Great Mitton
Encyclopedia
Great Mitton is a village and a civil parish in the Ribble Valley
, Lancashire
, England. It is separated from the civil parish of Little Mitton
by the River Ribble
, both lie about 3 miles from the town of Clitheroe
. In total, Great and Little Mitton cover less than 2000 acres of the Forest of Bowland
, making it the smallest township in the Forest.
Great Mitton has an ancient church, All Hallows, an ancient manor house and a pub, The Three Fishes, where in former times manorial courts were held. A second pub,The Aspinall Arms, sits across the Ribble in Little Mitton.
The ancient parish of Mitton took its name from the Old English, being a settlement at the mythe, the confluence of the Hodder
and Ribble Rivers.
, the Lords of Bowland being lords paramount
of a Royal Forest
and a Liberty
of ten manors spanning eight townships and four parishes and which covered an area of almost 300 square miles (777 km²) on the historic borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire
. The manors within the Liberty were Slaidburn
(Newton-in-Bowland, West Bradford
, Grindleton), Knowlmere
, Waddington
, Easington
, Bashall Eaves
, Mitton, Withgill (Crook), Leagram, Hammerton
and Dunnow (Battersby)
.
Mitton was a mesne
manor from the early twelfth century. Its first lord, Radulphus le Rus, may have been a scion of the de Lacy
family. Descendants of Radulphus assumed the surname de Mitton. In the late thirteenth century, the family adopted the surname Sherburne by marriage, thereby laying the foundation for the dynasty of Shireburne of Stonyhurst
. The manor passed out of Shireburne ownership in the fourteenth century but was re-acquired in 1665. With the extinction of the Shireburne male line in 1717, the manor passed to the Hawksworth and finally, Aspinall families.
The manor of Withgill (Crook) lay within the boundaries of the township of Mitton but was small (around 40 acres in 1258). It was held by the de Bury family until the late fourteenth century. The Singletons held the manor from 1379-1503 after which it passed to the family of Sir William Leyland and finally, the Tyldesleys. The Tyldesleys, leading Jacobites, forfeited the manor for their role in the 1715 Preston Rebellion
.
). Both parishes currently share a parish council with the neighbouring civil parish of Bashall Eaves
.
of Old Laund Booth
, and Aighton, Bailey and Chaigley
in Blackburnshire
, and the chapelries
of Grindleton and Waddington
, and townships of Bashall Eaves
, West Bradford
in Staincliffe
and Mitton itself which straddled the two.
family tombs. Since 1954, it has been designated a Grade I listed building by English Heritage
.
Ribble Valley
Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status within the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Clitheroe. Other places include Whalley, Longridge and Ribchester. The area is so called due to the River Ribble which flows in its final stages...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England. It is separated from the civil parish of Little Mitton
Little Mitton
Little Mitton is a civil parish in the Ribble Valley district, in the county of Lancashire, England. In 2001 the population of the civil parish of Little Mitton was 42. Little Mitton has a grade II* listed house called Mitton Hall...
by the River Ribble
River Ribble
The River Ribble is a river that runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire, in northern England. The river's drainage basin also includes parts of Greater Manchester around Wigan.-Geography:...
, both lie about 3 miles from the town of Clitheroe
Clitheroe
Clitheroe is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. It is 1½ miles from the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists in the area. It has a population of 14,697...
. In total, Great and Little Mitton cover less than 2000 acres of the Forest of Bowland
Forest of Bowland
The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells, is an area of barren gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England. A small part lies in North Yorkshire, and much of the area was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire...
, making it the smallest township in the Forest.
Great Mitton has an ancient church, All Hallows, an ancient manor house and a pub, The Three Fishes, where in former times manorial courts were held. A second pub,The Aspinall Arms, sits across the Ribble in Little Mitton.
