Great Mitton

"GREAT MITTON, (or Myton), a parish, chiefly in the wapentake of Staincliff, West Riding county York, but partly in the lower division of the hundred of Blackburn, county Lancaster, 3 miles W. of Clitheroe, its post town, and 2 S.E. of Whalley. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Hodder and Ribble. The parish, which is very extensive, contains the townships of Great Mitton, Aighton, Grindleton, Waddington, Hurst-Green, Bailey, Chaigley, Bashall-Eaves, and West Bradford. Henry VI. was betrayed in this parish by the Talbots, and in 1319 it was the scene of dreadful slaughter and devastation, committed by the Scots on their irruption into England. The village, which is small, is wholly agricultural. The soil is clay, upon a subsoil of gravel and limestone. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ripon, value £180. The church, dedicated to Allhallows, formerly belonged to Cockersand Abbey, and was built in the reign of Edward III. It is a stone structure with a lofty square embattled tower containing five bells. The interior of the church has an ancient cross, and on the N. side of the chancel is the sepulchral chapel of-the Sherburne family. In addition to the parish church there are the following district churches, viz: at Grindleton, Hurst-Green, and Waddington, the livings of which are all perpetual curacies, varying in value from £122 to £85. The parochial charities produce about £9 per annum. There is a day school for both sexes, in which a Sunday-school is also held. John Welchman Aspinall, Esq., is lord of the manor, and owner of a considerable portion of the surface. Stoneyhurst, now occupied as a Roman Catholic college, was anciently the seat of the Sherburnes, commenced by Sir Richard Sherburne towards the close of the 16th century.