A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Wordcn and the manor of Lcjland went to his cousin 

 William Farington of Shaw Hall in Lcyland,' whose 

 son Gcorec succeeded in I 7 1 7, and held the estates till 

 his death in 1742.' Shaw Hall is now called Worden. 



The eiJcbt son and heir was William, sheriff of the 

 county in 1761,' and made a knight that year; he 

 died without issue in 1 78 I, when James Farington, 

 a younger brother, came into possession. His son 

 William succeeded him in 1 800, and was high sheriff 

 in 1813.* He was followed in 1837 by his only 

 surviving son James Nowell Farington, whose heirs, 

 on his death without issue in 184.8, were his sisters 

 Susan Maria and Mary Hannah, who never married. 

 The former lady, who survived her sister about six years, 

 died in 1894. She was esteemed for her charitable 

 disposition and her literary and antiquarian t.istes ; she 

 edited a volume of Farington Papers for the Chetham 

 Society, and otherwise assisted its work. After her 

 death in 1894 the manor and family estates were held 

 by her trustees for the benefit of Mr. William 

 Edmund Farington, then a minor. He was the son 

 of William James Farington and came of age in 

 1907, married the following year, and died z% 

 February 1909.* His only child being a daughter, 

 the manor and estates devolved upon Colonel Richard 

 Atherton Farington, who died 15 October 1910, and 

 is succeeded by his son Henry Nowell. Courts were 

 held till recently.'^ 



Worden H.ill is a modern building on the site of 

 and incorporating parts of the older house known as 

 Shnu- Hall. The old building was enlarged and 

 altered by Sir William Farington soon after 1742 and 

 IS described in 1S36 as a ' l.irgc irregular stuccoed 

 pile, containing a suite of apartments used as a 

 museum stored ivith natural curiosities, busts, marbles, 

 &c., and a collection of paintings, some of them 

 frescoes found in the ruins of Herculaneum and 

 brought from Italy by Sir William, under whose 

 direction the principal room, 66 ft. long by 33 ft. 

 wide in the centre, was erected.' ^ The house was 

 largely rebuilt and entirely refronted in stone in 

 1840-5 by Mr. J. X. Farington from the designs 

 of Anthony Salvin. 



Worden Old Hall, now a farm-house, is situated 

 in the extreme south-cast of the township, and is 



apparently only a fragment of a former Jiou-e. It 

 has, moreover, been much altered, and the principal 

 front, which faces north, has been rebuilt in modern 

 times in brick. The older portion, which is said to 

 have been origin.ally erected in 1509,' is on plan a 

 parallelogram about 62 ft. long by 20 feet wide, 

 and is built of stone to a height of 10 ft. with 2-in. 

 bricks above. The roof is covered with stone slates. 

 The original north front was apparently of timber, 

 portions of which yet remain in position at the cast 

 end inside the house, and are visible over the door 

 in the porch. At some later date the building has 

 been extended about 9 ft. on this side, and the present 

 brick front with four gables erected, the porch and 

 small gable over probably belonging to the old front. 

 The brickwork is now whitewashed and the gables 

 painted to represent timber and plaster work. The 

 windows are all modern. Under the small gable over 

 the porch is inserted a stone with a large cross and 

 the emblems of the Passion, and over the middle 

 gable is a dilapidated wooden turret containing a 

 bell. The door is the original one of oak, nail 

 studded, and with iron hinges and ring handle. One 

 of the bedrooms .ind part of a room on the ground 

 floor are panelled in oak, but otherwise the interior 

 is uninteresting and modernized. One of the chimneys 

 is original, with diagon.ally set brick shafts, but the 

 others have been rebuilt. 



To the north of the hall is a barn about 60 ft. by 

 20 ft. constructed of oak timbers, now filled in with 

 brickwork, and on a stone base. The roof is covered 

 with stone slates, and the upper part of the building 

 slightly overhangs, the sill being supported by five 

 carved oak brackets, four of which have shields with 

 the arms of (l) Farington of Worden quartering 

 P'arington of Farington ; (2) Farington impaling 

 Talbot ; (3) Farmgton impaling Benson. The fourth 

 shield is indecipherable. The barn was probably built 

 by Thomas Farington of Worden in the latter half 

 of the 16th century. 



