reigns of Elizabeth and James I. 1
In 1603 Charles Blount, Earl of Devonshire, sold to Thomas Parker, Esquire, of Over
Browsholme, " all that messuage, tenement, and one pasture within the Forest of Bowland,
in the county of York, called Kether Brookesholme, which premises were late parcel of
the Duchy of Lancaster." Hereupon the present mansion was erected, or materially
enlarged ;" and the grounds were laid out, in the formal fashion of the times. In front
was a boAvling-green, inclosed by a high wall and iron gates, over which was this inscription
NEMO HANC ENTRAT PORTAM QUI VIOLAT
The house had two wings, and was in the form of a half H. The doorway, surmounted
with pillars of three orders of architecture, is not exactly in the centre, having three
windows 011 one side and two only on the other. The interior space was in one room, called
the Hall, in extent 68 feet long, 23 wide, and 12 high : its roof a fine example of the good
beams and timbers then used for floors and ceilings. There were two large fire-places,
and some plain massy oaken tables, the reliques of old English hospitality. The principal
staircase went out of this hall, and was curiously carved in oak. The west wing contained
the principal drawing-room, 30 feet long by 22 wide and 15 high ; the principal bed-room ;
the staircase ; and. at the top of all, the Chapel. In the east wing were the offices, below ;
on the second floor a room called the Oak Drawing-room, very richly carved in oak
wainscot; 1 and a great many lodging-rooms ; and at top the old library. In the middle
of the last century, Edward Parker, Esq. divided the hall, making one part the Dining-
room, and the other a Library. 4 The former portion (now again the Hall) is wainscoted
with very fine old oak taken from the ancient house of the Kenyons at Parkhead, and
presented to Mr. Lister Parker by James Taylor, Esq. in 1809 ; the chimney-piece bears
the arms of the Towneleys of Hapton Tower, to whom it originally belonged.
1 [The description of Browsholme, following this paragraph, though additional to the former edition, is in the
main from Dr. Whitaker's own pen, derived from the Description of Browsholme, mentioned in the next page.]
Whether the family removed at this or an earlier period from Higher Browsholme, of which the foundations
are now barely discoverable, I do not know.
3 [The Oak Drawing Room was thoroughly restored about the year 1866, under the direction of Mr. Shaw of
Saddleworth. The wainscot is divided into panels by boldly carved mouldings, and is continued to the ceiling, having
an elaborate frieze ornament and enriched cornice. A new arched chimney-piece, wrought in stone, presents on either
side the richly panelled pilasters so frequent in the Elizabethan style. During the progress of the works an unsightly
ceiling was removed. Its length is now broken by a single carved beam. W. A. W.]
[The panelling of the Library is of curious construction, its compartments being framed diagonally, bearing a
close resemblance to the wainscot in the dining room at Towneley Hall. W. A. W.]
I
>
BOOK III. CHAP. IV.] BROWSHOLME. 337
Mr. Lister Parker l commenced his alterations in 1804 ; when he removed the stables
which had been erected directly in front of the house by his grandfather, and levelled the
old bowling-green. In 1805 he rebuilt the west wing, with the same materials, and on
the same space, as to the exterior ; but within with a new drawing-room, measuring 36
feet by 24, and 16 high ; and other apartments. A new dining-room was subsequently
attached to the side of the same wing (as seen in the accompanying view by Buckler). In
1806 the lodge was erected : 2 its archway came from Ingleton, co. York, as also did the
old font ; the arms over the door from Waddington Hall ; the image of a saint from
Whalley Abbey. The approach was then made from Bashall Moor, on the east side of
the house, and a new approach from the west by the garden. The pool of water that had
been commenced in 1803, was finished in 1807, when four acres of Bashall Moor, adjoining
the water, were planted ; and to these were added thirty acres more in the year 1813.
