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The information below
was found in Baines's work. |
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| The profound and laborious William Camden, author of "Britannia" introduces his description of the County of Lancaster with the expression of some reluctance to visit this division of the Kingdom.: "I fear" says he, "that I shall give little satisfaction to myself or to my readers here, so little encouragement did I meet with when I surveyed much the greater part of the county." | ||||
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So wrote Edward Baines in the Preface to his
"History,
Directory and Gazetteer of the County Palatine of Lancaster", now commonly referred to as Baines's Lancashire.
Baines expressed his own feelings as "diametrically
opposite to those of Camden" (however it must be remembered that
Baines was born in Preston), and the resulting wealth of
information he produces about the County is both invaluable and
interesting.
The first edition of William Camden's Britannia was published (in Latin) in 1588. It was a truly great work, and the first comprehensive topographical, geographical and historical study of Britain to be printed. The work of Baines on the other hand restricted itself to the County Palatine of Lancaster. A Count Palatine was historically a person having within his territory jurisdiction such as elsewhere belongs only to the Sovereign. The County Palatine being his territory. Lancaster became a Palatine in favour of John of Gaunt who became Duke of Lancaster and died in 1399. Lancastrians are proud of now having the monarch as the Duke of Lancaster. Hence the loyal toast in Lancashire is "The Queen and the Duke of Lancaster", the two being the same. |
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| Edward Baines was a journalist, author and business man who produced the first directory and gazetteer of Lancashire to cover the whole county and to deal fully with its trade and industry. Published in two substantial volumes in 1824 and 1825, it of course portrayed a very important area at an interesting stage of the industrial revolution in addition to making a substantial contribution to our knowledge of the County from the time of the Domesday Book onwards. | ||||
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The Domesday Book - 1080
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In Lonsdale Vale - v1 ch1 p17
Manor. In Witetune (Whittington) Earl
Tosti had six carucates of land to be taxed. All the villages belong to Witetune (Whittington) |
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For those of you who are interested the following are the equivalents to measurements contained in the Domesday Book: v1 ch1 p13 A Perch - twenty feet. An Acre
- forty perches in length by four in breadth. An Oxgang or Bovata
- as much as a pair of oxen can keep in husbandry, usually fifteen acres.
A Virgate or Yard Land - forty acres. A Carucate, Carve
or Plough Land - generally one hundred acres, eight oxgangs make a
Carucate. A Hide - an uncertain quantity, generally about 120
acres, but (according to Kelham) six Carucates make a Hide between that
part of Lancashire between the Ribble and the Mersey. A Knights Fee
- five hides make a knights fee. Manors - anciently call baronics,
now called lordships. Berewicks - manors within manors. |
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In the Domesday Book Lancashire is incorrectly described.
Furness and the northern parts of Lancashire, as well as the south west of
Westmorland with part of Cumberland are included in the West Riding of
Yorkshire. v1 ch1 p13
A valuation made in the year 1814, for the purposes of property tax assessment would seem to value the land, equivalent to that described as Lancashire in the Domesday Book, at £2,569,762-0-0. In 1096 the value was £16,482-11-8. v1 ch1 p19 |
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Valor Beneficiorum |
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In the year 1291, Pope Nicholas IV, caused a valuation to
be made of the ecclesiastical livings in England, entitled Valor
Beneficiorum, a document equally valuable for its antiquity and
authenticity as the Domesday Book. v1
ch1 p20
