Tockholes-cum-Livesey

TOCKHOLES-CUM-LIVESEY HISTORY

Judith Jacklin is a long time member of the LHS, living in Tockholes, Lancashire. She is
an authority on local history and a superb guide to Livesey history sites in the area. She
has hosted LHS tours to the area. At our annual meeting in Lancaster, PA, she gave a
presentation at our annual Banquet.
Tockholes was once administered with Livesey. Livesey has become an urban part of
Blackburn. Tockholes, adjacent to Livesey township, is still rural, agricultural, and the
ancient village character and charm remains.

The book reviewed below was recently [2003] published in Lancashire.
This is a private publication and not sponsored or controlled by the LHS. See details
below.

TOCKHOLES AND LIVESEY
14 JULY 1668

TOCKHOLES – A Time Warp
A book on the history of Tockholes Village by Judith Jacklin and Lynda Robinson.

Judith and Lyn have lived in Tockholes for 30 and 39 years respectively and have brought together a
unique collection of material to record the history of Tockholes.
The book collates and preserves a permanent record of documents from many sources and the articles,
maps, news reports, posters, and old & new photographs bring life to the passage of time in this
moorland village, and illustrate the changes which have taken place, especially over the last 150. It
covers the history of the Church and Chapels, the Schools, the Employment situation, Roads and
Transport, Hollinshead Hall, Legends and Curiosities and a brief history of all the buildings.

Tockholes has a raw beauty and the unspoilt moors continue to exert a strong pulling power as
thousands of people come every year to walk round the area. It is a village of grand Elizabethan
farmhouses and Victorian properties, often tucked away in the most surprising places, with many hidden
architectural gems. Once associated with the township of Livesey and known as Tockholes-cum-Livesey,
outwardly, the area has changed little over the last 200 years, unlike the old village of Livesey, which is
now a suburb of Blackburn Town. Were some of the early Livesey immigrants able to walk round
Tockholes today no doubt they would still recognise many of the Elizabethan farmhouses, narrow roads,
farm tracks and dozens of footpaths that criss-cross the area, but how they would marvel at the ‘unseen’
advantages of modern living now accepted as the norm such as piped water, sewage disposal, electricity,
central heating, kitchens, bathrooms and modern transport and better roads.

The book contains over 280 photographs, more than half of which are in colour, and has 180 A4 pages.
The cost is £18.50 Please contact Neal at 11 Winthrop Road, West Hartford, CT 06110, or e-mail <n.
testerman@comcast.net> for more information.

Below is an excerpt from the book reviewed above. Note: this was
requested to supplement the "Lancashire Land of Livesey of Livesey"
religion section. Thank you Judith, from N.Testerman

TOCKHOLES CHAPEL (From Time Warp.........)
following year when Parliament invited the exiled Charles II to return to England as King. The religious
situation at this time was very delicate. The Corporation Act of 1661 prohibited any non-conformist from
holding office in any city or municipal corporation and was an attack mainly on the Presbyterians
because they were seeking to modify the Episcopal Church Government. The Bishops and the King out-
manoeuvred the Presbyterians by getting this Act through Parliament and many non-conformist
influential laymen were adversely affected.

In 1662 the publication of a new prayer book and the Act of Uniformity meant that any dissenting
ministers not previously episcopally ordained must be re-ordained and must also declare their "unfeigned
assent and consent" to the new reformed book of common prayer. It also demanded canonical
obedience to bishops on oath and renunciation of the "solemn league and covenant". This was an oath
drawn up by Parliament in 1643 imposed on all Englishmen over 18, declaring they would enter into 'a
mutual and solemn league and covenant' for the destruction of popery, prelacy, superstition, heresy etc.
and also declare their intention 'to preserve the rights and privileges of the parliaments and the liberties
of the kingdoms' though without any wish 'to diminish his majesty's just power and greatness'.

