William Mercer of Cowden, Great Harwood, was buried on the 10th October 1613.
His will stipulated that he wished to be buried " within the Chapell of Harwood as near to Elizabeth my wife as can be convenient."'
Elizabeth herself had been buried a mere eleven days before William on the 29th September, 1613
the day on which William made his will. We may never know why William and Elizabeth died within days of each other - the parish register doesn't show a particular rise in burials for that year which could point to an outbreak of disease - but certainly William did feel it prudent to settle his affairs on the sad day that his wife was buried.
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Part of the map of 1603 showing "Harwood More" at the top (west), "Harwood Church" to the left (south), [water] "of Calder" as a wiggly line running across the middle with "severall lande in Harwood" above and "severall lande in Whaly" below, "Portfield" at the bottom (east) and "Whawly" to the right (north). |
Cowden is situated in a particularly pleasant position near the Bowley area and to the east of Dean Lane. Hidden from view by a rise in the land it has a secluded and private location. The farm, variously spelt as Cowden, Coulden, and Couden in wills and inventories, is probably one of the oldest in Great Harwood - the pattern of the fields (irregular and radiating from the farm in the centre) suggesting a farm of some antiquity.
A plan exists of the town made in 1603
and this shows that the land below Bowley and to the Calder was 'held in severalty' - for the use of one person rather than held in common. The farm seems to have had about 60 statutory acres from at least the early eighteenth century (with some reduction, however, in the mid 19 th century) until 1980 when land was purchased from nearby Squires Farm and is now 90 acres.
 Removed during renovations the datestone is incorporated in the wall of the farmhouse. |
There have been many alterations to the house over the years but it would appear to have been a single pile longhouse with an outshot added to the north wall at some later date. There is a large ingle nook fireplace in what was probably the hall.  Around 1990 a porch was removed and a datestone found with the inscription ' William and Phoebe Mercer 1727 '. This could mean either that the house now standing was built in 1727 totally replacing an earlier structure or that substantial renovations had taken place. Photographs taken at the time of the alterations show large crucks in situ and after removal. Building with crucks may have continued in Lancashire until about 1725 but descriptions of the house gleaned from the inventories suggest a much earlier date. The layout of the house and the site of the hearth suggests that the Hearth Tax of 1666 showing only one hearth was correct and not an indication of avoidance which may also point to an early construction date. There is also a large barn, showing signs of external alteration, standing near to the farm house that was built no later than 1709, a beam in the barn bearing the inscription 'John Mercer 1709'. |
Farms that share, or would previously have shared a border with Cowden are Bowley, Dean, (now Bowley Scout Camp) Tan House, (now separated from Cowden by private housing) Egg Syke and Squires. Cowden, however, has the distinction of having the earliest mention in the parish register.
It also has the distinction that many of the wills made by the inhabitants of the farm have survived. William's will of 1613 and the inventory of his goods are possibly the earliest that can be linked to an actual place in Great Harwood. He called himself a yeoman, a title often accorded to those who owned land, but although no leases relating to Cowden have been found the will of his great-grandson, John,
states that the land was held from the Hesketh family who were lords of two thirds of Great Harwood including most of the Upper Town where Cowden is situated. It is probable that the status he gave himself comes from his relative wealth and standing within the community. It seems his peers accorded him even greater status than he did himself for although the introduction by the appraisers to his inventory gives his status as yeoman within the inventory he is named as Mr. William Mercer, a title usually reserved for gentlemen.
The inventory of William's goods and chattels gave them a value of £256 2s 2d. The largest proportion of this was in farming stock - livestock accounting for £79 of which cattle formed the largest part at £58 and comprised two yoke of oxen, one steer, nine kine, one twinter
and one stirk.
He also had sheep valued at £9 15s and horses, pigs, poultry and bees. Corn and hay were valued at £34: the inventory was made not long after harvest therefore the barns would be full and the presence of "sacks and winnowing cloths" indicate that this was grown at Cowden or nearby. Debts owed to William came to £66 9s, the largest of these was £30 owed by John Mercer, probably his son, and Roger Fielden who owed £10 was his brother-in-law. Other debts owed by neighbours and local people vary between £5 and 2 shillings but with no indication of why the debts were incurred. William's household goods show that his family enjoyed a degree of comfort. The total for all household items was £48 12s 3d. Beds and bedding account for £18 13s 3d of this, but no other items of obvious luxury are listed. His clothing is worth £2, which is not excessive, but in silver spoons, gold and money he has £13 17s 8d. The gold he left to specified family members.
