PARISH OF KIRKHAM.
FRECKLETON. In the Domesday Book Freckeltun is stated to contain four
carucates of arable soil. During the reign of Henry III. Richard de
Freckleton, Allan de Singleton, and Iwan de Freckleton, with three
others, held land in Freckleton from the earl of Lincoln. In 1311 the
heirs of Adam de Freckleton held Freckleton from Alice, the daughter and
heiress of the earl of Lincoln, shortly after which Ralph de Freckleton
was lord of the manor. Gilbert de Singleton had a house with 12 acres of
land and a mill there in 1325. In 1349 the manor was held under the earl
of Lancaster as follows:—Robert de Freckleton, 1 messuage and 3 bovates;
Nicholas le Botiler, 1 messuage and 11 bovates; the heirs of Robert
Sherburne, 2 bovates; the heirs of Sir Adam de Banastre, 2 bovates; and
Thomas de Singleton, 1 bovate. During the first half of the 16th century
the Botilers or Butlers retained property in Freckleton, whilst the
Sherburnes held estates there until the early part of the 17th century.
Hugh Hilton Hornby, esq., of Ribby Hall, is the largest territorial
proprietor at present, but there are several resident yeomen.
In 1834 a temporary episcopal chapel was erected, and 5 years later the
existing church was built, being a neat brick edifice, with a spire at
the west end, and containing an ancient pulpit from Kirkham church. The
Rev. G. H. Waterfall, M.A., was the earliest incumbent, and the Rev.
Walter Scott, appointed in 1861, is now in charge. In 1718 a Quakers’
burial ground was opened, but was closed in 1811. A meeting house was
also established by the same sect in 1720, and pulled down after standing
nearly a century. A Wesleyan chapel was erected in 1814; and in 1862 the
Primitive Methodists opened another. A National school was built in 1839,
and is supported mainly by subscriptions.
The village is long and irregular, but contains sundry better class
houses, and a cotton manufactory, belonging to Mr. Sowerbutts, holding
320 looms. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in making sacking,
sailcloth, ropes, etc. There is also a shipbuilding yard, of which Mr.
Rawstorne is the proprietor, where vessels, mostly for the coasting
trade, are constructed.
POPULATION OF FRECKLETON.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
561 701 875 909 995 968 879 930
The township comprises 2,659 statute acres.
Andrew Freckleton and two more gave, about 1734, certain sums of money
for the poor of Freckleton, the interest from which, together with 10s.
per annum left by Lawrence Webster for the same object, amounts to £2
5s. a year. The township shares in a bequest of £5, with Clifton and
Newton-with-Scales, from Elizabeth Clitherall, of Clifton, for the use of
the poor.
WARTON. Wartun is entered in the survey of William the Conqueror as
comprising four carucates, and later, when in the fee of the earl of
Lincoln, the township was held by the manorial lord of Wood Plumpton.
During the reign of King John, Thomas de Betham had the third of a
knight’s fee in Warton. Sir Ralph de Betham held Warton in the time of
Edward III., and in 1296 Edmund Crouchback, earl of Lancaster, had a rent
charge of 3s. 4d. there. Gilbert de Singleton was possessed of a messuage
with six bovates of land in the township about 1325. The manor was held
by Johanna Standish and Richard Singleton in 1515. John Talbot Clifton,
esq., of Lytham Hall, is now the most extensive owner of the soil.
The church of Warton, dedicated to St. Paul, was completed in 1722, but
not consecrated until 1725. Within recent years it has been apportioned a
distinct parochial district under Lord Blandford’s act.
CURATES AND VICARS OF WARTON.
------------+------------------------+------------------------
Date of | |
Institution.| NAME. | Cause of Vacancy.
------------+------------------------+------------------------
Before 1773 |Wilfred Burton |
In 1789 |Charles Buck, M.A. |
” 1790 |James Fox |Resignation of C. Buck
” 1823 |James Fox, B.A. | ” J. Fox
” 1840 |George Wylie, M.A. | ” J. Fox
” 1844 |Thos. Henry Dundas, B.A.| ” G. Wylie
------------+------------------------+------------------------
Warton school was built many years ago at the cost of the township, and
in 1810 the sum of £277 was raised by subscription as an endowment. In
1809, William Dobson, of Liverpool, bequeathed £500 to the trustees, and
another sum of £500 was also bequeathed by Mrs. Francis Hickson. In 1821
a new school-house was built.
POPULATION OF WARTON.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
376 445 468 531 522 473 446 444
The area of the township contains 3,939 statute acres.
BRYNING-WITH-KELLAMERGH. The earliest allusion to this township occurs in
1200-1, when Matilda Stockhord and others held two carucates in Briscath
Brunn and one carucate in Kelgmersberg. A few years later Robert de
Stockhord had the fourth of a knight’s fee there. In 1253 Ralph Betham
held Brininge, Kelgermsarche, etc.; and during the reign of Edward III.
Sir Ralph de Betham possessed the fourth of a knight’s fee in the same
places, at which time John de Damport also held an eighth of a carucate.
In 1311 John Baskerville had 3½ bovates, and Thurstan de Norley 4
bovates, in the hamlet of Kilgremargh.
In 1479 Sir Edward and William Betham had land in Bryning and Kellamergh;
and two years afterwards half of the manor was granted by Edward IV. to
Thomas Molyneux and his heirs. Thomas Middleton held both Bryning and
Kellamergh in 1641. The Birley, Langton, Cross, and Smith families are
now the chief landowners in the township.
Bryning Hall and Leyland House are the only places of interest amongst
the scattered habitations. The Hall, now a farm-house, was formerly the
seat of the Bradkirks, whilst Leyland House, also converted to farm
uses, was the residence of the Leylands, of Kellamergh, during the 17th
and part of the 18th centuries.[174]
POPULATION OF BRYNING-WITH-KELLAMERGH.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
105 131 145 164 152 126 116 115
The area of the township in statute acres is 1,043.
RIBBY-WITH-WREA. In Domesday Book _Rigbi_, for Ribby, is entered as
comprising six carucates. Roger de Poictou gave the tithes of “colts,
calves, lambs, kids, pigs, wheat, cheese, and butter of Ribbi and
Singletone” to the priory of Lancaster to serve as food to the monks who
celebrated mass in that monastery. This grant was afterwards confirmed by
John, earl of Moreton.[175] In 1201 Adam and Gerard de Wra paid two marks
to King John in order to gain protection from the sheriff, who, it seems,
was in the habit of unjustly molesting them in their tenements.[176] The
manors of Preston, Riggeby, and Singleton were presented by Henry III. to
Edmund, earl of Lancaster, who in 1286 became engaged in a dispute with
the abbot of Vale Royal, which ultimately led to a mandate being issued
by Edward I., at Westminster, to the sheriff of Lancaster, commanding
him to draw a proper and just boundary line between the lands of the
disputants, because the abbot complained that the earl had taken more
territory than he was legally entitled to by his fee, thereby encroaching
on the conventual possessions in Kirkham parish.[177] In 1297 earl
Edmund’s rents from Ribby-with-Wrea amounted in all to £19 19s.[178] per
annum.
