Whalley, Billington & Whitewell

1518 to 1536 - Between these dates, The Act Book of Whalley Abbey records that Robert Cromleholme [Cro0021] of Lowde Mythun sat as a Bowland Juror on various immoral cases: He would have had to travel approximately 7 miles to Whalley Abbey. 

Note : Any descendants of this Robert C [21] are not known at present although he is obviously a member of the family living at Loudmytham.

The father of another Robert C [420] in the three late C16th records below is, as yet, unknown. All we have is his wife Margaret (nee ??) [421] and daughters Elizabeth [418] & Margaret [419].

1595 - 26th April : Elizabeth Crombleholme [Cro0418] daughter of Robert Crombleholme [Cro0420] baptised at St Mary & All Saints, Whalley (Source : LPRS  Vol 74+ Baptisms 1538-1601 p 69 + LDS Film 1471099). 

1598 - 29th April : Margaret Crombleholme [Cro0419] daughter of Robert Crombleholme [Cro0420] baptised at at St Mary & All Saints, Whalley (Source : LPRS  Vol 74+ Baptisms 1538-1601 p 73 + LDS Film 1471099) ). (Note She could be the same Elizabeth as 724 ?)

1625 - 29th December : Margaret (nee ?? ) Crombleholme [Cro0421] wife of Robert Crombleholme [Cro0420] buried at St Mary & All Saints Church, Whalley (Source : LPRS  Vol 74 + LDS Film 1471099 + Ancestry PR 2)

1630 - 17th May : Robert Crombleholme [Cro0420] buried  at St Mary & All Saints, Whalley (Source : LPRS  Vol 74 + LDS Film 1471099)

1634 - 5th June : John Crombleholme [Cro0038] married of Annie (nee Ouldham) [Cro0423] at Whalley (Source : LPRS  Vol 74 + Reg of Marriages  1605-1647 p 9; LDS Film 1471099 ). 

Note : John Crombleholme [38] (b1583-ca  d1653; son of George Crombleholme (29) of Loud Mytham; possibly  married  Elizabeth or Isabell (nee unknown) [434] ; In 1634 (see above) he married  Anna nee Ouldham [423];  His will : PCC1 (see below) ; children 43, 45, 50, 51, 441 and poss. 659; Identified as blacksmith in his will; John had a servant - noted in 1642 Protestation Return.  Died in Feb 1651 in Whalley 

My co-researcher Mike Murtha has re-visited this research and his thoughts at Jan 2024 are : 

John C [38] was born in 1583 so he would have been 50 when Elizabeth [434] died in April of 1633. Perhaps she was his first wife and buried in Mitton, not Whalley, because it was her family's home church? Or perhaps she died there?

John [38] was the father of five known children; four are identified in his will – Richard [43], William [45], Alice [50], Elizabeth [51]; his son George [441] died young, (1637-1642)

Richard C [43], like his father, declined to sign the 1642 Protestation Return; his presence in the list indicates he was an adult, so he would have been born by 1621 at the latest

Alice [50] married Matthew Croasdail at Mitton in August 1634, two months after her father John [38] and Anna [423] married; assuming Alice [50] was about 20 years old, she would have been born no later than 1614, when John would have been 27 years old.

There is no information about William’s age

Robert [659] died at Mitton in 1640; there is no information about his age but he was a minor (“son of”), born in the 1620s or 1630s

Richard [43] and Alice [50] were born long before John married Anna so he had had a first marriage and they were children of that marriage

Elizabeth [51] (1646-1668) and George [441] (1637-1642) were children from his second marriage

William [45] and Robert [659] could have been from either marriage; given that Robert [659] was buried in Mitton it is more likely that Elizabeth [434] was his mother

From the above it is possible that Elizabeth [434] was John’s [38] first wife; she died in April 1633 and John [38] married Anna [423] in June 1634; this would mean that John [38] and John 433 are the same person (433 now therefore removed)

1637 - 22nd May : George Crumbleholme [Cro0441] son of John Crumbleholme [Cro0038] ( & Annie (nee Ouldham 423) baptised at Chatburn (Parish of Whalley) (Source :  Bishop's Transcripts Chatburn, Lancs 1630-1639 via Ancestry) (MM has at Church; of Knusden (both are east of Blackburn).