These improvements were carried out under the superintendence of Mr. "Wyatt, afterwards
1 [Mr. Thomas Lister Parker received the early part of his education at the Grammar-school of Clitheroe, as a
pupil of the learned Thomas Wilson, B.D. ; and became (as his father had been) a fellow commoner of Christ college,
Cambridge. Inheriting a large estate on attaining his majority, he enjoyed the advantages of the highest society, and
was honoured with the notice of the Prince of Wales and Duke of Clarence. He was elected F.S.A. in 1801, and soon
after F.R.S. His historical and antiquarian tastes led him at an early period to cultivate an intimate acquaintance with
Mr. Charles Towneley, with Dr. Whitaker, with Dr. Watson the Bishop of Landaff, with his old master Mr. Wilson,
with the Hebers, Currers, and other distinguished and intellectual families in the North of England: whilst, in the
metropolis, he became the friend of West, Turner, Northcote, Konmey, and other artists, to some of whom he was a
generous, and to others a munificent, patron : evincing a sound perception and justness of criticism on works of art,
which made his advice to be often sought. He was guardian to Sir John Leycester, afterwards Lord de Tabley, and
assisted him in selecting his valuable gallery of paintings. The productions of his own pencil in his many port-
folios were careful and elaborate drawings of exquisite landscapes, ancient ruins, fine edifices, and curious specimens
of mediaeval art. He was unfortunately lavish in his expenditure, which brought him into difficulties, and for the
last few years of his life he resided mostly at the Star inn in Deansgate, Manchester, where he died on the 2nd
March, 1858, at the age of 78. Mr. Canon Raines has printed some of Mr. Lister Parker's letters in his Life of Wilson
of Clitheroe, 1858, vol. xlv. Chetham Soc. Series, 4to. See further particulars in the Gentleman's Magazine for April
1858, p. 447. There are two portraits of Mr. Lister Parker by Northcote.
In 1815 Mr. Lister Parker, with the assistance of Dr. Whitaker, printed privately a "Description of Brou-sliolme
Hall, in the West Riding of the County of York; and of the Parish of Waddington, in the same county : also a Collec-
tion of Letters, from original manuscripts, in the reigns of Charles I. and II. and James II. in the possession of Thomas
Lister Parker, Esq. of Browsholme Hall," 4to. pp. 130, of which the original papers occupy 106. It is illustrated
with many etchings, made by Mr. John Chessell Buckler, then a young draughtsman, and afterwards an eminent archi-
tect. The book is described and a list of its numerous engravings given in Upcott's British Topography, p. 1408.]
2 [This entrance lodge displays a combination of architectural fragments of various dates and from various places
both Ecclesiastical and Domestic. The arched gateway is decorated with Elizabethan scrolls and finials, and shields
of arms. On the lintel of the gatehouse door are the initials of Thomas Parker with the date of 1682. Above this is
a finely-carved panel, containing the arms of Parker, with deeply-relieved mantlings, and a scroll with the motto, " NEC
FLUCTU, NEC FLAiu MOVETUR." In the gable is placed a figure of a saint, said to have originally formed part of the
decorations of Whalley Abbey. This can only be accounted for under the relaxed discipline of the Cistercians, for their
early rules strictly forbade the use of sculptured representations of the human form in their conventual buildings. There
are many quaint carvings and other interesting relics built into the walls of this singular structure, and close by is the
bowl of an ancient octagonal font, showing no ornaments sufficient to indicate its date. W. A. WADDINGTON.]
VOL. I. 2 X
338 HISTORY OF WHALLEY. [BOOK III. CHAP. IV.
Sir Jeffry "Wyatville. Mr. Lister Parker sold the estate in the year 1824 to his cousin
Thomas Parker, Esq. who, dying without issue in 1832, devised Browsholme to his nephew
Thomas Goulbourne Parker, Esq. (See the annexed Pedigree).
Here is a good old library, a large miscellaneous collection of ancient coins, and a
valuable assemblage of MSS. relating principally to the antiquities of the neighbourhood,
to which this history is much indebted: these are monuments of the intelligence and
curiosity of the family. Another relic, preserved with religious reverence, attests their
devotion : it is a skull, said to have been employed by a former owner, in the private
exercises of religion, as a monitor of death; and it is polished, by frequent attrition,
to a surface resembling coarse ivory. But the most valuable relic preserved at Brows-
holme is the original seal of the Commonwealth for the approbation of ministers. 1 It
is of very massy silver ; and is inscribed THE SEALE EOR APPROBATION OE
MINISTERS. The device is an open book, inscribed THE WORD OF GOD, surrounded by
two branches of palm. The workmanship is good, but I could scarcely venture to ascribe
it to Simon. e
On a piece of needle-work 3 in the house, but copied probably from an original upon
board, are the following lines :
I TRAY GOD BLESSE THE LIFE OF MASTER
EDMVND PARKER AND HIS WIFE AND ALL
THE CHILDREN THAT WITH HIM WONN
ES FIVE DAVGHTERS AND SEAVEN SONNES.