Significantly, for the time and place where woollen cloth production was an important part of the economy, with many families, although primarily engaged in agriculture, also producing cloth, there are no looms listed in the inventory. However, textiles do appear in the inventory; the largest part of this is wool worth £11 4s. Linen, canvas yarn and flax are also listed. Textile implements listed are spinning wheels, cards and a heicle.
Mary Brigg, in her work 'The Forest of Pendle' analysed 123 inventories which reflect a variety of circumstances and comparison with her findings has allowed some conclusions to be made about the prosperity of Cowden and the social status of its inhabitants. She found that in the Forest of Pendle more than twice as many testators gave their status as 'yeoman' in their wills than 'husbandman' - the reason, she believed, being the favourable tenancy conditions prevailing since disafforestation in 1507.
However, by far the largest proportion of these people had valuations of less than £100 with only 38 of the 123 testators having more than this. As a comparison Brigg uses inventories from Essex and found that the division of wealth was greater in Essex with more testators at the top of the scale and the bottom.
The value of William Mercer's inventory compares favourably with both Pendle and Essex testators with his goods being valued at £256; in Pendle only nine of 123 inventories examined had a value of over £200, while in Essex thirty-six of 187 were valued at over £200.
Louie Pollard in 'Great Harwood Gleanings' examined several inventories for Great Harwood for the years around 1580 and she states that very few Great Harwood farms had many sheep and almost all wool was bought at market, probably from Ribble Valley sources.
Joan Thirsk, however, states that half the farms in the 'mixed farming lowlands', of which Great Harwood was a part, had flocks of sheep.
Mary Brigg quoted W. Harwood Long's article 'Regional Farming in seventeenth-century Yorkshire' as finding that the average value of sheep kept on the farms of the West Riding was £5, and she found that the average value for the Forest of Pendle was £2 6s.
William Mercer of Cowden, however, had 39 sheep valued at £9 15s which, in view of the above quoted figures, seems a surprising amount and suggests that wool production was taking place in areas of Great Harwood to an extent before unsuspected. Comparison of the inventory of William with that of Thomas Mercer (no known relationship) taken twelve years later in 1625 and who had goods valued at a similar amount to William shows subtle differences between the economic activities of the two farms. Both inventories were made at the same time of year, 30th of October and 3rd of November, and in terms of produce stored, either for family use or for sale, amounts could be expected to be similar.
William Mercer of Cowden had wool worth £11 4s while Thomas Mercer had only £2 in wool although he possessed almost twice as many sheep. Thomas Mercer possessed a variety of tools for yarn and cloth production and for finishing cloth and although they account for a small percentage of the total value they are an indication of the scale of cloth production. William Mercer however, had very few textile implements.
 Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland. |
William Mercer would appear to have practised mixed farming with cattle heavily represented but also a good stock of corn. Although Joan Thirsk stated that half the farms in the mixed farming lowlands kept flocks of sheep the number of sheep compared with average figures for the Forest of Pendle and for the West Riding of Yorkshire show that there must have been a profit to be made from the sale of wool produced in Lancashire. William Mercer had wool valued at £11 4s, while later in the century John Cunliffe, who called himself 'clothier' had 10 stones and a half of wool valued at £6 8s 3d. In his will William Mercer named his children, John, Christopher, Edward, Grace and Jennet. Of these, the eldest, John, born at Cowden in 1591, inherited the tenancy of the farm. It is comparatively easy to trace John and his family in the parish registers; they are often identified by their residence. Although no record of John Mercer's marriage has been found his wife Margery is named in his will and he must have married at least a short time before 1618 when the birth of his first child, William, is recorded. |
John died in 1669 and the inventory of his goods compiled on the 25th of September that year is particularly useful and interesting in that it lists goods at Cowden room by room. These rooms were: the lower chamber, the upper chamber, the loft, the milkhouse, the fire house, and the buttery. The total value of his goods was £140 5s, substantially less than that of his father, but the value still compares favourably with the Pendle Forest and Essex inventories where the majority of inventories had values of less than £100. The ratio of farming, textile and household and personal goods is also quite different to that of his father, with most of his worth being invested in agriculture (of which £84 was in cattle) and household goods worth about £14 compared with the £49 11s 4d owned by his father. John possessed almost exactly the same number of sheep as his father, 38, valued at £8 10s, but the amount of wool was only £2. Textile tools do not appear on the inventory, with possible exception of 'weights and scales'. This implies that the only involvement in textiles at Cowden at this time was in wool production and possibly selling that wool. Life at Cowden would seem to be less luxurious than earlier in the century; all of the items listed are functional in character, but of the seven beds listed two are feather beds.
