 According to local tradition, the chapel was constructed using materials taken from Whalley Abbey following the dissolution of the monasteries in the Tudor period, but this has never been conclusively proven.In 798, early in his reign, Eardwulf of Northumbria fought a battle at Billington Moor against a nobleman named Wada, who had been one of those who killed Æthelred I of Northumbria.Wada was defeated and driven into exile.