A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



this road a branch goes north past Mains to cross the 

 Wyre by Shard Bridge. From Little Singleton another 

 road turns off to the east towards St. Michael's, while 

 from Great Singleton other roads go east and west to 

 the adjoining townships. 



The village is said to have been the residence of 

 Mag Shelton, a famous witch. 'The cows of her 

 neighbours were constantly milked by her, the pitcher 

 in which she conveyed the milk away, when stolen, 

 walking before her in the shape of a goose.' A neigh- 

 bour, suspecting, once struck the ' goose,' and the 

 pitcher was broken, the milk flowing out. 3 



There is a sheep fair on 2 1 September. 



The soil is clayey, with marl subsoil ; oats, potatoes 

 and turnips are grown. Sixty years ago almost all 

 the land was under the plough, but about three-fourths 

 of the land is now pasture, for the dairy farms. 



The township is governed by a parish council. 

 There is a fire-engine station, with a volunteer 

 brigade. 



The Gillow family, formerly seated in this and 

 adjacent townships, produced several noteworthy 

 men. 4 Henry Lushingtor., at one time chief secre- 

 tary to the Government of Malta, was born here in 

 1812. He died in 1855.* John Bilsborrow, D.D., 

 born at Singleton Lodge in 1836, was Bishop of 

 Salford from 1892 till his death in 1903. 



Before the Conquest Singleton was in- 

 M4NORS eluded in the great lordship held by Earl 

 Tostig in Amounderness ; it was then 

 assessed as six plough-lands. 6 Afterwards it was re- 

 tained as demesne by the lords of the honour of Lan- 

 caster,' except that half a plough-land was given to the 

 hereditary bailifFof the wapentake by way of fee, and 

 two plough-lands more were granted to Cockersand 

 Abbey. 



Singleton is named in the Pipe Roll of 1168-9 as 

 contributing to an aid, 8 and in similar ways later.' 

 The demesne rendered 28*. to the farm of the county 

 in 1226,' but this had been greatly increased by 



1258," and the value of the vill to the Earl of Lan- 

 caster was in 1297 estimated at ^2i. 12 Accounts of 

 the halmotes in 1325 have been printed. 13 A brief 

 extent made a few years later states that there were 

 then twenty-one messuages and 26 oxgangs of land in 

 the hands of bonders ; the total value to the lord was 

 24." A more elaborate extent of the year I 346 has 

 been preserved. There were then 28 oxgangs of land, 

 held by bondmen or natives, each containing 1 2 acres 

 and rendering 14*. 3^. yearly. The payment was 

 made up of ;/. rent and 9^. 3^. in lieu of various 

 services, including the carriage of the lord's victuals 

 at any time of the year by three suitable beasts. An 

 additional service was the carrying of victuals whenever 

 the lord travelled Irom Ribblc Bridge to Lancaster 

 Castle and back. Merchet for sons and daughters and 

 letherwit for sons were due. At death the lord took 

 all the bondman's goods, reserving the best beast for 

 himself, paying debts, and returning to the widow 

 and children two-thirds of the remainder. In 1346 

 there were also a few cottagers and three tenants at 

 will. There was an ancient custom that an unmarried 

 woman living by herself in the township should pay 

 the lord 3^. yearly in the name of advowson. 16 



About 1510-15 disputes arose between the king's 

 tenants of Singleton and those of the Abbot of Whalley's 

 manor of Staining as to boundaries, and particularly 

 as to the carr. It was decided that the carr belonged 

 to the king alone, but the tenants of TodderstafFe and 

 Hardhorn had right of common." 



Singleton proper, or GRE4T SINGLETON, re- 

 mained in the hands of the Earls and Dukes of Lan- 

 caster, and eventually of the Crown, until 1623, when 

 this manor, with Ribby and Wrea, was sold to Edward 

 Badby and William Weltden." Within a few years it 

 seems to have been purchased by William Fanshawe, 

 auditor of the duchy," descending to Simon Fanshawe, 

 who in 1 748 sold it to William Shawe of Preston." 

 His son, William Cunliffe Shawe, who succeeded in 

 1 77 1, sold it to Joseph Hornby of Ribby about 1 800. 



