The name of Clitheroe, though evidently old, and said in part to be British, does not occur in Domesday. Whittaker is of opinion that the place is included in Bernulfeswic, now Burnoldswick, a parish about six miles north-east of the castle, and that it is referred to as the Castelry of Roger of Pictavensis or of Poictou. It is stated that “in Bernulfeswic Garnel held twelve carucates, paying geld to Berenger de Todeni. The manor is in the Castelry of Roger the Poitevin.” Usually Roger is identified with the Castle of Lancaster, but at that time Lancaster Castle was not built, and that lordship did not belong to Roger. Roger was a large tenant in chief in the shires of Chester, Derby, Notts, and Lincoln. In Yorkshire and Lancashire he then held but little. The mesne lord, De Todeni, was one of the family who had Belvoir; Dugdale says, the son of Robert de Todeni, who built it. He does not again appear in connexion with this part of England.
Roger is thought to have granted the fee to Roger de Buisli, from whom, or from Albert Greslei, it came to the De Lacys of Pontefract, lords of Blackburnshire, of whom Robert de Lacy is said to have held it under De Buisli. This De Lacy, whose history belongs to Pontefract, is the reputed founder of Clitheroe keep in the reign of Henry I., and certainly the building is not of later date. From that time Clitheroe shared with Pontefract the honour of being the seat of the De Lacy power, and so remained until their estates merged in the earldom and duchy of Lancaster, and this again in the Crown. The founder probably also endowed the chapel of St. Michael within the castle, probably in the lower ward, and which is mentioned in the reign of Henry I. A claim, however, to represent this chapel is set up for the parish church, though this building could never have been within the castle.
Clitheroe, like other strong places in Lancashire, was held for the king in the Parliamentary struggles, and in 1649 the castle was ordered to be dismantled.
Charles II. granted the castle and honour to General Monk, whose son, Christopher Duke of Albemarle, left it to his wife, Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, who again left it to her second husband, Ralph Duke of Montague, from whom it has descended to the present owner.
THE CASTLE AND BARONY OF CLUN, SHROPSHIRE.
THE church, village, and castle of Clun are situated near the centre of a spacious amphitheatre of lofty but fertile hills, the summits and upper slopes of which are covered with young and luxuriant plantations, while in the lower parts are occasionally single trees, chiefly oak, elm, and beech, of vast size and great age, the reliques of an ancient demesne, and still standing out and to be distinguished amidst the denizens of the hedgerows, which, though often of large size, all belong to the period of enclosures and cultivation. Across this rich and smiling land, amidst hamlets, churches, manor-places, farmhouses, and cottages, with frequent orchards and gardens, green pastures and root crops, and waving corn-fields, the river Clun pursues its sinuous course, giving life and fertility to the scene, which, indeed, is throughout imbued with an aspect of peace and—perhaps rather indolent—prosperity.
The ancient forest of Clun covered a large tract of upland, extending, with a radius of about five miles, to the north and west of the seat of the barony. Its border is that of the county of Salop, and runs along the elevated ridge which, from Bishop’s Moat, on the east, to Castell-cefn-fron, on the west, divides that county from Montgomery, and the water-shed of the Clun from that of the Hafren or Upper Severn. From this latter river the ridge is distant about five miles, and the intervening country is mountainous and broken. The natural division is, in part, strengthened by an artificial work, known as Saeson bank, and placed considerably to the west of Offa’s Dyke, which, here very perfect, runs north and south about three miles west of Clun, and thus bisects the forest and the barony. Which of these earthworks is the earlier is doubtful, but probably the Dyke. Connected with the Saeson bank, and at right angles to it, are two short spurs, the age and object of which are not very evident.
The forest was never very thickly wooded in its upper and more exposed parts, but that it was always scantily inhabited is evident from the fact that it contains but one parish church, that of Mainstone, which stands on the very line of the Dyke, about six miles north of Clun, on the edge of a small brook—the Ffridd. From its singular position may be drawn the inference that it is later than the Dyke.
The water-courses of the forest contribute to form four rather considerable streams, which finally unite to become the river Clun, which thence descends eastwards down a deep and rather narrow valley, by Clunton, Clunbury, and Clungunford, to Leintwardine, where, after a course of about twelve miles, it joins the Teme, the river of Ludlow, and of Tenbury.