Townships: Carnforth

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1914.

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'Townships: Carnforth', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8, (London, 1914) pp. 165-170. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol8/pp165-170 [accessed 17 March 2024]

In this section

CARNFORTH

Chrenefbrde, Dom. Bk.; Carneford, 1212; Kerneford, 1261.

The township of Carnforth, having an area of 1,459½ acres, (fn. 1) lies on the south bank of the River Keer, from which it derives its name, and which divides it from the main portion of the parish of Warton, then flowing into Morecambe Bay. The seaward course of this stream has been very erratic within the period covered by local records. Stout, the noted tradesman of Lancaster, who flourished during the period 1665–1732, records under the year 1687 that 'for 7 years past the sea continually wasted their (the Stouts') marsh and Kear which used to run near Lindeth now drew towards Boulton Holmes and to within Prescear and also drew in the main river Kent so that all the marsh to the west and north of us was washed away.' (fn. 2) A ridge of higher land, attaining 200 ft. above the sea, juts into the southern end; upon it stands the older part of the village, and from it the surface descends in all directions, but chiefly to the north and west. There is an isolated mount, called Hunters Hill, to the west. The population in 1901 was 3,040.

The principal road is the North Road from Lancaster to Carlisle, which passes through Carnforth in two branches. The older one goes along the higher land and through the old village; the newer is straighter, taking a lower level to the west of the former. There is a road from Warton, by a bridge over the Keer, past the ironworks and railway station, and through the modern part of the town, known as Market Street; crossing the North Road, it then goes east to Over Kellet and Kirkby Lonsdale. The newer part of the town lies chiefly on the westerly slope of the ridge, from Market Street south to the border of Bolton-le-Sands. There is also the hamlet of Crag Bank, about half a mile south-west of the railway station. This station, finished about 1880, is used by three companies. It lies on the main line of the London and North-Western railway from London to Scotland, and is the terminus of the Furness railway line, connecting with the northwest coast, and of the Furness and Midland Companies' joint line which runs eastward to Wennington and Hellifield. The Lancaster and Kendal Canal winds through the township, partly by a cutting through the eastern slope of the ridge above mentioned.

The railway companies and the iron furnaces, established in 1864, give the chief employment to the people. Gravel-pits are worked. There are two banks, a co-operative stores, and other business places. A Conservative club was opened in 1887. A customary fair for cattle is held yearly on the last Friday in April. A market used to be held on Monday.

The geological formation consists of the Carboniferous Limestone covered by a deep deposit of alluvial gravel. The soil is a light loam, overlying the gravel; barley, oats and roots are grown, but much of the land is pasture.

The town is governed by an urban district council of nine members; it was constituted in 1895. (fn. 3) Gas and water are supplied by private companies, the works having been formed in 1872 and 1879 respectively. (fn. 4)

The chief worthies of the place are John Lucas, the historian of Warton, who was born near Keer Bridge, and William Cowherd, born 1763, noteworthy in the religious history of Salford. (fn. 5) Lucas has left an elaborate account of the place as it was at the beginning of the 18th century. The following is a summary:—

The village consisted of about forty families whose houses, two or three excepted, were thatched; some were unlofted and open to the roof and one had no chimney, the smoke finding its way out at a little sloping hole on each side of the roof, the hearth being at one end of the house. (fn. 6) Economists considered that there was too much inclosed land, and the inhabitants would be better off if half were 'laid common.' (fn. 7)

He mentions the Moothaw, a hillock still to be seen on the north side of the canal, with a stone guide-post near it. To the north-west was the meadow called Bartherholme, used for the encampment of Charles II in August 1651; it had a spring called Stank Well close by. (fn. 8) To the west were the Keer meadows, and to the south of these lands called Hallgowins. Here was a field called the Hall Croft (fn. 9); a large hollow in an adjacent field was called the Oven. Hellbank (or Hallbank) was about the middle of the town, near the meeting of four ways, where there was a long barrow or tumulus. Whitelands, Thostlegillwell, the Banks, Cow Close, Whinney Closes, the Ellers and the Butterwell are noticed.

