LEYLAND HUNDRED 



LEYLAND 



Sir Richard was knight of the shire i and sherift"^ 

 during the Commonwealth period. A pedigree was 

 recorded at Sir W. Dugdale's Visitation in 1664,^ 

 and in 1678 Sir Richard was succeeded by hii son Sir 

 Charles, who represented the county as a Whig between 

 1679 and 1690.'' Sir Henry son of Charles, a Non- 

 conformist, opposed the Jacobite rising at Preston in 

 1 71 5 and was made one of the commissioners of 

 forfeited estates.^ Dying in 1768 he was followed 

 by his nephew Sir Henry son of Philip Hoghton, who 

 represented Preston as a Whig from 1768 till his 

 death in 1795.° He was the acknowledged Parlia- 

 mentary leader of the Nonconformists. His son and 

 successor, also a Whig and Nonconformist, was Sir 

 Henry Philip Hoghton '' ; his brother, Major- 

 General Daniel Hoghton, was killed at the battle of 

 Albuera in 1811, and has a monument in St. Paul's 

 Cathedral.* Sir Henry, at his death in 1835, was 

 followed by his son Sir Henr}-, who took the surname 

 of Bold before Hoghton, having married the heiress 

 of the Bold family." In 1 862 their son Sir Henry 

 succeeded ; having sold his mother's estates, he adopted 

 one of the old forms of the surname, becoming de 

 Hoghton ; the other children of his father took the 

 same course. His only son Cecil having died un- 

 married in 1874, Sir Henry was followed in 1876 by 

 his brother Sir Charles, and the latter in 1893 by his 

 half-brother Sir James de Hoghton, eleventh baronet, 

 the present lord of the manor of Hoghton.'" 



De Hoghton, 



ironet. Sable three 



baronet. 

 ban argent. 



Bold. Argent a 

 griffon segreant sable. 



Hoghton Tower is strikingly situated near the 

 summit of a bold eminence about half-way between 

 Blackburn and Preston. The position is a command- 

 ing one, and the prospect from the top of the entrance 

 tower is very extensive, ranging from the mountains 

 of the Lake District to those of North Wales, with 

 the great plain of south-west Lancashire stretching to 

 the Irish Sea below. On its north and east sides 

 the hill, which is the highest ground in the neigh- 

 bourhood and a conspicuous object in the landscape 



for miles around, is precipitous, and at its base on the 

 east side the River Darwen passes through a deep 

 wooded ravine. On the west it slopes gradually, and 

 on the higher part of the sloping side, but some little 

 distance from the summit, the building is situated. 

 The site of the house is about 560 ft. above the sea 

 level and some 360 ft. above the general level of the 

 surrounding country, but the building follows very 

 largely the slope of the hillside, the gardens at the 

 east end being at a considerably higher level than the 

 outer, or west, courtyard. 



The house is an admirable specimen of the large 

 stone-built mansion of the middle 16th century, 

 erected round two courtyards, with the great hall and 

 living rooms generally grouped round the upper 

 court. The offices and servants' quarters are built 

 westward north and south of the lower courtyard, 

 the west end of which is inclosed by an embattled 

 gatewa}-, with low flanking towers joined to it by 

 curtain walls. 



The buildings appear to be of two main dates, the 

 greater part of the house, including probably most of 

 the buildings round the upper court as well as the 

 western entrance gateway and towers, belonging to 

 the early years of Queen Elizabeth's reign, while at a 

 later time, towards the middle or end of the 1 7th 

 century, the buildings were extended westward north 

 and south of the lower courtyard, which had before 

 been apparently inclosed only by walls. Only two 

 definite dates, however, can be assigned to the building, 

 the older parts of which have been erected at different 

 times, as is evidenced by the absence of any bond at 

 nearly all the inside angles of the courtyards, and by 

 other internal evidence in the walls. The assigning 

 of dates to many parts of the house is therefore 

 rendered extremely difficult, and the more so by 

 reason of the general uniformity of style which 

 prevails throughout the building. Over the archway 

 in the upper courtyard is the date 1565,'' with the 

 arms and initials of Thomas Hoghton, which probably 

 gives the year of the completion of the middle range 

 of buildings between the two courts, and probably 

 those on the north of the upper court, as well as 

 other parts of the house since altered or destroyed. 

 The west gateway, together with the flanking towers, 

 would seem also to belong to this first building, as it 

 bears the same arms and initials. The only other 

 date on the house proper is the year 1700, which 

 together with the initials of Sir Charles Hoghton is 

 on the western range of buildings on the south side 

 of the lower court. The great barn to the north- 

 west of the house is dated 1692. 



Dr. Kuerden, writing in the middle of the 17th 

 century, is responsible for the statement, often since 



him ; ibid, iii, 299. He was one of the 

 Parliamentary Committee of the county 

 in 1645 ; Civil War Tract;, 2lo. In 

 the following year he was the principal 

 layman on the Presbyterian classis for 

 the district. After the Restoration he 

 befriended the nonconforming ministers. 



' In 1646 and 1656 ; Pink and 

 Beaven, op. cit. 72, 75. 



2 P.R.O. Lilt, 73. 



' Vint. (Chet. Soc), 154. 



* Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 79, 80 ; 

 in 1679-81 and 1688-9 (the Convention 

 Parliament). Sir Charles died in 1710. 

 In 1680 a Private Act was passed for 

 rectifying several errors and mistakes in 



the marriage settlement of Sir Charles 

 Hoghton ; 32 Chas. II, cap. I. 



^ G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, i, 1 1, 

 from which work the outline of the suc- 

 cession from this point has in the main 

 been derived. Sir Henry represented 

 Preston as a Whig in three Parliaments, 

 1710, 1715 and 1727 ; Pink and Beaven, 

 op. cit. 161, &c. 



In 1712 there was a recovery of the 

 manors of Hoghton, Withnell, Wheelton, 

 Walton-le-Dale, Ashton-on-Ribble, Lea, 

 Alston, Dilworth and Grimsargh, and 

 the advowson of Preston, Sir Henry 

 Hoghton being a vouchee ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 493, m. 6. Sir Henry built 



41 



chapels for the Protestant Dissenters at 

 Walton-le-Dale and Preston. 



^ Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 165, &c. 



? Ibid. 167. 



8 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



9 Sheriff of Lancashire, 1829 \ P.R.O, 

 Lht, 74. 



1" Third son of Sir Henry Bold- 

 Hoghton by his second wife. He served 

 in the Ashantee War, 1873-4, and he 

 has the gold and silver medals of the 

 Royal Humane Society for the most dis- 

 tinguished act during 1874. 



^' The date is now practically illegible, 

 but has been preserved by earllei 

 writers. 



