The History of Huncoat A chronological list of dates Section One : Pre 1900

700	First settlement seems most likely to have been during Saxon times when East Lancashire formed part of Northumbria under King Oswald. It was a sparsely populated primeval forest infested with wild boar and wolves.
800	The name probably originates from the Anglo-Saxon term “cottar” mid way in the social scale of yeomen between serfs who were the lowest and velleins who were tenant farmers. Hence; “home of a cottar.” However, other suggestions have been made – · Hun’s cottage (Hun being a personal name) · Chieftain’s cottage · An animal shelter or hundred sheep fold · A place where honey is made or stored The spelling has varied from Hunnicot to Hunnicotes, Huntcotes, Hunecote and Huncote.
910	Edward the Elder, King of Wessex conquered the area south of the River Ribble and attached it to his Midlands Kingdom of Mercia. Ecclesiastically this brought the area under the Diocese of Lichfield.
1017	Danish kings ruled England for 25 years until the Saxons regained supremacy with the reign of Edward the Confessor.
1042	The local Saxon Thane was Leofwine who presided over a domain that included Huncoat and Accrington from a moated manor house at Altham. Oxen were employed to plough the land for growing wheat, rye and barley, cattle were pastured and the rivers provided good fishing. Wains or wagons were used for transport and people were allowed “waingate” right of way with corn to the mill and to return with flour, hence the name of the lane to Accrington of Millgate.
1066	Following the Norman conquest King William I divided up the country between his Barons and Roger of Poitou received the lands which included Huncoat but Leofwine the Saxon was permitted to remain in control of local estates in return for homage to the new regime.
1086	The Domesday Book recorded that “King Edward had had two carucates of land at Hunnicot” (about 250 acres). Only three other places in the Blackburn Hundred (North East Lancashire) shared this distinction of mention and these did not include Altham.
1100	The Norman Barons appointed knights to govern individual areas and Huncoat and Altham came under the de Lacy’s of Clitheroe castle.
1138	During the reign of Stephen there was civil war with Scotland and to ensure his allegiance the de Lacy’s granted a charter confirming Hugh the Saxon son of Leofwine legal possession of the estates comprising Altham.
1150	Hugh the Saxon founded Altham church and Henry de Lacy founded a monastery at Barnoldswick but the monks later moved it to a better abbey at Kirkstall.
1191	Henry’s son Robert de Lacy detached the jurisdiction of Accrington and Huncoat from Altham and placed it with Kirstall Abbey. The Saxons of Altham contested this down the generations for 80 years.
1241	Hugh’s younger brother Edward de Billington inherited rights to various lands including Huncoat and it was one of his descendants William who in residing at Huncoat first acquired the name de Huncoat.
1250	The monks of Kirkstall defined a boundary between Huncoat and Accrington at Wormley Clough (Warm Leaf), a small stream on the north side of the Coppice. “The pointed stone in Fernihalgh” was a 13th Century boundary marker above the clough that remained in place until the early 20th Century, (see 1499 and 1844).
1277	William de Altham settled the long standing dispute with Kirkstall over Accrington and Huncoat rights by renouncing the claim in return for 80 marks of silver.
1287	Kirkstall Abbey got into financial difficulty and relinquished their Accrington and Huncoat estates back to the de Lacy family on leasehold.
1300	William de Huncoat was living in Huncoat Hall and the site on the hillside above the Griffin’s Head is possibly the earliest still surviving of any building in the village.
1305	The Halmot Court records of Accrington indicate that Huncoat tenants farmed 309 acres and paid an annual rent of around £5 to the de Lacy’s on the Feast of St Giles (1st Sept.).
1316	Following the Battle of Bannockburn North Lancashire was overrun by Scotch Borderers and lawless times ensued. Robert Bruce of Scotland laid the county waste as far as Preston but King Edward II and subsequently his son Edward III gradually restored order.
1318	John de Huncoat exchanged Huncoat Hall for a similar possession in Hapton belonging to a William de Birtwistle. Thus the family de Huncoat disappear from history and the Birtwistles’ start 426 years of association with the village.
1322	The de Lacy estates were sequestered by the Crown owing to the rebellion and disgrace of the then Earl of Lancaster and consequently the Abbott of Kirkstall had temporary difficulty in obtaining the annual revenue.
1327	King Edward II abdicated in favour of his son Edward III during whose reign the de Lacy estates were granted back to the Duke of Lancaster (John ‘o Gaunt).
1395	Brown Moor Farm known to have existed.
1399	The land belonging to the Duke of Lancaster including Huncoat passed to his son who became King Henry IV and thus remained a royal possession until the Civil War in 1649.