The ancient parish of Mitton took its name from the Old English, being a settlement at the mythe, the confluence of the Hodder
River Hodder
The River Hodder is a river in Lancashire, England. The river is a County Biological Heritage Site.It rises on White Hill and flows for approximately 23 miles to the River Ribble, of which it is the largest tributary...
and Ribble Rivers.
History
The Domesday manor of Mitton encompassed both Great and Little Mitton, straddling lands on both sides of the Ribble. From the late eleventh century, it fell under the Lordship of BowlandLordship of Bowland
The Lordship of Bowland, an ancient English title connected with the Forest of Bowland in the northwest of England, was once thought lost and was only recently rediscovered. It disappeared from sight in 1885 when the estates of the Towneleys, one of Lancashire’s great aristocratic families, were...
, the Lords of Bowland being lords paramount
Lord Paramount
Paramount , is the highest authority, or that being of the greatest importance...
of a Royal Forest
Royal forest
A royal forest is an area of land with different meanings in England, Wales and Scotland; the term forest does not mean forest as it is understood today, as an area of densely wooded land...
and a Liberty
Liberty (division)
Originating in the Middle Ages, a liberty was traditionally defined as an area in which regalian rights were revoked and where land was held by a mesne lord...
of ten manors spanning eight townships and four parishes and which covered an area of almost 300 square miles (777 km²) on the historic borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
. The manors within the Liberty were Slaidburn
Slaidburn
Slaidburn is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. With a population in 2001 of just under 300, it covers just over 5000 acres of the Forest of Bowland...
(Newton-in-Bowland, West Bradford
West Bradford
West Bradford may refer to:*West Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania*West Bradford, Lancashire*Bradford West...
, Grindleton), Knowlmere
Slaidburn
Slaidburn is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. With a population in 2001 of just under 300, it covers just over 5000 acres of the Forest of Bowland...
, Waddington
Waddington, Lancashire
Waddington is a small village, 2 miles north-west of Clitheroe, within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. It is also a civil parish. Prior to the 1974 county boundary changes, Waddington just fell within the boundary of Bowland Rural District of the West Riding of Yorkshire...
, Easington
Easington, Lancashire
Easington is a civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England, with a population in 2001 of 52. Prior to 1974, it formed part of Bowland Rural District in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It covers just over 9000 acres.-History:...
, Bashall Eaves
Bashall Eaves
Bashall Eaves is a village and civil parish in the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England, about four miles west of Clitheroe. The placename element eaves is Old English and refers to Bashall's location on the borders of the Forest of Bowland.According to the 2001 census, the parish of...
, Mitton, Withgill (Crook), Leagram, Hammerton
Slaidburn
Slaidburn is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. With a population in 2001 of just under 300, it covers just over 5000 acres of the Forest of Bowland...
and Dunnow (Battersby)
Slaidburn
Slaidburn is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. With a population in 2001 of just under 300, it covers just over 5000 acres of the Forest of Bowland...
.
Mitton was a mesne
Mesne
Mesne , middle or intermediate, an adjective used in several legal phrases....
manor from the early twelfth century. Its first lord, Radulphus le Rus, may have been a scion of the de Lacy
De Lacy
de Lacy is the surname of an old Norman noble family originating from Lassy . The first records are about Hugh de Lacy . Descendent of Hugh de Lacy left Normandy and travelled to England along with William the Conqueror. Walter and Ilbert de Lacy fought in the battle of Hastings...
family. Descendants of Radulphus assumed the surname de Mitton. In the late thirteenth century, the family adopted the surname Sherburne by marriage, thereby laying the foundation for the dynasty of Shireburne of Stonyhurst
Stonyhurst
Stonyhurst is the name of a rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is dominated by Stonyhurst College, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish Church of St Peter's.-The Estate:...
. The manor passed out of Shireburne ownership in the fourteenth century but was re-acquired in 1665. With the extinction of the Shireburne male line in 1717, the manor passed to the Hawksworth and finally, Aspinall families.