8 Thornbcr, Blackpool, 308-9. 



4 Thomas Gillow, D.D., son of Richard 

 Gillow of Singleton, 1769 to 1867, ha 

 a notice in Diet, Nat. Biog. Memoirs of 

 him and several other members of the 

 family will be found in Gillow, Bibl. Diet, 

 of Engl. Cat/it ii, 474-88. The Gillows 

 of Leighton in Yealand are descendants. 



6 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



6 V.C.H. Lanes. \, 288*. 



7 The tithes were given to St. Martin 

 of Sees in 1094 by Count Roger of 

 Poitou ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 290. 



8 Ibid. 12. 



9 In 1176-7, 5 marks of aid; in 

 1200-1, i8j. increment of farm (for half 

 a year) ; in 1205-6, 471. BJ. of tallage ; 

 ibid. 35, 130,202. In 1 181-2 Richard 

 de Molyneux paid 201. fpr leave to agree 

 with the men of Singleton as to a certain 

 new assize j ibid. 46-7. 



Singleton contributed {T. 51. SJ. to a 

 tallage in 1226 and 4 in 1248-9, 8 

 in 1261 ; Lanci. Inq. and Extents (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 135, 176, 228. 



In 1229 the sheriff was ordered to 

 reinstate Richard son of Ralph de Single- 

 ton, who had held 2 oxgangs of land 

 by a rent of 2. ; Cal. Close, 1227-31, 

 p. 176. 



10 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 139. The Abbot of 

 Cockersand also paid 205. for the two 

 plough -lands of Newbigging. In 1246-8 the 



farm of Singleton amounted to 5 31. (td. 

 and the pleas and perquisites to 5 zs. bd. ; 

 ibid. 169. 



11 For two years and a half (1256-8) 

 the farm and the pleas and perquisites 

 amounted in all to ^13 is. id. ; ibid. 221. 

 The issues for the three years and a 

 half following, 1258-62, amounted to 

 i 5 95. 9<A without the pleas and per- 

 quisites ; ibid. 230. 



18 Ibid. 289. 



13 Lanes. Ct. R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 934. Three women paid f>d. 

 each lor licence to marry. 



14 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1870), ii, 692. 



15 Add. MS. 32103, fol. 149*. There 

 was another custom that the township 

 should provide four cows for the lord's 

 stock, each man contributing his share. 

 The names of the bondmen are recorded ; 

 their holdings varied from half an oxgang 

 to 2 oxgangs of land. 



The six plough-lands of 1066 seem to 

 have been divided thus : 3^ demesne, 

 2 Cockersand, and J serjeanty. Some- 

 times, however, the abbot was said to 

 have five plough-lands and the bailiff of 

 the wapentake one. 



John of Gaunt in 1373 (?) granted Sir 

 Thomas Banastre for his lile the vill of 

 Singleton with all rents, &c., to be held 

 by the rent of a rose ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Misc. Bks. xiii, 131. 



A rental of the king's lands in Great 



I8 4 



Singleton in 1 508 is preserved in Towne- 

 Icy's MS. OO. The Abbot of Vale Royal 

 paid 3*. \d. for his tithe barn there. 



16 Dueatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 1 9, 

 1O j Lanes, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc.), ii, 

 271. 17 Pat. 20 Jas. I, pt. iii. 



18 In Burke's Landed Gentry, in the 

 pedigree of Fanshawe of Dengie, Essex, 

 William Fanshawe (1583-1634), auditor 

 of the Duchy of Lancaster, is styled ' of 

 Great Singleton,' and the later descent 

 is thus given : -. John, d. 1689 -i. 

 William, d. 1708 -s. Thomas Edwarci, 

 d. 1726 -s. Simon, d. 1777. 



Christopher Slinger was plaintiff and 

 William Fanshawe deforciant in a fine 

 in 1699 regarding the manor of Great 

 Singleton, lands there, view of frank- 

 pledge, &C. ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 243, m. 55. Thomas Edward Fan- 

 shawe was vouchee in recoveries of the 

 manor in 1712 and 1716 j Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 496, m. 2 ; 502, m. 3. Simon 

 Fanshawe in 1747 ; ibid. 564, m. 9. 



19 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 338. 

 Courts leet, courts baron, and view ot 

 frankpledge are named in the fine. 



From the pedigree in Fishwick's Preston 

 (341) it appears that William Shawe 

 died in 1771, and his son W. C. Shawe, 

 M.P. for Preston in 1792, died in 1821. 

 This son was vouchee in a recovery of 

 the manor of Great Singleton in 1771 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 614, m. 6. 



