“Cliviger” says Dr. Whitaker, “is an extensive, though not very populous district at the S.E. extremity of the parish of Burnley, bordering upon those of Halifax and Rochdale. It is in the very gorge of the English Appenine, and in one of the most elevated passes through the mountains, from which the waters descend both to the eastern and western seas. This pass has been evidently formed in consequence of some great convulsion of nature, which by rending asunder the strata of the the earth to a vast depth, has left a ridge of very formidable rocks on the southern side. It expands, however, gradually towards the north, into a tract of fertile pasture ground.

The lower and more sheltered parts of the township abound with woody hedges and small coppices, naturally and elegantly dispersed; the deep gullies above are filled with thriving plantations; and even the bleakest and most naked points of the rocks, where a patch of herbage appeared have been lately mixed with larches, mountain ashes, birches and other plants, by the perseverance of a bold adventurer.” (The Doctor himself, who set a most praiseworthy example of improvement). “The commons, after several partial enclosures are still extensive, and afford pasturage for a breed of sheep with short, fine wool. When fattened they become excellent mutton.

Cliviger abounds with coal and iron. This elevated tract is remarkable for the sources of both the Rivers Calder and Irwell: the two former issuing from one marsh in Cliviger dean; the latter from a spring called Erewell, at the foot of Dirpley Hill, on the verge of Rossendale.

Of the state of the township in Saxon times there are no memorials. It is farther to be lamented that from the hasty and imperfect manner in which this remote and barren tract was surveyed, the name does not appear in Domesday Book. But it gave name to a family which seems to have been extinct as early as the reign of Edward l. First Robert de Clivacher the hunter, contemporary with Roger Lacy, temp. Ric. l. Then Adam son of Gilbert; then Reginald son of Robert; and lastly, Cecilia de Cliviger, with whom the name seems to expired. The word ‘Clivacher’ first appears in the donation of Henry de Laci, the founder of a carucate of land in that place, to the Abbot and Convent of Kirkstall.

‘Holme’, (the family mansion of the Whitaker’s from the year 1431) like most of the ancient structures in the neighbourhood, was originally built of wood, the centre and eastern wing were re-built in 1603 or before. The west end remained of wood till the year 1717, and had one or more private closets for the concealments of priests, the family having continued recusants to the latter end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign if not later. The house has become by successive alterations an irregular, but not inconvenient habitation.
Appendant to this demesne was a chapel. After the dissolution it was considered the property of the family and continued without minister 200 years when Anthony Wetherhead A.M. was licensed to it by Bishop Peploe, on the nomination of Thomas Whitaker of Holme, gent in 1742. He died in 1760 aged 80 and was interred in the church-yard without any memorial.
His successor was William Halliwell who died December 1796, and was succeeded by Thomas Dunham Whitaker LLB of St. John’s College Cambridge, licensed on his own petition by Bishop Cleaver.

The circuit of Cliviger is nearly 20 miles, which extends from Hameldon Hill to Sherniford, coincides with the boundary of the parish, and is strongly marked by natural features; thence along the summit of the hill by Thieveley Pike, are the vestiges of the Old Dyke, of which tradition records that it once formed the limit between Cliviger and Rossendale. From Thieveley Pike is a very noble and diversified prospect, comprehending to the north almost the whole expanse of Craven, part of the Fylde with the western sea; and in a sunny morning when the tide is in, a noble expanse of the estuary of the Ribble, like a sheet of gold. More to the south the prospect is circumscribed by Cridden and other high grounds betwixt us and the great plain of Lancashire. Directly southward, a single opening exhibits the town of Manchester, enveloped in eternal smoke.

The northern boundary of Cliviger where it abuts upon Westhorn is marked by a line of grey and venerable stones inscribed with crosses; the different elevations along the once trackless line of the Long Causeway are distinguished in the same manner, and I have observed that whenever any of these pious memorials have been obliterated from accident or with design, they were still restored by some devout and secret hand.

By a survey made in 1602 it appears that the inclosed grounds within Cliviger amounted to 952 acres; in 1734 they were increased by enclosures to 1324 acres; and in 1794 a grant was made to the several freeholders of 300 acres more, also of 8 yards to the perch. The whole extent of Cliviger including the commons is 3328 acres 1 rod 12 perch at eight yards, or 7041 acres 2 rods 39 perch statute measure.

Of the state of husbandry little can be said: in fact the climate, one of the dampest and most foggy in the kingdom, is unfavourable to agricultural experiments. The hardy black oat alone, which once committed to the earth, defies alike a bad climate and bad management is in universal esteem; and here is no succession of crops or laying down of grasses.

Within this township are Bowcroft and Ormerod. The first was from the earliest times to which records extend, down to the middle of the last century, the property and residence of a family of the same name. Ormerod, is a house and family of equal antiquity with the former. The present house of Ormerod appears to have been re-built in the life time of Lawrence Ormerod and Elizabeth Bancroft whose name it bears with the date 1595. It stands to some disadvantage with a rising ground in front and declivity behind: but this last is filled with a background of aged sycamores and elms, peopled by a large colony of rooks. The house was fronted anew and modernized by the grandfather of the late possessor, who left it an extremely neat and comfortable residence. Charlotte Ann Ormerod, sole heiress of Lawrence Ormerod Esq. Married John Hargreaves Esq. By which the estate came into his possession.

In 1801 the population amounts to 1058 persons.”