ANNO DOMINI (Shield of Parker) 1450.
NEC FLVCTV NEC FLATV MOVETVR.
The dining-room is adorned with some of the best works of Northcote. The house
also contains many paintings by the best Flemish masters, besides two fine specimens of
Gainsborough and Wilson. 4
The original head of Velasquez's pupil, by himself, is esteemed one of the best portraits
of that master ever brought to England. Among the portraits is one of a Parker, in the
reign of Charles II. with the insignia of Bowbearer of Bowland, viz. a staff tipped with a
buck's head, in his hand, and a bugle-horn at his girdle. (As engraved in the accompanying
Plate.)
The hall, 40 feet long, is furnished with antiquities : such as the Ribchester inscription
1 See Calamy's Continuation [8vo. 1727], vol. i. p. 462, where there is an engraving of another seal [used in]
1C 59, with the same inscription ; but instead of the palm-branches and open book the latter has a plain cross.
[Dr. Whittiker wrote without due comparison : the seals have not the same inscription, nor were made for the same
purpose, though a correspondent one. The seal published by Calamy was, THE SEALE FOR APPROBATION OF PUBLICK
PREACHERS.]
2 [This seal is now in the possession of F. H. Fawkes, esq. of Farnley, near Otley.]
3 [This needlework is represented in the accompanying Plate. Its date, 1450, was probably an accidental error
for 1540, as shown by the character of the letters, and by the name of Edmund Parker; see the Pedigree.]
4 [A list of the pictures in 1815 will be found in the Description of Browsholme, p. 8. There is now no work
of Gainsborough, but the dining-room contains some portraits by Vandyck.]
JZDW.IRD
SQ^ "/ tne. -f.>(>.ttninf r> t
of Bowlsmcl Ci/r.
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BOOK III. CHAP. IV.] BROWSHOLME. 339
of the xxth legion, 1 celts, fibulEe, different pieces of armour, and particularly a small spur 2
found in the apartment called King Henry the Sixth's at "Waddington Hall. Among the
rest is a complete suit of buff, worn by the head of the family a sufferer for his loyalty
in the great rebellion. The papers of the family contain many curious and original docu
ments of those times. The staircase-window is rich in painted glass. The only vestige of
the forest laws yet preserved here (and that too now become useless) is the stirrup through
which every dog, excepting those belonging to the lords, must be able to pass. (Also
engraved in the Plate.)
That the office of Bowbearer was held by the family as early as 1591 appears from the
first of the following warrants, which are now remaining among their papers :
After my hartie comendacons. These slialbe to will and require you to delyver, or cause to bo delyved,
to my verie good Lord, "Will'm busliop of Chester, 3 or to y bearer hereof in his name, my fee stagge of
this season to be had w t!l in her Maj tles forrest of Bowland ; and this my Ire shal be your sufficient warr* and
discharge.
Great Bartholomew es, this A'xvjth of June. ANT' MILDMAYE.
To y e M r of her Ma ties game within the forrest of Bowland ; and to his Deputie or Deputes there.
By the Kinge.
Trusty and Welbeloved, Wee greete yow well : willinge and comandinge yow that ye imediately upon
the seight hereof doe deliver or cause to be delivered unto y e bearer hereof one fatt bucke of this season
towards the better furnishinge of our dyet for our President and Councell in the North : And this shalbe yo r
sufficient Warrant in that behalf. Given under our Signet at our Citty of York the eight day of Julie the
ninth yeare of our reigne [1611].
And by his Councell.
(Signed) FR. BOYNTON.
CH. HALES. W. ELLIS.
W. GEE.
To the Maister of our Game, Bowbearer, keeper, and all other our officers and their deputic or
deputies within y e Forrest of Bolland, and to every of them.
To show the state of this country during the civil wars, I select two letters of pro-
tection ; one from a notorious sequestrator, the other from a gallant royalist.
For the Col 3 and Lieu* Col s within Craven these.
