sive rocks. This insignificant stream was able to effect this 
owing to beds of shale and softer rocks lying between more 
solid ones, just as for the same reason at present the falls of 
Niagara are continually retreating and the gorge lengthening. 
The lecturer speculated on the origin of the name, and 
after alluding to the historical interest attaching to local names, 
pronounced his opinion that Hoghton was equivalent to Hill-town. 
He had seen it written in 138 different ways: a neighbouring 
township, Withnell, had 45, and Samlesbury 31 different spell- 
ings. The Hoghton family had owned the place for 800 years. 
It was descended from a daughter of one of William the Con- 
queror’s soldiers. Her son was Adam lord of Hocton, and the 
family have retained possession of the property up to the present 
time. Not much is known of its early history, but we find that 
Richard Hoghton in 1809 married a supposed lineal descendant 
of Godiva, and Leofric, Earl of Mercia. The Hoghtons, it 
would appear, had owned a great tract of land near Liverpool 
from 1809 to the time of Charles I. Many of them have been 
sheriffs of the county, and members of Parliament. One of the 
family, Sir Richard, married the heiress of Sir Thomas Ashton, 
and we find him possessed of land in 47 different townships in 
Laneashire, besides property in Cheshire. This Sir Richard was 
married three times, and had eighteen children. He seems to 
have been economical with the names he gave to his children, 
as two of them were called Thomas, three of them Richard, and 
three of his daughters Elizabeth. This kind of thing was not 
by any means uncommon in those days, and it often makes it 
very difficult to unravel pedigrees in particular families. When 
_ this gentleman died he was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas, 
; who built the tower. The Hoghtons had probably lived at Lea, 
81 
gorge cut by the river Darwen in post-glacial times out of mas- 
3 
; 
| 
Se Wes 
_ where there still stands an old mansion. 
= At the time Queen Elizabeth was upon the throne, a great 
_ change was taking place in architecture and building in the 
country. Before time they had been mainly fortresses, pictur- 
esque in appearance, but very uncomfortable, deficient in venti- 
lation, light, and drainage. But when the country got more 
settled there sprang up the more comfortable habitations of 
Elizabeth’s time. Thomas Hoghton had great difficulty with 
his masons. We find that Bernard Towneley, his master mason, 
was seduced away from his work, and Thomas complained to the 
Chancellor of the Duchy. The truant mason returned, and the 
building was finished in 1565. Thomas Hoghton did not con- 
form to the ordinances of Queen Elizabeth, and he died on the 
continent at Liége, where his will was found not many years ago 
by the late Sir Henry de Hoghton. He left an only daughter 
Jane, from whom are descended the Earls of Crawford and 
