Ribblesdale; or, Lancashire sixty years ago

Preface

. A few words of introduction appear to the Author desirable in order to prevent miscon ception. The scene of this story is chiefly that part of Ribblesdale which lies between Clitheroe and Ribchester, together with those portions of the valleys of the Hodder and Calder which extend a feAv miles on either side of the main stream to which they are tributaries. The names of places in this region are not changed, and the author has endeavoured to describe them Avith fidelity. But the reader would search in vain for two or three accessories, such as the Bendwood Cliff. He may find the beech wood, at Pendleton, on the flank of Pendle, but not the rock, the water- VI

PREFACE.

. fall, and the Owlets' Hole. No other important change has been made in the picture of Lan cashire scenery. On the other hand, Legh Court, in Cheshire, is the result of a combination of separate features. As the frame-work of the story is so far real, it becomes the Author to declare that the dramatic action never had any association in fact Avith the scenes ; that the principal cha racters in these volumes are not portraits ; and that the incidents never, to his knowledge, happened in any Lancashire family. He has even thought it prudent to brave the criticism of genealogists, by mixing with the names of the De la Leghs those of other old families, lest any one should be led to attribute the history con tained in these pages to branches whose names are as familiar as household Avords in Lancashire. The pictures of life in the cattle fair, in the hand-loom Aveavers' cottages, in the homesteads of the hill farmers, in the halls of the small

PREFACE.

. VII yeoman-squires, in the homes of the Puritan manufacturers of sixty years ago, the Author avows to be draAvn from his oavu knowledge and experience. To make these sketches of what he observed in his early youth has been one principal motive with him for Avriting this tale. But he has endeavoured to subordinate this object to the dramatic action. The story is founded on the antipathies and rivalries of the ancient gentry with the families enriched by commerce. Sixty years have not passed without a great change, both in the characteristics of the trading classes, and in their relations to the hereditary aristocracy of Lancashire. For that reason, it has seemed desirable to paint a picture of what those relations were in the first feAv years of this century. The Hindles are typical of many families of manufacturers, Avith the Avhole household economy of Avhich the Author was familiar. If there be anything like a portrait in the volume, it is that of Mr. Hindle and his household. His

PREFACE.

. VIII daughter is only personally ideal, and in the conditions by which she is surrounded. Her beauty, grace, and accomplishments haA*e been endowments of ladies in families wlrich have rapidly risen, like the Hindles, from a humble and obscure position. The intention of the Author has, however, not been confined to a picture of society in Lancashire sixty years ago. He has hoped by the st0£y to hold up for admiration the virtues of each separate class, to justify the individuality of their characteristics when they were worthy of approbation, and to expose to scorn their follies and vices. He has also had a personal pleasure in de scribing scenes of great beauty, near which he has long lived, and a visit to which Avill repay the time of any tourist who can appreciate the charms of repose in an English landscape. 68 Cromwell Road, S.W. December 1, 1873. RIBBLESDALE.

Chapter I

Sixty years ago, no scene brought out more clearly the characteristics of the people of the Lancashire and Yorkshire border than a country fair. As the population and the facilities of intercourse have increased, the ordinary markets have almost superseded these annual gatherings of the people of the district. The shepherds and herdsmen of the Scotch border frequent them less since their flocks are transported by the raibvay. The travelling packmen, the cadgers with ponies, the wandering tinkers with portable stoves, the braziers, whitesmiths, and knife-grinders with their shandrys, or small carts, and the brush-makers, rug, mat, and carpet-dealers with their vans, are, to a great extent, superseded by the settled tradesmen of VOL. I. b RIBBLESDALE. the vdlages. As the attractions of traffic are less, so also a marked diminution has occurred in the amusements.

There are fewer booths, or shows Avith monsters and -wild beasts ; fewer conjurors, and quacks mounted on barrels vend ing their medicines ; fewer mountebanks, bands, and games of chance or dexterity. The tradition of the ancient carnival remains — the spirit has departed. But sixty years ago, the fair at Great Har wood, or ' Grit Harrod Feaur,' Avas the scene of an annual frenzy of business and pleasure. There Avas, and is still, out of respect for traditional usage, one week's entire holiday for gentle and simple. There were two or three principal days of the fair, and all the rest of the week was too little to recover from the fatigues, potations, and excitement of this annual crisis of life. To the fever succeeded the collapse. Some days of sauntering in the fields, quieter visits to relations and friends, more moderate drinking, or listless idleness, gradually brought the people back to the sterner necessities of fife, and gave time for the sense of duty to triumph over the outburst of the animal instincts.