The mill was supplied with water from three springs. A hundred yards west of it, by Keer Bridge, was the house called Brig End, Lucas's birthplace. On the south side were closes called Potter's Parks, and north, by the river side, a blue clay known as Potter clay was found. Near by was the Hag, another Lucas residence. To the north-we3t was a spring called the Holy Well, because of the virtue of its waters in scorbutic cases.

A little west from Hellbank was high ground called the Haas or Haws, where the children yearly made a bonfire, called St. John's Fires or Cam Fires, diverting themselves by running about it or leaping over it. It was a custom to carry lighted torches on Midsummer Eve as an emblem of St. John Baptist. On the Haws also the children used to play at hand ball in the Easter holidays. At the foot of the Haws was a pond called Toad Plud; between it and Hall Yate was a moss called Crae Pits. (fn. 10) Tradition affirmed that the township was once nearly covered with wood, though scarce a tree was then to be found.

In the western part of the township were five large common fields, one called Thwaite, the others Huthwaites. They were known as the Demesne lands of Carnforth. Tradition said that the hall stood at the end of one of the fields nearest the village; some foundations had been found near the Kitching Hill, and the gate to the field was still called the Hall Gate, and adjacent land the Orchard. Lucas slates that his father was one of the first to adopt the practice of exchanging detached strips in the common fields for contiguous ones. In one Huthwaite every man ploughed or mowed his part as he thought fit, and so it was never pastured; but the other three the proprietors ploughed each for three years running, so that each field was alternately three years corn and six years pasture. (fn. 11) Woods Tarn, Sand Hill (where fine sand was found), Foul Flush, Gait Cotes and Lang-haws Moss turbary are mentioned; also Gallihaw (fn. 12) and Salt Cotes, where salt used to be made.

The inner and outer marshes, separated by a bank called the Strand, were of great service to the people, giving rich food and physic for their cattle, turf for fuel, sods for the garden walls and roofing, rushes for the parlour floors, and seaweed for manure.

The following field-names occur in the Tithe Award of 1845:—Barderholme, Hewthwaite, Long Haws, Elfa, Gate Coat, Gammering Gap, Hall Gowan, Ora, Pingles, Robin Cross, Salter Flat, Stankeld, Sleeping Dub, Toad Pludd and Lineriggs.

Manor

In 1066 CARNFORTH, assessed as two plough-lands, was part of Earl Tostig's great lordship of Halton. (fn. 13) About 1130–40 it was included in the feoffment made to William son of Gilbert de Lancaster, whereby it afterwards became a member of the barony of Kendal, and descended in the same way as Nether Wyresdale and Ashton. (fn. 14) After the death of William de Lancaster III, (fn. 15) in 1246, a division of the manor was made between Lindsay and Brus. The pourparty of the former subsequently descended through Coucy and reverted to the Crown, whilst that of the latter descended, like Ashton, to the Gerards.

The former moiety was held in demesne with Warton, (fn. 16) and in 1333 Christiana de Gynes died holding it of Henry Earl of Lancaster, paying 1d. yearly for castle ward and doing suit to county and wapentake. (fn. 17) Carnforth was included in the grant of free warren to William de Coucy in 1340. (fn. 18) At his death in 1344 it was found that there were 36 acres of arable land of the demesne of Carnforth let to farm at 18s. yearly and 5 acres of meadow at 5s.; tenants at will held 64 acres of land and twelve cottages, and there were seven free tenants. (fn. 19) It was granted in 1574 to Gilbert Gerard and Anne his wife, with the associated manors of Nether Wyresdale, Ashton and Scotforth. (fn. 20) In 1604 their son Sir Thomas, who had been created Lord Gerard of Gerard's Bromley, (fn. 21) demised the demesne lands to ten persons to hold in fee farm, rendering to the king £3 a year and other services. (fn. 22) He demised other lands on leases for lives, and before his death in 1618 devised the manor to his third son, John Gerard, by whom it was in 1629 sold to Hugh Cooper. (fn. 23) He was followed by another Hugh, who was sheriff in 1657, (fn. 24) and recorded a pedigree at the visitation of 1664 (fn. 25); he died in 1682. His only child, Anne, married John son and heir of Edward Warren of Poynton, in Cheshire. (fn. 26) John Warren died in 1706, (fn. 27) his son Edward in 1720, and Edward's son John in 1729. (fn. 28) By his will of 1720 John Warren devised his estates to his brothers Edward and Talbot Warren and their sons in turn, and authorized his executors to sell any part for the discharge of certain mortgages. They accordingly raised considerable sums in 1731 by enfranchising a number of customary tenants in Carnforth, reserving the seigniory or royalties and the quit-rents, suits and services of court at all times due at the court baron of Carnforth upon usual notice thereof. (fn. 29) In the same year they sold the manor itself to William Greenbank of Halton, with all its rights, liberties, suits of court, &c. (fn. 30)

