AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



WHITTINGHAM 



Witingheham, Dom. Bk. ; Whitingham, 1199; 

 Witingheham, Witingeheim, 1202 ; Hwytingham, 

 1246; Wytingham, 1257; Quytyngham, 1292. 



Cumberhal, 1292 ; Cumberhalgh, 1301. Asshe- 

 legh, 1346. 



This township has an area of 3,192 acres. 1 The 

 western half or Lower End is Whittingham proper ; 

 the eastern half or Higher End 2 being formed of 

 Comberhalgh or Cumeragh in the south and Ashley 

 in the north. 3 Chingle Hall is three-quarters of a 

 mile south of Goosnargh Chapel. Duxendean lies at 

 the west end of the township. 4 The general slope of 

 the ground is down from east to west and north to 

 south, but the surface is intersected by many depres- 

 sions, down which flow some brooks ; the chief is 

 Blundel Brook, flowing west south-west and for about 

 two miles forming the southern boundary. Savock 

 Brook is the boundary on the south-east. The 

 ordinary population in 1901 was 805, but there 

 were also 3,236 persons in the lunatic asylum as 

 patients or attendants. 



The principal road, from Preston and Broughton 

 to Longridge, goes east through the centre ; one cross 

 road goes north to Goosnargh and another south to 

 the above-named asylum. This is the chief institu- 

 tion in the township ; it was built in 1869 by the 

 county authorities and has a single line railway con- 

 necting it with Grimsargh station on the Preston 

 and Longridge line. A large part of the township 

 belongs to it. 



The soil is clayey, and the land is chiefly in 

 pasture. 



The township is governed by a parish council. 



The local legend of the Dun Cow Rib Farm is 

 that there was once on the moors an old dun cow of 

 great size, which had no owner but gave milk freely 



KIRKHAM 



to all comers. An old witch once took a riddle 

 instead of a pail, and the cow, mortified at being 

 unable to fill it, died. The people much regretted 

 its loss and preserved its ribs for a memorial. One 

 of them is chained over the door of the farm-house 

 named, which stands in Halfpenny Lane, near Long- 

 ridge. It is a good type of the small stone-built 

 1 7th-century yeoman's dwelling, of two stories, with 

 low mullioned windows and stone slated roof over- 

 hanging at the eaves and with a gable at each end. 

 The front faces south with the door at its east end, 

 and the east wall is blank except for an oriel window 

 corbelled out on the first floor, the entrance to which, 

 however, is blocked up on the inside. Over the 

 door are the initials of Adam Hoghton and the date 

 1 6 1 6, together with the Hoghton arms on a shield. 

 Over the shield fastened to the wall with iron bands 

 is the bone referred to, which is about 2 ft. long. 

 The door is the original nail-studded one and retains 

 its original heavy oak bar. The interior was 

 modernized in the middle of the i gth century and 

 the plan altered. The original oak staircase remains, 

 but its position has bfeen changed ; partitions have 

 been introduced and the ceiling raised. The house 

 was also known as Moor House. 8 



Forming part of Earl Tostig's Preston 

 MANORS fee in 1066, when it was assessed as two 

 plough-lands, 6 WHITTINGHAM was 

 afterwards a member of the barony of Penwortham 

 and held with other lands by knight's service by the 

 lords of Freckleton. 7 These, retaining one moiety in 

 demesne, gave the other plough-land to subordinate 

 tenants to hold by the eighth part of a knight's fee. 

 In 1242 the tenants were Alan de Singleton, Warine 

 de Whittingham and Robert de Dutton, 8 each, it 

 would seem, holding equally. Soon afterwards, by 

 steps unknown, this portion was held equally by the 

 heirs of Singleton 9 and by the Hoghton family 10 ; 



Grace Shakeshaft in 1740 left 60 

 (reduced to 40) for the poor. This 

 with other sums, amounting in all to 

 138 los., had been in the hands of 

 Thomas Clifton till about 1822, when he 

 died in very embarrassed circumstances. 

 Letitia Barrow (nie Moore) left 40, 

 which may have been part of the last- 

 named ,138. Nothing further is known 

 of these sumi. 



1 The 1901 Censut Rep. gives 3,193 

 acres, including 2 of inland water. 



