"7+4 



'746 



1764 

 1769 



A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



B.A. 



Henry Young, 



Oxf.) 

 Benjamin Cooper, 



Oxf.) 

 John Wilson 

 Thomas Baldwin, LL.B. 



(Brasenose Coll., 

 B.A. (Brasenose Coll., 



1802 Thomas Rebanb' 



1832 John Fisher ' 



1871 Isaac William Milner ' 



1874 OctaviusdeLeyland Baldwin, B.A.* (Brasenose 



Coll., Oxf.) 

 1 89 1 John Wood, L.Th. (Durh.) 



PENWORTHAM 



PENWORTHAM 

 FARINGTON 



HOWICK 

 HUTTON 



LONGTON 



The parish of Penwortham occupies a compara- 

 tively level area on the south bank of the Kibble 

 from opposite Preston westward to the River Douglas. 

 The highest points, about 100 ft. above sea level, 

 are near the eastern boundary, from which there is 

 a gradual slope westward to the 50-ft. level, and 

 then, at least on the northern boundary, a steep 

 descent to the low lands by the Ribble. In this 

 parish, as elsewhere, the 2 5 -ft. level appears to indi- 



cate the limit anciently habitable, the old hamlets and 

 mansions standing above it. The parish has an area 

 of 11,249 ''cres, including 1,323 acres of tidal water, 

 and in 1901 had a population of 6,754. 



Each of the townships is now governed by its 

 parish council. 



The growth of Preston has affected Penwortham 

 as a residential district, but apart from agriculture 

 the principal industries are a cotton factory at Faring- 

 ton and breweries at Longton. The agricultural 

 land in the parish is thus divided : Arable, 2,521 



acres; permanent grass, 6,455 ; woods and planta- 

 tions, 156.' 



To the ancient ' fifteenth ' the parish paid thus : 

 Penwortham, 9/.; Howick with Farington, 23/. S-/.; 

 Hutton, 1 3/. 4</. ; Longton, 2 8/. <)d.^ For the county 

 lay of 1624 it was divided into three 'quarters' as 

 follows : Penwortham and Hutton, Farington and 

 Howick, and Longton, each paying equally.' 



Leland, writing about 1536, says: 'Penwortham 

 seemed to me more than half 

 a mile from Preston ; and 

 there goeth Ribble ; standing 

 in respect of the town of the 

 further side of Ribble, the 

 which there divided the diocese 

 of Chester from the diocese 

 of York. Penwortham is a 

 parish church and cell to 

 Evesham Abbey, and standeth 

 in Chester diocese.' ' At that 

 time the various branches of 

 the Farington family were the 

 chief landowners. ' 



Probably owing to its being 

 so largely in the hands of 

 religious orders the parish 

 had, it would seem, a very 

 peaceful history ; and since 

 the Reformation there is bift 

 little to relate. The chief resident family, the 

 Fleetwoods of the Priory, were Protestants, and the 

 main body of the population seem to have conformed 

 without resistance,'" though for a short time there 

 was a Roman Catholic priest at Farington Hall. 

 In more recent times Nonconformity has been 

 very popular in the district. An observant writer 

 remarked some thirty-five years ago : ' The soil all 

 along this part of the western coast of Lancashire 

 seems to be very favourable to the growth of Dissent. 

 At Longton this is apparent ; at Bretherton we have 



I would put a bar to Sir Thomas Standish 

 collating thither, and to assert my own 

 right and title as vicar of Leyland to 

 it.' 



' In a return made to the Bishop of 

 Chester in 1821 it was reported that 

 about 200 persons usually attended ; 

 there were no free sittings. The books 

 and solitary surplice were in bad condi- 

 tion ; otherwise the fabric, repaired by a 

 rate on the chapelry, was in good order. 

 Services were held on Sunday morning 

 and afternoon, but no sermon had been 

 usual; also on Wednesday and Thursday 



in Passion Week and Good Friday, The 

 Sacrament was administered four times 

 a year. 



* He published two sermons. He 

 resigned in 1871. 



^ Afterwards of Newcastle. 



* Vicar of Leyland. 

 ' The details are : 



Arable 



ac 

 Penwortham , 1,489 

 Farington & ) 

 Penwortham T * ^ 



Grass Woods, &c, 



ac. ac, 



4,451 81 



2,004 75 



® Gregson, Fragmenrt (cd. Harland), 19, 

 52 



The whole amounted to £■} 14J, 91/,, 

 when the hundred paid ;^30 1 21. %d. 



'Ibid. 17, 22, Each 'quarter' paid 

 £1 141, id. — ^Tii 21. 3</. in all — when 

 the hundred paid ;^ioo. " Itin. v, 97. 



* Subs. R. ijo.no, 86 (1525). Henry 

 Farington was the chief contributor to 

 the tax ; others were Alice (widow), 

 Thomas, Robert and Peter. The other 

 contributor for lands was William For- 

 shaw. 



" The scanty list of recusants in 1628 

 is printed in M:,c. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Chcs.), i, 180. 