The immediate consequence of the Act of Uniformity was to deprive nearly 2,000 ministers of their
churches and academic posts. These 'Non-conformists' would accept neither the book of common
prayer nor re-ordination because they conscientiously believed that the prayer book was not warranted
by scripture. It implied the invalidity of their existing ordination and cast doubts on the nature of their
ministry. It obliged them to kneel when receiving the sacrament; read lessons from the Apocrypha
(books not recognised as canonical or authoritative scriptures); to use the sign of the cross in baptism
and it prescribed god-parents to the exclusion of the child's own parents. The Act also affected school-
masters, professors, university teachers and civil servants and caused terrible hardship and privation to
such men and their families. This is the date which was considered as the break-away date from the
established church and the one which is now noted on the Chapel Notice Board as being the date Non-
Conformity was established in Tockholes.

Two further acts were passed putting even more pressure on the nonconformists; the Conventicle Act of
1664 which made it illegal for anyone over 16 to attend any assembly, conventicle, or meeting for
religious purposes other than according to the Church of England; and the Five Mile Act of 1666 which
forbade any nonconformist minister to live or visit within 5 miles of any place in which he had previously
worked. All these acts did much to divide England permanently into conformists and nonconformists and
from then onwards a clear line was drawn between those who accepted the teachings and disciplines of
the established church and those who were determined to preserve their independence.

Undeterred by such hardships and persecution, and the threat of fines and imprisonment, the
Independents still met for worship, led by ejected ministers, in woods and secluded retreats in the hills
and moors. After the Conventicle Act of 1664 came into force it is understood that the people of
Tockholes and Rivington frequently assembled to worship God according to the dictates of their
consciences, in the open air, at a place called Winter Hill. Seats were cut out of the side of the hill, so as
to form an amphitheatre, in the centre of which was a stone pulpit. Tockholes was a stronghold of
independency, probably because of its isolation and therefore the lack of either too much pressure from
one side, or too much influence from the bishops on the other side; and also to the devotion of its
ministers. Its strength can be seen from the fact that it became the 'mecca' of non-conformity over a wide
area - from Hoghton, Witton, Livesey, Withnell, Whittle-le-woods, Bolton and Blackburn.

However, in 1672 Charles II issued a 'Declaration of Indulgence' asserting his right to cancel all penal
legislation against both Protestants and Catholics and as a result licenses to preach were immediately
taken out, amongst them, one to 'license John Harvie to be a Presbyterian teacher in a meeting-house in
Tockley (Tockholes) erected for that purpose in the Parish of Blackburn, Lancaster' 1st May 1672. And
so the story of non-conformity in Tockholes began officially. Nothing is known regarding the first meeting
house and it was probably only a temporary structure. The terms of the license, however, appear to
suggest that a separate, purpose-built meeting-house was set up, even though most of the meeting-
houses licensed at
that time were private houses or barns and as the Act was passed on the 15th March 1672 and the
License was taken out on the 8th of May the same year, it would imply that a building already in existence
was used as a Chapel.

Prior to 1662, St. Michael's Chapel of Ease had a number of non-conformist ministers and also several
non-conformist trustees. As late as 1704 Bishop Gastrell wrote that money was in the hands of the
Presbyterian Trustees, who gave no account of the Benefactors but paid the Curate punctually. He also
referred to ‘a School-house lately erected in Tockholes’ administered by the same Trustees (along with
others), but that sometime after the revolution of 1688, these trustees appear to have obtained the use
of the Chapel for themselves and other dissenters on alternate Sundays, although tradition says one half
day each Sunday and Church of England the other half day. So what had happened to the ‘meeting-
house’ of 1672 and where was the ‘school house’? Whichever arrangement existed between Church and
Chapel folk, it appears that relations between the two parties were very friendly. However, these
arrangements were very shocking to the Bishop of Chester and he commanded that they be
discontinued. The Non-conformists were therefore compelled to provide their own accommodation and
as a result a chapel was erected in 1710 on the site of the present Chapel.