A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



the adjoining manor of Lytham.* 7 It has since 

 descended with the Clifton estates.* 8 



The PEEL in Little Marton was held by tht 

 Cliftons from the Earls of Derby long before they 

 acquired the lordship ; thus in 1522 William Clifton 

 paid 2 of old rent and 2 of increment.* 9 



In addition to the religious houses at Cockersand, 50 

 Whalley 3l and Lancaster, Lytham Priory had pasture 

 rights in Marton. 31 



William Russell of Marton had a priest taken in 

 his house in 1604, and a number of other residents 

 were presented to the Bishop of Chester as ' suspected 

 of relieving seminary priests and Jesuits.' s$ 



Nicholas Sanderson of Great Marton and John his 

 son registered small estates in 1 7 1 7 as ' Papists.' 34 



A house at Moss Side in Little Marton was 

 licensed for Nonconformist worship in 1762 and it 

 continued in use till the rise of Blackpool. 35 



Services in connexion with the Church of England 

 were held in the schoolroom, built about 1717, from 

 1748 at latest, for in that year James Fisher was 

 nominated to the ' chapel of Marton ' by the vicar of 

 Poulton. 36 The church of St. Paul was built in 

 1 800 and consecrated in 1 804 ; it has been 

 considerably enlarged from time to time. A separate 

 parish was assigned to it in 1892. The vicars are 

 nominated by the vicars of Poulton. 87 A mission 

 room is connected with it. 



There is a Wesleyan chapel at Moss Side, built in 

 1872. 



BISPHAM 



BISPHAM WITH NORBRECK LAYTON WITH WARBRECK 



This small parish, definitely separated from Poulton 

 in the I7th century, has become distinguished by 

 the growth of Blackpool into a leading place among 

 seaside pleasure resorts. The area is 3,983 acres, 

 and the population in 1901 numbered 40,674, of 

 whom all but a thousand were within the borough 

 of Blackpool. 



The Pool or the Blackpool in Layton often occurs 



in 1 7th-century documents 1 ; it was a peaty-coloured 

 pool of water, discharging by a little stream which 

 ran into the sea south of Fox Hall,* a mansion of 

 the Tyldesleys of Myerscough erected about 1660* 

 and still standing in part. 4 About 1730 the place 

 began to be a local sea-bathing resort in the summer 

 time, 5 but William Hutton's description of his visit 

 to it in 1788 made it known through a much larger 



87 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 70, 

 no. 60, 40 ; Piccope MSS. (Chet. Lib.), 

 iii, 50. 



8 See Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 80, 

 no. 24, and the accounts of Lytham and 

 Clifton. Sir Cuthbert Clifton in 1 634 was 

 stated to hold the manor of Little Marton 

 and lands there (in reversion after the death 

 of Alice Dowager Countess of Derby) of 

 the king as of his duchy by knight's 

 lervice ; Duchy of Lane. laq. p.m. xxvii, 

 no. 43. He held two messuages, &c., in 

 the Peel as part of the same. 



39 Derby Rental at Lathom. William 

 Clifton in his will (1537) desired his 

 trustees to obtain a grant of the Peel for 

 the benefit of his son Thomas ; Wilh 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 71. 



so The rentals 1451-1537 for Marton, 

 Poolhouse, Hayholm in Bispham and 

 Thornton are printed in the Cockersand 

 Chartul. iii, 12667. 



31 The Whalley lands were acquired by 

 Thomas Fleetwood in 1 554 ; Pat. 2 Mary. 



33 William son of Adam de Marton 

 gave the monks of Lytham entry for their 

 cattle, &c., in the whole moss pertaining 

 to the vill of Great Marton ; Lytham D. 

 at Durham, 2 a, 2 ae, 4 ae, Ebor. no. 32. 

 Richard son of William, as lord of 

 Marton, renounced all claim to common 

 in Lithcarr lying between Marton and 

 Lytham ; ibid. no. 35. Henry de Clifton 

 gave a quitclaim on his part ; ibid. no. 36. 



33 Visit. P. at Chester Dioc. Reg. 



34 Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. Ntn- 

 jurors, 93, 107. 



