A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1911.
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'Townships: Henheads', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, (London, 1911) pp. 437. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/p437 [accessed 26 April 2024]
HENHEADS
Henhades, 1464; Henneheedes, 1507.
Henheads is a small extra-parochial township of 317 acres lying on the hillside to the north of Haslingden, and having a little detached portion to the west. The population in 1901 was 174. The road from Haslingden to Accrington touches it, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company's line to Accrington has a station named Baxenden in the detached portion.
The township, which had from 1883 been included in the Haslingden local board district, was in 1894 (fn. 1) absorbed in the new township of Haslingden, and ceased to have any independent existence.
This portion of the chase or forest of Rossendale does not come into view till 1463–4, when it is recorded that John Hargreaves and Gilbert Rishton paid 3s. 4d. for Henheads and Frerehill or Friar Hill, as against the old rent of 6s. 8d. (fn. 2) In the survey of 1507 it is stated that the two pastures called Overheads and Frerehill, otherwise called Henheads, which the king's tenants and farmers had held in common for 13s. 4d., had been granted as copyhold for 26s. 8d. (fn. 3) In 1527 the tenants of Rossendale and Accrington paid 20s. for Henheads. (fn. 4) The place is again mentioned in disputes in 1583 (fn. 5) and 1591 (fn. 6) In 1662 a rent of 20s. a year was paid for the pasture called Henheads, of which the copyholders of Accrington New Hold paid 6s. 8d. and those of Rossendale 13s. 4d. (fn. 7)