<strong>Lancashire</strong> Historic Town SurveySlaidburnSUMMARYThe <strong>Lancashire</strong> Historic Town Survey ProgrammeThis assessment report is a key end product of a survey of <strong>Lancashire</strong>’s historic townscarried out by the county’s Archaeology and Heritage Service, with the Egerton LeaConsultancy, between 2001 and 2006. The project, part of a national programme of workcoordinated by English Heritage, comprised a three-stage survey of the historical andarchaeological aspects of each of the thirty-three towns selected in <strong>Lancashire</strong>. Theprogramme aims to re-evaluate the national archaeological resource and to providecomprehensive, rigorous and consistent base-line information against which research,regeneration and land use planning objectives may be set. The programme has threeprincipal outputs: new data added to the <strong>Lancashire</strong> Sites & Monuments Record, acomprehensive report (submitted as this document) that contains background informationon the historical development and the current archaeological knowledge of each town, anda shorter Historic Environment Management Guidance report, which outlines strategies forconservation and enhancement.Slaidburn – Archaeological and Historical SummarySlaidburn was mentioned in the Domesday Book as one of 12 manors belonging to thecaput, or chief manor, of Grindleton which had belonged to Earl Tostig, but which had beengranted to Roger of Poitou by 1086 (Greenwood and Bolton 1956, 7; Mills nd, 2). Shortlyafter, the manors were granted to Ilbert de Lacy. The manor of Slaidburn also included thetownships of Waddington, Bashall, West Bradford and Grindleton, and covered an arealarger than the parish, as the other townships all formed part of the parish of Mitton(Whitaker 1878, 35, Spencer 2000). The township of Slaidburn remained in de Lacy handswhilst the other townships were leased to tenants (Greenwood and Bolton 1956, 15).Slaidburn was a parish centre, and its church was clearly well-established by 1119, when itwas granted, along with the chapel at Clitheroe Castle and Whalley church, to the monks tothe Priory of St John in Pontefract by Robert de Lacy (Mills nd, 2).The de Lacy’s may have retained direct control of Slaidburn because it became anadministrative centre for the Chase of Bowland, in the mid-twelfth century, following thegrant of Bowland to Robert de Lacy in 1102 (Shaw 1956, 10). The creation of the Chase,or hunting land, of Bowland was probably a result of this grant. The original centre of thechase was at Grindleton, where the manorial or halmote court was held. The halmote courtwas transferred to Slaidburn, whilst the woodmote court was held at Whitewell (Shaw 1956,213). In the mid-fourteenth century, the Chase of Bowland had become part of theEarldom and the Duchy of Lancaster, and passed into royal hands. It was therefore treatedas part of the royal forest of Lancaster (LUAU 1997, 16). However, by the fourteenthcentury, the extent of the forest appears to have shrunk. The original boundary of theforest had included the area around Slaidburn and villages along the Ribble, but at thistime, as these areas were no longer forested, they were not subject to forest law (Grant1991, 168-9), yet forest officials continued to collect rent from them.In 1258, the lord of the manor of Slaidburn had a mill and 34 acres of demesne land. Inaddition, there were three tenants holding 85 acres and four cottagers, as well as variousmen holding a total of 316 acres of assarted land, that is land brought into cultivation fromthe waste, and for which they paid no rent. It is unclear where the assarted land was, but italmost certainly refers to land on the edge of the moorland, and may represent settlementdispersed across the township. Their rent-free status indicates that the lord of the manorwas keen to encourage settlement. It is likely that they originally formed part of the forest,but settlement expansion, through assarting, led to the exclusion of these areas as forest(Porter 1980, 26). The lord of the manor probably saw settlement as a greater source of© <strong>Lancashire</strong> <strong>County</strong> <strong>Council</strong> 2006 1