A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



of p^ip'e fleeing from the Scots at Lostock Bridge 

 about Midsummer the preceding year.' 



The following fielJ-names occur— MerstalknoU, 

 ShuttlingfelJ, Wyndebonkfeld, Nelfelt, Edolf Acre, 

 Brounegge,'' Moivale, Suthale, Priding, Schipingflat, 

 Alderthlegh and Huddefeld, possibly so called from 

 one Huttemon, whose son Roger lived temp. Edward I; 

 and these local features — Closbroke, Evesbroke, Brad- 

 leybroke, Holmesnape, Holynsnape, Thingeschawbroc 

 and Bymbrig, the ridge or ' rigg ' of one Bimme, whose 

 son Roger held lands in the time of Robert Banastre 

 on the north side of Burnulgate, the road leading to 

 Brindle, and adjoining the Eves Brook and the oxgang 

 lands. The name, being eventually applied to the 

 bridge over the little River Lostock, took the form of 

 Bamber Bridge, and has now extended to the district 

 on the north side of the bridge. 



The following seneschals of Walton have been 

 noted : — 



Thomas Banastre, ante 1291 

 Gilbert de Haydock, temp. Edw. I 

 William de Hesketh, ante 1291 

 William de Blackburn, 11 l-.Jw. 11 

 Richard de Bradshagh, 13 Edw. II 

 Gilbert de Southworth, 17 Edw. II 

 Matthew de Ha\dock, temp. Edw. II 



There are traces of four or five ancient crosses.' 

 The folk-lore of the district has nothing distinctive."* 



Leland writes of this district : — ' Within a mile of 

 Preston I cam over Darwent River, the which at 

 Penwardine paroche, a celle to Evesham, goith into 

 Ribil. This Darwent devidith Lelandshire from 

 Anderness {sic) and a mile above, beyond the place 

 wher I passid over Darwent, Mr. Langton dwellith 

 at Walton-on-Darwent and is baron of Newton in 

 Macrefeld. . . Haifa mile beyond Darwent I passid 

 over the great stone bridge of Rybill having a v great 

 arches.' ' 



During the Civil War there were two skirmishes at 

 Walton, the first on 15 August 1644, when the 

 Parliamentary forces under Col. Nicholas Shuttle- 

 worth took prisoners Lord Ogilvy and Col. Huddleston 

 of Millom Castle; the second on 1 5 August 1648, 

 when Cromwell defeated the Royalist forces under 

 the Duke of Hamilton and Sir Marmaduke Langdale. 

 In this engagement the Royalists made a stubborn 

 stand on Ribble Bridge, but were ultimately driven 

 over Darwen Bridge and up the hill above Walton 

 Town. Their artillery and transport with the duke's 

 baggage were taken standing upon Walton Copp. 

 Charles II also passed over Ribble Bridge in his 

 march through Lancashire in 1651.^" 



In 1 68 1 William Pulford, gent., obtained damages 

 against the commonalty of Blackburnshire for trespass 

 against the statute of hue and cry after he had been 

 attacked by two malefactors in the lane leading 

 between Walton and Bamber Bridge.^i 



Writing about 1685 Dr. Kuerden thus refers to 



the objects of interest on the highway between 

 Bamber Bridge and Ribble Bridge : — 



Passing the Lostoc Water at a fair stone bridge parting Lej-land 

 from Blackburn Hundred you meet with the other road from 

 Chorley to Preston, and on your left the ancient seat of Walton 

 of Little Walton, but now belonging to Mr. RatclIlT Aihton 

 son of Mr. Ashton of Cuerdalc. About half a mile further is 

 another road from Brindle to Preston and shortly after you 

 come to Walton, and leaving Walton Hall on the left, belonging 

 to Sir Charles Houghton, you cross the Derwent at a large 

 bridge which is 20 yds. between the springers, then enter Walton 

 Cop for half a mile well rampyr'd with stone. On the right is 

 a great road from Blackburn to Preston. At the end of the Cop 

 you pass over a stone bridge where the Scotch army was first 

 routed under Duke Hamilton by Cromwell.^' 



He describes Ribble Bridge as ' one of the statelyest 

 stone bridges in the north of England.' It was the 

 abandonment of the defence of this bridge which 

 proved fatal to the Jacobite forces in 171 5, and led 

 to the surrender of the Earl of Derwentwater to 

 Generals Wills and Carpenter. 



