LEYLAND HUNDRED 



LEYLAND 



to Christopher Banastre of Bank.' His inheritance 

 was, after his death in 1690, divided between his 

 daughters, and Cuerden was included in the share of 



Langton. Argent 

 three che-verons gules. 



Banastre. Argint 

 a cross patonce sable. 



Elizabeth, who married Robert Parker' of Extwistle, 

 and their descendants have retained it to the present 

 time. Banastre Parker, their son, transferred the 

 family seat to Cuerden. He died in 1738, and was 

 succeeded by his son Robert, who married Anne 

 daughter and heir of Thom.is Townley of Royle,^ 

 and in 1779 was succeeded by his elder son Banastre, 

 and he in 17S8 by his brother Thomas Townley 

 Parker. The latter had married Susannah daughter 

 and heir of Peter Brooke of Astley in Chorley, 

 Charnock Richard, S:c.* He was High Sheriff of 

 Lancashire in 1793,' and, on his death in the 

 following year, the great estates were inherited by 

 his son Robert Townley, who served as high sheriff 

 in 1817,° and as member for Preston (Conservative) 

 in 1837 and 1852.' He died in 1879, and was 

 succeeded by his eldest son,' Thomas Townley, 

 who in 1879 assumed the surname and arms of 



fdrC^ 



ToWKLEY. Argent on 

 a Jesse sable a cinquefcil 

 or^ hi chief three molets 

 of the second. 



P.ARKER, Gules a 

 ch.-'uerQn betiveen three 

 leopards^ faces or^ in the 

 mouth of each an arrow 

 fesseivays argent. 



Townley in addition to those of Parker. On his 

 death in 1906 the manors and lands passed by 

 his will to his nephew Mr. Reginald Arthur Tatton 



00 



Tatton. Quarterly 

 argint and gules four 

 crescents counterchanged. 



of Chclford, in Cheshire, a son of Harriet Susan, 

 eldest sister of the deceased. Mr. Tatton acted as 

 high sheriff of the county in 

 1 9 1 o- 1 1 . 



Cuerden is not now reputed 

 to be a manor, and no courts 

 are held. 



Cuerden Hall is a modern 

 mansion of brick and stone, 

 standing in a large park on 

 an elevated site commanding 

 extensive views, about 4 miles 

 south-east of Preston.' Of 

 the original house which stood 

 on the site in the 1 7th century 

 nothing remains. Part of the 

 present structure, however, 



dates back to about 1717, and w.is erected by Mr. 

 Banastre Parker. The house of this date was a plain 

 c'assic building of two stories and an attic, rectangular 

 in plan, measuring about 68 ft. by 48 ft., the longer 

 sides facing north and south, with entrance on the 

 north, and now forms the middle part of the mansion. 

 This house was completely remodelled and large addi- 

 tions made in the years 1 816-19, from the designs of 

 Lewis Wyatt, the additions consisting of a large east 

 wing, 72 ft. by 60 ft., containing the principal rooms, 

 and a large servants' wing and offices on the west 

 built on three sides of a courtyard open to the west. 

 Wyatt's building is a dignified composition of brick, 

 two stories in height, with plain brick parapets and 

 barred sash windows. In the east wing the flues are 

 grouped together at the angles of the building, and 

 the chimneys carried up above the parapets in the 

 form of turrets, but the chief external architectural 

 feature is the tower above the staircase in the middle 

 of the building. The entrance faces north, and has 

 a projecting stone porch, and on the east side the 

 gardens are laid out in terrace form on the slope of 

 the hill. The old house was refronted to harmonize 

 with the new work, and now forms an integral part 

 of the design.'" In more recent years the ground 

 floor of the east wing has been extended northward 

 on each side of and linable with the porch, and 

 Wyatt's west wing has been remodelled, the courtyard 

 built upon, and further extensions made westward. 

 The general appearance of the house, however, 

 remains unaltered. 



Robert de Molyneux, father of the Richard living 

 in I 2 I 2, granted his two plough-lands in Cuerden to 

 Siward son of Auti, who had married Robert's sister ; 

 and their son Henry held the same by knights' 

 service in 121 2." This Henry de Kucrden, as he 

 was called, was a benefactor to Cockersand Abbey," 



given for the same out of some lands in 

 Northumberland ' ; Lanes, and Ches. Hist, 

 and Gen. Notes, ii, 117. 



' See the account of Bretherton. 



^ Christopher's other daughter married 

 Thomas Fleetwood, and in 1703 the 

 manor of Cuerden was secured by Robert 

 Parker, Fleetwood being deforciant ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 250, m. 8. 



The later descents are taken from 

 Burke's Commoners, i, 116, and Landed 

 Gentry ; Foster's Lane. Fed. 



Robert Parker was sheriff of the county 

 in 1710 (P.R.O. List, 74), and died in 

 1718. 



' Near Burnley. 



^ She afterwards married Sir Henry 

 P. Hoghton. 



^ P.R.O. Listj 74. 



6 Ibid. 



^ Pink and Bcavcn, Park Repre. of 

 Lanes. 172, 174. 



* There were four other sons and 

 three daughters. Among the sons were 

 Capt. Robert Townley Parker, who fought 

 at Aliwal and Sobraon and who is repre- 

 sented by a granddaughter, and Canon 

 Arthur Townley Parker, late rector of 

 Burnley. The former of these sons had 

 the Bradford estate, Manchester, from his 

 father. 



y There are two illustratlona of Cuerden 



2? 



Hall In Twycross's Lancashire Mansions^ 

 i, 142. 



"* Considering the date of its erection 

 Cuerden Hall as designed by Lewis 

 Wyatt is curiously 'modern' in feeling. 

 It is far in advance of the usual domestic 

 architecture, either classic or * Gothic,* 

 of the early years of the 19th century. 

 A project for the remodelling of the old 

 house on strictly classic lines, and additions 

 thereto, from designs by J. Webb, archi- 

 tect, was abandoned in 18 16. Webb's 

 drawings (18 15) are preserved atthe Hall. 

 " Lanes, hiQ. and ExtentSy i, 12, 

 '- The lana wai near the present 

 Cuerden Hall, the boundaries including 