A tax was levied in 1660 by Charles II and a list of the taxpayers has survived for Great Harwood which shows that of the 213 people paying the tax in Great Harwood the wealthiest was Edmund Cockshott assessed at a value of £80 per year. Three other men are assessed at £40, £15 and £13 6s 8d, and John Mercer is assessed at £7 10s, making him the fifth wealthiest man in the town at the time.
Hearth Tax returns are often used as an indicator of wealth within a community and a Hearth Tax was levied in 1666; the individual with the most hearths was Edmund Cockshott who had seven, but John Mercer is listed with only one. Although the Hearth Tax records are useful to give an overview of the overall prosperity of a town, in this case the one hearth of John Mercer would not seem to indicate poverty but either frugality or an older dwelling.
It would seem that there was a decline in the fortunes of the family at Cowden between the years 1613 and 1669 when John Mercer was the tenant. His total worth at £140 5s is considerably less than that of his father and the proportion of household goods listed is only £14 compared to his father's £49 11s 4d. In the years around 1620 the prosperity of the livestock industry declined.
The reasons were poor harvests at that time which caused distress to many livestock farmers, and reports made to the government at the time from the north told of great distress among farmers caused by crop failure and falling stock prices.
This caused a trade depression with long-term results. "Bad harvest, plague outbreaks, poverty and unemployment were among the dominant characteristics of this and the two subsequent decades."
This accords with the findings of C.D. Rogers in his study 'The Lancashire Population Crisis of 1623', who concludes that the root cause of the crisis was famine. Using parish registers as a principal source he found that although deaths may have been caused by disease it was famine caused by a series of bad harvests in the years preceding 1623 that made the population susceptible to those diseases.
The parish register of Great Harwood gives few clues as to how the town was affected for the crucial years of 1623 and 1624 as there are almost no baptisms, marriages or burials recorded. In the adjacent parish of Altham the parish register, however, shows that marriages and baptisms took place but that deaths rose dramatically during 1623.
The difficulties experienced in the north of England would be also felt in Great Harwood and this may be one of many reasons why John Mercer did not possess a similar wealth to his father. John had, however, considerably more cattle than his father, £84 compared to £58, and it may be that John was reacting to a changing market and economy. Whatever the decline in the family fortunes, John still held on to his status and his family made sure it was celebrated with a fine funeral. His inventory lists debts owed for funeral expenses including £1 18s 7d to Henrie Fielden and 9s to John Taylor, both listed as licensed alehouse keeper s in 1664.
Richard Alston provided wheat at 13s 3d and the 'penie dole' came to £1 19s.
Altogether those and other funeral expenses totalled £8 5s 5d.
The irregular recording in the parish register of Great Harwood during the years of the Civil War means that the family at Cowden is more difficult to trace from this point, but it would seem that John Mercer's son William continued to farm there after his father's death. At some point the lease of the adjacent Squires Farm was acquired and Elizabeth, Alice, Thomas and Edward Mercer, children of John are all recorded as being ‘of Squires' at the time of their deaths between the years 1691 and 1726. The parentage of John Mercer of Cowden who died in 1704 is problematic. No record has been found for his birth and the lack of a will for his probable father, William Mercer, makes if difficult to be absolutely certain of his parentage. However, in his will made in 1703 John Mercer states that the lease for Cowden dates from 1685 which was during the lifetime of William Mercer and if the terms were for 'lives' then John, as William's son, would be admitted automatically on payment of a fine. |
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Dean Lane with view to Pendle Hill John Mercer's inventory seems to show that, having a value of £38 5s 8d, the wealth of the main line of this family had declined steadily since the death of his great-grandfather in 1613. John, however, styled himself yeoman in his will, although the appraisers of his inventory did not do so. John states that he is "seized of and in one Messuage and Tenement comonly called Cowden nock in my owne possession contayneing about twenty eight acres".