The manor of Withgill (Crook) lay within the boundaries of the township of Mitton but was small (around 40 acres in 1258). It was held by the de Bury family until the late fourteenth century. The Singletons held the manor from 1379-1503 after which it passed to the family of Sir William Leyland and finally, the Tyldesleys. The Tyldesleys, leading Jacobites, forfeited the manor for their role in the 1715 Preston Rebellion
Battle of Preston (1715)
The Battle of Preston , also referred to as the Preston Fight, was fought during the Jacobite Rising of 1715 ....
.
Governance
The civil parish of Great Mitton was created from the ancient township with the same name in 1866. In 1935, Little Mitton was created following the abolition the civil parish of Little Mitton, Henthorn and Coldcoats (Coldcoats was transferred to PendletonPendleton, Lancashire
Pendleton is a small village in Ribble Valley, within the county of Lancashire, England. It is close to the towns of Whalley and Clitheroe. The village used to be a secluded village two miles from the A59, Liverpool to York main road, on the north west side of Pendle Hill at the bottom of the Nick...
). Both parishes currently share a parish council with the neighbouring civil parish of Bashall Eaves
Bashall Eaves
Bashall Eaves is a village and civil parish in the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England, about four miles west of Clitheroe. The placename element eaves is Old English and refers to Bashall's location on the borders of the Forest of Bowland.According to the 2001 census, the parish of...
.
Ancient Parish
The historical Parish of Great Mitton comprised the townshipsTownship (England)
In England, a township is a local division or district of a large parish containing a village or small town usually having its own church...
of Old Laund Booth
Old Laund Booth
Old Laund Booth is one of the 20 electoral wards that form the Parliamentary constituency of Pendle, Lancashire. It is also a civil parish. The ward represents the villages of Fence and Wheatley Lane, as well as part of the Lomeshaye Industrial Estate on the outskirts of nearby Nelson, and returns...
, and Aighton, Bailey and Chaigley
Aighton, Bailey and Chaigley
Aighton, Bailey and Chaigley is a civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England, just west of Clitheroe.-Community:The main settlements in the parish are Hurst Green and Walker Fold. Other places are Aighton, Bailey and Chaigley, originally three hamlets forming a...
in Blackburnshire
Blackburnshire
Blackburnshire was a hundred, or ancient division of the county of Lancashire, in northern England. It was centred on Blackburn, and covered an area approximately equal to modern day East Lancashire....
, and the chapelries
Chapelry
A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England, and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel which acted as a subsidiary place of worship to the main parish church...
of Grindleton and Waddington
Waddington, Lancashire
Waddington is a small village, 2 miles north-west of Clitheroe, within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. It is also a civil parish. Prior to the 1974 county boundary changes, Waddington just fell within the boundary of Bowland Rural District of the West Riding of Yorkshire...
, and townships of Bashall Eaves
Bashall Eaves
Bashall Eaves is a village and civil parish in the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England, about four miles west of Clitheroe. The placename element eaves is Old English and refers to Bashall's location on the borders of the Forest of Bowland.According to the 2001 census, the parish of...
, West Bradford
West Bradford, Lancashire
West Bradford is a village and civil parish Lancashire, England, 27 miles west of the larger city of Bradford, West Yorkshire and 2.5 miles north of Clitheroe. It covers some 2000 acres of the Forest of Bowland. In Domesday, it is recorded as Bradeford and in the thirteenth century,...
in Staincliffe
Staincliffe (wapentake)
Staincliffe, also known as Staincliff, was a wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It should not be confused with the hamlet Staincliffe.It was split into two divisions...
and Mitton itself which straddled the two.
Church
All Hallows Church (previously known as the Church of St Michael) was built in the 13th century, with 15th and 16th century additions. It contains Shireburne of StonyhurstStonyhurst
Stonyhurst is the name of a rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is dominated by Stonyhurst College, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish Church of St Peter's.-The Estate:...
family tombs. Since 1954, it has been designated a Grade I listed building by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
.