Noble Gentlemen, I could desire to move you in the behalfe of Mr. Edward Parker, of Broosome, that
you would be pleased to take notice of his house, and give order to the officers and souldiers of your
regiments, that they plunder not, nor violently take away, any his goods, without your privities ; for truly
the proness of souldiers sometimes to comit some insolencies w*out comand from their supiors is the cause
of my writing at this time ; hoping hereby, through your care, to preuent a future evill, in all thankfullness
I shall acknowledge (besides the great obligation you putt on Mr. Parker) myselfe to bee
Your much obliged, Kic. SHUTTLEWORTHE.
Gawthrop, 13 February 1644.
1 [Engraved in the Plate, and before described in p. 30. It is now in the British Museum.]
* [The spur attributed to King Henry the Sixth has been stolen.]
3 Chadderton. The fee-stag was due to Sir Anthony Mildmay as Chancellor of the Duchy.
2x2
340
HISTORY OF WHALLEY.
[BOOK III. CHAP. IV.
These are to intreat all officers and souldiers of the Scottish armie, and to require all officers and
souldiers of the English armie under ray comaund, that they forbeare to take or trouble the pson of
Edward Parker, of Brousholme, esquire, or to plunder his goods, or anie other hurt or damage to doe unto
him in his estate.
This 8th day of August, anno Dom. 1648. THO. TYLDESLEY.
This was only ten days before the battle of Preston.
The following specimen of old local poetry has been lately discovered among the papers
at Browsholme. It is given with some abridgments and corrections.
A BALADE OF MARYAGE.
In yonder wode there is a dene,
Wlicr I mysulfe was late reposyng,
Wher blossomes in ther prime have bene,
And flowers faire ther colors losyng;
A love of myne I chaunced to meete,
Well caussid me too longe to tarye,
And then of hym I did entrete,
To tell me when he thought to marye.
If thou wilt not my secrete tel,
Ne bruite abrode in Whalley parish,
And swere to kepe my counsel wel,
I will declare mye daye of marriage.
When buck and harte in Hoder lies,
And graylings on the fells are bredyng;
When muscles grow on everie tree,
And swannes on everie rock are fedyng ;
When mountains are by men removyd,
And Kibble back to Horton caryed,
Or Pendle hill grows silk above;
Then, etc.
When moore or mosse doe saffron yelde,
And becke and sike ren downe with honie;
When sugar growes in every fielde,
And clerkes wyl take no bribe of monie ;
When men in Bowlande dyeth here
And at Jerusalem bee buryed ;
Or when the Suune dothe ryse at noone;
Then, etc.
When Seiner's heate wyl drie noe myre,
And Wynter's rain noe longer patter;
When leade wyl melt withouten fyre,
And beare brades * doe nede noe water ;
When Downham stones - with diamond ringes,
And cockles be with perles compared ;
When golde is made of gray-goose winges ;
Then wyl mie love and I bee maryed.
Now farewel, frende, yf it bee soe,
And thys thy once expected wedyng;
For neither I, nor none of my kinn,
Wyl ev'r nede to loke for bidyng.
I swere and vow, yf this bee trowe,
And thou of such an evyl carryage,
If I shoulde lyve ten thousande yere,
I'd never more expecte thie maryage.
1 Bear, that is, coarse barley, or bigg as it is sometimes called, is said, in old English and modern Scottish, to be
brair'd or brade, when its leaves first shoot above the ground. Bain is, of course, indispensable to the brair'd of bear
and all other grain. (This explanation of the line in the text, not at first understood by Dr. Whitaker, was supplied to
him by WALTER SCOTT, and printed in the Addenda to the last Edition, p. *523.)
* At Downham is found a species of crystals, usually called Dmcnham diamonds, which in lustre equal Bristol
stones.
PARKER OF BROWSHOLME.
.-trills : Vert, a chevron between three stag's licads caboshed or.
.Blotto : NEC FLUCTU NEC FI.ATU MOVF.TUII.
Extract from a letter of Chief Justice Sir Thomas Parker to Ralph Thoresbi/, of Leeds,
22nd Nov. 1711.
