A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



to £ 8 os. 3d. a year given in money. 100 Bryning- 

 with-Kellamergh has a special fund of £2 12s. 6d. a 

 year 101 ; Freckleton, £1 3/. lw ; Medlar-with-Wesham, 

 £2 io/. 103 ; Ribby-with-Wrea, £2 12s. 6^. 10 * — all 

 given in money ; Treales, Roseacre and Wharles, 

 £ 1 3 1 os., which may be distributed in several ways los ; 

 Warton, £$ 15/. 8d. l °* ; Westby-with-Plumpton, 

 10/. %d. 107 — both distributed in goods; Hambleton, 

 £2 m ; Greenhalgh-with-Thisdeton, £6 6*. 109 ; and 

 Little Eccleston-with-Larbreck, £1 io/. 110 — all in 

 money doles. Two or three charities have been 

 lost. 111 



KIRKHAM 

 Dom. Bk. ; Kirkeheim, 1 196 ; 



1200; Kirkam, 1260 ; Kirkham, 



Chicheham, 

 Kirkeham, c. 

 1 271. 



This township, which contains the church, is com- 

 paratively central for the main portion of the parish. 

 It has an area of 857 acres, 1 and the population in 



1901 numbered 3,693. The surface is generally 

 level ; the highest ground is in the centre and at the 

 west end — here 100 ft. above sea level is attained — 

 and it slopes away to the north and east, forming 

 a slight valley, through which the boundary brook 

 flows. 



The principal road is that from Preston w estwardi ; 

 along it the town is built, as it descends from the 

 Mill Hill on the east, rises, falls and rises again to 

 the Willows at the west. A road branches south to 

 Freckleton, from the old market square, and another 

 north to the church. Further west is the road leading 

 to the railway station in Wesham. The market cross 

 was demolished about a hundred years ago.* 



The town had in 1825 manufactures of sail-doth 

 and cordage, and also of fine and coarse linen ; 

 and the cotton manufacture had been introduced.' 

 This last has continued to expand, and affords em- 

 ployment to the majority of the people. 



The soil is boulder clay, sand and gravel, overlying 

 red marls. 



each for the po<r. Land was purchased 

 and the bailiffs of the town have ad- 

 ministered the income — sometimes irregu- 

 larly. Some of the land has been sold 

 and the proceeds, with accumub:i»m, 

 are now represented by £628 consols. 

 The gross income is £ij 141., and it 

 may be applied, under a scheme of the 

 Charity Commissioners made in 1 8y>», 

 in various ways — subscriptions in aid of 

 hospitals, provident clubs, Sec. ; provision 

 of nurses, outfit on entering a trade, 

 supplv of food, fuel, clot.tcs, &c. t or 

 money grants. 



iM Elizabeth Brown in 1739 left 

 ,£40 on trust for poor widows. The 

 interest has been distributed in small 

 money gifts. The capital, now amount- 

 ing to £48 14;., has been paid over to 

 the official tru-stee, 



W: !iam Harrison's gift of ^140 for 

 Bibles and other religious bookp, for 

 poor people in Kirkham and L ttlc 

 Ecclestun-with-I.arbreck, is now applied 

 to school prizes, &c. 



M <rv Bradkirk in 1816 gave £100 for 

 five poor persons of Kirkham, members 

 of the Church of England and regular 

 attenders of the parish chunh. The 

 present income, £2 12s. 61/., is distri- 

 buted accordingly. 



A sum of £180, trust money of un- 

 known origin, was in 18)2 invested f<>r 

 the benefit of poor widows. The income 

 is ^5 31. 9,/., which is given in small 

 sums to between fifty and sixty widows. 



101 This was a gift of the above-named 

 Mary Bradkirk. The income is divided 

 among five poor persons ; attendance at 

 Warton or Wrea G reen Church i s a 

 qualification, in accordance with recent 

 ecclesiastical arrangements. 



102 xhis sum appears to be due to 

 ancient gifts by Andrew Freckleton an -3 

 others, once charged upon the Marsh, 

 and to a rent-charge of ioj. on a close 

 called Swainson Butts. The former gift 

 ii now provided for in this manner : 

 * There are 2 ; OjV cattle gates on Fre.k'e- 

 ton Marsh, but in practice 231 are let 

 yearly, the rents received being paid into 

 the general fund . . . except that of the 

 oJd half-gate, which is now paid to the 

 parish council. As it represents nothing 

 c rp:real ?ni only exists as a fiction for 

 the <ake or this charity it is not assessed 

 lor rates, «fcc, like the other cattle gates.' 