During the life of the first duke of Lancaster, Ribby contained twenty
houses, and twenty-one and three-fourths bovates of land held by bondsmen
at a rental of £19 16s. 4d.; and at that time there were the following
tenants in Ribby and Wrea:—Adam, the son of Richard the clerk, who held
five acres, and paid 4d. per annum; Adam, the son of Jordani, one acre
for 12d.; Roger Culbray, three acres for 9d.; Richard de Wra, half a
bovate for 5d.; Adam de Kelyrumshagh, half a bovate for 4d.; William de
Wogher, six acres for 2d.; John de Bredkyrke, half a bovate for 9d.;
William le Harpour, one bovate for 15d.; Giles, two acres for 10d.; John
de Bonk, one bovate and one acre for 10d.; John le Wise, eleven acres for
7d.; and Adam de Parys, two bovates, which were those of John le Harpour,
for 3s., of free farm and two marks. After the demise of a tenant it was
the recognised custom for his successor to pay double rent.[179] The rent
days were the feasts of the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary and of St.
Michael. H. H. Hornby, esq., of Ribby Hall, is the present lord of the
manor.
The remains of the ancient manor house on Wrea Green are now used as
a cottage; Ribby Hall, the seat of the Hornbys, is a modern mansion,
and was erected rather more than half a century ago. The church of
Ribby-with-Wrea owes its origin to the trustees of Nicholas Sharples’s
charity, who purchased a piece of ground on Wrea Green in 1721, and,
having subscribed sufficient funds amongst themselves, erected a small
chapel upon it. The following year they obtained a license to hold
divine service in the building, and on the 20th of June, 1755, it was
consecrated by the bishop of Chester. At that date the church was endowed
with £400, half of which came from Queen Anne’s bounty, and the other in
equal portions from the charities of Thistleton and Sharples. In 1762
the whole of this fund was invested in land in Warton, and other sums
amounting to £600, including a legacy of £100 under the will of Thomas
Benson in 1761, and further donations from the Royal bounty before
mentioned, were expended in the purchase of land at Thistleton.[180]
In 1846 the township of Westby, with the exception of Great and Little
Plumptons, was joined, by order of Council, to that of Ribby-with-Wrea,
and the whole converted into an ecclesiastical district. In 1869 the
title of the incumbent was changed from that of perpetual curate to vicar.
The old church was pulled down and the foundation stone of the existing
structure laid in 1848, by the Rev. G. L. Parsons, vicar of Kirkham. On
the 23rd of September in the ensuing year, it was opened for worship,
but remained unconsecrated until the 4th of May, 1855. The church is
dedicated to St. Nicholas.
CURATES AND VICARS OF RIBBY-WITH-WREA.
------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------
Date of | |
Institution.| NAME. | Cause of Vacancy.
------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------
Before 1733 | Robert Willacy |
” 1756 | Samuel Smith |
” 1762 | James Anyon |
In 1770 | ⸺ Watts |
” 1791 | John Thompson |
About 1823 | James Fox |
In 1845 | George Thistlethwaite, M.A. | Resignation of J. Fox
” 1846 | Stephⁿ Exuperius Wentworth, |
| M.A. | Death of G. Thistlethwaite
” 1866 | Ralph Sadleir Stoney, M.A. | ” S. E. Wentworth
------------+-----------------------------+----------------------------
The Rev. George Thistlethwaite was the son of the Rev. T. Thistlethwaite,
incumbent of St. George’s, Bolton-le-Moors, and in 1837 officiated _pro.
temp._ as head master of Kirkham Grammar School. The Rev. S. E. Wentworth
held the headmastership of the same school from 1845 to 1860, as well as
his curacy.
The free school of Ribby-with-Wrea owes its existence to the frugality
and benevolence of a tailor, named James Thistleton, of Wrea, who,
although his daily wages averaged no more than 4d. and his food, managed,
by great care and self-denial, to accumulate a sufficient fund to
establish a school at his native place, an object to which he had in a
great measure devoted his life. At his death in 1693, it was found that,
after a few small legacies, one being “10s. to Mr. Clegg, vicar, to
preach at my funeral,” and another 6s. 8d. to each of the townships of
Kirkham, Bryning, and Westby, for the use of the poor, he had bequeathed
the remainder of his property “towards the making and maintaining of a
free school in the township of Ribby-cum-Wrea for ever,” stipulating only
that his surviving sister should receive annually from the profits of his
estate a sum of money sufficient for her support during the rest of her
life. The executors appointed were Thomas Benson, Richard Shepherd, and
Cuthbert Bradkirk, whilst the money designed for the foundation of the
school amounted to £180.
The work thus commenced by Thistleton received, a few years later,
substantial assistance under the will, dated 10th September, 1716,
of Nicholas Sharples, who is described as a “citizen and innholder
of London.” The bequest in this instance amounted to £850, and the
two executors, Richard Wilson and Robert Pigot, were directed, “with
all convenient speed to apply such sum of money towards the building
or finishing of a school-house for educating of boys and girls in
Ribby-cum-Wrea,” and in the purchase of land for the benefit of such
establishment, and the remuneration of the master, “for educating such a
number of boys and girls as nine of the most substantial men, chosen and
elected out of Ribby-cum-Wrea for governors or elders, or the major part
of them, shall think fit;” also that his name should be inscribed in some
prominent place on one of the school walls.[181]
In 1780 a girls’ school was established in a building separate from
that of the boys, but in 1847 the trustees of the foundation gave the
“materials of the boys’ school” and the plot of land as a site for the
new church, and in return the ecclesiastical party erected, according to
agreement, another school-house on a piece of ground adjoining the girls’
school.[182]
POPULATION OF RIBBY-WITH-WREA.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
307 398 500 482 442 406 444 446
The area of the township amounts to 1,366 statute acres.
WESTBY, WITH GREAT AND LITTLE PLUMPTONS. Gilbert de Clifton held the
manor about 1280, and subsequently his son William de Clifton was in
possession about 1292. During the reign of Edward III. John Fleetwood
was lord of Little Plumpton, and in 1394 his descendant, John Fleetwood,
resided there. John Talbot Clifton, esq., of Lytham Hall, whose ancestor
was the Gilbert de Clifton just mentioned, holds the manor of Westby with
Plumpton, by right of inheritance.
Bowen, the geographer, who wrote in 1717, alludes to a spa in Plumpton,
and states that it was impregnated with sulphur, vitriol, ochre, iron,
and a marine salt, united with a bitter purging salt. The site of the spa
has been lost in the lapse of time.