1641 - Protestation Return : John Cromelholme [Cro0038] blacksmith of Billington did not sign (Source : Protestation Returns 1641)  Note : He was noted as having a servant

1642 - 19th May : George Crombleholme [Cro0441] son of John Crombleholme [Cro0038] buried at St Mary & All Saints Whalley (Source : LPRS  Vol 74 + LDS Film 1471099)

1645/6 - 24th March : Elizabeth Crombleholme [Cro0051] daughter of John Crombleholme [Cro0038] (& Annie (nee Ouldham) [Cro0423])  baptised at Whalley (Source : LPRS  Vol 74 + FHL film 0844795S IT 4-5)

1650- 22nd February : Anna Crombleholme [Cro0423] buried at St Mary & All Saints Whalley (Source : LPRS  Vol 74 & LDS Film 1471099) 

Note This was Anne (nee Ouldham) [423] who married John C [38] in 1634

1652 - 8th January : Will (Ref PCC/1) of John Cromelholme [Cro0038]: Lived at Billington and was a blacksmith. 

Buried in the church at Whalley. 

Notes children : Richard C [Cro0043] : William C  [Cro0045] ; Elis (Alice ??) C [Cro0046] ; and Elizabeth C [Cro0047]; 

His Brother : Robert C  [Cro0039] of Aighton deceased had given legacies to his four children.    (Source : will at PRO   ??   MM via Ancestry Canterbury Wills) 

1653 : Will (SR 9) of Robert Crombleholme [Cro0039]  of Aighton (Tailor)  [ref Brent 394* - Commonwealth period]

                (Copy of will* not obtained but transcribed by my dear friend Marjorie Pollard in 1981)

Will made 24th June 1652   He died :  June<>September   Administration granted Sept 1653

Burial at discretion of executor; Executor : Roger Wynkley of Horrocks in Aighton.

Witnesses : Thomas Wynkley, Edward Wynkley & Edmund Wynkley.                 Not married .  No children

Bequests :  To brother John C £20 [Cro0038]; To William [Cro0045] & Richard [Cro0043] sons of John [38] £5 each.

To elder daughter (Alice C )  [Cro0050])  of John C [Cro0038]: 50s; 

Younger daughter (Elizabeth ) [Cro0051]) of John C [38] : £3

To George C [Cro0048] & 2 of the  daughters [Cro0050 + 51 - not named] of the late brother William C  [Cro0040] £3 each

To John C [Cro0052] one other of the sons of late brother William C [Cro0040] 50s.

To Margaret C [Cro0042] his sister £5 - Roger Parker his brother in law not to gainsay (deny) this.

To children of Roger Wynkley of Horrocks Aighton  (Thomas, Edward, Mary, Alice & Eliz) 40s each.

To Katherine, now wife of said Thomas Wynkley and Roger his son £5 each

To William Burns 40s; to Eliz his wife & children Thomas & Jane 5s each.

To Richard Hill & Ellen his wife 45s each.

To William Grigson his godson 5s; 

To John, Agnes & Mary children of Lawrence Wilkinson deceased 5s each.

To William & Ann Gerrard 5s each; To Mary Hayhurst 5s; 

To William Chewe 45s.

1668 - 29th April : Eliz Crombleham [Cro0051] buried at St Mary & All Saints, Whalley - abode Billington (Source : LDS Film 14710990)  

Note : daughter of John C [38] & Anne nee Ouldham [423]  of Whalley

1683 - 28th April : Margaret Cromblome [Cro0   ] buried at St Mary & All Saints, Whalley - abode Wiswall    (Source : LDS Film 14710990)    

Note : Margaret will SR8 ???

1698 - 18th January : Richard Crombleholme [Cro0043]  Billington (Husbandman*)  made his will Ref Will SR7

(*Husbandman - tenant farmer as distinct from yeoman)  Will (SR7) made 18th January 1698  He died in July 1699.  Proved 30th April 1700.    Bequests all to wife Elizabeth [Cro0044]  who was also his executor.  Signed by Richard - no estate value given. No Children noted.