35 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. i, 1 5 2- 9, 

 with view. The house of Matthew 

 Hoole (Hull) of Marton was licensed for 

 Presbyterian worship in 1689 ; Hist. 

 MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 232. This 

 may have been the original seat, for 

 Matthew son of Robert Hull of Little 

 Marton Moss Side was baptized at 

 Poulton in 1658 ; Regs. 



36 Mr. Fisher was the schoolmaster of 

 Thornton and wai a native of Kendal ; 

 Ch. P. at Chester Dioc. Reg. 



37 In 1804 George Hall was nominated 

 by Bold Fleetwood Hesketh and others ; 

 Ch. P. For list of ministers see Fish- 

 wick, op. cit. 602. In 1890 there was 

 a dispute as to the patronage. 



1 It seems to be the Pool named in 

 Cockersand charters c. 1250, and among 

 the possessions of Sir William Boteler in 

 1415 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 

 113. If so, it was called a 'manor' in 

 1539 and later; see the account of 

 Layton. In the Bispham registers of 1 602 

 are entries of Bamber of Pool and Cowban 

 of Blackpool. Richard Bamber of Carle- 

 ton about 1630 had a tenement 'in le 

 Pool commonly called Blackpool ' ; 

 Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 122. 



An account by Mr. C. Rocder is printed 

 in Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xviii, i, 

 with map and view*. 



* It now forms the main sewer. The 

 Pool proper was on the east side of the 

 hall, about half a mile from the sea. 

 It was gradually reclaimed, and had been 

 turned into meadow land by 1788. 

 ' Pool,' however, is often used for the 

 mouth of a stream. 



The map of 1751 (by E. Bowen) in 

 Mr. Roeder's essay shows Marton Mere 

 drained by the Pool, which is impossible. 



3 For an account of it see Fishwick, 

 Bispkam (Chet. Soc.), 105-14. After the 

 Revolution it is said to have been used 

 by its owners and other Jacobites as a 

 rendezvous, being then in a lonely spot on 

 the coast. There are many references to 

 it in the Tyldetley Diary, with a view. 



Agatha Tyldesley of Blackpool, widow 

 of Thomas Tyldesley, registered her estate 

 as a 'Papist' in 1717. She had an 

 annuity of 20 out of the estate of her 

 son Edward and a freehold house called 



242 



Fox Hall ; Estcourt and Payne, Engl. 

 Cath. Nonjurors, 109. 



4 Hutton thought it 'in ruins' in 

 1788. There is a description of its con- 

 dition about 1837 in Thornber, op. cit. 

 71-2. It was then divided into two 

 dwellings, and part was used for a beer- 

 shop. The surviving part is used at a 

 public-house. 



5 The old cottages in Blackpool ' were 

 formed of clay, plastered upon wattles, 

 the roof and the whole fabric being sup- 

 ported by crooks, and the interior open 

 to the thatch, which was generally of 

 rush in the place of straw ; and they 

 contained a large capacious chimney, 

 above which was erected what was termed 

 a soot loft, the depository of lumber, form- 

 ing a canopy over the family hearth. 

 Near the door, to keep out the cold air, 

 was a " speere," better known by the name 

 of " God speed stoop," perforated with a 

 small light, to guard the door. These 

 buildings fronted the south, a position so 

 usual that, whatever views another aspect 

 might command, this general custom wa 

 never broken"; ibid. 196. The turf 

 stack and the dunghill stood before the 

 door ; ibid. 201. 



The same writer (p. 199) states that 

 the first habitation fitted up for visitors 

 was a long thatched building owned by 

 Ethart a Whiteside, c. 1750. Having 

 married a Welsh woman who proved to 

 be 'the only cook in the place,' he 

 ventured to cater for the public and 

 prospered for half a century. Every- 

 thing had then to be brought from 

 Poulton, there being no market or shop 

 at Blackpool. 



In 1754 Pococke noted : 'At Black- 

 pool, near the sea, are accommodation* 

 for people who come to bathe ' ; Travels 

 through England (Camd. Soc.), ii, 6. 



An early inn sign is printed in Lanes, 

 and Ches. Hist, and Gen. Notes, ii, 183. 