The 43 parishes of Lancashire were disposed between the Archdeaconries of Chester (26) and Richmond (17). Lonsdale north of the sands, including the district of Cartmel and Furness, formed part of the County of Westmorland, when the Valor Beneficiorum was taken, but at the time of Baines's work 7 of these parishes were included in Lancashire under the head Decanatus Coupland. Whittington was included as parish 44 (Ecclesia de Wytingham) under the Decanatus Coupland and the estimated value of the benefice in 1291 was £10-13-4. v1 ch1 p21 In 1824 Baines lists the parish of Whittington as a Rectory in the Deanery of Lonsdale in the Archdeaconry of Chester. Also in the Deanery of Lonsdale are the parishes of Claughton, Melling, Tatham and Tunstall. In addition he lists ( v1 ch3 p109) the deanery of Lonsdale (Lancashire part) as having 5 Parish Churches and 5 other Churches and Chapels. |
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Military Matters |
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Although the Militia Laws were not enacted till the reign
of Charles II. yet there was a species of county levy in this kingdom as
early as the time of Henry II. and in the 27th year of that reign, an act
was passed for "regulating the Assize of Arms". In the time of
Henry VII. and his children, lord-lieutenants began to be introduced as
standing representatives of the crown. In the first year of Queen Mary,
when a change in religion of the state was contemplated, a muster of
soldiers was made in the county of Lancaster. Two thousand men were
required to be raised in the following proportions: v1
ch2 p48
In Derby Hundred - 430 men. In Salford Hundred - 350 men. In Leyland Hundred 170 men. In Amounderness Hundred - 300 men. In Blackburn Hundred - 400 men. 350 men were raised in the Lonsdale Hundred, in which Whittington was located. These came under the command of Lord Monteagle, Sir Marmaduke Tunstall, Thomas Carus, George Middleton, Thomas Bradley, Hugh Dicconson and Oliver Middleton, Esqs. In the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth a general muster was certified of which the Lonsdale Hundred raised 356 Harnised and 113 Unharnised. v1 ch2 p49 Funds were needed in 1647 in order to replenish finances due to the cost of the war between Parliament and the Royalists. Large sums of money were extracted from such persons as had favoured the Royal cause. Three years prior to this parliament issued ordinances for sequestering "the estates of delinquents, papists, spies and intelligencers". Later a power was given to the Committee of Sequestration to allow "the delinquents, papists and others" to compound for their estates, on payment of a specific sum into the public treasury. The following notables of the Whittington district are recorded v1 ch2 p 66 as having taken advantage of this power: Charles Baxter of Newton - £21-0-0. Thomas Brabarn of Whittington - £122-17-0. Francis Wood of Gressingham £51-15-0. It is likely that Rowland Beckingham of Hornby (£16-0-0) was known to the other three. |
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Familae Lancastriensis |
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Baines has a list of the Nobility and Gentry in the County
between the times of Henry Tudor and William III. Regrettably we in
Whittington are not represented. On the other hand our neighbours in
Hornby are excessively endowed. The following are all listed, over this
period, as being of Hornby Castle: Parker, Lord Morley & Monteagle;
Harrington; Longuevillers; Montbegon and Stanley.
As the County has a goodly number of Newtons (something like six in all) it is unlikely that Baron Langton of Newton or Newton of Newton actually came from our Newton. However, and it is of little comfort, we do have Redman of Gressingham closer to hand. v1 ch3 p97. It is likely that our lack of persons of (sufficient) note is the reason that Baines list of Deputy Lieutenants of the County (some 130 in all) does not include any from our parish. v1 ch3 p111 On a more comforting note, although we lack nobility and gentry in our parish Whittington cannot be found among the list of Charitable Estates v1 ch3 p99 which Baines catalogues, whilst there are two in nearby Warton. Clearly Warton either had more poor, or more benefactors. |
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Seats |
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Burrow Hall, 2 miles SSE of Kirkby Lonsdale is the seat of