Westby Hall, the seat of the Cliftons, has been supplanted by a
farm-house. The old chapel connected with it was opened in 1742 to
the Romanists of the district, but closed about a century later. The
present Catholic chapel was built in 1861. In 1849 a school, free to
all denominations, was established by Thomas Clifton, esq., of Lytham,
but there seems to have been such an institution existing before, as Ann
Moor, of Westby, bequeathed, in 1805, £40 to Plumpton school, and the
interest of £20 to the poor of Great Plumpton.
POPULATION OF WESTBY-WITH-PLUMPTONS.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
623 692 771 686 643 707 601 535
The area of the township is 3,426 statute acres.
WEETON-WITH-PREESE. On the arrival of the Normans Weeton contained 300
acres of arable land. In the 9th year of King John, Matilda, wife of
Theobald Walter, obtained certain inheritances in Weeton, Treales, and
Rawcliffe. Theobald le Botiler, or Butler, held Weeton in 1249; and in
1339, James, son of Edmund le Botiler, earl of Ormond, had possession of
it, together with Treales, Little Marton, and Out Rawcliffe. The manor
descended in the same family until 1673, when it passed to the 9th earl
of Derby on his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Butler, the
Lord Ossory. The present earl of Derby is now the lord of the soil, and
holds a court baron by deputy. There is a fair for cattle and small wares
on the first Tuesday after Trinity Sunday.
Preese is the Pres of Domesday Book, and comprised at that time two
carucates. Henry, duke of Lancaster, held Preese at his death in 1361. In
the reign of Henry VIII. the manor was in the hands of the Skilicornes,
who for many generations were the coroners of Amounderness. Preese Hall,
the ancient seat of this family, was much damaged by a fire in 1732,
which destroyed the private chapel. In 1864 that portion of the mansion,
which had survived the conflagration and been repaired, was pulled down.
The site is now occupied by a farm-house, belonging to T. H. Miller,
esq., of Singleton, who owns a large amount of the land.
The church of Weeton is dedicated to St. Michael, and was built in
1843 by subscription, to which the late earl of Derby contributed
generously. In 1852 the edifice was enlarged, and in 1861 the township
of Weeton-with-Preese was united with the Plumptons and Greenhalgh, to
form an ecclesiastical parish. The Rev. William Sutcliffe, when curate
at Kirkham, performed the duties at Weeton church, and was appointed
incumbent there in 1861. In 1862 he was succeeded by the present vicar,
the Rev. William Thorold. A National school was erected by subscription
and a grant from the National Society of £30, in 1845. A Wesleyan chapel
was built about 1827.
POPULATION OF WEETON-WITH-PREESE.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
384 508 473 477 545 465 465 433
The area of the township is 2,876 statute acres.
MEDLAR-WITH-WESHAM. The abbot and brethren of Cockersand Abbey became
possessed of this township at an early date, and retained it until the
dissolution of monasteries, when the manor of Medlar passed, by gift or
purchase, to the Westbys, of Mowbreck Hall. The estates of the Westbys
were confiscated by the Commonwealth, and only redeemed on the payment
of £1,000. The estate and Hall of Mowbreck are still held by the same
family.[183] The mansion preserves many evidences of its great antiquity,
including the old chapel and priests’ room.
Bradkirk, in Medlar, belonged to Theobald Walter in 1249, but in the
reign of Edward III. it was held by a family bearing the name of
Bradkirk, a title acquired from the estate. The Bradkirks resided there
as proprietors until somewhere about the opening of the 17th century,
when the earl of Derby had obtained the soil. In 1723 Bradkirk was bought
by John Richardson, of Preston, from Thomas Stanley, of Cross Hall, in
Ormskirk parish, who held the manor by right of his wife Catherine,
sister and heiress of Christopher Parker, of Bradkirk, deceased,
unmarried, a few years before.[184] From John Richardson the manor passed
successively by will to William Richardson, Edward Hurst, of Preston, and
James Kearsley, of Over Hulton, by the last of whom it was sold in 1797
to Joseph Hornby, esq., of Ribby, and his descendant, H. H. Hornby, esq.,
of Ribby Hall, is the present holder. The original Bradkirk Hall, the
seat of the Bradkirks and Parkers, has long since disappeared, and the
edifice now bearing the name was erected or rebuilt by Edward Hurst in
1764.
In 1864 an Independent Day and Sunday school was built by Benjamin
Whitworth, esq., M.P., of London, on land given by R. C. Richards, esq.,
J.P., of Kirkham, and presented to the trustees of the chapel belonging
to that sect at Kirkham. The railway station and several weaving sheds
and cotton mills are situated in this township.
POPULATION OF MEDLAR-WITH-WESHAM.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
216 230 215 242 209 170 563 860
GREENHALGH-WITH-THISTLETON. Greenhalgh is stated in the Domesday Book to
contain three carucates of soil. The township was held by the Butlers
of the Fylde at an early epoch, and retained until 1626 at least, when
Henry Butler, of Rawcliffe, was lord of Greenhalgh and Thistleton. During
the sovereignty of Edward I. the abbot of Cockersand had certain rights
there, including assize of bread and beer.
Henry Colbourne, of London, bequeathed, in 1655, £5 10s. to establish
a school at Esprick in this township, but his wishes were not properly
carried out before 1679, at which date his legacy was supplemented by
gifts from 41 yeomen in the neighbourhood, and a school erected to
provide free education to the children of Greenhalgh and Thistleton.
Further endowments of £60 in 1766 from John Cooper, and £80 a little
later by subscription, were given to the institution; and in 1805 Mary
Hankinson left £200, and Richard Burch, of Greenhalgh, £200, to the same
object. The original school-house, formed of clay and thatched with
straw, has been pulled down, and a fresh one built. Subsequent donations
have been received under the wills of the Misses Ellen and Hannah
Dewhirst, the former of whom left £200, in addition to a gift of £100
during her lifetime, and the latter the residue of her estate.
The interest of £20, bequeathed for that purpose by a person named
Lawrenson, is distributed annually to the poor of Greenhalgh.
POPULATION OF GREENHALGH-WITH-THISTLETON.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
378 403 409 408 371 362 383 365
The township embraces 1,821 statute acres.