RIBBLESDALE. Great HarAvood was an obscure village, where quaint stone cottages, Avith mullioned windoAvs — two or three with carved porches or doors — lined a tortuous lane, which Avound along the slope of a range of hills scarcely reclaimed from moorland, and stretching from Blackburn to Whalley. Beneath this range, to the west, east, and north, were valleys of exquisite fertility ; but the immediate vicinity of Great Hanvood was dis figured by the cold, barren, and wet clay soil of the edge of the coal-measures. The fields Avere kneedeep in rushes ; many of them Avere almost morasses. The range of hills close to Hanvood was swept by the south-western gales, loaded with moisture. Except the sycamore, the ash, and the birch, few trees could struggle to maturity, unless planted in masses. Consequently, the hill-side was bare of timber towards the south-west, save in the dingles of the numerous streams, Avhose steep banks Avere clad with woods of birch, alder, sycamore, beech, and ash, together Avith small oaks.

To the east of the range, Avhere graceful green slopes dip from the summits of the B RIBBLESDALE. 'Nab' -and 'Bowlee,' and wooded dingles overhang the bed of the Calder, in the gorge of the Whalley Valley, the scene underwent a beautiful change. The roads about Har wood were narrow, interrupted by steep pitche's -into the beds of the neighbouring torrents ; rut-worn in summer, and almost im passable, except by the rude people, in the winter. It Avas well, therefore, that the Fair was held in the early part of the autumn, when the weather is often sereae. At this fair there was a brisk traffic between the shepherds and herdsmen of the Scotch and Yorkshire border and the farmers of the valleys of the Ribble and Irwell, as well as the rich plain lying on the west of Lancashire. The young stock fed during the summer on the moorland pas tures were driven from the fells of Shap and Westmoreland, and from the high moors of the Pennine Chain, to be fattened on the after grass of the meadows of the Lancashire valleys and plains, and to browse on the pastures during the winter.

The shepherds and hill farmers Avho thus assembled were a rough race. The Scotch bonnet and maud, and the tartan scarf and trews, were contrasted Avith the thick RIBBLESDALE. 5 Yorkshire frieze coat and slouch hat, and the skin jacket and breeches of the half-savage lads, who, with bare feet and legs, and armed with long hazel sticks, actively helped the dogs to keep the flocks together. Nor Avere the beasts themselves less remarkable. Among them were strings of unkempt ponies, with shaggy manes and long tails, and herds of the long-horned cattle then characteristic of the district, but recently supplanted by the Durham shorthorn. The beautifid breed of the Scotch highlands, and some of the Ayrshire milking stock, appeared in smaller groups. Great flocks of Cheviots, and of the Westmoreland small black-faced sheep, with the ' lonk,' Avhich can jump like a deer, crowded the narrow lanes.

There were also dairy stock, brought from neighbouring farms — cattle fat for the butcher — farm horses — a few roadsters — all with their appropriate attendants. The drivers from the neighbouring hills and valleys were a hardy race, half farmer, half weaver, shrewd, unlettered, with abundant superstition and prejudice, and also much sagacity in their limited vocation, meeting, by vigilance, industry, and traditional usages, the dady RIBBLESDALE. necessities of their position. Among these mingled the purely weaving population of the villages and hamlets for many miles round. A lank, half-clad race, with eager eyes and Aviry theAvs, all full of curiosity for the sights of the fair, whether in the Avide, rough fields, in which the sheep, cattle, and ponies were assembled, or in the winding street of the village, devoted as much to frolic as to business.