3 This seems to have been known as 

 Alley tithing in 1671. The name may 

 be the Heyley of the Hospitallers. 



s Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 421. 



4 Henry Waring, in right of the Earl 

 of Derby, claimed a waste called Duxen- 

 dean, &c., in 1587 ; Ducatui Lane. (Rec. 

 Com.), iii, 207. 



4 Gillow, HaydocJ^ Papers, 64-6. The 

 estate came into the possession of An- 

 thony Lund, priest at Fernyhalgh in 

 Broughton, and in 1808 he settled it upon 

 St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw. The bone 

 is not a cow's rib ; Fishwick, Goosnargh, 

 192 ; Harland and Wilkinson, Lanes. 

 Legends, 16-19. For Moor House see 

 notes 86 and 95 below. 



6 r.C.H. Lana. i, 288*. 



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

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 36. In 1324 again 

 Whittingham was described as part of 

 the Freckleton lordship, the immediate 

 tenants not being recorded ; Dods. MSS. 

 cxxxi, fol. 39/1. 



8 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 152. From 

 note 12 below it will be seen that Alan 

 was the common ancestor of the various 

 Singleton families. 



One of the divisions may be due to an 

 arrangement in 1202 by which Roger de 

 Freckleton confirmed 8 oxgangs of land 

 in Whittingham and Elswick to William 

 de Winwick and Maud his wife in ex- 

 change for other lands there and else- 

 where ; Feet of F. Yorks. 4 John, no. 45. 



Maud, called ' de Thornton ' or 

 'daughter of Robert,' gave land in Whit- 

 tingham to Cockersand Abbey, 3 acres 

 with her body, and 6 acres (in Flecher 

 Oatley) for the soul of her lord William 

 de Winwick ; Chartul. (Chet. Soc.), i, 

 231-2. The Abbot of Cockersand in 

 1246 made an agreement with Alice de 

 Thornton (daughter of Maud) as to land 

 in Whittingham ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 103. 



9 William father of Adam Banastre was 

 in 1323 found to have died seised of lands 

 in Whittingham held of Adam lord of 

 Freckleton by paying 2s. when a scutage 

 of 40*. was demanded (i.e. by the twentieth 

 part of a knight's fee) ; Lanes. Inq. and 

 Extents, ii, 159. Adam Banastre, then a 

 minor, seems to have had but a small 

 revenue ; ibid. 113. 



As in other cases, the Banastre inherit- 

 ance descended to Balderston and became 

 divided among the heirs of this family, 

 the later fines and inquisitions showing 

 portions to have been held by Thomas 



207 



Earl of Derby, 1521 (succeeding Harring- 

 ton) ; Alexander Osbaldeston, 1544 ; 

 William Radcliffe of Winmarleigh, 1561, 

 and Gilbert Gerard, 1593. 



10 Hoghton succeeded Dutton before 

 1290. Robert de Dutton gave his brother 

 Hugh part of the wood of Whittingham ; 

 Towneley MS. DD, no. 1913. Hugh de 

 Dutton granted land to Alexander son of 

 Randle de Goosnargh, the bounds of it 

 going down to Ashley Clough, by the 

 clough to the high way, thence to the 

 carr, and round to the starting-point ; 

 Add. MS. 32106, no. 324. Adam 'son of 

 Sir Adam de Hoghton about 1284 (Gilbert 

 de Clifton being sheriff) released to the 

 same Alexander all his claim in that 

 oxgang of land which Robert de Dutton 

 had granted to Randle father of Alexander ; 

 ibid. no. 320. 



A sixth part of the manor of Whitting- 

 ham was in 1306 included in the estate 

 of Richard son of [Sir] Adam de Hoghton; 

 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 207. This seems to show that at that 

 time the 'manor* was the moiety granted 

 out, and that each of the three holders 

 shared equally. Nevertheless in 1322 

 Richard de Hoghton was said to hold the 

 manor of Whittingham by the eighth part 

 of a knight's fee of the honour of Pen- 

 wortham ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, ii, 136. 



In 1422 Sir Richard Hoghton was said 

 to hold a moiety of the manor of Whit- 

 tingham by the sixteenth part of a knight't 

 fee, paying 1\d. for castle ward and (>d. to 