1425	Richard of Hill House named in documented records (fined by the Court for chasing sheep).
1495	Brown Moor Farm named in records as owned by Lettice, wife of Nicholas Towneley.
1499	There is evidence that Hillock Farm existed in "Tudor" times but originally called "Fernihalgh Vaccary." Vachery meant enclosure for cows. (See also 1250 and 1844).
1507	King Henry VII appointed a Commission to grant out forests which led to unprecedented development of lands. (But see 1602).
1509	Huncoat had its own Local Constable to uphold the law.
1514	Eight yeomen from the village prosecuted John and Thomas Riley for trespass on Huncoat Moor but gained no satisfaction in court.
1520	During the reign of King Henry VIII Huncoat came under the newly formed Diocese of Chester.
1532	Records indicate that Huncoat had a pinfold enclosure where stray cattle and sheep were placed. Also that people were being fastened in the village stocks for wrong doings. (Also see 1722).
1534	The first recorded enclosure of land in Huncoat Lane by Richard Birtwistle of Huncoat Hall was disputed in the Halmot Court (Local Government of Accrington). This may indicate that Old Hall Farm was in existence there then.
1547	A right of way for the trade of corn and flour between Huncoat and Accrington was contested before the Halmot Court by Oliver Birtwistle but he was only partially successful. However, this implies that a flourishing corn market must have existed in Huncoat at the time. (Also see 1952).
1550	Population of the area increasing with more and more waste land being enclosed and cultivated. These intakes were almost all held as copyholds with annual dues payable to the manor. It was a relatively peaceful era when yeomen tended crops and livestock for sale at market and packhorses carried a trade of lime and coal.
1556	Both Lower and Higher Brown Birks named in records.
1560	A coat of arms was granted to Oliver Birtwistle of Huncoat Hall.
1560	The original Hill House in Towngate was built in Tudor times. Towngate was the central area of Highergate and Lowergate. The word gata is Danish (gate in Anglo Saxon) and means street. Ancient royal highways crossed at Towngate. These were the pack horse trails from Clitheroe to Haslingden via the Kings Highway and Accrington to Burnley via Millgate (Cleggs Lane).
1577	Huncoat was shown on Christopher Saxton's map of Lancashire.
1580	The date put on the oldest surviving stonework of Huncoat Hall.
1584	There is evidence that there was extensive lead mining on the slopes of Hameldon.
1596	The boundaries of "Huncoat" began to be properly defined, a total of more than 900 acres. The population seems to have been about 100.
1602	The new King James I disputed the legality of the 1507 tenures of copyholders and landowners because he wanted to raise revenue. To avoid the risk of losing their homesteads and lands the owners agreed to pay a levy on them. (Also see 1618).
1608	Slate Pits Farm built by the Hargreaves family below Moleside.
1611	Hard Farm known to exist on top of Whinney Hill, 'Hard' meaning head or top of.
1617	A total of 12 tenements in Huncoat were recorded as yielding copyhold rents. (See 1550).
1618	A Decree of Confirmation was granted by the Crown on 4th June recognising the tenures of copyholders and landowners but this did not resolve the dispute. (See 1662).
1642	Parliamentarian forces won the Battle of Whinney Hill on 2nd December (the actual battle site was Henfield or Enfield Moor - probably now quarried away).
1643	Lancashire was predominantly a Parliamentarian area but Thomas Birtwistle of Huncoat Hall had his estate sequestered for being a Royalist and religious non-conformist although he claimed never to have born arms against the Parliamentarians.
1660	Richard Birtwistle regained the estates on the restoration of Charles II but suffered penalties for recusancy (non-conformism).
1660	Hill House seems to have been re-constructed around this time so is probably the oldest surviving intact building in the village.
1660	Brown Moor Farm was occupied by the Bentley family. They were shoe makers and their descendants carried on the craft there for two centuries.
1662	An Act of Confirmation was passed by Parliament properly legalising copyholds etc.
1666	37 hearths were declared in Huncoat for the "Hearth Tax" 7 of which were in Huncoat Hall and 4 in the next largest house. The tax was abolished in 1689 but the “Window Tax” began in 1695.
1722	John Hacking of Huncoat perfected one of the earliest cotton carding machines. He and his wife lived in a cottage in Town Gate and are buried in Altham church yard. The east window of the church commemorates several members of the hacking family. Handloom weaving was still a cottage industry in the area up to this time.