Sixty years ago, there existed in North and East Lancashire a class of yeomen living for many generations on small estates. Sometimes these were farms of a hundred acres or less ; at other times the famdy took the rank of smaller gentry, cultivating a home farm, but possessing also other farms held by tenants. Such possessions were occasionally united by the marriage of an heiress, or enlarged by the superior thrift or enterprise of a small squire. The chief sphere for such speculation had, in former times, been the breeding, feeding, or traffic of stock, and, on the Yorkslrire border, of horses. This had led the squireens to be diligent attendants at markets and fairs. They often lived on land scarcely reclaimed from the moors — in solitary treeless valleys, on the bleak RIBBLESDALE. 7 slopes of hills sAvept by the south-Avestern storms, at the edge of Avild doughs clad with stunted forest timber, and occasionally nearer the rich river valleys, the level pastures of which were sources of wealth to their more fortunate proprietors.

They rode, generally, active horses, were booted, like troopers, to the thigh, or wore leathern gaiters from the knee downwards. The more substantial, who approached most closely in position, habits, and education to the landed gentry, were eager huntsmen. They followed the harriers on horseback, or the otter hounds on foot, with a resolution which would have made them formidable in repelling a border foray. These sports were the more popular because the hunting-field is the scene in which all Englishmen like to meet, and, Avithout for getting the distinctions of rank, to contend for those due to courage, endurance, and skid. Here the smaller squires and more wealthy yeomen came in contact with the titled gentry and those possessing great hereditary property, whose agents only they met at markets and fairs.

There was sometimes a hunting dinner in a tavern, when the too common habit of in temperance levelled all distinctions. On market- RIBBLESDALE. days in the large tOAvns, thirty or forty of these smaller proprietors rode into the town. Occa sionally the dame sat on a pillion behind her husband. She came to make purchases for the household— he to sell or buy stock or farm produce, to meet neighbours, listen to news, and attend a market ordinary where he often got more to drink than was consistent Avith coherent conversation or Avith a steady seat on horseback, as his faithful ' tit ' instinctively found its way homewards through the tortuous and deeply rutted lanes, often in the darkness of a winter's night. The squire's home was usuaUy called a Hall, House, or Lodge. In the borders of East and North Lancashire, these houses are built of stone, two stories high, with mullioned windows, a stone porch Avith a bay over it, and in families whose position approached more nearly to that of the gentry, there was usually a courtyard on the southern front of the house, inclosed in a substantial Avail of ashlar stone with a Tudor coping.

A gateway pierced this wall opposite the principal entrance to the house, and was flanked by massive stone pillars, and closed either by solid oaken gates studded with iron boltheads, or, more rarely, by gates of twisted RIBBLESDALE. open iron-work. Behind the house Avere the stables and homestead of the small home farm. The Fair at Hanvood was attended by yeomen of this class. They came with their herdsmen to purchase stock for the autumn and winter herbage ; to dispose of their own fat cattle to butchers ; to pick up a likely horse ; to hear and exchange the gossip of the country ; ascertain current prices ; and satisfy their social instincts. Manufactures had spread over the whole^ moorland borders of the two counties. The Yorkshire dales produced woollen fabrics, and on the Lancashire side cotton spinning and weaving were mixed Avith woollen.

Many squires and yeomen as well as farmers still had their domestic wants in clothing supplied from their own looms. The time of the sheep and stock farmer on the hills and in the moorland valleys was divided betAveen his farm and his loom. The lads and lasses of the family Avere each broken-in to the monotonous employment. The rough friezes and broadcloths, the blan kets and coarse cotton shirts, the fustian and calico needed for the family, were thus produced among neighbours, and exchanged for mutual RIBBLESDALE. convenience, or brought to market, and there sold or bartered, when they were not, as was less common, the product of one household. The great halls of the ancient families were often built round a court. Within this quad rangle, the ground-floor consisted of domestic offices, in which the spinning and weaving of woollen and linen fabrics and sundry handi crafts were carried on.

The fairs, especially, afforded opportunities for the sale and exchange of the flannels of Rochdale, the blankets and baize of Bury, the fustians and calicoes of Blackburn and Rossendale, the friezes of the Yorkshire valleys, and the broadcloths of their more distant great towns. To this traffic many of the booths and stalls of the Fair at Great Hanvood were devoted. From many farm steads came a cart, in Avhich a weather-worn matron, with her blooming daughter, sat on a bale, the year's produce of their looms, to be sold at the fair. Yet these traditional usages were soon to be extinct. For of late years the loom jingled and rattled in every cottage. The fly-shuttle had been invented in Bury and the spinning-jenny in Blackburn, innovations which were followed RIBBLESDALE. by the circular carding-machine, the throstle, and the more general introduction of the steam engine, as the motive force of spinning machinery.

