Pilgrim Ways

From Stonyhurst many of the places mentioned in this and other chapters are within easy striking distance. "Where shall We Go In Ribble Valley?," by Edward Popham, was published in 1993 by the Salford Diocese Catholic Truth Society, and sets out some of the key sites of Catholic interest. A logical route might take the pilgrim first, from Stonyhurst, across the River Hodder, passing the old bridge used by Oliver Cromwell on his visit to Stonyhurst Hall in 1648. Then, on to Mitton Church, built by Sir Richard Shiereburn, and where his family are buried. From Mitton it is a short journey into Whalley where there are the remains of a Cistercian Abbey. The monks arrived in about 1330 having previously erected the smaller abbey of Sawley, eight miles to the east. The last abbot, Abbot Paslew, was hanged outside the monastery gates in March 1537, having been charged with High Treason for refusing to recognise the claims of Henry VIII to be accepted as head of the Church of England. Whalley was also the birthplace of the martyr, John Thules. Baptised in the parish church just over thirty years after the suppression of the abbey John was just fifteen when followed his older brother, Christopher, to Rheims, to become a priest. Ordained at twenty four he immediately headed home to the English mission field. He was executed with Roger Wrenno, a weaver from Chorley, who was sheltering him, arrested in 1615. They were both executed the following year at Lancaster. Fr.Thules's quarters were put on public display in Wigan, Warrington, Lancaster and (on the church steeple) at Preston, as a dire warning to others.

Stonyhurst to Dutton and Knowle Green Seven miles east of Clitheroe and two miles west of Longridge is the hamlet of Knowle Green. It includes parts of the civil parishes of Dutton, Dilworth and Ribchester (see below).

Two Roman roads weaved their way north through this little hamlet. In the Millennium year, Mavis Earnshaw, published a short appraisal of Knowle Green's history, Knowle Green Through 2000 Years. Local families, such as the Seeds, the Towneleys, the Crumbleholmes, and the Cottams, refused to give up their Catholic faith and suffered accordingly. Thomas Cottam was born in 1549, son of Lawrence and Ann Cottam, of Knowle Green. Graduating from Oxford in 1568 he taught in London before studying theology at Douay. A Jesuit priest, he returned to England and, in 1582, for refusing to confess his sins "for his priestly character" was dragged on a hurdle from Newgate to Tyburn where he was hanged, drawn and quartered. He was thirty three years of age. The Cottams had homes on the old Clitheroe Road (the High House), and in Knowle Green (Cottam Hall). The Cottam House farm is also visible on the current Ordnance Survey map. Another priest, William Crumbleholme, was arrested as a Papist in 1584. His family home, Huntingdon Hall, which was rebuilt in 1619, and which has recently been renovated, is situated in Huntingdon Hall Lane. There are conflicting reports of his life but, like Thomas Cottam, he appears to have spent a spell in the Tower of London (see Chapter Twelve). The parish church of St.Wilfred, in Ribchester, has records from 1598 and among the early entries are the Christening, on February 25th, 1602, of Richard Cottam, son of another Thomas Cottam, of the High House; in 1611, the marriage of John Cottam and Grace Byrley; and, in 1602, the burial of the wife of Henry Townley of Dutton Hall. The Townleys, like the Stonyhurst Shireburnes (a branch of which lived in Knowle Green at Buckley Hall) were leading Lancashire recusant families, who paid heavy fines and risked imprisonment for their refusal to comply. However, as becomes evident, from further examination of the arrangements at the parish church of St.Wilfred at Ribchester, the Reformation line was capable of being blurred and even ignored in the more remote parts of the country.

Stonyhurst To Ribchester And Stydd