CHAPTER XIII. 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, I messuage and 3 bovates; Nicholas le Botiler, I messuage and 11 bovates; the heirs of Robert Sherburne, 2 bovates; the heirs of Sir Adam de Banastre, 2 bovates; and Thomas de Singleton, I 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 ployed 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. 561 701 875 995 968 879 930 The township comprises 2,659 statute acres. 909 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. 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 schoolhouse was built. POPULATION OF WARTON. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871. 1801. 1811. 1821. 376 445 468 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 3 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.' POPULATION OF BRYNING-WITH-KELLAMERGH. 1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871. 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. 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.3 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. In 1297 earl Edmund's rents from Ribby-with-Wrea amounted in all to £19 19s. 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 1. For "Leyland of Leyland House" see Chapter VI. 2. Regist. S. Maria Lanc. MS. fol. Í and 4. 3. Rot. Cancell. 3 John. m. 5. 4. Harl. MSS. No. 2064. 5. Escaet. 25 Edw. I. n. 51. 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. 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." 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. 1. Lansd. MSS. No. 539. f. 15. 2. MS. Church Records. |