A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



1732 Joseph Cowper, M.A. (T.C.D.) 



1761 John Hunter 86 



1774 Randal Andrews, M.A. 87 (Worcester 



Coll., Oxf.) 



1801 George Charnley M 



1 8 10 Hugh Hodgson 



1817 William Dixon 



1872 William Bretherton 



1886 Samuel Edward Collinson, L.Th. 



(Durh.) 88a 



There was in the ijth century an oratory, St. 

 Mary's, at Fernyhalgh, 89 but this fell into decay, and 

 was not used after the Reformation. 90 



A school was founded in 1527 by Lawrence 

 Stodagh. 91 



As a large proportion of the people adhered to 

 the old religion at the Reformation the Roman 

 Catholic worship survived during the time of 

 proscription. 92 Bank Hall, as above stated, was a 

 missionary centre for a long time, 93 and our Lady's 

 Well at Fernyhalgh is said to have remained a place of 

 pilgrimage. 94 In 1685 Hugh Charnley gave the site 

 of the well in trust for the mission there and a house- 

 chapel was built. This remained in use till 1793, 

 when the present church of St. Mary was built a 

 quarter of a mile away. 95 The Rev. John Daniel, 

 last president of the seminary at Douay, was born at 

 Durton. 96 



It appears that a school was secretly kept up in 

 connexion with this mission from about 1650 ; 

 it was known later as Schola Sanctte Maries ad 

 fontem. 97 



The township gives its name to the Broughton 

 Charitable Society, the annual meeting being held 

 there. 98 



HAIGHTON 



Halctun, Dom. Bk. 1 ; Aulton, 1200; Halicton, 

 1212 ; Halghton, 1278 and usually ; Alghton, 1292 ; 

 Halghton, Haughton, Haghton, Haighton, 1560- 

 1600. 



This township, a continuation of Broughton east- 

 ward, is somewhat more elevated, as most of the 

 surface is above the 2OO-ft. level. Blundel Brook 

 forms the northern boundary, while Savock Brook, 

 flowing through a little valley, cuts off the south- 

 eastern portion, in which is Cow Hill. The area is 

 1,078 acres, 2 and in 1901 the population num- 

 bered 273. 



The principal road is that going through the 

 centre of the township, leading eastward from 

 Broughton through Haighton Green, and then turn- 

 ing south and east again towards Longridge. There 

 was formerly a cross on the green. 3 To the north of 

 the road are New Chingle Hall and Haighton Hall, 

 while Haighton House lies to the south. There is 

 neither railway nor canal. The township is governed 

 by a parish council. 



The land is almost entirely in pasture. 



One plough-land in HJ1GHTON was 



MdNOR in 1066 included in Earl Tostig's fee of 



Preston. 4 After the Conquest it appears 



to have been included in the royal demesne, 5 but in 



1 2 1 2 Gillemichael de Haighton held 2 oxgangs of 



twenty-one years of age. He was after- 

 wards vicar of Bray ton and Selby, 1727- 

 48 ; R. F. Scott, Admissions, iii, 14, 318. 

 In 1726 the Sacrament was adminis- 

 tered four times a year by the vicar of 

 Preston ; Visit, returns. With Charnley 

 begin the nominations recorded at the 

 Chester Diocesan Registry. 



88 He became curate of Pilling. He 

 and his successors were nominated by the 

 Hoghton family. 



87 Vicar of Ormskirk 1780-1800 ; re- 

 tained Broughton. 



83 Master of Broughton School, 1771. 



88a Mr. Collinson has afforded con- 

 siderable assistance to the editors. 



89 In 1454 Nicholas Singleton of 

 Broughton and Margaret his wife had 

 licence for a chaplain to celebrate divine 

 service in the chapel of Fernyhalgh and 

 in the oratory in their manor-house ; 

 Kuerden MSS. iv, B 34. 



There is evidence for its use for mass 

 in the time of Henry VII, but the roof 

 is stated to have fallen in by 1515 ; 

 Fishwick, op. cit. quoting Duchy of Lane. 

 Plead. Edw. VI, Ixi, R 2 ; Depositions 

 Hen. VIII, x, S 5. The chapel had land 

 at Warton. 