" The family of the Parkers which you are bestowing your labor upon is not allyed to mine in
the manner you suppose, but yet with more tyes than one. I thiuk you mention Briclgett [really
Elizabeth] a daughter of that family to have been marryed to James Carryer of llclpston, and to have
had a daughter whom you suppose to have been my mother. That daughter was marryed to my
father's eldest brother, and by liirn had issue one son, George, who lives now at Park-Hall iu Stafford-
shire, a very sober religious man, and one of the best Justices of the Peace in England, and serves
his Queen and Country with great application iu that office. I believe yon said another sister
Jeanett marryed to another Carryer. I think his name was Robert. [It was Richard : see the
Pedigree.] He was brother of James. That Jeanett had issue by him Robert Carryer, who was
father of my wife, and left issue no son, and only two daughters, besides my wife, who is named after
her Grandmother.
" * * * Pray give my service to Mr. Parker [of Browsholme], and tell him that I
am very proud of my relation to his family, which has furnished me with two so very near to me, the
one the best and faithfnllest friend and the other the best wife in the world." (Description of
Browsholme Hall, #c. 4tn. 1815. Page 32.)
PARKER, OF BROWSHOLME.
Robert Parker, of Browsliolme, in the Forest of Holland, co. York.
. . Redmayne, a younger son of Redmayne.y Elizabeth, dau. and heir of
of Thornton, in Ewcross, co. Lancaster. | Robert Parker.
King Edward the First, died 3rd July, 1307.
r=
Humphry de Bohun, Earl of=pElizabeth, dau. of King Ed
Hereford and Essex.
I
KOBHUra 1 aricer, 01 orowsnoime aioresaia,
younger son of Parker, of Horrockford, a 19
-jei
inei, aau. an
mayne and
(i neir 01
Elizabeth
.. .. Keu-
Parker.
Hen. VIII. (152S).
Jenet, wife of Thomas
Robert Parker,= Elizabeth,
dau. of Edmund Chad-
1
Elizabeth, wife of Leonard )
Sherborne, of Rible-
of Browsholme,
derton, o
f Nuthurst,
and sister
of
of Goosnargh, co. Lane
ton, co. Lane. esq.
esq. 1591.
William
Chaderton,
Bishop
of
(See Fishwick's History of
Lincoln,
who died in
1608.
nargh. 1871, p. 185.)
ward.
William de Bohun, Earl of=j=EHzabeth, sister and coheir of
Northampton. | Giles Lord Badlesmere.
Richard Earl of Arundel and=pElizabeth. dau. of William
Surrey, ob. 21 Ric. II. Earl of Northampton.
Sir Robert Goushill, knt.=f-Elizabeth, eldest dau. of
| Richard Earl of Arundel.
-- ,
Thomas Stanley, Lord Stan-=j=Joan, eldest dau. of Sir
ley.ComptrolleroftheHouse- j Robert Goushill.
hold, ob. 37 Hen. VI.
Sir John Savage, of Clifton,=pKatherine, dau. of Thomas
knt. Lord Stanley.
1 1
Thomas Leigh, of Adlington.^Katherine, dau. of Sir John
co. of Chester, esq. Savage.
1 1
William Hulton, of the Park, =pElizabeth, dau. of Thomas
co. Lane. esq. ob. 155<>. | Leigh, of Adlington, esq.
Adam Hulton, of the Park^Clemence, 5th dau. of Sir
esq. ol. a 15 Kliz.
Edmund Parker, eldest
son, died unmarried;
drowned at Cambridge.
Thomas Parker, of Browsholme afore- Bridget, dau. and coheir of James Tempest, <
said, esq. Bowbearer of the forest of
Bolland, in the duchy of Lancaster.
in Craven, son of Leonard, 3d son of Rogerl
of Broughton ; died 4 Oct. 1610.-
Ro-
bert Park- Browsholme, esq.
Park- er, 2d eldest surviving son
er, eld- son, and heir, born 3d
estson, born Aug. 1602; died
born 6Feb. 1667. Hiswilldated
26 1598; 5 June and proved
Sept. died 7 Sept. in that year;
James Edward Parker, of Mary, dau. of Richard Sun- Roger Richard William= Nicholas
derland, of High Sunder- Parker, Parker, Parker, dau. Parker,
land, co. York, esq. by M.A. 5th son, M.A. of of
Mary his wife, 6th dau. of 4th born rector of Wirks- J
Sir Richard Saltonstall, son, 28 Jan. Tetford, worth, ;
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