A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



show by what right they claimed wreck of the sea at 

 Lytham." Later they are found paying the Earl of 

 Lancaster 3/. \d. a year for this right.* 6 In 1498 a 

 number of other claims were called in question, in- 

 cluding free warren. 27 Estholme Carr was at one 

 time held by the Bradkirk family.* 8 There are but 

 few traces of other freeholders.* 9 



Several accounts of the furniture and stock of the 

 priory have been preserved. 30 The house itself seems 

 to have been deserted by the monks before the 

 Dissolution ; they returned to Durham. 



In addition to the lord of the manor several yeomen 

 and others registered estates as ' Papists 'in 171 7." 



The church of ST. CUTHBERT 

 CHURCH stands at the west end of the town and 

 is a modern building in red brick erected 

 in 1834 on the site of an older edifice built in 1770, 

 which in itstur.i had replaced one of still earlier date. 

 This earlier church was built of cobbles and was very 

 low, with a ' steeple,' a porch, and a ' pulpit against 

 the south wall.' A description of the building as it 

 was in 1764 has been preserved in a brief of that 

 date, 32 in which it is stated to be a ' very ancient 

 structure standing upon the sea-coast and so much 

 decayed in every part that the parishioners cannot 

 assemble therein for the worship of God without 

 manifest danger to their lives, the walls being so 

 bulged out, in some places near three feet from the 

 perpendicular, that the parishioners have laid out 

 considerable sums of money from time to time in re- 

 pairing and endeavouring to support the said church, 

 yet the same is by length of time become so ruinous 

 and decayed that it cannot any longer be kept up, 

 but the same with the steeple must be taken down 



and rebuilt.' The building was accordingly taken 

 down 33 and a new church erected, which in plan was a 

 simple rectangle under a gabled roof with a ' whitened ' 

 west tower containing one bell. 34 The interior of the 

 building, which is described as being ' extremely 

 simple, light, and elegant ' 3i and ' preserved in the 

 neatest possible order,' was ' fitted up with thick 

 narrow oak frames ornamented with elbows or scrolls 

 and having two rows in the middle and one at 

 each side.' 36 The walls were above a yard in thick- 

 ness, the main door having a small porch, and to the 

 east and west were the remains of thick walls, as if 

 they might have been the ruins of some former and 

 larger edifice. 37 The parish maintained the west 

 end, which was ' about half of it,' and Thomas 

 Clifton the east end. 38 This second church was 

 pulled down in 1834, being found too small to meet 

 the requirements of the growing number of visitors in 

 the season, and the first stone of the present building 

 was laid in March and the church opened in the 

 same year. It consists of chancel with north vestry 

 and organ chamber, clearstoried nave with north and 

 south aisles and west tower. The chancel, which 

 was originally small, was extended in 1872, and the 

 north aisle was widened in 1882, being increased to 

 double its width and covered with a separate gabled 

 roof. The style is Gothic with embattled walls to 

 nave and tower, the roofs being covered with stone 

 slates, and though architecturally of little merit is 

 perhaps superior to much Gothic work of the period, 

 the brickwork showing nothing of the hardness of 

 line so common in stone churches of the early part of 

 the last century. A new vestry on the north side of 

 the old one was erected in 1 909 in memory of Bishop 



honour of which they desisted. They 

 were ordered not to interfere in the Hawes, 

 but might use their common in Kilgri- 

 mosse as before ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 206-10. A 

 renewal of the dispute has caused some 

 further information as to the priory lands 

 to be recorded. The Priory of Lytham 

 stood at the end of the church ; the 

 Kilgrimoles churchyard had been (so it 

 was said) ' worn into the sea.' One 

 Cursed mere was near the priory ; another 

 was in the moss. The name was given 

 because many beasts had been drowned 

 therein. The decision was in the prior' 

 favour; ibid, ii, 9-19. 



K Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 386. 

 The king recovered this right, and in 

 1295 transferred it to his brother Edmund ; 

 Cal. Chart. R. 1257-1300, p. 461. 



26 Survey of 134.6 (Chet. Soc.), 44. 



a7 Pal. of Lane. Writs Proton. 20 Aug. 

 13 Hen. VII ; the claims were view of 

 frankpledge, with waifs and strays, assize 

 of bread, wreck of gea, sok, sak, team, 

 &c. ; freedom from common services and 

 amercements, pontage, &c. ; also free 

 warren in the demesne lands in Lytham. 