Cooper of Carnforth. Argent on a bend engrailed between two lions rampant sable three plates.

Warren of Poynton. Chequy or and azure, on a canton gules a lion rampant argent.

William Greenbank died about 1750, aged fiftyone, intestate and without issue. His heir was his only sister Elizabeth wife of Henry Johnes Wilson of Hall Garth in Over Kellet, and she in 1751 passed it to her husband. (fn. 31) Their daughters Mary and Elizabeth left no issue, the latter dying unmarried in 1818, while the former, the second wife of James Ainslie, died in 1820, having in 1808 conveyed this manor to her husband's eldest son by a former wife. (fn. 32) This son, Montague Farrer Ainslie, died in 1830; he devised the manor to his brother Henry for life, with remainder to his younger son Gilbert. Accordingly on Henry's death in 1834 it descended to the Rev. Gilbert Ainslie, D.D., Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, who held it till his death in 1870. His son Gilbert in 1891 joined with another person in conveying the manor to James Henry Johnson of Bickershaw. Mr. Johnson died in 1895, and his executors sold the manor to William Farrer, editor of the present History, the conveyance being dated 30 September 1904.

Washington. Argent two bars gules, in chief three mullets of the last.

A court baron used to be held yearly in December. (fn. 33)

The Brus moiety of Carnforth was held by the Stricklands of Sizergh, by one of whom it was given to Robert de Washington, who had married Joan daughter of William de Strickland. (fn. 34) The Washingtons were farmers of the other moiety, (fn. 35) and thus by one title or the other held the whole manor. This descended to their successors the Lawrences, (fn. 36) and by inheritance to Gilbert Gerard in right of his wife. (fn. 37) As already shown, he purchased the Crown manor, and thus had an undisputed title to the whole. (fn. 38)

Strickland of Sizergh. Sable three escallops argent.

There were one or two freeholders in Carnforth at an early date. William de Lancaster I granted 2 oxgangs of land there to Robert the Falconer (fn. 39); this estate probably descended to Godith daughter of Bernard de Carnforth in 1246. (fn. 40) William de Lancaster III, about 1230, gave land to Robert de Carnforth. (fn. 41) These two estates probably reverted to the demesne of the manor. Somewhat later the Conyers family had a tenement here. (fn. 42)

Saltersflat or Salteracre was a plot of land in Carnforth to which at one time the advowson of Warton Church was supposed to be annexed. (fn. 43) In 1570, after this connexion had been severed, the land was sold to Alan Bellingham. (fn. 44) There does not seem to have been any church land in the township, but 5s. a year was paid to St. Mary Magdalene's Abbey at Shap. (fn. 45)

From a rental of 1519 (fn. 46) it appears that the rent and grain paid by the customary tenants—who were said to hold their lands at the will of the lord— amounted to £39 13s. 3d. In addition rents of about £21 were derived from various closes of the demesne lands—Bartherholme, Huthwaites, Halcroft, Copelandfield or Stonewray and Milnerfield Wood. The twenty-one boon-days for ploughing at the time of sowing oats and the same number for harrowing were rented at 21s., the 86 days'-works of reaping in the autumn at 28s. 8d., and the 129 boon cocks and hens at 19s. 8d. The perquisites of the court came to 22s. 1d. A list of the customary tenants has been preserved. (fn. 47) The town-fields named were the Marshfield, Highfield and Townfield; trie Thwaite Close was held by all the tenants of Carnforth without payment. A place called Spindlehead in the townfield occurs in 1394. (fn. 48)