John Parr, Esq. Cantsfield Hall, 4 miles SSW of Kirkby Lonsdale is the seat of Edmund Tatham, Esq. Casterton Hall, 3 miles NE of Kirkby Lonsdale is the seat of Wm. Wilson Carus Wilson, Magistrate 1799 and M.P Hipping Hall, 3 miles SE of Kirkby Lonsdale is the seat of Edward Tatham, Esq. Hornby Castle, 9 miles NE of Lancaster is the seat of John Marsden, Esq. Hornby House, 9 miles NE of lancaster is the seat of Mrs. Agnes Murray Leck House, 3.1/2 miles ESE of Kirkby Lonsdale is the seat of Robert Henry Welch, Esq. Lunefield, near Kirkby Lonsdale is the seat of Robert Carus, Esq, Magistrate 1817 Summerfield, 1 mile S of Kirkby Lonsdale is the seat of Richard Trotter Tatham, Esq. Thurland Castle, 4 miles S of Kirkby Lonsdale is the seat of Richard Tomlin North, Esq. Magistrate 1819 Wenning Cottage, 6.1/2 miles S of Kirkby Lonsdale is the seat of Giles Bleasdale, Esq. Wennington Hall, 6 miles SSE of Kirkby Lonsdale is the seat of Rhomas Barrow, Gentleman Whittington Hall, 2 miles SSW of Kirkby Lonsdale is the seat of Thomas Greene, Esq, Magistrate 1819 and M.P v2 p.iv-xii Thomas Greene Esq, of Whittington Hall and Slyne (the seat of Robert Greene Bradley, Esq), was Member of Parliament for the Borough of Lancaster in 1825 together with John Fenton Cawthorne, Esq of Wyreside, Nether Wyresdale. |
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Lonsdale Hundred |
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The ancient Saxon system of division was
the Hundred and at the time of the Domesday Survey The County Palatine was
divided into six such Hundreds. These were Amounderness or Aundernesse,
Blackburn, Leyland, Salford, West Derby and Lonsdale.
The following describes the Lonsdale Hundred at the time of Domesday.
Earl Tosti was the great proprietor here at the period immediately preceding the Conquest, and Roger of Poictou before the Domesday survey. When that survey was made the whole of the extensive region of Lonsdale, both north and south of the sands, was included in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The peninsular district protruded into the interior of Westmorland and Cumberland, seems naturally to form part of one of these counties. In the civil division of Lancashire, this district is comprehended under the term "Lonsdale north of the sands"; the eastern division of which consists of the extensive parish of Cartmel; to the west separated by the lake-formed Leven, lies the district Low Furness; and to the North, stretching over the top of both Cartmel and Low Furness, is the alpine region called Furness Fells. The river Ken at its confluence with the waters of the Bay of Morecambe separates the two Lonsdales. The sands and waters of this bay form the southern boundary of Lonsdale north of the sands, and the western boundary of Lonsdale south of the sands; the high moor lands of Yorkshire uniting with the high moor lands of Lancashire form the eastern limit of the latter. v1 ch4 p146 Ignoring the parishes forming Lonsdale north of the sands (see Baines v1 ch4 p146) those forming Lonsdale south of the sands are: Bolton-le-Sands, Claughton, Cockerham, Halton, Heysham, Lancaster, Melling, Tatham, Tunstall, Warton and Whittington, with part of Burton-in-Kendal comprising 49 townships. v1 ch4 p146 and v2 p659 |
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| WHITTINGTON is a village, township, and parish (without any dependant township), in the Hundred of Lonsdale (South of the Sands) in the Deanery of Kirkby Lonsdale, and in the Archdeaconry of Richmond; 2 miles SSW. of Kirkby Lonsdale. This parish contains 93 houses, occupied by 91 families; of these families 51 are employed chiefly in agriculture, 16 in trade, manufacture or handicraft; and the remaining 24 are either engaged in professional pursuits or unemployed. In 1801 the population amounted to 301, in 1811 to 411 and in 1821 to 461. The rental of the parish, according to the estimate for the county rates, amounts to £5,183. The parish church is situated in the village; the living is a rectory, recently purchased by the Rev. William Carus Willson M.A. who is also the incumbent. The villages in this parish are:-- NEWTON; 3 miles SSW of Kirkby Lonsdale. v2 p667 | ||||
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Askew,Edw. maltster, West Hall |
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