A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



James Taylor of Poulton was a freeholder in 1 600." 

 There appear to have been no sequestrations under 

 the Commonwealth, but Thomas Bamber as a 

 'Papist' registered his estate in i/iy. 26 



The parish church has been described above. 



The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel in 

 1819. This was replaced by the present building 

 in 1 86 1." 



The Congregationalists began preaching as early as 

 1778, but their chapel was not built till 1809. Its 

 fortunes have fluctuated, but the building was 

 restored in 1886. 



The Society of Friends had a meeting-house at 

 Poulton in i825, 19 but did not retain it. 



After the Reformation a considerable portion of 

 the people in Poulton as elsewhere in the Fylde 

 clung to Roman Catholicism openly or secretly. As 

 the persecution slackened in the time of James I they 

 appear to have thought concealment less needful, and 

 in 1622 it was reported to the Bishop of Chester 

 that various persons in the parish did ' deprave 

 publicly the religion now established and openly 

 maintain popery, wearing crosses in their hats as 

 badges thereof.' Further, Thomas Singleton of Stain- 

 ing, Thomas Westby of Burn and others had 

 ' christened their children with popish priests and not 

 at their parish church.' so Mass was said, it is probable, 

 at Burn and Mains and other houses in the district, 

 but the first public church, that of St. John the 

 Evangelist, Breck, was not built till 1813; it 

 represents the old mission at Singleton. 11 



CARLETON 



Carlentun, Dom. Bk. ; Karleton, 1241 ; Karlton, 

 1258 ; Carleton, 1294. 



This township has an area of 2,03 1 1 acres, 1 and in 



1901 there were 684 inhabitants. It had three 

 ancient divisions : Great Carleton in the centre, 

 Little Carleton to the south and Norcross in the 

 north ; as in the case of Poulton the hamlet in 

 each case stands on ground rising a little above the 

 general low level. The hamlet of Great Carleton 

 has more recently been taken to include Norcross, 

 and its area is 1,224 acres ; while Little Carleton, 

 which has three detached portions, one of them 

 within Bispham, has 807^ acres. 



The principal road is that going north from 

 Blackpool to Fleetwood. It passes through each of 

 the three hamlets ; from Great Carleton a branch 

 goes east to Poulton, and to the north a road from 

 Bispham to Poulton crosses it at Four Lane Ends. 

 The Poulton to Blackpool branch of the Wyre rail- 

 way crosses the southern part of Carleton, going 

 south-west ; there is a station named Bispham. 



There was formerly a cuck-stool in Great Carleton.* 



The soil is a strong loam, and dairy farming is the 

 chief industry. 



The township has a parish council. 



In 1066 CARLETON was assessed 

 MANORS as four plough-lands and formed part of 

 the Preston fee of Earl Tostig. 3 About 

 a century afterwards it is found to be a member of 

 the Wyresdale lordship of the Lancaster family, 4 of 

 whom it was held by the heirs of Richard son of 

 Roger, the lord of Woodplumpton. 5 In 1242 it 

 was held in two moieties, called Little and Great 

 Carleton, by Roger Gernet and Robert de Stockport 

 respectively, 6 but, as will be seen below, the subse- 

 quent history cannot be traced clearly. 7 



A considerable portion was granted in alms to 

 different religious houses. Four oxgangs of land 

 were granted to Lytham Priory by its founder. 8 The 

 same amount was given to Cockersand Abbey,' and 



25 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 



', 233- 



36 Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. 

 Nonjurors, 139. 



27 Hewitson, Our Country Churches, 

 407. This writer (1872) states that 

 Methodism appeared in Poulton about 

 1800, but had not flourished there. The 

 first meeting-place was an out-house at 

 the back of the ' King's Arms,' and con- 

 siderable persecution had to be endured. 



28 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf.i, 122-6. 

 The chapel has had to be closed several 

 times in 1816, 1826, 1833 (with slight 

 exceptions) to 1850, 1864 to 1866. 



29 Baines, Lanes. Dir. ii, 462. This 

 may refer to the meeting at Thornton. 



30 Visit, presentments at Chester 

 Dioc. Reg. For convicted recusants in 

 the parish c. 1670 sec Misc. (Cath. Rcc. 