A few names of landowners can be obtained from the inquisitions—Hadwen, (fn. 49) Starnfield, (fn. 50) Bainbridge, (fn. 51) Simpkinson (fn. 52) and Hawes. (fn. 53) Charles Dickonson was defendant in 1635 concerning a building agreement. (fn. 54)

The hearth tax return of 1666 shows that there were forty-six hearths liable. The largest houses were those of Richard Mason with four and Robert Dawson with three; eight houses had two each and the others one. (fn. 55)

Under an inclosure award made in 1864 some small parcels of reputed waste were sold or otherwise awarded to certain landowners in the manor.

From field-names such as Chapel Flat it is presumed that there was anciently a chapel of ease in the township, which belonged originally to Bolton parish and was transferred to Warton about 1208. (fn. 56)

The present churches are modern. For the Church of England Christ Church was begun in 1871 and finished in 1873 (fn. 57); it has since been enlarged and a tower added. The benefice is in the gift of the vicar of Warton.

The Wesleyan Methodists used the old Nonconformist chapel from 1849 till their church on the Lancaster road was opened in 1870. (fn. 58)

The building spoken of was known as the old Presbyterian Chapel. There was about 1720 a congregation of 138, (fn. 59) but the cause declined and the chapel was closed, the township authorities taking possession. The building, which still stands near the canal bridge, was at one time used as a school. The present Congregational interest goes back to about 1865, when an unsuccessful attempt was made to establish a congregation. A secession from the Wesleyans in 1878 led to a new foundation, a schoolchapel being opened in 1881 (fn. 60) and the present church in 1897.

The Salvation Army has a meeting-place.