GREAT AND LITTLE SINGLETONS. At the Domesday Survey, Singletun contained
six carucates of arable land, the lord of the manor being Roger de
Poictou, who gave the tithes at the close of the eleventh century to the
priory of St. Mary’s, Lancaster; this grant was subsequently confirmed
by John, earl of Moreton.[185] During the reigns of kings John and Henry
III., Alan de Singleton held a carucate of land in the township by
serjeanty of the wapentake of Amounderness.[186] In 20 Edward I. (1292)
Thomas de Singleton, a descendant of Alan, proved to the satisfaction
of a jury, when his right to certain offices was called in question,
that the manor of Little Singleton had belonged to his family from time
immemorial, and that the serjeanty of Amounderness with its privileges
and duties, was annexed and appurtenant to that manor. Thomas de
Singleton admitted, however, when called upon by the king’s attorney
to show by what title he held the manors of Singleton, Thornton, and
Brughton, the same having been amongst the possessions of Richard I. at
his death, that he did not hold the whole of Singleton, as Thomas de
Clifton and Caterina his wife had one third of two bovates there; and
urged this fact as a plea why he could not be summoned to answer the
demand as made on behalf of Edward I. His objection was allowed.[187]
In 1297 Edmund, earl of Lancaster received annually £21 from Singleton
and 20s. from Singleton Grange. At the opening of the fourteenth century
Little Singleton had passed into the hands of the Banastres, for the
“hamlet of Singleton Parva” was one of the estates of William Banastre at
his death in 17 Edward II. (1323-24).[188] Towards the end of the reign
of Edward II. Thomas, the son of the notorious Sir Adam Banastre, held
little Singleton and the serjeanty of Amounderness, and by the latter
of these had a right to the services of two bailiffs and a boy to levy
executions within the wapentake.[189]
The following notice of Singleton in the time of Henry, duke of
Lancaster, who died in 1361, occurs amongst the Lansdowne manuscripts:—
“In Syngleton there are 21 messuages and 26 bovates of land
held by bondsmen, who pay annually at the feasts of Easter and
St. Michael £21 9s. 3d. And there are 11 cottages with so many
inclosures, and one croft, and one piece of land in the hands
of tenants-at-will, paying annually 21s. 6d. All the aforesaid
bondsmen owe talliage, and give marchet and heriot,[190] and
on the death of her husband a widow gives one third part of
his property to the lord of the manor, but more is claimed in
cases where the deceased happen to be widowers. And if any one
possesses a male fowl it is forbidden to him to sell it without a
license. The duke of Lancaster owns the aforesaid tenements with
right to hold a court. It is to be noted that each of the above
mentioned bovates of land is to pay at first 2s. 7d. per annum,
with work at the plough and harrow, mowing meadows in Ryggeby,
and carrying elsewhere the lord’s provisions at Richmond, York,
Doncaster, Pontefract, and Newcastle, with 12 horses in Summer
and Winter. But afterwards the land was freed from this bondage,
and paid per bovate 14s. 3d. ob.”
The lands of Thomas Banastre, before named, in “Syngleton Parva,
Ethelswyk, Frekulton, Hamylton, Stalmyn,” etc., were escheated to John of
Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, in 1385, after the death of Banastre.[191]
Edmund Dudley, who was attainted in 1509 and afterwards executed, held
Little Singleton, as well as lands in Elswick, Thornton, Wood Plumpton,
Freckleton, etc.;[192] and in 1521 Thomas, earl of Derby, held the manor
of Syngleton of Henry VIII.[193]
In the reign of James I. Great Singleton appears to have belonged to
the crown, for amongst a number of estates purchased from the crown by
Edward Badbie and William Weldon, of London, for the sum of £2,000, is
the “manor or lordship of Singleton, alias Singleton Magna,” the annual
rent of which is stated to have been £16 17s. 0d. Subsequently the manor
passed to the Fanshaws, and from them to the Shaws; William Cunliffe
Shaw, of Preston, esq., sold it to Joseph Hornby, of Ribby Hall, esq.,
and afterwards it was purchased by Thomas Miller, esq., of Preston, who
greatly improved the property by draining the low lying lands known as
Singleton Carrs, which in former days were frequently in a state of
partial or complete inundation. Thomas H. Miller, esq., the present owner
and eldest son of the late Thos. Miller, esq., has recently erected a
noble mansion on the estate, where he resides during most of the year.
The earliest notice to be discovered of Singleton Grange is in an old
schedule of deeds, in which the land is mentioned as having been granted
by King John in 1215. In 1297, during the reign of Edward I., Edmund
Crouchback, earl of Lancaster, received yearly the sum of 20s. from the
estate. Subsequently the Grange passed into the possession of the abbot
and convent of Cockersand;[194] and at the dissolution of monasteries
it became the property of Henry VIII., who in 1543 granted it to William
Eccleston, of Eccleston, gentleman.[195] The Grange descended to Thomas,
the son, and afterwards to Adam, the grandson, of William Eccleston.
Adam Eccleston died sometime a little later than 1597. The estate after
his decease passed through several hands in rapid succession, and in
1614 was sold by William Ireland, gent., to William Leigh, B.D., clerk
in holy orders and rector of Standish. Theophilus Leigh, the eldest
son of that gentleman, resided at Singleton Grange, and married Clare,
daughter of Thomas Brooke, of Norton, Cheshire, by whom he had one son,
named William. William Leigh succeeded to the Grange on the death of his
father in 1658, and espoused Margaret, daughter of Edward Chisenhall, of
Chisenhall, Lancashire, and had issue, Charles and Edward.
Charles Leigh, the elder of the two sons, became celebrated as a
physician and student of natural history and antiquities. He was born
at the Grange in 1662, and at the age of 21 graduated as B.A. at the
University of Oxford; afterwards he removed to Cambridge to study
medicine, and in 1690 obtained the degree of M.D. In 1685 he was elected
a Fellow of the Royal Society. He married Dorothy, daughter of Edward
Shuttleworth, of Larbrick, and practised as a physician both in London
and in the neighbourhood of his birthplace, on one occasion, according
to his own version, performing a wonderful cure on Alexander Rigby, of
Layton Hall. His published works were—_Physiologia Lancastriensis_, in
1691, and the _Natural History of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Peak
of Derbyshire, with an account of the British, Phœnician, Armenian,
Greek, and Roman Antiquities in those parts_, in 1700, of which latter
Dr. Whittaker remarks:—“Had this doctor filled his whole book, as he
has done nearly one-half of it, with medical cases, it might have been
of some use; but how, with all possible allowances for the blindness
and self-partiality of human nature, a man should have thought himself
qualified to write and to publish critical remarks on a subject of which
he understood not the elementary principles, it is really difficult to
conceive.”[196]
Somewhere before the commencement of the eighteenth century, the estate
of Bankfield was separated from the Grange, which, during the latter
portion, at least, of the lifetime of Dr. Leigh, who died shortly after
the publication of his “Natural History,” was held by a person named
Joseph Green. In 1701 the executors of Joseph Green sold a portion
of Singleton Grange to Richard Harrison, of Bankfield, yeoman. The
remainder of the Grange land was held by widow Green until her death,
when it passed by her will, dated 1716, to her two sons, Richard and Paul
Green.[197]
Richard Harrison, of Bankfield, obtained the whole of Singleton Grange
in 1738, and left it on his decease to his son Richard, from whom it
descended about 1836 to his only surviving child, Agnes Elizabeth, the
wife of Edwards Atkinson, of Fleetwood, justice of the peace for the
county of Lancaster. Mrs. Atkinson died childless in 1850, and bequeathed
Singleton Grange to her husband, who in his turn entailed the estate
upon his eldest son, Charles Edward Dyson Atkinson, still a minor, the
offspring of a second marriage, with Anne, daughter of Christopher
Thornton Clark, of Cross Hall, Lancashire, by whom he had issue two sons
and a daughter,—Ann Elizabeth Ynocensia, John Henry Gladstone, and the
present heir. The old Hall of Singleton Grange has been modernised and
converted into a farm-house.
