A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Fenton of Dutton. 

 Per pale argent and sable 

 a cross dovetailed, in the 

 first and fourth quarters 

 afieur de lis and in the 

 second and third a tre- 

 foil slipped all counter- 

 changed. 



Townley in 1562 described the tenure of his estate 

 as socage or in the nature of socage. 10 Richard 

 Townley of Dutton in 1 6 1 8 

 held his lands in Dutton of 

 Richard Shireburne of Stony- 

 hurst by the service of a red 

 rose yearly ; he also held lands 

 in Ribchester, Dilworth and 

 Hothersall. 11 A pedigree was 

 recorded in 1665. 12 The 

 estates descended to Abraham 

 Townley, who died in 1 70 1 , 

 leaving two sons, Henry and 

 Richard, the latter of whom 

 is noticed in the account of 

 Belfield in Rochdale. Henry 

 Townley died in 1 731, leav- 

 ing three daughters as co- 

 ll e i r s. The eldest, Jane, 

 married Edward Entwisle of 

 Ribchester, and by a partition 



in 1738 the Dutton estate descended to their 

 children. 13 'In 1805 Mr. W. Joule purchased 

 the estate, and in 1823 sold it to Mr. James 

 Rothwell, whose nephew, the late Marquis de 

 Rothwell, of Bolton, was the owner till his death ' 

 in 1890. 14 



DUTTON HALL is a picturesque two-story stone 

 house, with balled gables and mullioned windows, 

 finely situated on the southern slope of Longridge 

 Fell, and commanding a magnificent view to the south 

 over the Ribble Valley. The house is said to have 

 been erected by Richard Townley about 1670-80, 16 

 but there is no date or inscription anywhere on the 

 building itself. It is now used as a farm-house, and 

 the west wing is unoccupied. The front, facing 

 south, is 63 ft. in length, and consists of two end 

 gabled wings with a recessed middle part containing 

 the hall, the plan being a later adaptation of the 

 general type of the preceding century. The doorway, 



however, is in the east wing, and the principal feature 

 of the front elevation is the great square bay window 

 of the hall, which occupies nearly the whole of the 

 space between the wings in the west angle. The bay 

 is externally 1 4 ft. wide with a projection of 6 ft., and 

 goes up both stories, terminating as a kind of tower 

 with lead flat and balustraded parapet, forming an 

 exceedingly picturesque feature. It has a large 

 mullioned and transomed window of seven lights 

 placed at the angle with three lights on the return, 

 and the rest of the windows of the house being low 

 and without transoms a good effect is produced by 

 the contrast. The windows of the disused west 

 wing retain their original leaded lights in good 

 geometrical patterns. The walling is generally of 

 large gritstone blocks, but the east wing is faced 

 with rough coursed sandstone pieces and gritstone 

 quoins, and may be a rebuilding. The roofs are 

 covered with modern blue slates. In the recess 

 between the great bay window and the east wing 

 is a wooden bell-turret containing a bell. The 

 interior is somewhat modernized, but the arrange- 

 ment of the hall and staircase is interesting, and 

 in the upper room over the bay is a good plaster 

 panel over the fireplace, with conventional floral 

 ornament within a moulded border. The hall is 

 flagged diagonally and has a wide open fireplace, and 

 woodwork of late 17th or early 18th-century date. 

 The porch is an open one with four-centred arch, 

 and a stone seat on one side. The lay-out of 

 the garden on the south side has been effective ; 

 it is inclosed on either side by outbuildings, giving 

 something of the appearance of a forecourt, and 

 the two tall stone gate piers, with balls and 

 original wooden gates, surmounted by quaintly 

 carved lions, form a very picturesque foreground. 

 The grass plots, however, have been planted as an 

 orchard, and the trees now almost completely hide 

 the front of the house. 



Among the older landowners were the families 



of Dutton had variance with Richard 

 Towneley in 1452 respecting boundaries 

 in Cliviger ; W. A. Abram, loc. cit. 