Footnotes

  • 1. 1,505 acres, including 13 of inland water; Census Rep. 1901. There are also 4 acres of tidal water and 12 of foreshore according to the old Ordnance Survey, which was made at a time when the River Keer flowed close to the southern coast-line. At times this area is augmented to many hundreds of acres by the change of bed to a more northerly and normal course.
  • 2. Harland, Autobiog. of William Stout, 19.
  • 3. The guardians in 1874 obtained certain powers in respect of the formation of streets, &c.; Lond. Gaz. 31 July 1874.
  • 4. Acts 40 & 41 Vict. cap. 155.
  • 5. Dict. Nat. Biog.
  • 6. Each house stood detached from the others.
  • 7. No assessment had up to Lucas's time been made for the relief of the poor.
  • 8. The water flowed eastward, and therefore some persons esteemed it more.
  • 9. Near this was 'a noted shrew tree.' The people took two or three shrews or dormice, which they fancied bit the cattle, and having bored a hole into a large willow they put the shrews in alive and drove in a plug of the same wood. The shrews there dying were supposed to endow the tree with power to cure the cattle which had swollen from shrew-bites, on being whipped with wands cut from the tree.
  • 10. 'Tradition says that when Carnforth Hall was standing on a rising ground near this place, the huntsman used to keep horseflesh, &c., in those pits for the use of his dogs,' which attracted the crows; Lucas. The water of Polecat Well, rising near Hall Gate, was good for sore eyes.
  • 11. 'He that has a part in one of these fields has generally an equal share in the other two, so they agist them according to the quantity of land each person has therein, and the age of their cattle, viz. two twinters to a full-aged beast, &c.'; Lucas.
  • 12. Once when the River Kent changed its course and washed away accumulations of sand, &c., parts of ships and boats, judged to be hundreds of years old, were laid bare near Gallihaw; Lucas.
  • 13. V.C.H. Lancs. i, 228b.
  • 14. In the time of Henry II an eighth part of the township was given by William de Lancaster I to Robert the Falconer to hold by knight's service. In 1246 Godith daughter of Bernard de Kerneford released a fourth part of Carnforth to William de Lancaster III, the chief lord, who appears to have acquired nearly all the freehold lands in the manor for the enlargement of his demesne; Lancs. lnq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 5; Assize R. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 13, 23, 52. In the time of Edward I Thomas de Kerneford appears as a juror upon local inquests, but there is no evidence that he had land here. William de Lancaster III, baron of Kendal 1220–46, gave part of his demesne in Carnforth to Robert de Kerneford; Duchy of Lanc. Dep. Hen. VIII, xxvi, L 1, 9. The boundary of the land beginning at Sandeford ascended the runnel to the green-way between Wharfflauff and the arable land of Carnforth, thence by John's ridding, Laydhegrim, Staniflatt, Thistliflatt, Duirsaylez, Sandygate, and le Waterfall, back to Sandiford.
  • 15. V.C.H. Lancs. i, 357–66. After the death of William de Lancaster III in 1246 the manor of Carnforth was part of the dower of his widow Agnes; Close, 31 Hen. III, m. 11. For some further discussions of the Lancaster descent see Yorks. Arch. Journ. xxi, 65; Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Antiq. Soc. (new ser.), x, 395. For the Brus heirs see Cal. Close, 1302–7, pp. 13, 199, 278, 407.
  • 16. Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 165: 40 acres of land and 10 acres of meadow; also three cottages, each with 3 acres, held by three tenants at will, who paid 2s. 6d. a year each.
  • 17. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. III, pt. i, no. 74. There were 111 acres of land, by the small hundred, held by tenants at will (40 acres at 8d. and 71 at 6d.), 8 acres of meadow at 16d. each and ten cottages each rendering 12d. yearly; the moiety of a garden paid 3d. and the moiety of a water mill 7s.; seven free tenants rendered 5s. a year.
  • 18. Chart R. 14 Edw. III, 1, no. 7.
  • 19. Escheators' Accts. bdle. 17, no. 29 (16 & 17 Edw. III); Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. III, pt. i, no. 51. In 1346 the king granted this moiety of the manor to Mary de St. Paul Countess of Pembroke for a term of two years, and in 1347 to John de Coupland as a reward for the capture of David de Bruys, named King of Scots. In 1361 the king restored it to Ingram de Coucy, reserving a life interest to Joan relict of John de Coupland. Upon the accession of Richard II Ingram resigned his English possessions, and in 1382 this estate was given to Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford and Philippa his wife daughter of Ingram de Coucy. It was confirmed to Philippa in 1399 and she held it until her death in 1411–12. By a settlement made in 1405 it passed at her death to John Plantagenet, created in 1414 Earl of Kendal, Duke of Bedford and then Earl of Richmond. He died without issue in 1435, leaving Jaquetta de St. Pol his widow, who shortly afterwards married Sir Richard Widville, afterwards Earl Rivers. She died in 1472; Cal. Pat and Cal. Close, passim. The subsequent history follows that of Nether Wyresdale, &c., down to 1574.