It is very probable that there was a chapel in Singleton during the
earlier years of the fourteenth century, for in 1358-59, Henry, duke
of Lancaster, granted to John de Estwitton, hermit, the custody of the
chapel of St. Mary, in Singleton; and in 1440 a license was granted to
celebrate mass to the inhabitants of Singleton in the chapel at the
same place for one year. Twelve years afterwards another license was
granted by the archdeacon of Richmond for an oratory to be established
in the chapel for the use of the people of the township; and in 1456 the
license was renewed by archdeacon Laurence Bothe to John Skilicorne, of
Kirkham. The chapel, with all its appurtenances, passed to the Crown
at the Reformation; and in the report of the Commissioners of Edward
VI., it is stated that “A Stipendarye is founded in the Chapelle of
Syngleton, in Kirkeham, by vertue of a lease made out of the Duchie to
Sʳ Richarde Houghton, knight, the 26th day of Februarie, in the ffirst
yere of the raigne of our soveraign lorde the kinge, that nowe is
(1547), unto the ende of 21 yeres the next following; wherein the said
Sʳ Richarde covenanteth to pay yerely duringe the said time to a Pryest
celebrating in the said Chapelle the sum of 49s. The said Chapelle is
distant from the parishe Church of Kirkeham 4 myles; Richarde Godson,
the Incumbent, of the age of 38 yeres, hath the said yerely salarie of
49s.” Thomas Houghton, of Lea, the son of the knight, appears to have had
some difficulty in inducing sundry of the Singleton tenants to recognise
his right of proprietorship after the death of his father, for we find
him pleading in the duchy court in 1560-61 that he held the “lands of
the late kynge in Singleton, also a house called the chapell house, with
three acres of land in the tenure of Wᵐ Yede, a chapell called Singleton
chapell, in Singleton aforesaid, with the chapell yarde thereunto
belonging, one house or cottage called Corner-rawe, and a windmill; and
that the tenants thereof, Robert Carter and James Hall, had never paid
any rent, and refused to do so.”[198]
In 1562 the Charity Commissioners of Edward VI. founded a “stipendarye in
the Chapelle of Syngleton in Kyrkeham.”
At the archiepiscopal visitation of the diocese of Chester in 1578,
the following list of charges was brought against the curate of
Singleton:—“There is not servyse done in due tyme—He kepeth no hous nor
releveth the poore—He is not dyligent in visitinge the sycke—He doth
not teach the catechisme—There is no sermons—He churcheth fornycatours
without doinge any penaunce—He maketh a donge hill of the chapel yeard,
and he hath lately kepte a typlinge hous and a nowty woman in it.”[199]
From that time we hear no more of the old chapel of Singleton, but the
chapel-house, alluded to above, was at a later period flourishing as
an inn, and bearing the same name; at the Oliverian survey, in 1650,
it was stated that there was a newly erected chapel at Singleton, but
that it had no endowment or maintenance belonging to it, and that the
inhabitants prayed that it might be constituted a parish church with a
“minister and competent mayntenance allowed.”[200] It is probable that
after the decline of the Commonwealth this chapel fell into the hands
of the Catholics, for Thomas Tyldesley, of Fox Hall, a Romanist, in
his diary of 1712, 13 and 14, speaks several times of going “to Great
Singleton to prayers”; and doubtless it is the one alluded to in the
following indenture, bearing the date 29th August, 1749:—“William Shaw,
esq., lord of the manor of Shingleton in yᵉ parish of Kirkham, gave a
chapel belonging to him at Shingleton aforesaid, then used as a popish
chapel, to be used for yᵉ future as a chapel of ease to yᵉ mother church
of Kirkham, for yᵉ benefit of yᵉ inhabitants of Shingleton and of the
adjacent townships; and that the said Wᵐ. Shaw proposed to give £200, to
be added to a similar sum from Queen Anne’s bounty, for yᵉ endowment of
yᵉ said chapel, in consideration whereof Samuel, lord bishop of Chester
as ordinary, the dean and chapter of Christ Church, Oxford, as patrons,
and Chas. Buck as incumbent, by virtue of an act of George I., grant and
decree that yᵉ said William Shaw and his heirs and assigns for ever shall
have yᵉ nomination to and patronage of yᵉ said chapel, as often as it is
vacant.”
This chapel was dedicated to St. Anne, and in 1756 it was agreed “by all
parties that the chapel of Singleton should be always considered a place
of public worship according to the liturgy of the Church of England,
and the chapel yard always appropriated to the burying of the dead and
the support of the minister”; further, the chapel living was declared
a perpetual curacy, separate and independent of the mother church of
Kirkham, “save and except that the curate must assist the vicar of the
latter place on Christmas day, Easter day, Whitsunday, Good Friday, and
each sabbath when it is customary to administer the sacrament; also the
tythes, Easter dues, funeral sermons, and all other parochial rights and
duties belonged to the vicarage of Kirkham.”[201]
The above is an authentic record of the way in which the chapel of
Singleton passed out of the hands of the Romanists into those of
the Protestants, but the Rev. W. Thornber, to whom this document
was evidently unknown, has given in his _History of Blackpool and
its neighbourhood_, a different version of the matter. He states,
with apparently no greater authority than tradition, that after the
suppression of the rebellion of 1745, the protestants of the village
celebrated the 5th of November more zealously than usual, raising
contributions of peat at every house, and amongst the rest had even
the presumption to call at that of the priest. The refusal of the
ecclesiastic to provide his share of fuel so incensed the villagers that
they ejected him both from his house and the church; and the lord of the
manor seized this opportunity to convert the chapel into a protestant
place of worship.
Singleton chapel was a low building with a thatched roof, the eaves of
which came within a short distance of the ground; the priest’s house
was attached to the chapel and communicated with it by a door into the
sacristy. In 1806 this ancient building, having become much dilapidated,
was pulled down and replaced, through the liberality of Joseph Hornby,
of Ribby, esq., by a neat gothic structure, having a square tower at one
end, in which was placed a peal of six bells; in 1859 the latter edifice
was levelled to the ground, and the present handsome and commodious
church erected on the site, chiefly through the munificence of the
late Thomas Miller, esq. The few mural monuments within the church are
not of any great antiquity, and are _in memoriam_ of the Harrisons and
Atkinsons, of Bankfield. There are no inscriptions of interest in the
churchyard, beyond those on the stones surmounting the vault belonging
to the Bankfield families just named. In 1869 a separate district or
parish was assigned to this cure, and the present incumbent of the church
acquired the title of vicar.