On the meaning of the word see N : 

 and Q. (Ser. 4), x, 260. 



90 Raines, Chantries, 259, &C. The 

 chapel had one bell, seized by Edward 

 VI. William Kenyon, who had a grant 

 of the lands belonging to it in 1553, ma de 

 complaints about various tenants ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Plead. Edw. VI, xxxii, K 2. 



91 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 468 ; End. Char. 

 Rep. (Preston, 1905), 18. 



9 * William Cowell of Preston about 

 1590 found Edmond Haworth, priest, 

 ' saying mass after the popish manner in 



a loft at the east end of the house of one 

 Dilworth, a widow, in the village of 

 Broughton, about 10 o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, attired in massing apparel, wearing a 

 vestment, alb and stole, and with a mass 

 book, a super altar, chalice containing 

 wine and a paten, with other massing 

 furniture.' The widow, her sons and 

 daughters and one or two more were 

 present. The informant, terrified with 

 cries of ' Strike, strike ! kill, kill ! now 

 or never ! ' and bribed by a gift of seven 

 nobles promised to keep silence, restored 

 the paten and chalice he had ' partly 

 taken,' but immediately gave informa- 

 tion to the mayor of Preston and others ; 

 T. C. Smith, Preston Ch. 21, from Raines 

 MSS. xxii, 156-8. 



93 In 1718 John Crook 'had heard 

 George Crook, a reputed Romish priest, 

 say prayers after the Romish way' at 

 Bank Hall ; Payne, Engl. Cath. Rec. 155. 



94 Christopher Tootell, the priest in 

 charge about 1700 and later, in an account 

 written in 1723 gives the legend of the 

 well. A merchant in distress in a storm 

 in the Irish Sea promised to do some 

 work of piety if he escaped, and heard a 

 voice telling him to seek a place called 

 Fernyhp.lgh and build a chapel by the 

 spring ; which, after long search for the 

 place, he performed. Tootell states : 

 ' The ancient devotion of neighbouring 

 Catholics did not fail with the old chapel, 

 but . . . continued in their constant 

 assembling and praying together at the 

 well on Sundays and Holy Days and 

 especially on the feasts of Our Lady, even 

 in the severest times of persecution.' 

 This was interrupted at the futile Jacobite 

 rising of 1715 and the severities which 

 followed it, the chapel being plundered ; 



124 



but prayers were resumed in 1717. There 

 is a notice of Chr. Tootell in Gillow, 

 Blbl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. v, 548. 



95 Gillow, Haydock Papers, 58. There 

 is preserved there an ancient chalice in- 

 scribed ' Dosus Maguir Rex Fermanne me 

 fi. fe. MCCCCC xxix,' supposed to have 

 belonged to the pre-Reformation chapel. 



96 When the college was destroyed in 

 the French Revolution the president was 

 imprisoned for some time. He returned 

 to England and was made president of the 

 new college at Crook Hall, Durham, in 

 1795, but resigned in order to protect the 

 interests of the college at Douay, and died 

 in Paris in 1823. He wrote a short 

 work on Church history. There are 

 notices of him in Diet. Nat. Biog. and 

 Gillow, EM. Diet, of Engl. Cath. ii, 13-15. 



97 Ibid, iii, 145-8. In the first half of 

 the 1 8th century it had a noteworthy 

 teacher Alice Harrison of Fulwood. 



98 It was founded in 1787, and large 

 numbers of Lancashire Roman Catholics 

 are members. Masses are said for them 

 at death, and a distribution of the surplus 

 funds is made each year, each member 

 giving his share to some poor person. 



1 It is difficult to distinguish the town- 

 ships of Haighton, Aighton and Hoghton 

 in mediaeval deeds, but the first is com- 

 monly Halghton and the second Aghton. 



2 1,077 acres, including 2 of inland 

 water; Census Rep. 1901. 



3 Lanes, and Ches. Antij. Soc. xx, 178. 



4 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 28 8a. As will be 

 seen from the text Haighton was in later 

 times regarded as 2 oxgangs of land or 

 else half a plough-land. 



5 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 130 ; f l2d. of 

 the increment of Aulton' for the half- 

 year. 