Although the value of the inventory is only £38 5s 8d John instructed William to pay £20 each to daughter Ann and his son John, stipulations that may have repercussions for his son William. He also left his son John "one paire of looms". The looms are not mentioned in the inventory, therefore it seems possible that all the goods at Cowden are not listed and perhaps not all the money; no debts either owed by or to John are mentioned. This may mean that the true worth of John isn't evident from this inventory. The total value for agriculture was given as £28 10s and with only twelve sheep listed. Although agricultural tools are listed no textile implements appear despite looms being left to his son John. It might be that John had already transferred some of his goods to his family before his death or that this reflects the true value of the farm at this time.
If that is true then a considerable change had taken place since 1669 and this change could be related to the decline in population since 1651,
and also the increasing use of cotton rather than wool. Walton states that the "cotton using fustian manufacture spread outwards from its original Bolton base in the later seventeenth century, predominating as far north as Blackburn" and "the use of cotton grew steadily more prevalent during the first half of the eighteenth century and pure cotton cloths were increasingly in evidence by the 1750s".
Both of these factors would affect a farm principally engaged in cattle and sheep for meat and dairy provision to the local community and wool production for weaving.
In his will John Mercer stipulated that his eldest child, William, was to have Cowden in full after the death of Margaret his wife.
Both William's marriage to Phoebe Walmsley in 1707
and the baptism of Alice his daughter in 1711
are recorded as at Cowden in the parish register. At this point the documentary evidence for Cowden becomes scarce. The only indication that William Mercer and his wife Phoebe were living in some degree of comfort is the datestone found at Cowden in the 1990s above what would have been, in 1729, the main door. This date appears to have no significance as an anniversary; William and Phoebe married in 1707 and Alice was born in 1711 therefore this suggests either a complete rebuild of the farm or major refurbishments. The datestone itself, in relief, indicates a high price object.
Changes were taking place at Cowden and the immediate area in the years of William Mercer's tenancy. The population of England began to rise in the early eighteenth century
and although this was slow at first it would have created a pressure on land which often led to sub-letting, encroachments on the waste and the building of cottages on small parcels of land bordering the roads. Evidence that this was happening in Great Harwood is found in the parish register. The Upper Town of Great Harwood had several farms of some age, whose names were well-known and documented including Cowden, Riley Hey, White Carr and Tan House. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries new place names begin to appear in the parish register. Cameron states that many place name originated during the time of enclosure
and it would seem that the enclosure process was taking place in Great Harwood long before the enclosure map was produced in 1762.
Names for the newer settlements would not be fixed as firmly and in the early eighteenth century several versions are used for names in the Bowley and Cowden area.
The residence of John Smalley was given, in 1706 as Couley and in 1709 as Bowlee. James Bertwistle is recorded variously as at Deans, Couley, Coulden and Coudin between 1724 and 1736. Similarly, Francis Clayton was recorded as at Couley and Bouley between the years 1723 and 1729.
That none of these men were tenants of Cowden is clear, William Mercer was the tenant until his death in 1752. It seems likely that they would have inhabited small cottages on the periphery of Cowden land either as crofters or sub-tenants. Mike Rothwell identified several sites for handloom weaving in his study of the industrial archaeology of Great Harwood and although the houses identified as such at Bowley and Dean date from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries
the evidence that weaving had long been taking place there is clear from numerous entries in the parish registers.
"severall lande in Harwood and Whaly"
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It seems that when the population began to rise William was able to achieve a degree of prosperity. The lack of documentation for William does not allow for firm conclusions to be drawn but his ability to undertake either rebuilding or renovation of the farmhouse shows a degree of confidence in the economy. However, the most significant rise in population did not begin until after 1730 |
James Hoyle was in possession of Cowden, Tottleworth Lee in Rishton and a cottage in the Lower Town of Great Harwood when he made his will in 1767.