Note : Richard C [43] was son of John C [38] &  Annie (nee Ouldham) [423] married Elizabeth (nee ??) [44] 

1699 - 11th July : Richard Crumbleham [Cro0043] of Nab Head buried at St Bartholomew's Church in Great Harwood  (Source : IGI Yorkshire searched in LCRO 1984)  Note : see maps etc below for location of Nab Head. (Church reg : Nab Head; Bishops Trans : Billington.  Nab Head & Nab Top appear to be the same place. There is another Nab Head in Salmesbury

1703 - 2nd June : John Cromlom [Cro0837]  baptised at St Leonard, Downham Lancashire. Son of John Cromlom. [Cro0446] : baptised at Whitewell (Source : OPC Downham  Baptisms 1653-1722 Entry 11 LDS Film 1278942 + IGI  Cromlum)

1710 - 2nd July : Elizabeth Crumbleham [Cro0044] wife of Richard Crumbleham [Cro0043] buried at Great Harwood  (Source : IGI Yorkshire searched in LCRO 1984)

1724 - John Crombleholme [Cro   ] and Edward Parker defendants v Robert Parker plaintiff (Deposition Parker v Parker) taken at Whalley. (Source : Nat Archives Ref C 11/2759/9 Court of Chancery : Six Clerks Office - Reynardson Division) (see seen yet)

1757 : Crombleholme in Billington : "From a Sett of Maps of the several Estates of Thomas Braddyll Esq in the counties of York and Lancaster .... according to George Grey of Lancaster, Land Surveyor" (Source LCRO Ref DDX/41/18)

Note : Also noted  "Copied by R Cottam 1757" - presume that it was drawn at same date.

1767 - Returns of Papists 

WHALLEY : (Whitewell) (detached piece of parish up by Loudmytham)

Name                                                       age              Residence            How long lived there

Ellen Crombleholme* [Cro0678]              47                Whitwell               14          (i.e. b 1720)

Rebecca [Cro0522]                                      16                                            16

Ann [Cro1037]                                              14                                            14

John [Cro0523]                                             11                                            11

William [Cro0692]                                          9                                             9

Mary [Cro0580]                                             3                                              3                                    

(note William C [677] husband of Ellen C * (nee Beesley) [678] is not listed - he died in 1800 ??  To be checked !)

1775 - 28th June : Rebekah Crombleholme [Cro0522] married of Christopher Corbridge at St Michael,  Whitewell in Bowland.  Married by banns.  (Source : Lanc OPC - LDS Film 1469070 ).  

Note : Rebekah C [522] was the daughter of 677 & 678 born in 1751.  Her daughter  Anna b. 1792 in Ribchester; her husband Christopher described as “pauper”; birth year from 1767 Return of Papists for Whitewell (above)

1777 - 31st March : John Crombleholme [Cro0523] married of Elizabeth (nee Walmsley) [Cro0524] at St Michael, Whitewell in Bowland.  Married by banns by Lawrence Moore.  John described as a husbandman  & Elizabeth as a spinster. (Source : Lanc OPC - LDS Film 1469070 ).  

Note : They appear to have lived in Chipping as children (681-691 & 700) were baptised there see Chipping from this date on. John C [523] born in 1756 birth year from Return of Papists. Elizabeth (nee Walmsley) d 1802.

1815 - 15th July : Mary Crombleholme [Cro0688] spinster of Whalley & Chapelry of Whitwell married of John Holding Husbandman of Whalley & Chapelry of Whitewell at St Michael Whitewell in Bowland. Witnesses : Thomas Knowles & John Parkinson clerk.  Married by banns with consent of parents by Andrew Major.  (Source : Lanc OPC - LDS Film 1469070 Reg 1813-1842 p5 entry 16) 

(Note Mary C [688] d/o John C [523] & Elizabeth [524] possibly mother of Evan C [717] b 1813 d 1813 illeg ?

1823 - 29th September : Thomas Crumbleholme [Cro0710] of Whalley & Chapelry of Whitwell married of Elizabeth Crumbleholme [Cro0690] (x) (no maiden name - married a cousin ??)  of Whalley & Chapelry of Whitewell at St Michael Whitewell in Bowland. Witnesses : John Coupe & Nancy Hay.  Married by banns with consent of parents by John Master  (Source : Lanc OPC - LDS Film 1469070 Reg 1813-1854 p19 entry 55)  

Note : See Father John Crombleholme (son) for full family details. John Coupe (uncle? cousin?) was a witness; children 712, 713, 735, 912; poss. step father of 471; d. 1856; bap. spon. numerous times; shoemaker in Preston in 1851 census

Note : See also the Crombock family who lived in Whalley and whose name is thought by some to actually be Crombleholme (we disagree !)