son Richard took the name de Touneley. Although Richard used Towneley as his surname, he probably did not live at Towneley during the last thirty years of his life. In 1351 he rented the manor of St Saviour, at Stydd, near Ribchester. In 1388, his son, John de Tounley, became heir to all the de la Legh lands. There is no evidence in this period of the family having a permanent home at Towneley. All changed with John's only son Richard, who was born at Stydd and baptized at Ribchester Church in May 1387. By the time Richard came of age, Hapton Castle must have been falling down and he lived in Cliviger from 1408. From 1446 his legal papers record him as Ric. de Tounley of Tounley. Around this time the family built a large tower house at Towneley as their main home. It still exists today as the south wing of Towneley Hall. The building at Towneley took place at a time when common plough land was being enclosed all over England. The feudal system was in decline from around 1300. In 1350, the plague known as the Black Death killed over a quarter of the population of England. One thousand villages had disappeared completely by 1400. Richard's great grandson, Sir John Towneley (1473-1540) replaced the old castle at Hapton with a new home called Hapton Tower where he enclosed over 1,000 acres of land to create a large deer park. The Rent Roll of Sir John Towneley, an audit of his estates in the Burnley area for the year 1535-6, has survived. It gives the names of all the fields at Towneley, including names still in use today such as Broad Ing, Castle Hill and High Royd. One field was named Chapel Lee. Dr Whitaker, the local historian, believed this was the site of the chapel of Walter the chaplain of Tunlay. In his History of Whalley, Whitaker wrote "this hamlet had a village and chapel, both of which must have been destroyed to make room for the house, offices and grounds of the opulent family which followed". Today ridge-and- furrow earthworks, possibly from mediaeval times, can still be seen within the park. Castle Hill, part of Towneley Farm today, was according to legend the site of Geoffrey's hunting lodge but there is no evidence to confirm this. Other Towneley field names from the Rent Roll, such as Old Park and Little Park, are no longer in use but can be seen on later maps and provide evidence for the enclosures created in the 15th century. An enquiry in 1517 recorded that 30 acres of arable land and 40 acres of wood and pasture were enclosed at Towneley in 1491. The rent roll also records the hall lanes, garden and orchards at Towneley. As the wastes were enclosed and the woods cleared, corridors were left to give continued access to the commons and these became known as lanes. The Towneley family had mixed fortunes in the 120 years after the death of Sir John Towneley in 1540. First through marriage, they inherited the valuable estate of Nocton in Lincolnshire. Then, through their refusal to denounce their Catholic faith, they were subject to heavy fines as recusants. Finally, as supporters of King Charles I, Towneley was taken from them at the end of the Civil War. In 1660 Richard Towneley (1629-1707) sold the Nocton estate in order to regain his lands in Lancashire. 3 The Hamilton Maps of 1661 General Monck was responsible for the restoration of King Charles II in 1660.