A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



3 R's ; in 1867 there were 225 paying a small 

 fee. 



Carleton. — This school is endowed by several 

 benefactions. The earliest is that of Elizabeth 

 Wilson, who, by indenture 17 May, 1697, is 

 recited to have declared her mind in her will, 

 22 September, 1680, to be that a fourth of her 

 goods should be bestowed in land and the profits 

 employed for teaching the poorest children of the 

 town of Carleton ; so Richard Singleton enfeoffed 

 John Wilson with a close in Bispham called the 

 Carr Hey, the rents to be devoted to the purposes 

 of the will. W^illiam Bamber, by will 13 Octo- 

 ber, 1688, gave ^40 for the benefit of the poor 

 inhabitants and children of the township of 

 Carleton, called Great Carleton, directing it to 

 be placed out at interest, or invested in lands, of 

 the yearly value of 40i., of which 20s. was to 

 provide books or school wages for teaching poor 

 children. By indenture 11 May, 1689, it was 

 witnessed that John Gaulter, in consideration of 

 /^40, conveyed to Richard Harrison and Margaret 

 Bamber various lands in Blackpool. By inden- 

 ture 4 February, I 7 1 8, reciting that Margaret 

 Bickerstaffe had by will 19 April, 1 716, be- 

 queathed to her executors ;^20 for the education 

 of children of Carleton, and that Laurence 

 Smithson and his wife Margaret had placed the 

 legacy out and had disposed of the interest to 

 those uses, it is witnessed that Laurence and 

 Margaret Smithson assigned the legacy to trustees, 

 who should apply the interest to the said uses, 

 and to purchase an estate of the value of j^20, 

 the rents and profits to go to the schoolmaster of 

 Carleton for his teaching so many of the children 

 of the poor as the trustees should think fit. The 

 children were taught reading, writing, and 

 accounts, free. There were about 40 in winter, 

 about 20 in summer. A few not belonging to 

 the township paid quarterage. 



LiTTLEBOROUGH. — By indentures of lease and 

 release, 4 and 5 May, i 692, it was recited that 

 Theophilus Halliwell, by will 6 September, 1 688, 

 gave his lands in Sowerby, Yorkshire, for the use 

 of the inhabitants of Littleborough, the profits to 

 be paid to the schoolmaster at the chapel of 

 Littleborough, or some other place near. Richard 

 Halliwell, by will 18 December, 1699, g*^'^ ^ 

 yearly rent-charge of £6, issuing out of two 

 messuages and tenements in Walsden, within 

 Hundersfield, for the maintenance of a school- 

 master to teach and instruct poor children to 

 read and write in the school then lately by him 

 erected in Littleborough. The schoolmaster 

 instructed in 1827 11 and in 1867 14 poor 

 children of Littleborough in reading, writing, 

 accounts, and mensuration without charge, al- 

 though the privilege of free instruction was 

 considered as limited to reading and writing. 



RiBBY WITH Wrea. — James Thistleton, of 

 Wrea, by will lO January, 1693-4, gave the 

 residue of his personal estate towards making and 



61 



maintaining a free school in Ribby with Wrea. 

 The residue amounted to ;^i8o. Nicholas 

 Sharpies, by will 10 September, 1 7 16, left the 

 residue of his estate to be applied at the discre- 

 tion of his executors towards building or finishing 

 a schoolhouse for boys and girls in Ribby cum 

 ^Vrea ; and he directed that they should with 

 the overplus purchase some freehold of inherit- 

 ance for the benefit of the school, the rents to be 

 paid to the master for educating such a number 

 of boys and girls as the governors should think 

 fit. Upwards of ;^350 was received by this 

 bequest. There was also a girls' school on Wrea 

 Green, built in 1 818, and a small house for the 

 schoolmistress adjoining. All the boys belong- 

 ing to Ribby with Wrea were instructed in 

 reading, writing, and accounts without charge, 

 and the girls of the township who applied in 

 writing and accounts. No children under the 

 age of four, or unable to read letters, were ad- 

 mitted. The number of scholars varied with the 

 season from 30 to 50. The poorest were pro- 

 vided with books and paper. The mistress was 

 paid a salary of ;^20, and instructed the girls of 

 the township in reading, sewing, and knitting, 

 free. She had from 30 to 40 children. All the 

 children between 4 and 12 who belonged to 

 the townshipand attended regularly were clothed. 

 There were 66 children in 1S67, but only 29 

 were clothed. 



AuGHTON. — Robert Burton, by will 20 August, 

 1697, gave a messuage and land in Halton parish, 

 under the annual fee-farm rent of i8x. i^d., 

 with all his lands in Halton, in trust, to provide 

 a Church of England curate for Aughton chapel, 

 who would also industriously perform the office 

 of schoolmaster within the chapel, instructing 

 freely such youth, of Aughton and elsewhere, in 

 literature, the rudiments of grammar, and school 

 learning as the trustees should appoint, and re- 

 ceiving the whole rents and profits of the endow- 

 ment. The property consisted of a house, barn, 

 and outbuildings, and about 55 acres of land. 

 This farm was let in 1827 at a good annual rent 

 of ;^68, for which the curate, besides officiating 

 at Aughton chapel, kept school in a building 

 adjoining, and gave instruction in reading with- 

 out charge. He also taught writing, arithmetic, 

 and the classics at a fee. The schoolroom was 

 kept in repair by the township. In 1867 there 

 were 14 boys receiving an elementary education. 



GoosNARGH : Whitechapel. — William 

 Lancaster, by will 12 October, 1705, devised to 

 trustees lands in Goosnargh and the residue of 

 his personal estate, to be employed for providing 

 a schoolmaster to teach a school at Whitechapel, 

 in Goosnargh. William Higham, by will 

 17 Februar)', 17 13, devised lands in Goosnargh 

 for the same object, and directed that ;^I20 

 should be put out to interest, which was to be 

 paid to a schoolmaster to teach the children of 

 Goosnargh for such fee or gratuity as their 



