A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



William le Boteler obtained a charter 



Warrington 

 BOL'GH. Ermine, six 

 lionceh rampant, \, 2, 

 and I gules "within a bor- 

 dure azure charged "witb 

 eight co-vered cups or. 



iurgaiiium).' For the next five hundred years War- 

 rington was governed by means of the lord's manor 

 court. 



In I 2 54", 

 for an annual fair at \\ arring- 

 ton to be held on the eve, day, 

 and morrow of the Translation 

 of St. Thomas the Martyr.* 

 A second fair of eight days, be- 

 ginning on the eve of St. An- 

 drew, was conceded by Edward I 

 in 1277 ; at the same time a 

 weekly market on Friday was 

 allowed.' Eight yean later the 

 summer fair was extended to 

 eight days, and a weekly market 

 for Wednesday was allowed — 

 apparently in substitution for 

 the Friday market, which was 

 not afterwards held. At the 

 same time a grant of free warren in his demesne 

 lands of Sankey, Penketh, Warrington, and Layton 

 was allowed to the lord.' The fairs have continued 

 to the present time, the days being 1 8 July (old 

 St. Thomas's) and 30 November ; the Wednesday 

 market .ilso survives, and another on Saturday 

 has been established, by custom probably. 



The claim of William le Boteler to have 

 markets and fairs, as well as free warren, wreck 

 of the se.i, and gallows in Warrington and Layton 

 was tried at Lancaster in 1292. He produced 

 the charters mentioned, and claimed to have had 

 wreck of the sea at Layton and gallows in War- 

 rington without interruption from the time of the 

 Conqueror. The jurors found that his claim was 

 valid, and further that he and his ancestors had 

 held a market and fair from beyond the memory 

 of man.' 



The constables chosen each October at the 

 lord's court governed the town, under the justices 

 of the peace, down to I S I 3, when commissioners 

 appointed by the local Improvement Act of that 

 year were associated with them.' In 1832 the town 

 became a parliamentary borough under the Reform 

 Act, returning one member; and in 1S47 it was 



incorporated,' and has since been governed by the 

 council. As already stated the manorial rights, in- 

 cluding the market tolls, were purchased by the 

 corporation. The municipal boundary at first in- 

 cluded only about half the area of the township, 

 Orford and Little Sankey remaining outside. 



Some portions of the township of Latchford and 

 Thelwall in Cheshire were also included in the 

 borough." The boundary was extended in 1 S90, and 

 again in 1896 ; it now includes all the ancient town- 

 ship of Warrington (except Orford) and Latchford as 

 far south as the Manchester Ship Canal.' 



In 1890 the enlarged town was divided into nine 

 wards,'" each with an alderman and three councillors. 

 The gas and water supplies are in the hands of the 

 council, which has also instituted an electric light and 

 power supply, and an electric tramway service. Baths, 

 gymnasium, and other useful and necessary institutions 

 have been established." 



A grant of arms was made in 1897." 



A circulating library, begun in i 760 by the pro- 

 jector of the Warrington Academy, was in 1848 

 united with the museum of the local Natural History 



Bank Hall, Warrington ; now the Town Hall 



Society, founded in 1835, and being taken over by 

 the corporation became the public museum." This 

 was the first town in the kingdom to open a rate- 



* Charter in Warrington Museum ; Bea- 

 mont, op. cit. p. 119. It was made in 

 the name of *all the free tenants and 

 the community of the whole vill of War- 

 rington.' The remains of a seal — preaum- 

 ;iMy the borough seal — are attached. 



It must have been later that the * com- 

 monalty of the vill of Warrington ' prayed 

 the king for a lease of the pannage of the 

 town for the sake of the soul of his father 

 Edward ; the plea being that they were 

 summer and winter living in a marsh, so 

 that one could hardly come or go 5 Anct. 

 Pet. P.R.O. 78/3876. 



The court of the borough as well as of 

 the fee of Warrington is named in the 

 Boteler inquisition of 1^41 ; Lanes. Inq. 

 p.m. (Chet. Soc), ii, 49. 



^ Abbrcv. Rot. Orig. (Rcc. Com.), i, 16 ; 

 half a mark was paid for it j Orig. 40 

 Hen. Ill, m. II. 



' Charter R. 70 (5 Edw. I), m. i, 

 n. z. 



* Ibid. 78 (13 Edw. I), m. zed. n. 8. 



» Plac. de quo H'jrr. (Rec. Com.), 

 -, Sft. 



'■"i '5*5 John le Boteler leased a p'.ot 

 of land near the Market Gate at a rent of 

 izd. The tenant had leave to build 



thereon and to deal in bread, iron, fish, 

 and all other goods toll free, * as freely as 

 other burgesses in the vill of Warrington ' j 

 Bold Deeds (Warr. Museum), D. 3. 



' Baines, Lanes. Direct. 1825, ii, 590, 

 i;89. The Act of 181 3 (repealed by the 

 Improvement Act of 17 & 18 Vic. cap. 8), 

 was *for paving and improving the town 

 of Warrington and for building a new 

 bridewell in the said town.' The bride- 

 well was built, and a town hall in Irlam 

 Street in 1820. The other public build- 

 ings in 1825 were the market hall in the 

 market place, used on market days for the 

 sale of corn, and having a suite of assembly 

 rooms ; two cloth halls, one by the mar- 

 ket, and the other, built in 18 17, in 

 Buttermarket Street ; and a theatre. 



' II & 1 2 Vic. cap. 93. 



*^ There were four wards — North-east, 

 North-west, South-east, and South-west — 

 divided by the principal cross-streets. 



^ This and other information concern- 

 ing the borough is due to Mr. J. Lyon 

 Whittle, the town clerk. Orford was 

 added to Winwick and a township of 

 Little Sankey formed in 1894; L.G.B. 

 Order ^1665. 



At the last extension the borough 



320 



boundary on the Bouth, i.e. the north 

 bank of the Ship Canal, was made the 

 boundary of the county of Lancaster also^ 

 so that the whole of the borough might 

 be within one county. A portion of 

 Latchford remains in Cheshire. 



10 Viz. Town-hall, Bewsey, Fairfield, 

 Howley, Orford, WhitecrosB, St. Austin's, 

 St. John's, Latchford. 



" The town was lighted with gas in 

 1 821 ; the Act incorporating the company 

 was passed in the following year. The 

 works were purchased by the corporation 

 in 1877. 



12 Printed in Geneal. Mag. i, 261, 430. 



^ It has a large collection of Warrington 

 acts, maps, charters, and books on local 

 history, and by local authors. Dr. Jamei 

 Kendrick presented over a thousand booki 

 and pamphlets. It contains good collections 

 of local antiquities, especially from Wil- 

 derspool and the Friary church. 



A museum of natural history had been 

 formed in the town as early as 1812; 

 Baines, Lanes, (cd, 1836), iii, 677. 



The editors arc indebted to Mr. Charles 

 Madclcy, the curator and librarian, for 

 information and assistance willingly af- 

 forded them. 



