Townships: Treales, Roseacre and Wharles

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1912.

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'Townships: Treales, Roseacre and Wharles', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7, (London, 1912) pp. 178-179. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol7/pp178-179 [accessed 18 March 2024]

In this section

TREALES, ROSEACRE, and WHARLES

Treueles, Dom. Bk.; Turuel, 1242.

Rasaker, Raysakur, 1249.

Quarlous, 1249; Warlawes, Werlows, 1286.

Treales is the southern half of this composite township, the northern half being divided between Roseacre to the north-west and Wharles to the southeast. The respective areas of the three portions are 1,998, 937 and 1,165 acres, or 4,100 in all. (fn. 1) The population numbered 492 in 1901. The greater part of the surface is flat, but in the south is some higher land, the 100 ft. above sea level being attained; but this declines somewhat sharply to the brook which forms the boundary between Treales and Kirkham.

From Kirkham a road goes north through Treales, standing on the higher land mentioned, and then by Bolton Houses and Cross Hill to Wharles, at which hamlet it divides, one branch going north-east to St. Michael's and the other north-west, by Roseacre and Sasswick House, to Elswick. There are some side roads and cross roads. The railway from Preston to Blackpool runs through the extreme south of the township.

The soil is clay; wheat is grown, but three-fourths of the land is pasture.

There is a parish council.

Manor

In 1066 TREALES, a member of Earl Tostig's fee, was assessed as two plough-lands. (fn. 2) Afterwards it is found to be a member of the Weeton fee, held successively by Boteler and Stanley, and the lordship has descended to the present Earl of Derby. (fn. 3) ROSEACRE and WHARLES were probably improvements from the waste (fn. 4); it does not appear that they were ever considered to be manors. (fn. 5) The township is scarcely ever named in the records, but in 1228–9 a mandate was issued to the sheriff respecting Lewe de Treales, who had found ancient coins while ploughing. (fn. 6)

Thomas Firth (Styth) of Wharles in 1631 was fined £10, having refused knighthood. (fn. 7) Sir Edward Osbaldeston in 1637 had a small rent from Treales. (fn. 8) Some ' Papists' of Treales and Roseacre registered estates in 1717. (fn. 9)

Christ Church, Treales, for the worship of the Church of England, was built in 1855. The vicar of Kirkham is patron. (fn. 10)

The Presbyterians had a licensed meeting-place in Roseacre in 1689, (fn. 11) but it does not seem to have been permanent.

Footnotes

  • 1. Including 2 acres of inland water; Census Rep. 1901.
  • 2. V.C.H. Lancs. 1, 288a.
  • 3. See the account of Weeton. The sheriff rendered account of 26s. tallage of Treales in 1205–6; Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 202. In 1249 the three plough-lands in Treales were worth .£8 14s. 7d. in all issues, and the land of Wharles and Roseacre £9; Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 172–3. In 1286 there were 24 oxgangs of land in the hands of free farmers, each oxgang being worth 11s. a year; ibid. 265.
  • 4. In 1286 there were in Roseacre 215 acres of land, and in Wharles 144 acres, each worth l0d. yearly, in the hands of free farmers; ibid. It appears that in 1283 Randle de Goosnargh, Alice his wife and William son of Alexander the Clerk of Elswick held 67 acres in Roseacre, but Theobald le Boteler purchased them; Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 160. The Derby rental of 1522 (at Lathom) shows that £16 was received from tenants at will in Treales; a windmill paid 30s., and turbary 26s. 8d. The rent of the tenants at will in Wharles was 109s. 8d., including 18d. the value of their works; for Roseacre the amounts were £6 15s. 5d. and 4s. 7d. respectively.
  • 5. The 'township' of Wharles and Roseacre is named in 1526; Add. MS. 32106, no. 998.
  • 6. Close R. 39, m. 20.
  • 7. Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 221.
  • 8. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xxvii, no. 15.
  • 9. Henry Johnson and John Ward of Treales; William Crooke and John Miller of Roseacre; all leaseholds; Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 91.92. For the convicted resusants c. 1670 see Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc), v, 196–7.
  • 10. A separate ecclesiastical parish was constituted in 1858; information of the vicar. See A. Hewitson, Our Country Churches, 365, where is also an account of the Primitive Methodist Meetings, 369–72.
  • 11. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 232.