PIGHOLE MILL. BRIERCLIFFE

[Stanley]

PIGHOLE MILL. BRIERCLIFFE

PIGHOLE MILL. BRIERCLIFFE.
ALT. Page 11. Pighole Mill, sometimes know as Peglar Mill is on the Walverden Brook and now known as Fern Valley. The name probably originates from ME, Peightley or Pightel which means ‘a small enclosure’. Probably built after the closure of Walverden Mill by 1438 when its business was moved to Colne. Not shown on Yates map of Lancashire, 1786 but is referred to in census of 1851 as ‘bobbin mill’. In the 1841 census 39 people, including 7 HLW are shown in the building.

EXTWISTLE MILL
ALT. Page 87. Extwistle Mill in 1371 was in the hands of Gilbert, son of John de la Legh an ancestor of the Towneley family. The tenant of Netherwood Farm may have been the miller. Probably served a wide area at first but be 1531 was probably used only be the tenants of Extwistle. This manor and the mill were owned by Richard Towneley then. A case in the Manorial Court of 1610 records a dispute between the Parker’s, who owned Extwistle and the Towneleys over Parker’s new mill at ROGGERHAM. Resolved by allowing Parker’s tenants only to use the new mill. The Towneley mill probably fell into disuse in the late 17th century. ROGGERHAM survived until power loom days.

ROGGERHAM MILL
ALT. Page 88. See EXTWISTLE MILL. May have been originally built as an APANAGE of Extwistle Mill, it evidently had legal status or the Manorial court decision of 1610 would not have allowed its continuation. The Parker’s had the rights of Lord of the Manor of Extwistle and encouraged it. It was a stone structure and stood on the bank of Extwistle Water below Extwistle Hall. Corn was ground there for over 200 years and at the end of the 18th C it became a wool spinning mill. Cotton was introduced and by 1820 there was evidence of spinning and hand loom weaving. Power looms were introduced c.1840. By 1700 the mill seems to have been run by the landlord of the Bay Horse in Worsthorne. Later demolished.

WALVERDEN MILL
ALT. Page 88. Mention that Walverden Mill was closed in 1483 and the business transferred to Colne at the request of the Lord of the Manor of Colne.