Tottleworth Lee would appear to be the first farm leased by James Hoyle. The farm, now known as Lee Farm, would formerly have been an isolated farm on the border of Rishton and Great Harwood and as the church at Great Harwood was the church used by many of the inhabitants of Rishton the absence of any mention of James Hoyle and his family in the parish registers of the church before 1752, when the lease for Cowden was acquired, seems to show that the family had arrived in Great Harwood shortly before this. The Lomax family of Clayton Hall bought land in Great Harwood from the Nowell family in 1773
and from the Heskeths in 1819,
so becoming the owners of most of the town. From about the time of the first purchase of land in 1773 a lease register was maintained by the Lomax Estate and with not many surviving leases is a good source for the names of tenants in Great Harwood. The tenancy of the Hoyle family at Cowden is recorded as follows:
Cowden 1752 - James Hoyle for the lives of |
The register also lists:
| Quaker Intack - James Hoyle Tenant at will. |
The evidence that Cowden continued to be agricultural after 1752 comes from the parish register, the will of James Hoyle 1767 and his son James 1818. The parish register records the baptism and burial of family members and from 1766 these are usually shown as at Cowden or Higher Cowden.
Although the inventory for James has survived, it would seem that at the time of his death he was living at his cottage in the Lower Town of Great Harwood and that the inventory relates to this cottage. Only three rooms are mentioned: the house, the shop and the parlour. His goods in this cottage amount to only £14 16s 6d, which includes £7 in "Purse and apparell'" but "Bill, Bonds and desperate Debts" amounted to £105.
It is probable that this inventory is not a true picture of James' wealth because his will also states that he wishes his three daughters to have £2 each yearly from the remaining value of Tottleworth Lee, which he left to his son John, and £4 each from Cowden, which he left to son James. Cowden is referred to, in his will, as Higher Coulden and the parlour at Cowden is mentioned particularly as being his property and given to his son James "I having Assigned the other parts before to him". Therefore his son James was probably in possession of Cowden sometime before 1767 and was the tenant at Cowden until 1820, the year of his death, confirmed both by the parish register and the lease register of the Lomax estate.
The second James Hoyle of Cowden married twice and produced a family of fourteen children, twelve of whom survived him and who are mentioned in his will dated 1818. Despite this large family it would seem that Cowden was well able to support them all and at his death, although no inventory survives, the executors of the will made an oath that the personal estate and effects were "under £1,000." 'James instructed his executors, after selling all his goods and dividing those proceeds between his children, to place £300 out at interest and pay the profits to his wife Betty Hoyle. The remainder he left to sons John and Joshuah.
No items of industry or farming are mentioned in the will, but James Hoyle's assertion that he was a "farmer" and parish register entries giving his occupation as farmer, which was unusual in Great Harwood at that time, shows that he was solely concerned with agriculture as a source of income.
Being unable to obtain suitable inventories might have meant that it was difficult to reach any conclusions about the relative status of the Hoyle family and the economic standing of Cowden during their tenure. However, some evidence is available from the Window Tax made in 1762 and the Land Taxes for 1782 and 1800. The Window Tax of 1762 lists James Hoyle with 7 lights; this is the number give for the majority on the list, only two men had more with eleven each.
The Land Tax of 1782 gives a different picture with James Hoyle given both as proprietor and occupier of the land and assessed at 7s 11d. The values ranged from £13 2s 8d to a mere 8d, but James compares with the values for Squires (8s 4d), Eggsyke (8s 11d) and Whittles (7s 7d).
It seems that a change took place between 1782 and 1800 when the Land Tax for the latter year shows that the farm was now assessed at a greater value than others. The proprietor is now given as Sir Thomas Dalrymple Hesketh and occupier James Hoyle, but the value is given as 12s, which is well above the average for the list. The highest sum paid was 17s 6 ½ p by John Sudell.