88 The Prior of Durham in 1327 

 granted all his waste of Estholme Carr in 

 Lytham to John de Bradkirk and Alice 

 his wife, with remainder to John their 

 son for his life only. A rent of 4^. was 

 to be paid for each acre newly approved ; 

 corn growing on the land was to be ground 

 at the Lytham mill, and suit of court was 

 to be performed as done by other tenants 

 of Lytham and Estholme ; Lytham D. at 

 Durham, 4 and 5, 2 a, 4 ae, Ebor. 



From pleadings of 1344 it appeared 

 that John de Bradkirk had had a charter 



for Estholme Carr from thr Prior of 

 Durham, and by his wife Alice had three 

 sons, John, Edmund and Adam ; the last, 

 as heir of his brothers, surrendered to the 

 prior; Assize R. 1435, m. 39. In the 

 status domus for 1 345 a sum of j i is. &d. 

 was put down for this plea ; 5 marks 

 were given to Adam de Bradkirk. 



In 1246 the Prior of Durham demised 

 for life 24 acres in the marsh of Edric- 

 holme to John Sauener of Lytham and 

 Adam son of Roger the Priest for 8*. 

 rent ; 2 a, 4 ae, Ebor. no. 7. 



29 Richard Cardwell in 1572 claimed a 

 tenement in Lytham by descent against 

 Richard Salthouse, whose title was derived 

 from Thomas Holcroft ; Ducatut Lane. 

 iii, 4. 



Robert Clark died in 1599 holding, 

 besides other property, a messuage, &c., in 

 Norcross in Lytham, but the tenure was 

 not recorded ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 

 xvii, no. 44. Small plats were held by 

 Thomas Jollice and Thomas Bamber of 

 Layton ; in those cases also no tenure 

 was given. John Walsh of Layton in 

 1624 held 3 acres in Lytham of the king 

 by the three-hundredth part of a knight's 

 fee ; Towneley MS. C 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), 

 1311. 



The profits of the portion of the estate 

 of William Harris of Lytham sequestered 

 for recusancy were in 1607 granted by 

 the Crown to Sir Richard Coningsby ; 

 Cal. S. P. Dom. 160310, p. 383. James 

 Beesley, a recusant, had two-thirds of his 

 estate sequestered by the Commonwealth 

 authorities before 1653 ; Cal. Com. for 

 Comp. iv, 3174. 



su In 1311 corn in the granary and 

 grange from the dc-me-ne and the tithe 



2l6 



amounted to 18 qrs., in seed 10 qrs. ; 

 [other corn] 2 qrs., in seed i qr. 2 bushels ; 

 barley 24 qrs. ; beans and peas 18 qrs., 

 which were considered enough for seed 

 and for the food of the house ; oats 

 200 qrs., also sufficient. 



The stock of oxen for the ploughs was 

 24 ; cows 22, with 2 bulls ; younger 

 cattle, 36 ; sheep and ewes, 78 ; lambs, 

 36 ; pigs, &c., 14, with 2 boars. 



Money in hand and due was considered 

 enough for the creditors. 



In later years much more detailed 

 statements were compiled ; see those 

 printed in Hist, of Lytham (Chet. Soc.), 

 73-93, from the Durham records. 



The site of the priory with the lands 

 attached was valued at ^8 8s. in 1535 ; 

 the rents, &c., in Lytham amounted to 

 22 us., in Estholme 3 71., Med- 

 holme j zs. 8</., Pillhouses and Bank- 

 houses izs. lid., other lands 42*. ; in all 

 43 8j. -jd. ; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 



v, 305- 



31 Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath 

 Nonjurors, 94, 106, 147. Their names 

 were William Snape, James and John 

 Harrison, Robert Bennett, Henry Fletcher, 

 Ellen Smith and Roger Charnley. 



82 Quoted by Fishwick, Hist, of Lytham, 



37- 



33 As far as is known neither plan nor 

 sketch has been preserved ; ibid. 38. 



34 There is an illustration from a water- 

 colour drawing, ibid. 37. 



38 Capt. Latham, Desultory History of 

 Lytham, in Whittle, op. cit. 43. 



86 Thornber, Hist, oj Blackpool, 341. 



37 Ibid. 



88 Terrier of 1778, quoted by Fish- 

 wick, op. cit. 45. 