1722	The Huncoat Stocks are inscribed with this date but were clearly in use much earlier. (See 1532).
1730	Huncoat Hall reconstructed.
1733	Middle Hill House built.
1738	Stone Hey Barn and probably Stone Hey Cottage built.
1744	John Birtwistle sold Huncoat Hall and estates ending a 426 years family connection.
1755	Existence of Broad Meadows Farm recorded on a datestone.
1756	The date on the old barn of Woodnook Farm which later became a building adjoining the Whitakers Arms.
1768	The date on the famous Huncoat Old Hall Farm tablet. It bears the names of Daniel and Dorothy Barroclough and the Arms of the Birtwistle's because as Oliver Birtwistle's daughter she was the last of the family line. The datestone was originally over the doorway of the farmhouse but is is now preserved in the garden end wall of Flood Dyke Cottages on the corner of Burnley Lane. Huncoat Old Hall Farm was situated on the crest of Highergate Road below the knoll and its farmland is now the Waverley Chase housing estate.
1777	The population of Huncoat thought to have been around 200.
1780	The present day buildings of the Black Bull and the White Lion date from around this time. Two slaughter houses once existed in the village, one next to the Black Bull and the other in Burnley Lane.
1780	The Industrial Revolution was well under way and Lancashire's cotton industry developing but it was slow to reach Huncoat.
1782	Richard Fort of Stone Hey in partnership with a Mr. Taylor and a Mr. Bury founded the Broad Oak Calico Print Works in Accrington. His father was also called Richard Fort but resided in Altham and was a leading member of the Oakenshaw Baptist community. It was he who facilitated the building of the Meeting House and Macpelah burial-ground on land he owned next to the Corn Mill on Hyndburn Road, Accrington. The grandfather was a Lawrence Fort who had lived at Hard Farm.
1785	The importance of the Kings Highway through Huncoat began to decline with the establishment of a new Manchester to Whalley road through Accrington.
1790	Highbrake Hall built by Richard Fort.
1800	Before the railway was built James Allen of Spout House Farm ran local stagecoaches, the horse for which were changed at the Walton Arms and brought up to be stabled in Burnley Road. Spout House Lane became known as Cleggs Lane because the Clegg family lived in Spout House Farm for over 100 years.
1801	Population of Huncoat thought to have been around 480.
1801	The Leeds Liverpool canal reached Huncoat. At 103¾ miles it was the longest built in Britain. The sections were built between 1770 and 1777 but then economic depression delayed its completion until 1816. The original budget for its construction had been £260,000 but by the time work was completed it had cost £1,200,000. Houghton Barn in Altham Lane was the canal packet station for passengers to Huncoat.
1810	A Baptist Chapel was founded in Burnley Lane.
1811	Population of Huncoat thought to have been around 514.
1813	The area had a very severe winter in 1813/14 when the canal froze and again about 20 years later Huncoat was cut off by deep snow falls.
1815	Highbrake Hall had become an elite boarding school.
1821	Population reached 629.
1822	Methodist services began to be held in various cottages.
1830	Local brick making industry founded.
1831	Hard Farm house on Whinney Hill rebuilt.
1834	Construction began of the new Burnley Road turnpike and it opened in 1838.
1835	A Methodist Sunday School was founded in the top floor room of an old cotton warehouse situated between the White Lion and Bank Terrace.
1837	Huncoat was included in Burnley Rural area for Poor Law and Registration.
1838	The Griffin's Head pub was built by Shaw's Brewery, although it was originally for a short time called the Cross Gates because it was at the cross roads of Burnley Road and Kingsway.
1839	Terrace adjacent to Read View erected in Station Road.
1843	The Whitakers of Simonstone put their Huncoat estates up for sale by auction on 24th July. These included Old Hall Farm, Spout House Farm, Lower Gate Farm and Broad Meadows Farm.
1844	Purpose built Methodist Sunday School completed in Burnley Lane.
1844	William Herd a former Baptist pastor started a day school in Broad Meadows Farm.
1844	The Ordnance Survey map of this date showed - * The centre of the village was clustered around the cross roads of Towngate * That there was a cross on Huncoat Bank (the knoll) before the War Memorial * The Whitakers Arms, White Lion, Black Bull and Griffin's Head Inn * Warm Leaf House opposite Hillock Vale * Higher Brown Birks (located at the top of Bolton Avenue) * Lower Brown Birks (located at the bottom of Bolton Avenue) * Within Grove, Spout House and Mount Farms * Rake Head Farm in the first field at the northern end of Miry Lane * Miry Lane, Ing Field, Slate Pits, White Riding and Windy Harbour Farms behind the Coppice * Hameldon Hall at the foot of Great Hameldon * A boundary marker stone on the moor summit between Ing Field and Warm Leaf Clough this was probably the Fernihalgh Stone (see 1250 and 1499) * Brown Moor Farm (located just east of Grime Row) * Blind Lane End Farms (located a little north of Grime Row) * Brick Barn in the fields east of Blind Lane End Farms * The isolated buildings of Broad Meadows in what later became Station Road * Nearer Holker House (later the RSPCA sanctuary) * Further Holker House (located on the east side of Whinney Hill * Hard Farm on top of Whinney Hill (later a quarry and then the landfill site) * Sankey House Farm at the corner of Whinney Hill Road * Rabbit Hole; a cottage in the fields above Clough Brook * Pipers Row, a terrace of 6 lower houses so named because a musical family lived in one of them fronting onto Highergate Road (See 1906 and 1993) * That the name Enfield was originally Henfield
1846	The first small reservoir was constructed at Hillock Vale (see 1890).
1848	East Lancashire Railway opened to Huncoat on 27th May. The original village station was off Altham Lane near what later became the Power Station site.
