AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



GARSTANG 



tury doorway with moulded jambs and hood mould, 

 the ornamental head of which is dated 1695 and 

 has the initials of Alexander Butler and Elizabeth 

 (Parker) his wife. The door, which is the original 

 one, with ornamental iron hinges and ring handle, is 

 panelled and profusely studded with nails. 



The whole of the land in this township except the 

 glebe has long belonged to the Butlers, so that there 

 is little or nothing to record of minor families. 30 At 

 one time Leicester Abbey owned the pasture called 

 Bolon-wray mentioned above. 31 Robert White of 

 Garstang compounded in 1631 for declining knight- 

 hood. 32 In the Civil War he took the king's side ; 

 his lands in Garstang, Kirkland and Catterall were 

 declared forfeit, 33 and were purchased by John White 

 his ,son. 3 * It is noteworthy that ' burgages ' are 

 mentioned in the White possessions in Kirkland and 

 the neighbourhood. 



The history of the parish church has already been 

 given. There is no other place of worship in the 

 township. 



The school was formerly considered a grammar 

 school. It was founded, according to Bishop 

 Gastrell, by the representatives of Walter Rigmaiden 

 of Wedacre in 1602, and certainly existed in 1624, 

 when an inquiry was made as to its funds. 35 The 

 Buders of Kirkland gave £100 for endowment, and 

 this was augmented later. 36 



BARNACRE WITH BONDS 



Bernaker, 1450. Byrewath, 1292; Byrewayth, 

 1357. Grenolf, 1347. Howath, 1274; Hawath, 

 1276. Lingarth, 1276. Wedacre, Wedaker, 1276 ; 

 Wodacre, 1292. 



Bonds lies in the south-west of the township, 

 occupying 960 acres out of the total area of 4,494 J. 1 

 The name is applied especially to the hamlet by the 

 bridge over the Wyre, carrying the high road from 

 Preston to the north into the adjacent town of 

 Garstang. The surface is in general level, but there 

 is a small hill in the south, round which are Dimples 

 to the east, Bowgrave and Howath south-east and 

 Byrewath or Byerworth west. In the north end of 

 Bonds are the remains of Greenhalgh Castle and the 

 farm or hamlet of Lingart. 



Barnacre, the main portion of the township, 

 occupies higher ground to the north and east, over 

 600 ft. above sea level being attained, but the surface 

 falls away somewhat at the eastern and northern 



boundaries, formed respectively by the Calder and 

 Grizedale Brook. In the north-west corner, on level 

 ground beside the Wyre, is Woodscre, formerly 

 Wedacre ; towards the eastern border are Eidsforth 

 and Kelbrick, and in the south-east are Sullam Side 

 and Stirzacre. On the high land at the north end 

 are reservoirs of the Fylde Waterworks. 



A detached part of Catterall was added to this 

 township in 1887 ; at the same time a detached 

 portion of Barnacre called the Banks was added to 

 Cabus. 2 The population of the township, including 

 Bowgrave and Calder Vale, was 1,117 m I 9 01 - 



The principal road is that already mentioned from 

 Preston northwards ; from it another branches off 

 east and then north over the hilly portion of the 

 township. The London and North-Western Com- 

 pany's main line to Scotland runs north through 

 the western side, having a station named Garstang 

 and Catterall nearly two miles by road from the town 

 of Garstang. From the station a single-line railway 

 branches off westward to Pilling and Knott End. The 

 Preston and Lancaster Canal winds through Bonds and 

 crosses the Wyre into Garstang by an aqueduct. 



The Garstang Union Workhouse, built in 1876, 

 is in Bonds. 



The soil is clay ; wheat is grown, but most of 

 the land is in pasture. There was formerly a paper- 

 mill on the Calder. 



The enlarged township is governed by a parish 

 council. 



The Thirlmere water supply is conveyed through 

 the township towards Manchester. 



A square masonry well near Woodacre Hall is 

 known as the Spa Well, and is believed to have 

 healing qualities. 3 



The base stone of an ancient cross remains at 

 Stirzacre, and the sites of four others are known. 4 



Though in some late documents a 

 MANORS manor of BARNACRE is named, 5 the 

 place was formerly no more than a 

 hamlet in the manor of Garstang or Nether Wyres- 

 dale. There were within it a number of smaller 

 estates or manors which call foi notice. 



The principal of these is Woodacre or WEDACRE, 

 once the residence of the Rigmaiden family. They 

 were for three centuries lords of a moiety of Nether 

 Wyresdale, and this moiety was spoken of as the 

 manor of Wedacre. The origin of their title having 

 been narrated above, 7 it remains to give an account 

 of the descent. John de Rigmaiden and Isolda his 



30 For Crombleholme of the Cross see 

 Fishwick, op. cit. 259. 



81 See previous notes and Pat. 31 

 Eliz. Also Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lanes. 

 and Ches.), 5. 



The chartulary of the abbey (MSS. 

 Laud. H 72, foL 46) records a demise by 

 the canons in 1327 to John le Taylor, 

 Margaret his wife and William their 

 eldest son, at a rent of 4s. 



sa Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 222. 



83 Index of Royalists (Index Soc), 44 ; 

 Robert White, described as ' of Kirkland,' 

 was dead in 1652. 



84 Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 2506, 

 Robert White was recusant and delinquent, 

 but John 'had been in service for the 

 Parliament and ever well affected.' 



85 Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc), ii, 410-1 1. 

 The free school was to have been erected 



in the churchyard, but according to Gas- 

 trell was built on a piece of the waste 

 granted by the lord of the manor. 



Thomas Richardson of Myerscough 

 died in 1637, leaving his lands, in the 

 case of failure of issue in the heirs named, 

 to trustees for the maintenance of the 

 schoolmaster at the school of Garstang ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, no. 76. 



In 1689 a master was nominated by 

 Dame Elizabeth Gerard as guardian of the 

 heiress of the manor-house of Wedacre ; 

 Garstang Ch. Papers at Chester Dioc. 

 Reg. 



36 End. Char. Rep. 1899. 



1 4,969 acres, including 96 of inland 

 water ; Census Rep. 1 90 1 . 



2 Loc Govt. Bd. Order 20097. At 

 the same time some adjustments were 

 made in the boundary between this town- 

 ship and Garstang. 



315 



3 Hewitson, Our Country Churches, 

 487. 



4 Lanes, and Ches. Anttj. Soc. xx, 200-1, 

 207 ; the sites are Brunahill, Grizedale, 

 Ringing Hill and Whittingham's. 



5 In 1776 in a recovery of the Earl of 

 Derby's estate in the district ; Pal. of 

 Lane Plea R. 623, m. la. 



G William Banastre of Bretherton in 

 1362 granted to Adam de Meols of North 

 Meols all his lands in the hamlet of Barn- 

 acie in the vill of Garstang ; Towneley 

 MS. OO, no. 1570. 



This may have been the oxgang of land 

 in Garstang settled on Richard Banastre 

 of Bretherton in 1304, with remainders 

 to Isolda daughter of Richard Ulf of 

 Wyresdale, &c. ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 204. 



7 See the account of Nether Wyres- 

 dale. 