  • 20. Pat 16 Eliz. pt. ii, m. 16. The patent recites various earlier grants of the manors, which formerly belonged to Margaret Countess of Richmond and Derby, mother of Henry VII, viz. Carnforth and Ashton to Henry Earl of Cumberland in 1554 for twenty-one years, and in part to William Warde in 1568 for twenty-one years; and the moiety of Nether Wyresdale (lately of William Marquess of Northampton, attainted) to Geoffrey Morley in 1569. The manors were to be held by the hundredth part of a knight's fee and the yearly rent of £26 11s. 4d.
  • 21. Sir Thomas, on succeeding his father in 1593, complained that several of the tenants of his manors of Scotforth, Carnforth and Nether Wyresdale had contrived false titles and alleged a custom of tenant right, encouraging many others to do the same and combining to support them by 'solemn vows and most wicked oaths.' The defendants, two from each manor, maintained the custom; Duchy of Lanc. Plead. Eliz. clxiii, G 3; clxi, G 3. The court was favourable to Sir Thomas, but referred the matter to trial at Lancaster; Lib. 36 Eliz. fol. 46b.
  • 22. Carnforth D. (W. Farrer). The feoffees or purchasers were Richard Hornby of Bolton-le-Sands, Thomas Barwick of Highfield in Halton, Thomas Hadwen of Carnforth, Francis Birkett of Tatham, Francis Bainbridge of Slyne, Thomas Walker of Bolton-le-Sands, Thomas Wilkinson and Robert Chippendale of the same, Thomas Waithman and John Thompson of Carnforth. Lord Gerard in consequence desired to be released from part of his rent due to the Crown, and inquiry was made; Exch. Q. R. Spec. Com. no. 3985.
  • 23. Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 112, no. 29. One of Hugh Cooper's earliest acts was to grant to Lawrence Walton a lease of a messuage, &c., in Carnforth with about 4 acres of new inclosure at a rent of 35s. 4d. and the 'best quick beast' or 'best good' as a heriot at the termination of any of the lives in the lease. Walton was also to do suit at Hugh's manor court; Carnforth D. Hugh Cooper was described as 'of Ormskirk.' The name occurs frequently in the registers. One Hugh Cooper was buried in Ormskirk Church, 19 May 1599. Hugh son of Edward Cooper was baptized there 5 Sept. 1616. Charles lord Gerard, great-grandson of the first lord, in 1664 brought suits against a number of the tenants of Wyresdale, Carnforth and Scotforth. Joshua Partington of Lancaster, who as steward had kept the court leet and court baron for the manor of Carnforth, said that the tenants of that manor held by lease, either for lives absolute or for 99 years (if two or three lives should so long endure), paying rents and fines, &c., as might be agreed upon. On the other hand it was alleged that the former tenure had been different, viz. by customary tenant-right by border service, the tenant paying as fine two years' rent on change of tenancy. The old people of the place alleged that the proceedings of 1593 had taken place over this matter; Exch. Dep. 16 Chas. II, East. no. 7, Mich. no. 34.
  • 24. P.R.O. List, 73. The Coopers have been noticed already in the account of Goosnargh. See also the Chorley Charities.
  • 25. Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 89. The pedigree was recorded at Chester by Warren. The Warren family had other manors in Lancashire; see the accounts of Salesbury, &c.
  • 26. In connexion with this marriage Hugh Cooper and Elizabeth his wife in 1658 by fine passed to Edward and John Warren his manor of Carnforth and messuages, &c., there and at Heaton, near Lancaster; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 162, m. 141.
  • 27. By indentures of lease and release, 16–17 Oct. 1678, John Warren of Stockport conveyed to Nicholas Wadsworth for 1,000 years his manor of Carnforth and all the messuages, lands and tenements which had been sold in fee farm by the said John Warren since 9 Nov. 1657, Wright's tenement in Carnforth alone excepted; Carnforth D.
  • 28. John Warren appears to have been in possession of Carnforth as early as 1713, when he granted a lease of land in the Hawes to Josias Lambert; in the following year he agreed with the freeholders concerning the erection of a barn on the waste; Worcester Cath. Doc. B. (by Rev. J. K. Floyer).
  • 29. Carnforth D.
