AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



GARSTANG 



it up with gunpowder, and great cost was spent about it to 

 pioneers, but to no effect ; the ground was so sandy it would 

 not stand. At last this Anderton died, and them there within 

 being thereby discouraged, they were glad to come to a compo- 

 sition to deliver it up upon conditions which were, that they 

 might go to their own houses and be safe. It was ordered that 

 the castle should be demolished and made untenable and all the 

 timber taken out of it and sold, which was done. And so it 

 lies ruinated. ... It was very strong, and builded so that it 

 was thought impregnable with any ordnance whatsoever, having 

 but one door into it, and the walls of an exceeding thickness and 

 very well secured together. 15 



Celia Fiennes, who passed through this 'little market 

 town ' about 1 700, was here ' first presented with the 

 clap bread which is much talked of, made all of oats.' " 



In the Jacobite rising of 1 7 1 5 17 the town clerk, Roger 

 Muncaster, joined their forces, as did several others of 

 the district. Muncaster was executed at Preston, and 

 three of the local men at Garstang on 14 February 

 17 1 5- 1 6. 18 Though Prince Charles Edward and his 

 army passed through in 1745," it does not appear 

 that they secured any adherents in this parish. 



A century ago the district was famous for its 

 cattle, which were of a peculiar breed, ' of a smaller 

 size than the Lancashire, of elegant shape and beauti- 

 fully curled hair, with wide spreading horns and 

 straight backs.' The Wyre then supplied the inhabit- 

 ants with plenty of fine soft water, and afforded 

 good diversion to the angler as abounding with trout, 

 chub and gudgeon and in springtime with smelts. 20 



The following table * 0;i shows the manner in which 

 the agricultural land is now employed : 



4,733$ 



1,050 



The church of ST. HELEN' 1 stands 



CHURCH on the south side of Churchtown village, 



close to the right bank of the River 



Wyre, about l miles to the south-west of the town 

 of Garstang, and consists of a chancel with north and 

 south aisles and north vestry, clearstoried nave with 

 north and south aisles, south chapel, south porch, 

 and west tower. 22 



The earliest parts of the building are the pier and 

 responds on the north side of the chancel and the 

 piers of the nave arcades, which are of 13th-century 

 date, indicating a church at that period of about the 

 same length and width as at present. This early 

 building, however, would probably be without 

 clearstory, and would terminate at the west end with 

 a gable, from a window in which the nave would be 

 lighted. The chancel may have been originally 

 without a south aisle, but there is no evidence of this, 

 as the arcade on that side is of later date, probably 

 work of the 1 4th century, to which period the chancel 

 arch belongs. The chancel was most likely entirely 

 reconstructed at this period and a south aisle added, 

 the pier and responds on the north side being re- 

 tained perhaps by reason of the beauty of the work, 

 which is unusually good for this part of the country, 

 or possibly for merely structural reasons. In the 

 i 5th century, 23 and again in the i6th century, 84 the 

 church was largely rebuilt, the whole of the outside 

 walls belonging to these periods, a chapel added on the 

 south side of the south aisle of the nave and a tower 

 erected at the west end, the building assuming in a 

 large measure its present appearance. The windows 

 are all of this last date with perpendicular tracery, 

 with the exception of those at the west end of the 

 nave aisles, which are of 14th-century date and may 

 have been originally in the south quire aisle. The 

 small irregularly-shaped two-story vestry at the 

 north-east corner of the building is apparently of 

 1 6th or early 1 7th-century date, and a gabled hearse- 

 house against the west side of the porch was probably 

 erected in the middle of the 1 8th century. In 1 746 

 an inundation of the Wyre overflowed the church- 

 yard and so much injured the church that it was 

 thought that it would be necessary to take it down 

 and entirely rebuild it, but on inspection the building 

 was found to be structurally sound, so that restora- 

 tion alone was necessary. 



In 1 8 1 1 the walls of the nave and chancel were 

 raised and a clearstory erected in place of the gabled 

 dormer windows which had before existed, and the 

 whole of the building was at the same time re-roofed 

 and ceiled. A more thorough restoration took place 

 in 1865 8, 2i when the square pews and galleries 

 which had been erected in the previous century were 



15 War in Lanes. (Chet. Soc.), 60. The 

 date of surrender is not given, but it was 

 in or after May 1645. The defender 

 was Capt. Nicholas (son of James) 

 Anderton of Clayton ; Castlemain, Cath. 

 Apology 5 Foley, Rec. S. J. iii, 779. 



16 Through England on a Side-saddle, 156. 

 Kuerden's account of his tour through 

 this part of Lancashire notices the water- 

 mill and the ' fair stone bridge ' at the 

 entry into Garstang ; Loc. Glean. Lanes, 

 and Ches. i, 217. 



17 The Highland army passed through 

 the ' small market-town ' on 9 Nov. ; 

 Patten, Hist, of Rebellion (ed. 1745), 79. 



18 Fishwick, op. cit. 703. Mun- 

 caster was executed at Preston on 27 Jan.; 

 those at Garstang were Joseph Wadsworth 

 and Thomas Goose of Catterall and 

 Thomas Cartmell of Claughton. Others 



who joined were John Leyburne of 

 Nateby, Edward Sykes of Nether Wyres- 

 dale and Thomas Walmesley of Bils- 

 borrow. The place of execution is 

 uncertain ; one tradition gives it as Stocks 

 Lane End in Catterall, but another as 

 Lancaster Lane, about half a mile north 

 of Garstang ; Hewitson, Our Country 

 Churches, 474. 



19 Advancing 27 Nov., retreating 

 13 Dec. At the former date the 

 treasure chest is said to have been stolen 

 by some of the people, but was restored 

 after a threat to put all the inhabitants to 

 the sword ; Hewitson, loc. cit. 



20 Cooke, Lanes. (1805), 122-3. 

 ' Drunken Barnaby ' thus notices the 

 local cattle : 



'Veni Garstang, ubi nata 

 Sunt armenta fronte lata.' 



20a Statistics from Bd. of Agric. 

 (1905). 



21 So called circa 1200 (note 30). 



22 Cf. Glynne, Lanes. Churches (Chet. 

 Soc.), 24 ; Hewttson, Our Country 

 Churches, 449-62 ; Whitaker, Richmond- 

 shire, ii, 453. 



K In 1403 the king ordered the chief 

 forester of Myerscough to deliver four 

 'keisnes ' to the parishioners of Garstang 

 for the repair of the church ; D. of Lane. 

 Misc. Bks. xv, 51 d. (pt. ii). 



34 Thomas Graystock in 1561 left 

 6s. %d. towards the building of the new 

 aisle ; Richmond Wills (Surtees Soc.), 

 151. 



K 'A restoration committee was formed 

 in 1864. ... It took about five years 

 to complete the work ' ; Hewitson, North' 

 ward, 44. 