Consequently a feverish impulse had been given to weaving by the hand-loom. Hot fits of headlong speculation had been followed by financial collapse, or of markets glutted for the time. Each of these seasons found the rude weaving population without any savings, though recently in receipt of high wages. A time of deep suffering from hunger and cold, followed by fever or dy sentery, made its ravages among races who, in their straits, not unfrequently broke the peace, plundered the bread-shops, destroyed machinery, or committed some other bar barous folly. This had at least the ultimate effect of teaching the country that the vast wealth necessary for commercial undertakings, cannot be safely entrusted to a sensual un lettered class. The autumnal fairs Avere not unfrequently the scenes of faction fights be tween the weavers of neighbouring villages.

A feud originated, perhaps, in some real or imaginary insult or injury inflicted by a party from one village on a group from RIBBLESDALE. another. The brawl was inflamed by casual encounters, when the whole weaving population met on foot in the hunting-field, or at a ' rush-bearing,' or ' wake.' It grew to greater proportions even by individual frays, until a challenge was given and accepted to fight out the feud at some fair; or untd, Avithout a formal challenge, each hostile village knew that the other Avould be in force at a particular fair, and went thither with the expectation, if not the intention, of testing the courage and strength of their opponents. The day of annual festivity and traffic at Hanvood broke with a cloudless sky and a serene genial air, which bade all rejoice. Many of the herds driven from a great distance had reached Harwood, tod-worn and footsore, the night before.

But the morning brought many more, choking the lanes, especially on the north and east, with flocks wlrich were with difficulty got on to the ground before noon, though they began to arrive soon after dawn. Early in the morning, an eager-looking youth, about nineteen years of age, threaded the droves of sheep and cattle descending the RIBBLESDALE. 13 steep road from Bowlee, and with an anxious face sought a small stone house built on the edge of an abrupt declivity near the lane, and close to a hamlet called Harwood Cliff. The house belonged to a class of yeomen who lived on their own farms. It was of a comparatively humble structure, built upon the most prevalent type of the houses of inferior squires, yet, both in size and character, a degree even below these. There was no courtyard in front, but a garden plot upheld on the face of the cliff by a rubble stone wall, which also rose about four feet above the level.

The usual porch, with the stone seat on either side of its interior, was low and undecorated by armorial bearings or motto. There was a bay over the porch, and a window in each story on either side. The Avindows were divided by simple stone mullions, and glazed with diamond-shaped panes. The house stood within thirty yards of the road, facing the south west, and behind it was the ' fold,' containing the barn, shippon, stable, and farm-servant's cottage. The youth who climbed the steep lane to Harwood was famine-stricken and gaunt, but his pale face was lit up by dark, eager eyes, in RIBBLESDALE. hollow sockets. The cheek-bones were nearly bare, and the mask was like that of a handsome devotee macerated by fasting. As he doffed his cap to refresh his broad brow in the morning breeze, the black glossy hair, tossed by a sweep of his hand backward, had an untrained grace in its abundance, and the large, arched eyebrows, the long eyelashes, and regular profile made the face picturesque.

He was meanly clad, but his clothes were scrupulously clean. The features were not those of the artizan class, and in the bearing there was a something not usually the characteristic of a famine-stricken craftsman. He seemed in deep grief ; for, as he eagerly climbed the hill, tears wet his cheeks, and deep sighs and even occasional sobs escaped. With a stout hazel stick he dexterously made his way through the herds of horned cattle. In his left hand he held a tin can swung from a wire handle and covered by a lid. He approached the house at Harwood Cliff through the ' fold,' and moderated his almost breathless haste to a quiet Avalk as he came towards the kitchen door. Here he Avas met by a middle-aged servant, Avho invited him in, placed him in an oaken chair RIBBLESDALE. near the fire, and, in the midst of questions about his uncle, avIio appeared to be in extreme suffering and danger, told him that her young mistress was dressing, and had directed that he should await her ' coming downstairs,' in order that she might make personal inquiries.