Another part of the Hospitallers' land was named 

 Brex, and it gave a name to the tenant." 



Two oxgangs of land in Leyland were granted 

 by Albert Bussel to Evesham Abbey or its cell 

 at Penwortham," and after the Dissolution were 



' Wiiii.1111 was the aon of George 

 F.irington of Sliaw Hall, vho was buried 

 .It I.cyl.nnd 24 July 1704, his widow 

 Elizabeth following on iS Au^ujt. In 

 1 ~ ! ^ tlicre was a recovery of the manor 

 of Leyland, ttc, William Farington being 

 vouchee; Pal. of Lane. Pica R. 50;, 

 m. 4 d. 



^ George Farington by his marriage 

 accjuired tlie Bradshaw estate in Penning- 

 ton, Bradshaw F.irington, younger son 

 of George, was killed at the battle of 

 Fontenoy, 11 M.iy i"45. 



^ P.R'.O. /,/..v,'p. 74. There was a 

 recovery of the manor of Leyland, &c., in 

 1-42, William Farington being in posses- 

 sion ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 557, m. 8. 



' P.R.O. LL~t, 74. 



^ The nearest heir male was descended 

 from Hejir)- the younger brother of George 

 (d. 1 -42) and of the Rev. William Faring- 

 ton (vicar of Leigh 1734-67 and rector 

 of Warrington 1 76-), viz. -s. William (d. 

 I So;) -s. William, of Woodvale, I.W., 

 Admiral (d. 1868) -s. William (b. 18 15) 

 -bro. Edmund (d. 1865) -s. William James 

 (b. 1852). The male issue of William 

 (d. 1803) having died out, that of his 



younger brother Henry (d. 1S27) became 

 representative of the family, thus ; -s. 

 Henry (d. 1859) -s. Richard Atherton 

 (d. 1910) -s. Henry Nowell (b. 1859). 



^ Information of Mr. H. N. Faring- 

 ton, who states that the recent descent 

 is gl\en correctly in Burke, LanJed Gentry 

 (.906). 



"^ Baincs, Lanc^. (ed. l), ili, 451, 

 where a view of the house, dated 1832, Is 

 given. 



' Pictorial Hist, of Lanes. 156. If this 

 date Is correct, the brick and stone walling 

 of the present house is of course a later 

 rebuilding, probably in the first half of the 

 17th century. 



' It is named in the rental of 1540 

 above. In 1310-11 William son of 

 Thomas tire King, of Rothcland, gave pas- 

 ture land to Henry son of Robert de 

 Preston, who in 1317-18 gave his mes- 

 suage, &c., in Leyland to Thomas de 

 Brex ; Kuerden fol. MS. 210, 313. Soon 

 afterwards a settlement was made by 

 Thomas de Brex and Alice his wife ; 

 ibid. 134. The lands of Thomas de Brex 

 were In 1379-80 settled on Nicholas de 

 Brex, son of William the Mercer of Ley- 



14 



land, and his issue, with remainders to 

 Nicholas younger son of William de 

 Farington, Henry Howick, Henry aon of 

 William de Farington, and Nicholas son 

 of Richard de Farington; ibid. 132. 

 Thomas Farington of the Brex in 1492-3 

 demised the Brex for twenty years to his 

 niotlier, Katherine Wright, with re- 

 mainder to Thomas Bradshaw of London ; 

 ibid. 134, 



" Pcn-wortham Priory (Chet. Soc), i, 6. 



Robert son of John de Clayton gave 

 to William son of Richard de Blackburn 

 a place of wood called 'Subsnapc,' in 

 Leyland, which he had had from Sir Adam 

 de Walton, together with the service of 

 Thomas Bussel and a rent of 31. from 

 Paddescrook ; Kuerden fol, MS. C 74. 

 William de Blackburn afterwards gave 

 the same to Thurstan de Northlegh ; ibid. 

 B 56. Snubsnape is a farm in the south- 

 west part of the township. 



Henry son of Robert son of Thomas 

 de Walton exchanged 12 acres called 

 Snubsnape for land in Pcnwortham, with 

 John le White, vicar of Leyland ; ibid. 

 410 V. 



Alice widow of William de Black- 