THE CURATES AND VICARS OF SINGLETON.
------------+-----------------------+--------------------------
Date of | NAME. | Cause of Vacancy.
Institution.| |
------------+-----------------------+--------------------------
About 1545 |Richard Godson |
” 1562 |Thomas Fieldhouse |
In 1651 |Cuthbert Harrison, B.A.|
” 1749 |John Threlfall, B.A. |
About 1809 |Thomas Banks |
Before 1843 |William Birley, M.A. |
In 1843 |Leonard C. Wood, B.A. | Resignation of W. Birley
------------+-----------------------+--------------------------
The Rev. Cuthbert Harrison was the son of Richard Harrison, of Newton,
in Kirkham parish, and appears to have been the progenitor of the
Harrisons, of Bankfield, being the first of the name on record as holder
of that property. It is doubtful whether this minister was ejected from
Singleton, as generally believed, or not, for in 1662, the date of the
Act of Uniformity which drove so many of the clergy from their cures, he
was in Ireland, holding the office of minister at Shankel, near Lurgan;
so that if his ejection ever did take place from Singleton it must have
been anterior to, and consequently unconnected with, the obnoxious
Act. According to a letter from his son, however, he was ejected from
Shankel, and it is probably that circumstance which has given rise to the
supposition and assertion that he was one of those who suffered in the
Fylde for conscience’s sake in 1662. After leaving Ireland he opened a
meeting-house at Elswick in 1672 by royal license, for the use “of such
as do not conform to the Church of England and are of the persuasion
commonly called Congregational.” This place of worship was closed shortly
afterwards by a decree of parliament, and Cuthbert Harrison, to escape
persecution, was compelled to hold his services “very privately in the
night” in his own house, or in one belonging to some member of his
congregation. “He practysed physic,” says his son, “with good success,
and by it supported his family and gained the favour of the neighbouring
gentry. He baptized his own children, with many others.”
Vicar Clegg, of Kirkham, seems to have grown very wrathful at what he
doubtless regarded as the presumption of Cuthbert Harrison, in taking
upon himself the right to baptize children and solemnize matrimony, and
presented him before the ecclesiastical court on a charge of “marrying
one James Benson, of Warles, and baptizing a child of his.” The inquiry
resulted in both Harrison and Benson being excommunicated; but the
former was not deterred by this ban from repairing to the church of
Kirkham, much to the indignation of Mr. Clegg, who on one occasion was
so much disturbed on seeing the irrepressible excommunicant in the
chancel, whilst he engaged with the sermon, that he lost the thread of
his discourse, and being unable to find the place amongst his notes,
“was silent for some time.” Smarting under the additional annoyance
the vicar ordered the churchwardens to eject Mr. Harrison from the
building at once, but that gentleman refused to leave unless Mr. Clegg
in person performed the duty of turning him out; incensed at his show of
obstinacy, the vicar appealed to Christopher Parker, esq., of Bradkirk
Hall, a justice of the peace, who was seated within six feet of Mr.
Harrison, to remove him, but the magistrate refused to act in the matter,
and Mr. Clegg was obliged to descend from the pulpit and undertake the
unpleasant task himself. He walked up to the offender, and, taking him
by the sleeve, desired him to go out from the church; Mr. Harrison went
peaceably with the vicar, but had no sooner passed out through the
chancel door than he exclaimed in a loud voice “It is time to go when the
devil drives.”
Shortly after this episode Mr. Clegg sued Cuthbert Harrison for the sum
of 120s., being a fine of 20s. per month extending over six months, for
non-attendance at the parish church. The defendant pleaded that when he
had attempted to attend the service at Kirkham he had been ejected from
the church by the plaintiff himself, and the judge who summed up the
evidence in favour of the defendant, remarked—“There is fiddle to be
hanged and fiddle not to be hanged.” The verdict went against Mr. Clegg,
who reaped only the payment of his own and defendant’s costs from this
piece of persecution.
Cuthbert Harrison died in 1681, and “a great entreaty,” writes his son,
“was made to Mr. Clegg to suffer his body to be buried in the church;
he-was prevailed with, and Mr. Harrison was interred a little within the
great door, which has since been the burial place of the family.” The
first epitaph below is said, by his son, to have been fixed upon “Cuth.
Harrison’s grave by Mr. Clegg”; the second one is a retaliation, reported
to have been substituted by some local rhymester, after effacing the
original one:—
1
“Here lies Cud,
Who never did good,
But always was in strife;
Oh! let the Knave
Lie in his grave,
And ne’er return to life.”
2
“Here lies Cud,
Who still did good,
And never was in strife,
But with Dick Clegg,
Who furiously opposed
His holy life.”
In 1768 another chapel was erected by the Romanists at Singleton by
subscription, and almost immediately the officiating priest, the Rev.
Father Watts, renounced his creed, publicly recanting at Kirkham; he died
in 1773, when minister at the episcopal chapel of Wrea-green. According
to Mr. Thornber, the priests of Singleton could seldom assign a better
reason for desiring a removal to another sphere of labour, than that
they were surfeited with wild ducks from the “carrs.” The chapel was
rebuilt subsequently, but closed when the present one at Poulton had been
completed and opened a few years.
Mains or Maynes Hall is situated in the manor of Little Singleton, and
appears on ancient maps as Monk’s Hall. The original Hall was built in
the form of a quadrangle, the chapel being on the right and the kitchen
on the left; the latter, taken down rather more than half a century ago,
was roofed with tiles, about six inches square, piled thickly upon one
another, and contained several secret recesses or hiding places, one of
which was situated near the mantel-piece, and another, entered from the
floor above by means of a ladder, showed manifest evidences of having
been occupied. The present Hall is less antique in its construction and
arrangements than its predecessor. In 1745 a party of Scotch rebels
feasted there; and George IV., when Prince of Wales, is said to have
been an occasional visitor at the mansion. The mantel-piece of the
drawing-room was formerly adorned with a family painting of the Howards,
dukes of Norfolk; and adjoining that spacious apartment is a small room,
which appears to have been an oratory, containing relics of distinguished
saints. The outside wall of the old chapel bears the date 1686, and
within are a gilded altar in a state of dilapidation, a large picture of
the ‘Virgin and Infant,’ a coat of arms, and various scraps of scriptural
texts and ordinances of the church of Rome.[202]
Cardinal Allen, of Rossall Hall, the brother-in-law of William Hesketh,
who was living at Mains Hall at the opening of the seventeenth century,
is said to have frequently secreted himself in the hiding places there,
during the time he was engaged in endeavouring to alienate the loyalty of
the catholics of this district, and induce them to assist the invasion of
Philip of Spain, whose forces were expected to land at Peel in Morecambe
Bay.
