The Parish of Altham in the County of -- Lancashire --

Altham

Altham is a township and chapelry in the Accrington parliamentary division and Briercliffe county council division. The local affairs are managed by a parish council consisting of five members. It is five miles from Burnley, and covers an area of 1,404 acres, mostly the property of the representatives of the late F.R. Walton, Esq.

Its population in 1851 was 320; 1861, 410; 1871, 481; 1881, 395; 1891, 427; and 1901, 785; and its rateable value is £9,112.

The Church, dedicated to St. James, is an ancient structure, existing from about the middle of the 12th century. In 1859 the tower was erected, the chancel rebuilt, and the nave and aisles restored. The font was presented by the last abbot of Whalley. There is also preserved in church an ancient piscine. The chancel window is filled with stained glass, to the memory of John Hacking, the inventor of the carding engine; and two stained windows have been erected to the memory of a former vicar, Rev. William Sharp.

Here are also mural tablets, commemorating the Lomax, Walton, and other local families.

The church contains 242 sittings, of which 196 are free. The benefice is a vicarage of the annual value of £196, in the gift of the trustees of the late F.R. Walton, Esq., and held by the Rev. James Robinson, M.A.

The school is endowed with the interest of £1,000, bequeathed by the late Mr. Walton.

From: Slater’s Directory of Prestwich, Eccles, Patricroft, Barton and District, Stretford and Chorlton-cum-Hardy, and Neighbourhood. Manchester, 1899. Pages 683-684.

Entered here 29 August 2004 by Lynn Ransom Burton.