1851	Census gave the population as 598. The window tax was abolished on 24th July.
1852	Household handloom weaving was still a significant village industry but there was also a gradual expansion of dairy farming to supply the growth of Accrington.
1853	Huncoat Cotton Mill was built by John S. Grimshaw (later called Perseverance Mill and sometimes Highbrake Mill). It was located on the east side of the railway line to the south of the level crossing.
1853	Mill workers cottages built at Hillock Vale (Vale Court, South Street and Parker Street).
1854	Building of Hillock Vale Cotton Weaving Mill in Burnley Road completed by the Shutt Brothers.
1859	Stone Hey Terrace built by John Pollard.
1861	Census gave the population as 839, a 40% increase in 10 years largely due to the new cotton mills.
1862	Woodside House built by mill owner John Grimshaw.
1864	Cemetery opened in Burnley Road.
1865	White Lion first mentioned by name in a directory. In those days many pubs including the Black Bull were just classed as "Beerhouses".
1866	Huncoat became a Civil Parish in Burnley RDC.
1866	The date on the pediment of Highergate (or Howard's) Farm situated on the corner of Burnley Lane (see 1960).
1868	The Whitakers Arms had become known as the Cemetery Hotel.
1869	A larger Methodist (Wesleyan) Church and Institute were built in Station Road and the old Sunday School in Burnley Lane was sold.
1871	A Day School commenced in the Methodist Institute.
1871	Huncoat Hall reconstructed again (see 1730).
1871	Census gave the population as 990.
1874	Highbrake Hotel built for Bentley's Milnshaw Brewery (see 1893).
1874	A large Sunday School was built next to the Baptist Chapel in Burnley Lane.
1878	Accrington became a municipal authority in May but Huncoat was part of Burnley Rural District.
1878	Huncoat Bank (the knoll) was bequeathed to the village by the Peel family famous for founding the police force. It is known locally as the Rec because it is a recreation ground.
1880	Rockdale (later re-named Middleton House) built in Burnley Road (see 1909 and 1931).
1881	The railway station had been moved to the south side of the level crossing in Enfield Road but a local petition complained about "the disgraceful accomodation."
1881	Census list gave the population as 980 and included residents of Yorkshire Street, Prospect Terrace, High Brake Terrace, and Providence Terrace.
1885	Huncoat Pit founded with the sinking of the first shaft, which eventually reached 850 feet deep. There were two major seams worked at various times - the Lower Mountain and Upper Mountain. It was called the Broadmeadow Colliery and operated until 9 Feb 1968.
1886	Cooperative Society store built in Station Road but the village centre was still around Towngate with small shops at numbers 5 and 16 Burnley Lane.
1886	Holyrood Terrace erected in Burnley Road.
1886	St.Augustine's Chapel of Ease founded, later rebuilt as a full church (see 1908).
1890	The Ordnance Survey map of this date showed - * The main Burnley Road Reservoir had been built below the 1846 one * Industrial Terrace existed adjoining the Cooperative Society Store * Altham Brick and Tile Works had been established beside the canal at the end of Clough Brook * The Accrington Brick and Tile Works (original Nori) had been established at the western end of Whinney Hill Road but Hard Farm still stood on Whinney Hill * Huncoat Colliery was marked but the workings were not extensive at this time * St.Augustine's School existed in the unmade road then called Church Lane but later to become Bolton Avenue * Marl Place existed on Enfield Road * Whinney Hill Cottage had been built at the corner of Whinney Hill Road * Accrington Football and Cricket Ground had been established * Some rifle ranges existed below Rake Head Farm
1892	Carlton Terrace erected in Station Road.
1893	Highbrake Hotel became known as the Railway Hotel.
1894	Huncoat Plastic Brick and Terra Co. (trademark Redac) was founded in Yorkshire Street. Ore originally came from a quarry behind the works but later from the Coppice by means of a tramway passing under Burnley Road in a tunnel near Spout House Lane and in the last few decades of operation by aerial ropeway crossing over the road.
1897	Oak Bank Terrace built on Enfield Road.
1899	Perseverance Mill passed into the ownership of John Barnes.

Section Two : Post 1900

Section Three : Miscellaneous Facts

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