  • 30. Ibid. A large number of quit-rents were due to the lord of the manor. The following were the surnames of those liable: Bainbridge, Benison, Borwick, Braithwaite, Brown, Bush, Cartmell, Dickinson, Glass, Hadwen, Heblethwaite, Hind, Hodgson, Jepson, Lambert, Lucas, Mashiter, Mason, Nicholson, Peel, Pert, Robinson, Simpkinson, Singleton, Waithman, Walton, Ward, Whinwray, Wilson, Wright, Yeats. John Heblethwaite was lessee of Bank End Moss and Crag Bank. Elizabeth Nicholson was lessee of the wreck and slutch within parcel of the manor. In spite of this sale the manor of Carnforth is named among the Warren possessions as late as 1761; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 594, m. 6 (king's silver).
  • 31. Henry Wilson and Elizabeth his wife were deforciants in a fine concerning this manor in 1751; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 344, m. 28.
  • 32. She had the manor by deed of partition, 1773.
  • 33. Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1836), iv, 584.
  • 34. Plantagenet Harrison, Yorks. i, 142 (Walter for William). In 1312 Robert de Washington and Joan his wife settled messuages and lands in Carnforth on their son Robert and Agnes his wife; Final Conc. ii, 14. After Robert's death in 1324 it was found that he and Joan his wife were jointly seised of a moiety of the manor of Carnforth by grant of Walter de Strickland; it was held of the king as of the earldom of Lancaster by the twenty-fourth part of a knight's fee and 2½d. for castle ward. The moiety was worth in easements, &c., 6d. only, because it had been wasted by the Scots; in demesne were 40 acres of arable land, 6 acres of meadow and the moiety of a water mill. Three tenants at will rendered 7s. 6d. a year. Joan survived her husband. The heir was their son Robert Washington, aged twenty-eight; Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. II, no. 26; Cal. Close, 1323–7, p. 249. Robert de Washington exchanged half an acre of land with Ingram de Gynes and Christiana his wife. The piece he received was in Little Bondcroft near his house; Duchy of Lanc. Dep. Hen. VIII, xxvi, L 1. In 1357 Nicholas son of Thomas Brown of Carnforth demanded against John son of Robert de Washington a messuage and land in Carnforth; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 6, pt. ii, m. 1 d. John de Washington and Joan his wife in 1382 made a settlement of lands in Carnforth and other places, the remainder being to the right heirs of Joan; Final Conc. ii, 14.
  • 35. Robert de Washington was a tenant in the Thweng part in 1301; ibid, i, 214. A rental at Levens Hall, dated about 1385, shows that a later Robert Washington held the manor of Carnforth at farm for 10 marks a year. Robert's daughter and heir had married Edmund Lawrence, and the later descents have been given in the account of Ashton in Lancaster. A John son of Robert Washington of Carnforth occurs in 1403; Towneley MS. HH, no. 1553.
  • 36. Robert Lawrence in 1429 complained that the men of Bolton had trespassed on his closes at Carnforth; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 2, m. 5. In the account of Walter Strickland, receiver of the lordship of Kendal in 1439, he accounted for £6 13s. 4d. of the arrears of Sir Robert Lawrence, late farmer of Ashton and Carnforth; Mins. Accts. bdle. 1044, no. 4. Robert Lawrence died in 1450 holding the manor of Carnforth of the king as duke in socage, paying 4d. yearly; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 56. In 1454 there was received for the Earl of Richmond £13 6s. 8d. for two parts of the rents of Ashton and Camforth; Duchy of Lanc. Mins. Accts. bdle. 644, no. 10444. The farmer's name is not given, but it would be James- Lawrence. James Lawrence of Ashton in 1479 demised to William Patchet for eleven years the Ox Pasture in Carnforth, on which he was to erect a water mill, at a rent of 20s.; Kuerden fol. MS. (Chet. Lib.), 247. At his death in 1490 Sir James held the manor of Carnforth with messuages, lands, &c., of the king in socage, paying 4d. yearly; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 122. In another inquiry it was found that Sir James also held lands by knight's service; ibid, ii, 131. Depositions (already cited) were taken in 1534 as to the rights of the Lawrence family in Carnforth and other manors. Robert Pleasington knew that Bartherholme had belonged to John Lawrence, but it was not part of the manor; he did not know the king had any manor there, but only a rent of 20 marks. John Nicholson deposed that John Lawrence had set and let all the lands in Carnforth, but which were his own and which the king's witness could not say. Edmund Bank occupied a close called Highfield, which was part of the manor; he had recently paid the rent to a bailiff. Thomas Escombe of Ellel did not know there was any manor of Carnforth. The witnesses generally agreed that no one but the Lawrences had had any lordship there; they had paid a rent to the king. Christopher Hadwen said Lawrence was owner of all the lands by taking to farm of the king, &c.; there were only two freeholds, but 5s. was paid to the abbey of Shap. Sir Thomas Lawrence raised the king's rent, and after him Thomas Booth, who married John Lawrence's widow, raised it again; Duchy of Lanc. Dep. Hen. VIII, xxvi, L 1. There are references to the dispute in L. and P. Hen. VIII, v, 1062; vi, 299 (ix, A, E); ix, 427.