The rent varies from time to time. The 

 doles are given on St. Thomas's Day and 

 vary from 6d. to 41. 6d. 



lto This charity was in existence in 

 1789. It is the income of two cattle- 

 gates on Freckleton Marsh purchased 

 with the original endowment said to have 

 been given by Thomas Thompson :ind 

 William Crook.ill. The money is dis- 

 tributed on St. Thomas's Day to about 

 forty poor persons. 



I'M Th; t is another of M.iry Bradkirk's 

 benefactions, similar to thit t r KirVhim. 

 It is given to five poor persons in equal 

 ■hares. 



1,c William Grimbaldston, M.D., in 

 1725 left /";oj for binding out poor chil- 

 dren of Trcaics as apprentices ; £400 for 

 the master of K-rkham Stir '■', provided 

 he had been ireJ at Westminster, Win- 

 chc;:er < r tin, c in default for appren- 

 ticing, as before ; £$o for clafMo, for 

 Kirkham School ; £$°° for the saying 

 of daily prayers in Kirkham Church, or 

 in default lor poor housekeepers born in 

 Treales ; £$0 for books for poor children 

 of the parish belonging to the Church of 

 England. The money was invested in 

 lanJ, and, as there were few applications 

 for apprenticing, a school was founded in 

 Trcaics. The gift for daily prayers 

 r- rmns as directed; the rest of the 

 income is now devoted to Kirkham 

 Grammar School. 



Ellen and John Bolton in 1657—8, 

 James Porter and his brother in 1729 

 and others gave money for the poor which 

 was invested in a house and land at Cat- 

 forth in Woodplumpton. The rent, now 

 £13, is administered under a scheme 

 made by the Charity Commissioners in 

 1899. The scheme, however, is prac- 

 tically disregarded, and the net income is 

 divided on St. Thomas's Day among poor 

 persons belonging to the hamlet of Treales. 

 Old 'charity money* of £i$, supposed 

 to he the gift of one Bridgett, is now 

 represented by £20 in Kirkham Savings 

 Bank. The income (101.) is given in 

 doles of u. or u. 6d. to poor people of 

 Whi-ries. 



106 Mrs. Mary Southworth in 1870 

 bequeathed £200 for the benefit of the 

 school and scholars of the Established 

 Church of England at Wharton. The 

 portion for the scholars is spent on clogs 

 for those who attend most regularly. 



150 



107 Anne Moor of West by in 1805 left 

 the residue of her estate, ^40, for the 

 school and the poor. The capital is now 

 invested in consol--, and the poor's moiety, 

 formerly distributed in kind, seems for 

 many years to have been allowed to 

 accumulate. 



10H This was a rent-charge on Lent- 

 worth H.tII and other lands made by Sir 

 Nicholas Shircburne in 1706. The 

 charge was in 1868 placed upon a farm in 

 Hambleton, and since its sale has been 

 paid by the purchasers of the different 

 portions. It is collected by the vicar and 

 churchwardens and distributed at Christ- 

 mas among about ten poor families. 



109 M.iry H;inkinson, a benefactor of 

 Esprick School, also bequeathed ^200 in 

 1805 for the benefit of the poor of that 

 hamlet. In 1901-2 there were only two 

 poor persons in Esprick, and the money 

 was paid to them in monthly instalments. 

 One Lawrcnson, of date unknown, 

 left £20 to the poor of Grecnhalgh. 

 This sum was invested in the highways, 

 but only £12 has been repaid; the 61. 

 int-crcflt is divided among the two or three 

 poor persons in the hamlet. 



"° In 1697 William Gillow of Little 

 E>. J '"-inn charged a close called Porter's 

 Harlow with a rent of ioj. a year for the 

 poor of the township, and George 

 Gillow in 1720 added 201. a year from 

 the same land. The 301. continues to 

 be paid to the overseers, who distribute 

 it in doles of 44. to yi. among poor widows 

 and others. 



111 For Kirkham generally and Freckle- 

 ton there was in 1824 a rent of 6j. due 

 to a gift of Elizabeth Clitherall in 167$, 

 and another rent of 271. of unknown 

 origin. This was given in money doles. 

 The rent-charges have long ceased to be 

 paid owing to disputes as to liability and 

 as to the lands charged. 



Mrs. Nightingale (before 1786) pave 

 £10 for the poor of Hambleton. The 

 money was spent on paving a lane. 

 Interest was paid until 1885, when the 

 auditor disallowed it. It appears that 

 the £10 would have been repaid to the 

 vicar and churchwardens an trustees, if 

 these wardens had not opposed it, fearing 

 loss of interest. 



1 Including 2 acres of inland water. 



1 Lanci. and Ckc. Antij. Sov. xx, 1S4. 



1 Baines, Dir. 1825, i, 655-6. 



