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Clitheroe; The Alleys

In the civil parish of Clitheroe.
In the historic county of Lancashire.
Modern Authority of Lancashire.
1974 county of Lancashire.
Medieval County of Lancashire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SD744422
Latitude 53.87540° Longitude -2.39014°

Clitheroe; The Alleys has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House, and also as a probable Pele Tower.

There are uncertain remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Outside the borough, on the north side, was the Alleys, thought to have been the manor house of the manor of Salthill (Whitaker 1876, 79). The manor may have comprised the two oxgangs of land granted in 1102 to Ralph the Red, as the Heriz family, who owned the Alleys, held a Clitheroe estate of that size in 1255 (Langshaw 1955, 6). In 1653, the Alleys was sold to the Oddy family, who held it for around 200 years. At the time of the sale, it was described as “that capital mansion house, the yards, orchards and gardens” (LUAU 1996). The house was still extant at the end of the eighteenth century, when it was described as a “strong tower-built house, of which some remains still exist and more are remembered. The whole, with a large inclosure behind, has been surrounded by a large moat” (Whitaker 1876, 79). The moat was infilled in the late eighteenth century (Baines 1825, 610-11), leaving only two small ponds to the rear of the property, which were still extant in 1844 (OS 1848 1:10560). Around the same time, a small chapel adjoining the manor house was demolished, because it was “built in popish times” (Baines 1825, 611). By the early nineteenth century at least part of the manor house had been demolished, and the remains were said to comprise only two cottages, with a portion of the old wall (Baines 1825, 611). This is probably the structure depicted on the Ordnance Survey map of 1848, and marked as an ancient place. It lies to the rear of a plot fronting Pimlico Road, and is similar to the structure shown on a map of 1740 (LRO DDX 1525) and on Lang's map of 1766. The two ponds, surviving elements of the moat, are also shown in 1848, and lie well to the rear of the house. Archaeological evaluations have revealed further sections of the moat closer to the house (LUAU 1996) and towards the front of the plot (Matrix Archaeology 2002). This suggests that the moat was either recut, or there had been a double enclosure. Indeed, the larger moat, represented by the ponds may have been enclosing the rear, large enclosure described by Whitaker (1876, 79). Given the high status of the Alleys in the medieval period, that latter interpretation cannot be discounted. (Lancs. CC, 2006)
Comments

A house of c. 1800 takes the name of the Alleys and stands within the former sweep of the medieval house.
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Sources of information, references and further reading
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
This record last updated 26/07/2017 09:21:28

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