 Soc.), v, 169, 182-3, *97~8. In 1717 

 the number of 'Papists' in the parish 

 was returned to the Bishop of Chester as 

 67, in 1767 as 164; Trans. Hist. Soc. 

 (new ser.), xviii, 218. 



31 Hewitson, op. cit. 403-6. The 

 Calvinistic Evangelicals of a century ago 

 regarded this district as 'the most dark and 

 miserable part of the county. ... A few 

 attempts from time to time were made 

 to diffuse throughout it the light of the 

 Gospel ; but a very large proportion of 

 the inhabitants being Catholics it will be 

 easily conceived that peculiar difficulties 

 attended every exertion to spread the 

 truth ... [in a tract] so awfully obscured 

 with the mists of Popish ignorance, error 

 and superstition ' ; Nightingale, op. cit. 



i, 126, from the report of the Lancashire 

 Congregational Union, 1808. 



1 The Census Rep. 1901 gives 2,013 

 acres, including 5 of inland water. The 

 diminution in area is accounted for by 

 the transfer of the detached part of Little 

 Carleton (Horseman's Hill), lying within 

 Bispham, to the latter township in 1877 ; 

 Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 6910. 



2 Thornber, Blackpool, 281. 



8 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 2884. The later 

 assessment seems to have been three 

 plough-lands only ; perhaps one was added 

 to Poulton. 



4 Ibid. 357, n. 13. 



5 Avice daughter of Richard son of 

 Roger granted 3 oxgangs of land to 

 Richard son of Robert de Carleton at a 

 rent of 91. ; Lytham D. at Durham, 3 a, 

 2 ae, 4 ae, Ebor. no. 7. See also 4 a, 2 ae, 

 4 ae, Ebor. no. 6. 



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

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 154. Quenilda 

 widow of Roger Gernet died in 1252 

 holding one plough-land in Carleton of 

 the heir of Sir William de Lancaster by 

 knight's service. She received nothing 

 but id. farm at Michaelmas ; ibid. 190. 



7 See the account of Little Carleton. 



8 Richard son of Roger, with the consent 

 of his wife Margaret and his heirs, gave 

 half a plough-land of his demesne in 

 Carleton in alms ; Lytham D. at Durham, 

 2 a, 4 ae, Ebor. no. 3. Some of the deeds 

 are in Kuerden MSS. iii, C i. 



Richard Prior of Durham and the 

 convent gave Henry de Whittington 4 

 oxgangs of land in Carleton which they 



228 



had had from Richard son of Roger, at a 

 rent of half a mark yearly payable to 

 Lytham Priory ; Dods. MSS. ciclii, fol. 67. 

 Henry's acknowledgement of liability is 

 at Durham ; Lytham D. Misc. no. 477. 



Henry son of William son of Swain 

 gave his son Michael 4 oxgangs of 

 land in Carleton which he had received 

 from the Prior of Lytham ; Add. MS. 

 32106, no. 797. Henry's parentage is 

 thus shown. The same Henry had had 

 a grant of the water in the marsh between 

 Poulton and Little Carleton from John 

 son of Waldeve of Poulton for the rent 

 of a pair of white gloves (or id.) payable 

 at Lancaster fair ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, 

 fol. 75. William de Carleton and Thomas 

 his brother were witnesses. 



9 William son of Swain gave 4 ox- 

 gangs of his land in Carleton in free 

 alms, reserving the 4 oxgangs he held in 

 demesne and another 4 in Norcross ; 

 Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc,), i, 143. 

 This was confirmed by Walter his brother 

 and heir, who added a further piece of 

 land to endow a lij?ht during masses for 

 the faithful at Cockersand ; ibid. 144. 



Thomas de Norcross gave an acre in 

 Norcross near Restinglaw, and his 

 brother, William de Carleton, added half 

 an oxgang in the same part of the 

 township. This gift was confirmed by 

 Walter son and heir of Sir William, and 

 was occupied about 1270 by Henry de 

 Haydock for a rent of izd. ; ibid. 

 144-6. In 1271 the canons made an 

 exchange with Walter de Carleten, giving 

 eleven ' falls ' on the Hull (north of 