During this colloquy flitted into and out of the apart ment the bright vision of a pretty, cheerful Lancashire lass of about the youth's own age, dressed in a short gOAvn of printed cotton, which, according to the fashion of the time, descended only a few inches below the waist, leaving a purple and pink linsey-woolsey petti coat, half covered by a white linen apron. This attendant on the ' young missus ' flew in and out like a bird, on all sorts of errands, but always Avith a sweet smile. Our hero's large eyes flashed Avith unwonted light as this charming girl tripped into the room, making it bright like a sunbeam, the light of Avhich fell Avith unstinted radiance on him. At her first entrance they exchanged a familiar nod, according to the custom of the country. His poverty and half starved look could not mar the beauty of form in his handsome face.

The lad and the maid seemed to know each RIBBLESDALE. other well, for she came near him, and seeing his melancholy, asked him in a low voice how the deacon was. ' Badly, Nelly, badly,' was the melancholy reply. ' It's much if he live out the day. But he's set his heart upon seeing the young missus before he flits.' ' It's an awkward day, John,' said the sweet maid, ' to get through the fair. She'll go, you may be sure, but you must tent her weU, John. If any ill comes to her, John, somebody will be angry with you.' 'I'll tent her well, Nelly— I shouldn't like Mistress Arise to meet with any mischance.' She seemed to know her poAver. Yet through the flashes of a joyous spirit, there seemed also the gleam of a deeper feeling — respect, almost reverence, for the handsome, meagre youth. There was a power in him over the birdlike vivacity of the sweet maid which he seemed too sad to exert at the moment, but which, even in the self-absorption of his grief, the pretty lass acknowledged.

Her eye never was off John as she entered the room, though, in his despond ency, his OAvn were fixed on the floor. She came once or twice to whisper a Avord of comfort in his ear. By and by, the pretty maid and the kitchen RIBBLESDALE. servant Avere summoned to family prayers. Then the bright Lancashire lass tripped with a tray carrying breakfast into an adjacent room. Shortly aftenvards she came in on tiptoe, and said, ' John Spencer, the master and my young mistress will be glad to see you now. Cheer up, John !' John started to his feet from a melancholy dream, into which he had sunk with his chin supported on both hands, and his elbows on his knees, and followed EUen. She ushered him into one of the two front rooms. There he found, seated at table, a man past middle age, but ruddy and fair.

He had a benevolent though grave aspect, not characterised by energy, but with apparently a poAver of endur ance, and, under the guidance of conviction, a certain tenacity of will. It was, hoAvever, a strange thing to see opposite to him one of the rarest types of womanly beauty and grace. A figure of noble proportions. An oval head, from which, on the fair neck, hung in a net masses of glossy hair, of a rich broAvn. Features perfect for a sculptor's model — a transparent complexion, mantled with the hue of youth and health. A VOL. I. C RIBBLESDALE. bust like that of Raphael's mistress— graceful rounded arms — beautiful wrists, and small nimble, dexterous hands ; a waist not too slender, but expanded into the noble form of womanhood. Still Avith these character istics there was an air of simplicity, yet of dignity and self-possession — a look of religious piety, such as rather belonged to the saint of a mediæval legend than to any modern order of female beauty.

Withal a homeliness — a gentleness, and humility — an unconsciousness of the wonderful attractions which she possessed — an absorption in the duties of her station — a domestic love and peace, rarely found except among the ranks of the middle class in these religious homes. Educated in the Puritan faith, in com parative seclusion, her manners had the quietude almost of one who had taken the ved. Out of the circle of fanriliar duties, religious thought, and habits of self-education, nothing had led her into the outer world. To supply to her father the place of her mother, according to her dying injunction ; to smooth the decline of his life by her love, vigilant care, and groAvth in piety, had been her sole earthly RIBBLESDALE. 19 thoughts. The admiration which her beauty had excited seemed scarcely to have aAvakened her consciousness.