Landlords were generally keen to take only those tenants with the resources to maintain and improve their holdings and the first James Hoyle was probably well placed to take advantage of the rapidly rising population when he took the lease of the Cowden in 1752. Because of the lack of a comprehensive inventory for Cowden in this period no indication of the type of farming can be ascertained but it would seem likely that they would concentrate on meat and dairy produce to supply the demands of those in the area now largely dependent on weaving as a source of income. The Land Tax of 1782 shows that Cowden was comparable with other farms in the area and probably of a similar size, but when the Land Tax of 1800 was levied the farm was the second most valuable of those owned by the Heskeths. It may be that extra land had been acquired in the intervening years and this could account for the value of the estate of James Hoyle the elder.
James Hoyle died in 1820 and it is possible to construct a list of inhabitants of the farm after his tenure (see Appendix 2 ) but its fortunes after this date have not been explored in detail as yet. However all the evidence examined shows that Cowden has, during the period 1611 to 1820, relied solely on agriculture for its economic prosperity; census and other sources would seem to show this to be true after 1820 also. The first inventory examined, that for William Mercer 1613, shows that the farm was engaged in mixed husbandry, cattle, sheep and corn. Later it would appear that the farm concentrated on livestock, principally cattle for meat and dairy. Further research into the period from 1752, when the Hoyle family became the tenants, would allow firmer conclusions to be made about the type of farming practised from that time. Although at certain times the prosperity of the farm has been threatened by the fluctuations in the economy and prevailing conditions, the farm has survived as a purely agricultural unit. Cowden seems never, unlike many other farms in Great Harwood, to have had a direct role in the production of cloth, that is the weaving and finishing of cloth, but has supplied wool to local cloth producers and weavers and probably meat and dairy produce to the local weaving community. Failure to diversify in times of economic disadvantage may account for periods of relative economic decline. However, although certain periods in the farm's history may have been difficult the farm has survived. The farm now raises sheep and cattle.
Cowden was one of the first farms in Lancashire affected by the foot and mouth crisis of 2001; this crisis, like so many in the farm's history, appears to have been overcome and Cowden continues as a working farm to this day.
1 Parish Register of St. Bartholomew p. 300
2 Will of William Mercer 1613
3 Parish Register of St. Bartholomew p. 300
4 Taylor 1983 p.183; Winchester 1993 p. 19
5 DDKE 2/15/2 Lancashire Record Office
6 Hall refers to the main room of the building
7 Taylor 1965 p. 40
8 Parish Register of St. Bartholomew p. 12
9 Will of John Mercer 1703
10 Inventory of William Mercer 1613
11‘beast of two winters old' - Milward 1986
12 ‘young bullock or heifer, between one and two years old' - Milward 1986
13 Inventory of William Mercer 1613
14 for dressing flax' - Milward 1986
15 The 'Forest of Pendle' was a Royal hunting preserve and as such more restrictions were placed on the population than areas outside the forest until, that is, disafforestation in 
1507. Fixed rents and rights of inheritance after this time enabled many families to increase their wealth.
16 Brigg 1961 p 61 & p.73
17 Brigg 1961 p.73
18 Pollard 1978 p.57
19 Thirsk 1967 p. 87
20 Long cited in Brigg 1961p.86
21
Both farms were of a similar size in c. 1669, although there could have been changes to both farms since earlier that century.
22 Inventory of Thomas Mercer 1625
23
Inventory of John Cunliffe made 1679
24
DDKE 2/15/2 1603
25 Parish Register of St. Bartholomew p. 35
26
Pollard 1978 p. 40
27
Great Harwood Hearth Tax 1666
28
Thirsk 1967
29
Thirsk 1967 p. 632
30
Thirsk 1967 pp 632 – 633, 641
31
Rogers 1975 p. 27
32
Altham St. James 1909 pp.38, 39
33
Inventory of John Taylor 1674
34 money left in a will for the poor and distributed at the funeral
35 Inventory of John Mercer 1669
36
Parish Register of St. Bartholomew pp. 330, 334,346
37 Squire vs. Hesketh, Mercer and Nowell Great Harwood 1665 PRO DL 4/109/6.
38
GH St. Bart p. 330
39 Will of John Mercer 1703
40
These would be customary acres, as statutory acres the farm would be about 60 acres.