The Heskeths were the first tenants of Mains Hall of whom we have any
notice, and the above William was the first of the family to reside
there; a full account of the descent and intermarriages of the Heskeths
of Mains will be found in the chapter on ancient families of the Fylde.
The Hall and estate are now the property of Thomas Fitzherbert
Brockholes, of Claughton, esq.
POPULATION OF GREAT AND LITTLE SINGLETON.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
325 396 501 499 391 293 338 317
The area of the township comprises 2,860 statute acres.
LITTLE ECCLESTON-WITH-LARBRICK. The _Testa de Nevill_ records that Adam
de Eccleston and William de Molines, with three others, had part of a
knight’s fee in Eccleston and Larbrick, about 1300. In 1500 Richard
Kerston had 60 acres in Little Eccleston, a portion of which passed on
his death in 1546 to John ffrance, who had married one of his daughters.
The ffrances retained their possessions until 1817, when they were
bequeathed by the last of the line to Thomas Wilson, of Preston, who
adopted their surname.[203] Larbrick was held in 1336 by William de
Coucy, of Gynes, but in 1358 it belonged to Sir William Molyneux, of
Sefton, in whose family it remained until about 1601, at which date
William Burgh, of Burgh, near Chorley, died, holding it. Subsequently
the manor passed, through the daughter of William Burgh, to Edward
Shuttleworth, of Thornton Hall, who had espoused her grand-daughter. The
last proprietor here named died in 1673, and the estate was divided,
a moiety going to Dr. Charles Leigh, who had married one of his two
daughters and co-heiresses, and the second mediety to Richard Longworth,
who was the husband of the other. Dr. Leigh mortgaged his share, which
eventually was obtained by Richard Harrison, of Bankfield; whilst that
of Richard Longworth, passed, about 1700, to the Hornbys, of Poulton,
and afterwards to the Pedders, of Preston, who held it for more than
a century. Mr. Whiteside, who purchased it from the Rev. Jno. Pedder,
is now owner. Larbrick Hall, for long a seat of the noble house of
Molyneux, is at present represented by a farm-house. Dr. Leigh mentions
an extremely cold well in Larbrick, in which fish were unable to survive
beyond a few seconds.
In 1697, William Gillow left 10s. a year, the rental of some land, to be
given to two or more poor persons of the township at Christmas, and in
1720, a further annual sum of 20s. was left for the same object by George
Gillow.
POPULATION OF LITTLE ECCLESTON-WITH-LARBRICK.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
178 192 224 230 199 215 209 192
The area of the township is 1,198 statute acres.
CLIFTON-WITH-SALWICK. As early as 1100 William de Clifton had lands
in Clifton and Salwick, and from that date to the present time, with
one short interval, the manors have descended in the same family, of
which Jno. Talbot Clifton, esq., of Lytham, is the head.[204] Clifton
and Salwick Halls, the ancient residences of the Cliftons, are now
comparatively modern buildings. The church of Lund is situated in
Salwick, and possessed a chantry so far back as 1516. The first notice
of any connection between Kirkham church and Lund chapel occurs amongst
the records of the “Thirty-men” in 1701, thus:—“Matt. Hall, ch warden, of
Kirkham, in 1688, set up a scandalous trough for a font in Lund chapel;
and 4 sackfuls of moss he then carried from the church to repair the said
chapel, and so it first began to be repaired at the parish charge.” The
old chapel was pulled down in 1824, and a stone church erected. In 1852 a
chancel was added, and more recently a tower. Lund and Newton-with-Scales
were constituted an ecclesiastical parish in 1840. The church is
dedicated to St. John, and the dean and chapter of Christ Church, Oxford,
are the patrons.
CURATES AND VICARS OF LUND.
------------+-------------------+--------------------------
Date of | NAME. | Cause of Vacancy.
Institution.| |
------------+-------------------+--------------------------
Before 1648 |Joseph Harrison |
” 1732 |Thomas Cockin |
” 1769 |Benj. Wright |
In 1790 |Charles Buck, B.A. |
Before 1818 |Thos. Stephenson |
In 1820 |Richard Moore, M.A.| Death of T. Stephenson
------------+-------------------+--------------------------
The Rev. Jos. Harrison, brother to Cuthbert Harrison, was ejected in the
year 1662, for refusing to comply with the Act of Uniformity.
Alice Hankinson, left in 1680, £5 for the use of the minister, and Alice
Clitherall a like sum for the same purpose. Thomas Smith bequeathed,
in 1685, the annual interest of £20 to Lund chapel. The sum of £10 is
received yearly under a trust of 1668, 50s. being for the vicar, and the
surplus for the poor. The school was established about 1682, by a legacy
of £60 left by John Dickson, half the interest to go to the minister of
Lund chapel, providing he belonged to the Church of England, and the
other moiety to the master of the school. The interest of £10, origin
unknown, is paid each year to the trustees of the school.
POPULATION OF CLIFTON-WITH-SALWICK.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
552 575 608 508 538 471 447 447
The township contains 3,776 statute acres.
TREALES, ROSEACRE, AND WHARLES. The ancient manor of Treales embraced the
three estates of Treales, Roseacre, and Wharles, being computed in the
Domesday Book to contain two carucates of arable soil. In 1207 Treales
was granted to Robert de Vavassour, the father-in-law of Theobald Walter,
and subsequently it descended in the Butler family until 1673, when the
9th earl of Derby acquired it with his wife, the daughter of Thomas
Butler, the lord Ossory. The present earl of Derby is lord of the manor,
and holds a court annually.
The church, a plain stone building with nave and chancel only, was
erected in 1853, and endowed five years later by the dean and chapter of
Christ Church, Oxford. The Rev. J. Hodgkin is the incumbent.
William Grimbaldson, M.D., left £300 in 1725, the interest to be used
for binding out poor apprentices in Treales, whose parents received no
parish relief. Boulton’s and Porter’s charities are rentals amounting to
about £12 a-year, to be given to poor persons of the township. Bridgett’s
charity is the interest of £15 for the poor of Wharles.
POPULATION OF TREALES, ROSEACRE, AND WHARLES.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
675 671 760 756 709 696 632 625
The township has an area of 4,015 statute acres.
NEWTON-WITH-SCALES. Newton appears in the Domesday Book as containing two
carucates. In 1324 William de Clifton had 60 acres in Scales; and in 1354
Adam de Bradkirk held land in Newton. John Hornby, of Newton-with-Scales,
left in 1707, the residue of his estate, after certain bequests, to six
trustees to found and endow the present Blue Coat School; and in 1809 the
funds of the institution were increased by a legacy of £800, under the
will of James Boys, of London, an old pupil. The principal soil owners
are the Rev. R. Moore, and the Westby, Swainson, Bryning, Hornby, and
Loxham families.
POPULATION OF NEWTON-WITH-SCALES.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
269 336 380 381 324 299 286 292
The area of the township is 1,525 statute acres.