She Avas only aware of its force by the jealousies of those who sought to win her favour. These were among the circle of her own relatives, and in her OAvn rank in life. She was too true not to be grateful for every act of kindness, but there was nothing in her smiles to encourage a lover. Homage was not in itself prized by her. Yet Avhen her eye was uplifted to meet some generous sentiment with a beam of approval, it sometimes dilated so as to prove that within there was a depth of feeling that might try the force even of her faith and reason, if her affections were once won. Both Alice and her father welcomed John Spencer with smiles as he was ushered into the room. Mr. Hindle bade him take a chair, Avhich he did as near as possible to the door. ' Well, John, how has your uncle passed the night?' ' A weary night.

He's been Avellnigh dead half a dozen times. Out o' one swoon into another. Eh! but it's been a fearful night. Nought but the wine and the brandy and broth as you have given him have kept him quick.' c RIBBLESDALE. ' Has the doctor seen him in the night ? ' ' The doctor has been some kind for sure. He were with Blenkinsop's wife, and he came into our place every hour. And it's my thinking that, under God, yon doctor kept him quick.' ' Has he ordered anything fresh ? ' 'WeU, you see, doctors are like captains, they order folk hither and thither.' ' Well, Avhat did the doctor order ? ' ' I'm rather shame-faced to let you know. You see the doctor thinks that if Miss Ailse can take pains to teach such a gaumril as me for so many years learning, and give me charge of the Sunday class Avhen she has made a scholar of me, she'll maybe step down to my uncle's, and make him a basin o' milk and arroAvroot, Avith spice and brandy.' Alice had turned upon him her beaming face, and, anticipating her father's consent, she instantly answered : 'Wait but a few minutes, John, and, with my father's leave, you shall be my guide through the fair.

I shall be very happy indeed to go, and be of any service to your uncle.' RIBBLESDALE. 21 ' I'll go an' sit me doAvn i' the house, tdl you are done, Miss Ailse.' So saying, John Spencer left the room, and placed himself in the oaken chair in the kitchen, with his head resting on his hands, and his ' elbows on his knees, Avhile the tears slowly chased each other down his meagre cheeks. What Avith grief and gratitude, John seemed often not to hear what the elderly servant said to him, and, Avhen he heard, answered almost in monosyllables. By-and by, the maid was summoned upstairs. Then, soon after, she descended, and in a somewhat more sympathetic tone, said, ' I had no notion, John, that your uncle was so badly. You must take good tent (care) of my young missus. Her meikle (like) is not to be found, an' if she's marred (spoiled), another cannot be made.' ' Nay then, that's as true as gospel, Nedy ; I'd rather be burned than aught ill should happen her.' ' Mind yon long-horned cattle, John ; they are apt to be randy (wild), what with the clogs, an' drovers, and with far tramp and clemming (far travelling and want of food).' At this moment, Alice entered the kitchen, RIBBLESDALE. and beckoning John Spencer to follow her, they both passed through the back door of the house into the fold, and thence into the road.

Nelly's sympathy seemed to suggest that she should watch them forth on their errand of mercy, for when John glanced back from the road he caught a glimpse of the pretty maid, as she nimbly withdrew within the fold. John had wisely chosen the space at the head of a flock of sheep, and in the rear of a drove of cattle, as affording the greatest security to his fair charge. The colleys and herdsmen Avith thick staves kept the long horned Lancashire oxen in front, and it w*as very unlikely any Avould turn to bay, or make a rush backwards on the road. They Avended their way therefore in comparative safety, ex changing but feAv words, for the lowing of the herds, the sharp bark of the shepherds' dogs, the bleating of the flocks, and the cads and whistles of the herdsmen, formed a Babel of sound, which distracted attention and somewhat confused the hearing.

In this Avay, they de scended the steep hill to the village of Har wood, sloAvly, and with pauses, Avhich increased in number and duration as they approached RIBBLESDALE. the thronged street. The herd before them, however, gradually wound through the narrow defile between the booths, stalls, shows, and caravans, on one side of the street, and the horses and ponies arranged Avish their heads to the houses on the opposite side. By keeping rather to the side of the booths and concourse of visitors, they avoided all risk from the horses' heels, and thus by degrees reached the centre of the village, where, diverging to the left down a street Avhich descended the slope to the south, they lost the pioneering of the herd of ' long horns,' behind which they had gained their entrance into the heart of the fair.