The Mock Corporation of Walton founded in 

 1 70 1 was not a Jacobite institution, but a social club 

 patronized by those of the county gentry who sought 

 occasions for convivial meetings. The officers in- 

 cluded a mayor, deputy ma}-or, recorder, bailiff, 

 chaplain, Serjeant, physician, and mace-bearer ; among 

 other officers appointed during the early years of the 

 institution were those of house-groper, jester, poet 

 laureate, champion, huntsman or master of the hounds, 

 sword-bearer, in 1708 a slut-kisser, and in 171 1 a 

 custard-eater, besides many others. Four staves 

 covered with silver bands, on which are inscribed the 

 names of the corporate officers for each year, and two 

 silver-headed wands preserved at Cuerden Hall, re- 

 main of the once more numerous regalia. The 

 ' moot hall ' was held at the Unicorn Inn, near 

 Darwen Bridge, and among the many notable persons 

 who served the office of mayor were Thomas Duke 

 of Norfolk (1709), James Earl of Derwentwater 

 (171 l),and Viscount Molyneux(i74o). No records 

 were kept after 1 796. Many years later they were 

 rescued from destruction at the hands of frequenters 

 of the ' Unicorn ' by Sir Philip Hoghton, bart., who 

 removed records and regalia to Walton Hall, then 

 his residence. In 1834 the regalia were removed to 

 Cuerden Hall, the records remaining in the hands of 

 Sir Henry de Hoghton, bart.'^ 



Several noteworthy men have been natives of the 

 township, including Edward Baines, the author of 

 the history of the county, first issued in 1836. He 

 was born in 1774, and became a journalist, editing 

 the Leeds Mercury in 1801. He was M.P. for Leeds 

 1834-41, and died in 1848.^* Roger Baxter, S.J., 

 ijS^.-iSij, was a missionary in Maryland, and 

 wrote historical and controversial books.^^ Thomas 

 Brindle, D.D., 1791-1871, established Prio. Park 

 College, near Bath.^^ Joseph Livesey, 1 794-1 884, 

 was famous as a temperance advocate ; he lived chiefly 

 in Preston; his Autobiography was published in 1881." 



' Coram Reg. R. 254, Rex m. 42, 52 d. 

 Ellen de Plesington lost £10 worth of 

 goods, the Abbot of Holme Cultram and 

 Patrick de Curwen lost ten oxen ; others 

 lost ^10 worth of cows and mares at 

 Anderton. 



6 The dyke called Brown Edge, extend- 

 ing to Dene Brook, is mentioned in a 

 grant by Richard de Cliff to his son John 

 in 1306 J Add. MS. 32106, no. 516. 



^ Lanes, and Cbes, Anti^, Soc, zviiif 

 58-9. 



8 N. and Q. (Ser. 4), vi, 211. 



' Leland, Itin. v, 83. 



'" IVar in Lanci. (Chet. Soc), 55, 

 65-7 ; Civil War Tracti (Chet. Soc), 

 262, 288. See also Carlyle, Ciomiueirs 

 Letters^ no. 64 ; Broxap, C;W War^ 167. 



" Exch. of Pleas, Trin. 33 Chas. II, 

 m. zo. 



290 



" Local Glean, Lanes, and Ches. i, 111. 

 See further in the account of Preston. 



" H. H. Barker, Mock Corporation 

 (Blackburn, 1874). 



'* Diet, Nat. Biog. 



" Ibid. ; Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of BngL 

 Cath. i, 157. 



'* Gillow, op. cit. i, 297 ; he became a 

 Benedictine in 181 1. 



'" Diet. Nat. B107. 