HAMBLETON. Hambleton was held during the reign of King John by Geoffrey,
the Crossbowman, or de Hackensall, from whom it descended to his
son-in-law Richard de Sherburne, and afterwards to Robert de Sherburne,
the son of the latter. The manor was held successively by different
members of the Sherburne family until 1363, when it passed to Richard
de Bailey, who had married the daughter and heiress of the last male
Sherburne, and adopted the maiden surname of his wife. Hence the title
of the manorial lords remained unchanged up to 1717, when the property
became the possession of the Duchess of Ormond, the sole child of Sir
Nicholas Sherburne, who died at that date. After the decease of the
Duchess of Ormond, without issue, Hambleton passed to Edward, the son
of William Weld, of Lulworth Castle, by his marriage with the sister
of Sir Nicholas Sherburne. The descendants of Edward Weld still retain
some portion of the soil, but a considerable proportion has been sold in
recent years.
Bishop Gastrell affirms that the episcopal chapel of Hambleton
was consecrated in 1567. In 1650 the Parliamentary Commissioners
reported:—“There is no allowance to the minister, but only £5 per an.
payd by Richard Sherburne, esq., lord of the manor, and £40 per an. by
order from the committee for plundered ministers. The inhabitants desire
it may be made a parish, and the township of Rawcliffe, lying within a
myle of it and four miles from their parish church, may be annexed to
it.”
The present church was erected in 1749, and is a plain whitewashed
building, without a tower or any attempt at architectural display.
Attached to the south wall within are three tablets inscribed thus:—
“Beneath this marble are deposited the remains of Mary Ramsden,
daughter and heiress of the rev. Christʳ. Westby Alderston,
late vicar of St. Michael’s in this county, and wife of Rowland
Ramsden of Halifax. She was born Aug. 17ᵗʰ, 1768 and died Nov.
6ᵗʰ, 1764.”
“Sacred to the memory of George Bickerstaffe of Hambleton,
gent., died May 3ʳᵈ, 1766; Jenny Alderston, his granddaughter,
died May 16ᵗʰ, 1770; and Agnes, wife of the rev. Christʳ. Westby
Alderston, widow of Richᵈ. Harrison of Bankfield, and daughter of
George Bickerstaffe, died March 14ᵗʰ, 1820.”
“Sacred to the memory of the rev. Thomas Butcher, B.A., for 39
years the respected incumbent of this chapel. Erected by the
voluntary contributions of his parishioners.”
On the aisles of the church are three gravestones, bearing the following
inscriptions:—
“In this aisle lie the remains of the rev. John Field, B.A. and
minister of this place, who died 21st April, 1765; also his wife
and children.”
“Here lies the body of Dorothy, wife of Richard Carter of
Hambleton, who died 14th May, 1807.”
“William, son of James Norris of Liverpool, buried the 29th of
June 1692—Though Boreas’ Blast and Neptune’s Waves have tost me
to and fro, yet a spite on both by God’s decree I harbour here
below: Here at anchor I doe ride with many of our fleet, yet once
again I must set sail my Generall Christ to meet.”[205]
In earlier days, when the church was held by the Roman Catholics, the
burial ground was evidently of much greater extent than at present, and
surrounded by an immense moat, between six and seven yards wide, and of
a considerable depth. In a field lying to the east of the church can
now be seen the ancient limits of the ground in that direction, bounded
by a long stretch of the old moat in a very fair state of preservation,
but of course somewhat contracted by accumulations of vegetation; and in
another plot of ground to the west, may be traced by a slight depression
the course of the same trench, marking the westerly extent of the yard.
The northerly length of the moat passed behind the present churchyard,
and a portion of it, about two yards wide, is still to be seen there, the
remainder of its breadth being filled in and included in the cemetery.
The southerly stretch of this ancient ditch or fosse ran just within
the railings, protecting the burial ground in front. When the existing
walls were built round the yard great difficulty was met with in forming
a good foundation over the site of the moat at different points, as it
was found to be filled in with fragments of bricks, mortar, and general
rubbish, which seems to indicate that it was abolished when the church
itself was in course of reconstruction, and that the old building
materials and _debris_ were used for the purpose of raising it to the
common level, indicating that the work must have been accomplished
either at the rebuilding of 1749, or at some previous and unrecorded
one. The moat would be crossed by a bridge of fair dimensions, which was
probably situated on the west side, as the sexton lately discovered the
well-preserved remains of a straight footpath, paved with long tiles, and
running from the church for some distance towards the site of the moat in
that direction; the path was between two and three feet below the surface
of the ground.
The church was separated from the mother edifice of Kirkham, and had an
independent district assigned to it in 1846. The incumbent has the title
of vicar.
CURATES AND VICARS OF HAMBLETON.
------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------
Date of | NAME. | Cause of Vacancy.
Institution.| |
------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------
About 1648 |Robert Cunningham |
Before 1662 |William Bullock |
About 1725 |William Whitehead, B.A.|
In 1735 |John Field, B.A. | Resignation of W. Whitehead
” 1765-86 |Mr. Parkinson |
” 1796 |Thomas Butcher, B.A. |
” 1835 |Mr. Howard | Death of T. Butcher
” 1836 |William Hough | Resignation of ⸺ Howard
------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------
An Independent chapel was erected by subscription a few years since, and
schools subsequently added.
From the report of the Charity Commissioners, we learn that long before
the commencement of the nineteenth century there was a school at
Hambleton, but no attempt to elucidate more particularly its origin or
date of erection can be hazarded. In 1797 the only endowment it can boast
of was left by Matthew Lewtas, a native of Hambleton, and consisted of
£200, the interest of which had to be given to John, the son of George
Hall, of Hambleton, until he reached the age of twenty-one; and if before
or at that time he was appointed master of the school he had to continue
to receive the whole of the income whilst he held such mastership, but
if, although he was willing to accept the post, some other person should
be selected for it, then when he came of age, half of the income passed
from him to the school, and he retained the other moiety until his death,
when it also went to increase the stipend of the master. The other
condition of the will applied to the master, and obliged him in return
for the interest or income of the £200, to teach as many poor children
of Hambleton as the money would pay for. John Hall never obtained the
appointment, so that the present master receives the full interest of the
bequest, which is invested on mortgage.
The poor of Hambleton have £2 annually distributed amongst them through
the generosity of Sir Nicholas Sherburne, of Stonyhurst, who in 1706,
when lord of the manor of Hambleton, charged his estate of Lentworth Hall
with this charity.
The yearly interest of £10 was given for the benefit of poor housekeepers
in Hambleton by Mary, the daughter of vicar Clegg, of Kirkham, and the
wife of Emanuel Nightingale, of York, gent., who was born in 1673.
POPULATION OF HAMBLETON.
1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
252 273 338 334 349 346 366 351
The statute acres of the township amount to 1,603.
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