Richard Townley of Dutton in 1 53 1 

 married Joan daughter of Roger Winldey 

 ol'Winkley; DD, no. 668. Shortlyafter- 

 wards he and his wife gave to trustees a 

 part of 'my hall of Townley ' and certain 

 lands in Dutton ; ibid. no. 646. 



10 From his will, printed in Richmond 

 Wills (Surtees Soc), 151. He gave 

 various lands to his wife [Catherine for 

 twenty-one years and £\o to Jane his 

 daughter. To James Lingard, vicar of 

 Ribchester, he left 13J. 4*/., and to two 

 other priests 10s. each. In 1537 John 

 son and heir-apparent of Richard Townley 

 had disputes with Richard Crombleholme 

 and others respecting land called Carling- 

 hurst in Dutton ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. 

 Com.), ii, 60. It was probably the same 

 John Townley who was plaintiff in 1 549 ; 

 ibid, i, 246. According to the pedigree, 

 however, Richard was succeeded by a son 

 Henry Townley, probably the same who 

 in 1583 held eight messuages, a dovecote 

 and various lands in Dutton, Ribchester, 

 Hothersall and Dilworth, of which he 

 enfeoffed John and Edward, sons of 

 Edmund Shireburne ; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 45, m. 184. Henry Townley 

 of Dutton had a dispute with Robert 

 Lynalx in I 582 respecting a right of way ; 



T. C. Smith, Ribchester, 54. He was 

 among the freeholders in 1600 ; Misc. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 234. He 

 was living in 1608; Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Rec. Soc), i, 89. 



The estate was in 1595 secured by 

 Henry Townley from John Townley by 

 a fine, the meaning of which is not clear ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 57, 

 m. 17. 



11 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes. 

 and Ches.), ii, 137. Richard's wife 

 (Anne), brothers and children are named ; 

 the heir was his son Henry, aged fourteen. 



Henry Townley of Dutton married 

 Alice Coulthurst (Bumley) at Ribchester, 

 26 June 1626 ; Reg. He paid £10 in 

 163 1 on refusing knighthood; Misc. 

 (Rec. Soc), i, 217. 



I! Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), 310. 

 Richard the son of Henry Townley was 

 thirty-four years old. He died in 1670 

 and was succeeded by his brother Abra- 

 ham. 



13 This part of the descent is from 

 W. A. Abram, loc. cit. The younger 

 daughters of Henry Townley were Janet, 

 who married the Rev. Henry Ward of 

 Ingatestone, and Margaret, who married 

 Lawrence Wall of Preston. The family 

 were benefactors of the poor. 



The deforciants in a fine respecting the 

 Townley estate in Dutton, Ribchester, 



Bailey and Burnley (1739) were Edward 

 Entwisle, Jane his wife, Henry Ward, Janet 

 his wife, Margaret Townley, John Nock 

 and Anne his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 320, m. 133. Anne was the 

 widow of Henry Townley. Richard his 

 brother had lands in Ribchester in 1744 ; 

 ibid. bdle. 330, m. 124. 



Edward Entwisle died in 1776 and 

 was buried at Ribchester 5 his wife died 

 at the end of 1799. Their eldest son, 

 Townley Entwisle, a surgeon, had died in 

 1779, leaving three daughters. A younger 

 son, Edward Entwisle, died at Ribchester 

 in 1828. See T. C. Smith, Ribchester, 



It may be added that this surname 

 occurs early, for William de Dutton in 

 the 13 th century granted to Adam son of 

 Richard de Entwisle land in Dutton, the 

 bounds of which name Ormsclough and 

 Rakedanclough where Bailisti falls into 

 it ; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1149. Henry 

 son of Robert Franceys in 1 342 gave land 

 at Whitecarfall (or Quittarfall) in Rib- 

 chester to John de Entwisle, afterwards 

 held by Adam del Hull of Clayton ; Add. 

 MS. 32107, no. 1028, 1 105. 



14 T. C. Smith, op. cit. 232. For the 

 Rothwell family see the accounts of Hoole 

 and Sharpies. 



15 Ibid. ; an illustration of the house is 

 given. 



56 



