LEYLAND HUNDRED 



TARLETON 



TARLETON 



Tharilton, 1246; Tarleton usually. 



This township was separated from Croston in 1821, 

 and made an independent parish by Act of Parlia- 

 ment.' The River Douglas or Asland, as it is here 

 called, flowing north to the Ribble, forms the eastern 

 boundary for some 3 miles. The low-lying level 

 surface stretches west for about the same distance to 

 reach the borders of what was Martin Mere, now 

 drained. A stretch of slightly higher land lies all 

 along the river bank, and about the centre of it is the 

 village of Tarleton ; at the south end is the hamlet of 

 Sollom. On another slightly elevated piece of land 

 on the west is the hamlet of Holmes, with Mere 

 Brow to the south. A large part of the area is 

 moss-land — Tarleton Moss on the north and Sollom 

 Moss on the south. The area is 5,534^ acres,' and 

 the population in 190 1 

 was 1,800. 



The principal road is 

 that running north from 

 Rufford parallel with the 

 river and along the higher 

 land described. To the 

 south of the village it 

 turns to the east — the 

 northward continuation 

 being known as Hesketh 

 Lane — and crosses the 

 Douglas by a bridge, near 

 Bank Hall in Bretherton, 

 and so goes on to Preston. 

 A western branch. Black- 

 gate Lane, leads from the 

 village to Mere Erow and 

 Crossens. The Leeds and 

 Liverpool Canal branch 

 goes north near the 

 Douglas, which stream it 

 joins to the north of the 

 village. 



The Ram's Head Inn, 

 a long, low, yellow- washed 

 group of buildings at the 

 south end of the village, 

 was a house of some im- 

 portance in the coaching days, and, though much 

 modernized, still presents a somewhat picturesque 

 appearance. Over the door is the inscription ' H. L. 

 1640,' and in one of the out- buildings facing the 

 road is a stone with the initials 'H. L.' and the date 

 1714. 



Inscribed on a stone on the former residence of 

 the curate is: 'This Hous was built a.d. 1726 for 



the Curate of Tarleton with Mrs. Margaret Thomp- 

 fon's Legacy.' 



The soil is loam and moss overlying clay ; wheat 

 and potatoes are grown. There are 3,209 acres of 

 arable land, 1,995 of permanent grass and 154 of 

 woods and plantations.^ 



Charters for fairs were procured in i 700, and later 

 for fairs in April and in September and October, but 

 these have not endured.* 



A parish council governs the place. 



There were formerly crosses on the greens at 

 Tarleton and Sollom.' The stocks were near the 

 manor-house in the village." 



St. Helen's Well existed near the old chapel of 

 that name, and as late as the 17th century was ' very 

 much resorted to by the devotees of those times.' ' 



' Ram's Head,' Tarleton 



A halfpenny token was issued in 1669.* A box 

 of coins was found about a century ago." 



What was in later times called the 

 MJNOR manor of TARLETON was, like Croston, 

 part of the Montbegon or Hornby fee, 

 and with Croston was given to John Malherbe.'" The 

 whole appears to have been assessed as two plough- 

 lands, and one moiety, Tarleton proper, seems to 



• Local Act, I & 2 Geo. IV, cap. 

 103. 



2 The Census Rep. of 1901 gives 

 5,545 acres, including 22 of inland water; 

 in addition there are 9 acres of tidal 

 water and 4 of foreshore. 



3 Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



* Raines in Notiiia Cestr. (Chct. Soc), 

 ii, 370. It is said that about sixty years 

 ago the ceremony of reading the charter 

 •till continued ; an old mace was carried 

 in the public procession on the occasion. 



' Lanes, and Clies. Antiq. Soc. xvii, 9. 

 The pedestal is still to be seen at Tarleton, 

 a little removed from its old site. At 

 Sollom the old step was destroyed to 

 make room for a weighing machine, 



« Ibid. 



' Notitia Cestr. ii, 369, quoting a 

 statement drawn up in 1718, which 

 speaks of it as * within the memory of 

 man.' The recusant roll of 1628 con- 

 tains very few names in RuflTord, Tarle- 

 ton and Hesketh, though the squire's 



wife was one, so that the 'devotees' 

 must have come from a wider district ; 

 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 174, 

 176. For a list of recusants some fifty 

 years later see Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc), 

 V, 92 (Tarleton), 94 (Rufford), and loi 

 (Hesketh Bank). 



® Lanes, and C/ies. Antiq. Soc. v, 91, 

 ^ Baines, Z,£7ffa, (ed. 1870), Ii, 1^7.. 

 ^^ Lanes, Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 62. See further in 

 the account of Croston. 



