A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Stanley, Earl of 

 Derby. Argent on a 

 bend a^ure three stags^ 

 heads cahasscd or. 



Fleming of Croiton,' and was followed by his son 



Roger - and his grandson William.' William's son 



Robert in 1558 sold the 



Bispham estate to William 



Stopford,'' and the latter's 



residence was known as the 



Hall of Bispham.^ This 



estate was sold to William 



Ashhurst of Dalton in 1610/ 



and seems to have descended 



since that time like Dalton.' 



John Singleton and Richard 

 Tinckler were landowners 

 about 1620.* The Earl of 

 Derby was the chief land- 

 owner in 1789, paying more 

 than half the land tax. 

 Richard Wilbraham Bootle paid about an eleventh." 



There was a chapel in the manor in 1522, but 

 nothing is known of its history.^" 



A free school was founded at Bispham in 169; by 

 Richard Durning.^' It was meant to be a grammar 

 school, and was in fact at one period a classical school 

 of some repute. Girls as well as boys had been 

 taught. In 1825 there were about 35 boys, and two 

 of them were instructed in Latin. The school con- 

 tinued to decline in standing and has long been a 

 public elementary school. The endowment, which 

 now produces over ^£200 a year, is regulated by a 

 scheme of the Charity Commissioners made in 1878.'^ 

 The old school building bears the inscription 

 'Donum R.D. 1692.' 



BRETHERTON 



Bretherton, 1 242 and Uju.i1 ; Brothcrton, the 

 principal variant, occurs 1292'^ ; Bertherton, 1292. 

 Thorp, 1212. 



The present Bretherton includes also the ancient 

 Thorp, the position of which appears to have left no 

 trace. The south-west half of the township, known 

 as the Ecs, is below the 2 5 -ft. level, the village 

 being situated about the centre of the township, 

 where the ground begins to rise a little. Bank Hall is 



on a slight elevation to the wc-.t, near the Douglas, 

 the old course of which river forms the boundary 

 on that side. The new and straighter coune lies 

 within the boundary. The area is 2,436^ acres,'* 

 and in 1 901 there was a population of 8og persons. 



A road from Rufford crosses the old and new 

 Douglas near Bank Hall and goes through to Much 

 Hoole and Preston. At Carr House on the north it 

 is joined by the road from Croston, which passes in 

 several branches through the village of Bretherton, 

 from which a road goes east to Leyland. The 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's Liverpool and 

 Preston railway crosses the north-east corner of the 

 township, where there is more moss-land. The soil 

 is clay, loam and peat ; wheat, oats, potatoes and 

 fruit are grown. 



CARR HOUSE, which 'tmdition' associates with 

 the name of Jeremiah Horrocks, is situated at the 

 extreme north-west of the township, half-way between 

 the villages of Tarleton and Hoole. The building 

 faces south to the Bretherton road, from which it stands 

 back some distance and has a forcyard inclosed on 

 the west side by farm buildings. The house belongs 

 to the early part of the 1 7th century and is of 

 two stories, with slightly projecting end wings and 

 a central porch with gable over. It is built of 

 red bricks which have weathered a very pleasant 

 colour, relieved with a blue-brick diaper pattern 

 similar to work of the same period at R afford Old 

 Hall, Bank Hall and Hoole Church, and with stone 

 quoins of irregular length. The building has not 

 been altered very much externally, all the old stone 

 muUioned windows remaining on the princip.il front, 

 though one of them is built up and the original lead 

 lights have disappeared from them all. The roof, 

 however, is covered with blue slates instead of the 

 usual stone slabs which give so good a contrast of 

 colour in most of the old brick houses of this district. 

 But apart from this the exterior is pretty much as 

 it was in the 1 7th century. The porch, which 

 is 9 ft. 6 in. wide, is the principal feature of the 

 front, being centrally situated, with a projection of 

 4 ft. 6 in., and rising in a third story or attic above 

 the roof The wings, which measure 14 ft. acrosj, 



' Sec the account of Croston. 



' Roger, son and heir-apparent of 

 Richard Dallon, made a feoffment of his 

 lands In 1492 j Add. MS. 52108, no. 

 62-. 



^ A grant of various tenements in 

 Bispham to William Dalton, with re- 

 mainder to Richard his brother, v. as made 

 in 1500-, Add. MS. ;2IC4., no. 1459. 

 Another grant made in 1527 by Roger 

 Dalton and William his son and heir- 

 apparent mentions William Da'ton the 

 elder, brother of Roger's father Richard, 

 as still living ; Towneley MS. DD, no. 

 ;64. The will of William Dalton (154^) 

 is in Add. MS. 321C4, no. 14-4. It 

 names Jane his wife, Richard his younger 

 son, his four daughters and Richard Rad- 

 cliffe his uncle. For pedigree in 1567 

 see Tram. Hrt, Soc. (ne'.v ser.}, vi, icx>. 



* Robert Dalton of Bis;:ham and Joan 

 his mother, widow of William Daltcn, 

 entered into a bond to obser\'e covenants 

 in Dec. i;5"j Towneley MS. DD, no. 

 ^75- The fine concerning the ?ale of 

 Bispham seems to be that in Add. MS. 

 32IC7, no. 914, Wijliam Stopford and 

 Richard Mason being plaintiffs and Joan 



Dalton, widow, Robert Dalton and Anne 

 his wife being deforciants. Another 

 messuage in Bispham was sold a little 

 later to James Harcsnape ; Towneley MS. 

 DD, no. 378. 



•' In 1560 the feoffees gave to William 

 Stopford all his messuages, &c., in 

 Mawdesley and Bispham ; ibid. no. 377. 

 For the Stopford family see also the 

 accounts of Wrightington and Parbold. 

 A claim to the capital messuage in 

 Bispham, late William Stopford's, was 

 in 1596 made by John Stopford alias 

 Langley ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 279, 

 m. 10. 



= Harl. M?. 2-42, fol. 291. By this 

 deed Richard Xel.on of Fairhuret, William 

 S:opford of Melling, Ursula, Dorothy and 

 Blanche Stopford (sisters and co-heirs of 

 Henry Stopford of Lathom), James Sfp- 

 ford of Ulnes Walton and James Stopford 

 of Lathom sold *the capital mc5^'jage 

 called Bispham Hall or the Hall of Bisp- 

 ham,' with barns, stables, &c., late the 

 inheritance of William Stopford, with 

 other lands. 



' Lands In Bispham remained in the 

 possession of the Ashhurst family until 



102 



the sale of their Lancashire estates to Sir 

 Thomas Bootle in 1751 ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. b^lc. 347, m. 26. 



' John Singleton died in 1623, leaving 

 a son and heir John, aged forty-eight ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvi, no. 16. 

 Richard Tinckler died in 1627, his son 

 Christopher being forty years of age ; 

 ibid, jfxvi, no. 15. The tenures are not 

 stated. " Land tax return at Preston. 



"* A small sum for repairs was allowed 

 in the Earl of Derby's rent roll above 

 referred to. 



^ " Gastrcll, Notiiia Cesir. (Chet. Soc), 

 ii, 358. The founder's will, dated 1692, 

 is preserved at Chester. 



'^ End, Char. Rep, for Croston, 1899. 

 The governors meet once a year. The 

 minutes are in existence from the founda- 

 tion. 



" In a pleading of that year (Assize R. 

 408, m. 21) the defendants alleged th.it 

 there was no vill called Brothcrton in the 

 county, though there was one called 

 Bretherton. 



2,428 acres, including 3 of inland 

 water ; Census Rep. 1901. There are also 

 13 acres of tidal water and i of foreshore. 



