Cuerdale is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

South Ribble South Ribble is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Leyland. The borough includes the towns and villages of Penwortham, Leyland, Farington, Farington Moss, Hutton, Longton, Walmer B ...

district of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. It includes ''Cuerdale Hall'' and has no substantive settlements. It originated as a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the parish of

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

, becoming a separate civil parish in 1866. From 1894, it formed part of the

Preston Rural District Preston was a rural district in Lancashire, England from 1894 to 1974. It surrounded Preston, Lancashire, Preston to the north, west and east. The district was created under the Local Government Act 1894. It was abolished in 1974 under the Lo ...

, and under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

became part of the

district in 1974. The origin of Cuerdale is defined as "Cynferth's valley". Cynferth is a

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

personal name.

History

One of the earliest known references to the area was Warine or Swain de Keuerdale, born (who may be the same person as Swain De Salmesbury, Lord of Hindley) who occupied a site on or near location of present Cuerdale Hall. When Warine died, Gilbert received half of the Manor; the rest was divided between the other sons.Victorian History of Lancashire v7 pp. 301–303. Cromwell's army camped in the area before the Battle of Preston in 1648. The Cuerdale family were members of the Preston Guild through the 15th and 16th centuries. Richard Cuerdale was an alderman of the Guild. No known members of the family now use the spelling Cuerdale. There were about 20 individuals in 1900 who used the spelling Cuerdale and another approximately 20 who used the spelling Curedale. The last known member of the family who used the spelling Cuerdale was married in Lancashire around 1943. The Curedale family who take their name from the area today consist of about 30 individuals living in Dublin, Ireland, Hertfordshire England, Western Australia and the US.

Geography

Examination of satellite images showing field alignments and local roads suggest that Cuerdale Hall was on the Western side of a road coming from the south that possibly crossed the Ribble immediately north of the hall. The last mile approximately of this road does not exist today. Sections of the road exist perhaps a mile south of the hall. The alignment of the hall does not correspond to modern roads or modern alignment of the river Ribble. The hall alignment suggests that this road may have passed from Cuerdale Hall through Cuerdale Cross the location of an ancient stone cross, which could mark the position of the ancient village of Keverdale. The remains of defensive ditches on the site of Cuerdale Hall were surveyed in the early 1990s. The hall is contained within a semi-rectangular area about 150 metres in extent formed by a deep ditch about 12 metres in width. There is a V-shaped ditch about 7 metres wide and two metres deep on the southern side of the Hall. Parallel and a little further south there is a scarp which suggests that the 7-metre ditch may have been cut from an earlier and wider ditch that silted up. The evidence suggests that a fortified enclosure existed on the site that was large for a manorial enclosure in the area. Close to a ford in the River Ribble the site is of strategic significance. The fortifications have not been dated. Some moated enclosures around halls in Lancashire served a decorative rather than protective purpose.

Treasure

The

Cuerdale Hoard The Cuerdale Hoard is a hoard of more than 8,600 items, including silver coins, English and Carolingian jewellery, hacksilver and ingots. It was discovered on 15 May 1840 on the southern bank of a bend of the River Ribble, in an area called ...

was found in the parish.

References

External links

Township and Manor

Curedale Family in Ireland

Curdell

Joan de Keuerdale, Thomas Molyneux de Keuerdale

British History online Cuerdale
{{Authority control Geography of South Ribble Civil parishes in Lancashire

History

Geography

Treasure

See also

References

Further reading

External links