41
Will of John Mercer 1704 (made 1703)
42
Sharpe 1997 p. 38
43 Walton 1987 p. 61
44
Inventory of John Mercer 1703
45
Parish Register of St. Bartholomew p. 248
46
Parish Register of St. Bartholomew p. 82
47
Sharpe 1997 p38
48
Cameron 1977 p. 204
49
DDLX 11/1 Plan of Great Harwood Moor 1762 (List of tenants of enclosed land in 1762)
50
Parish register of St. Bartholomew
51
Rothwell 1980 p. 3
52 Sharpe 1997 p.38
53
Mercer papers
in the Louie Pollard collection held at Great Harwood library.
54 Parish Register of St. Bartholomew p. 360
55
Will of James Hoyle 1767
56 Abram 1877 pp. 540, 541; Pollard 1978 p. 17
57
Pollard 1978 p. 19
58
Parish Register of St. Bartholomew pp. 124-158, 377
59
Inventory of James Hoyle 1767
60 Will of James Hoyle 1818
61
Parish Register of St. Bartholomew p. 142
62 Great Harwood Window Tax 1762
63 Great Harwood Lan Tax 1782
64 Great Harwood Lan Tax 1800
The Mercer family of Cowden, Great Harwood
John Mercer 1 |
||
| William Mercer bur 10th Oct 1613 |
m 9th Feb 1585 |
Elizabeth Mercer 2 bur 29th Sept 1613 |
Thomas Mercer 2 | Alice Mercer 2 |
m 22nd Feb 1609 |
Roger Feilden 2 of Banks |
|||||
| John Mercer 2 bapt 12th Feb 1591 |
m | Margery bur 10th July 1676 relict of John Mercer of Cowden |
Thomas 2 | Christopher 2 bapt 3rd March 1660 |
Edward 2 bapt 11th July 1605 |
Grace 2 | Jenet 2 bapt 27th July 1603 |
Robert Feilden bapt 15th May 1613 |
| William Mercer bapt 7th March 1619 bur 19th April 1619 |
William Mercer 3 of Cowden bur 8th Feb 1692 |
Thomas Mercer 3 bapt 18th Fed 1629 bur 10th June 1700 of Squires |
Edward Mercer 3 b.c. 1631/32 bur 16th Sept 1726 of Squires |
Elizabeth Mercer 3 |
Alice Mercer 3 bapt 25th April 1620 bur 5th Sept 1691 of Squires |
Cycely Mercer 3 bapt 28th May 1626 bur 17th April 1670 of Cowden |
||
| John Mercer of Cowden, Yeoman bur 8th April 1704 |
m | Margaret 4 bur 19th March 1705 |
Elizabeth Mercer bur 13th Jan 1689 daughter of William Mercer of Cowden |
| William Mercer 4 of Cowden bur 29th Feb 1752 |
m 18th June 1707 |
Phoebe Walmsley of Accrington |
Mary Mercer bur 26th Sept 1703 daughter of John Mercer of Cowden |
Ann Mercer 4 |
m 10th Feb 1709 |
John Mercer of Higher Fold |
John Mercer 4 bur 10th Sept 1756 (of Squires after 1726 died at Edge End) |
m(1) m(2) |
Ann Duxbury Mary 5 |
||||||
Alice Mercer |
Edward Mercer 6 b.c. 1711 |
Elizabeth Mercer 5 | m | Hindle | Ann Mercer bapt 8th Jan 1716 bur 16th Feb 1732 of Squires |
| 1 | For lack of other evidence it would seem that John Mercer is the most likely candidate to be the father of William, Thomas and Alice. Possible baptisms are recorded at Whalley for William and Alice, children of John Mercer, but I have not found a baptism for Thomas. |
| 2 | Mentioned in the will of William Mercer 1613 |
| 3 | Mentioned in will of John Mercer 1669 |
| 4 | Mentioned in will of John Mercer 1703 |
| 5 | Mentioned in will of John Mercer 1756 |
| 6 | Lomax lease register |
All dates adjusted to modern calendar
Occupiers of Cowden after 1819
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Atlham, St. James' Church 1909 |
Registers of the parish church of Altham in the county of Lancaster | Lancashire Parish Register Society |
Aspin, C 1982 |
The Woollen Industry | Shire Publications |
Barley, M W (ed.) 1990 |
The Buildings of the Countryside 1500 - 1700 |
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