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Burnley Express
Saturday 31 October 1885
The Sagars of Catlow
On the brow of a deep glen, overhung with shady woods, stands the homely and unpretending homestead of "Catlow Hall." An inscription over the kitchen door reads as follows:- "William Sagar and Margaret his wife, 1666." The Margaret here mentioned was the daughter of John Brierclive, who built the old house at "Burwains," and tradition says the Sagars or Segars came over from Flanders during the reign of Edward III, and were among the first to commence the manufacturing of cloth in this locality. The origin of the patronymic is evidently Norman, as Segar is a common name at present in French Flanders, and also in Normandy. The manufacturing and delaing in cloth has been carried on by this family up to a recent period. The solitary fulling mill that existed here up to the close of the last century has disappeared. It stood on the north bank of the stream in "Catlow Bottoms," a few yards below the weir, close to the ford leading from Catlow to Story Raikes. It was used as a cottage up to about twenty years ago. From an inquisition, post mortem, temp. Henry VIII., John Sagar held lands in Brierclive and Great Marsden. The John Sagar here mentioned was the grandfather of William Sagar, who built Catlow Hall in 1666. He was remarkably fond of the chase, and rode hard after the hounds, and was a boon companion to Cunliffe of Wycollar. From an examination of the "Burwains' papers," kindly placed at my disposal by Mrs. Robertshawe, the venerable owner of the Burwain's estate, I find a deed of settlement entered into between Robert Hammond, gent., and William Sagar, of Catlow, whereby the said Robert Hammond bequeaths certain lands in Great Marsdeane as a marriage dowry to his daughter Mary. This gift subsequently proved a source of litigation in the Duchy Court at Lancaster, in which Gyles Hammond was plaintiff and William Sagar defendant, and which ultimately resulted in favour of the plaintiff, an order from the court, signed by Sir Thomas Howard, Kngt., peremtorily ordering the said William Sagar to pay forthwith the sum of £100 into the court. Gyles Hammond was constable of Great Marsden in 1641, and was a descendant of the Hammonds of Crawshaw Hall. William Sagar, of Southfield, a collateral branch of the Sagars of Catlow (Carr's annals of Colne), was born in the year 1751, and was the son of a cloth merchant who, by industry and prudence, had amassed a considerable fortune. He passed his boyhood in a careless, though respectable, mode of life. His father was extravagantly fond of the pleasures of the chase (this seemed to be hereditary in the family), and when his son grew up his most earnest desire was to see him first in the field. For a time, with an ardour hardly to be surpassed, the two hunted all day, and then, to redeem lost time, worked hard all night. The father joined the Wesleyan Methodists, and when he died in 1806, the new religion lost a friend whom it was almost impossible to replace. When the Wesleyan Chapel at Colne was built, in the year, 1824, we find among the list of subscribers the names of Richard Sagar, of Southfield £105; William Sagar, do., 3105; and Lister Sagar, of the same place, £50; and Mrs. Sagar Catlow £21. On Easter Monday, 1655, a bull baiting was held at Gisburn, which attracted a great number of the local gentry. The bull, infuriated and lashed into rage by its tormentors, broke loose, and dashing among the bystanders scattered both men and dogs right and left, and several persons were dangerously wounded, among whom were Richard Towneley, Esq., who afterwards died from his wounds; and William Sagar, of Catlow, received several internal injuries, the effects of which he carried to his grave. The descendants of this old Lancashire family no longer dwell in the paternal home at Catlow, although it still remains in their possession, but, following the example of great numbers of our rural population, have migrated to "the busy haunts of men," occupying respectable social positions in Burnley and neighbourhood, not altogether forgetting, I hope, the home of their ancestors, whose walls have braved the force of many a wintry storm under the shade of Old Boldsworth.
Tattersall Wilkinson.
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