  • 37. John Butler of Out Rawcliffe died in 1534 holding the manor of Carnforth of the king in socage; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. vii, no. 4. This seems to have been included in the portion of his daughter Isabel, who married Thomas Radcliffe of Winmarleigh, their daughter and heir being Anne wife of Gilbert Gerard. Richard Skillicorne of Preese, who died in 1534, also held part of the Lawrences' lands in Carnforth of the king in socage; ibid. no. 3.
  • 38. It seems likely that during the lengthy tenure of the Crown manor the lands originally belonging to the Crown moiety and those of the Washington moiety had become so intermingled by their treatment and management as one estate that it was practically impossible in 1531 to define the one from the other. Thus the sale of the Crown 'manor' to Gilbert Gerard, whose wife was heir to the Lawrence or Washington 'manor,' provided a way out of the difficulty.
  • 39. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 5; it was to be held by knight's service.
  • 40. Assize R. 404, m. 13 d. Godith had exchanged her half plough-land for 20 acres which William de Lancaster gave her. Robert de Washington about 1300 demised to Robert son of Godith, for his life, all his part of the old manor (house) of Carnforth, with the moiety of the orchard and lands on Chapel Flat, Kirkbrank, Paddock, Greves, Hallstead, Kirkhow, Dockanridding, Bunceridding, Linwra, Hither Alnerwray and Alnerwray. Robert son of Godith afterwards released the same. The deeds are cited in Duchy of Lanc. Dep. Hen. VIII, xxvi, L 1.
  • 41. Quoted ibid. The bounds were: From Sandeford ascending by remell' (?) to the green way between Wharpplaup and the arable land of Carnforth, and by that way south to the way from Bolton to Kellet; by that way to John's ridding, ascending by Laydhegrim to the site of a white thorn; then by the wood dividing the grantor's demesne from Robert's land to Laydhegrim, across to Staniflatt, between Thistleflat and Duirsaylez to Sandygate; thence to the wood and along the edge of the arable land to the boundary between Carnforth and Kellet; following 'le Waterfall' against the hill to Sandiford. One pound of pepper was to be rendered yearly at Christmas. Henry de Carnforth son of Adam le Brun son of Gilbert de Carnforth son of William de Carnforth in 1292 claimed lands, &c., against Ada widow of William de Lindsay, alleging that William de Lancaster III had disseised his father Gilbert; Assize R. 408, m. 51. Thomas son of Henry de Carnforth granted lands, &c., in Carnforth, probably the same estate, to Robert de Washington in 1316–17.
  • 42. Dame Alice de Conyers in 1273 enfeoffed Sir Randle de Dacre of lands in Carnforth which Adam le Brun had held of her, and in 1285 gave to her son Robert de Conyers the service of half a mark yearly due therefrom. Five years later Robert son of Robert de Conyers released this rent to Dame Joan widow of Randle de Dacre; Dep. of 1534, as above. In 1292 Hugh Ward of Carnforth was non-suited in a claim against John de Urswick concerning a tenement in Carnforth; Assize R. 408, m. 54.
  • 43. See the account of the advowson. The acre of land called Salterflat with the advowson of Warton Church occurs in a deed ratified by the king in 1297; Cal. Pat. 1292–1301, p. 305. Sir John Hotham died in 1420 holding Salteracre, for which 20d. was paid by William son of Robert Curwen, and the advowson; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 142; Dods. MSS. cxxxi. Sir John Lumley held similarly; Inq. p.m. 10 Hen. VI, no. 42. A later Hotham inquisition (1433–4) alleged that the acre with the advowson belonged to the moiety of the manor of Staveley in Westmorland, which moiety was formerly the sixth part of the fourth part of the manor of Kirkby in Kendal; Inq. p.m. 12 Hen. VI, no. 16. Robert Lawrence held the same in 1450; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 56, 122. The land is now called Salter Flatt, a triangular field west of the canal, near the Over Kellet boundary.
  • 44. Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 32, m. 88; the vendor was John Hotham.
  • 45. This appears both in the rental cited in the text and in the depositions of 1534. According to Lucas (MS. 'History of Warton ') Bartherholme was granted to Furness Abbey by William de Lancaster, but the Furness Coucher is silent on the point.
  • 46. Duchy of Lanc. Var. Accts. bdle. 31, no. 16; Christopher Hadwen was bailiff and collector of the rents. Richard Clifton was the keeper of the grange at Carnforth in 1518; he gave an account of the corn, peas, straw, &c.
  • 47. Rentals and Surv. portf. 19, no. 7, fol. 74–8.
  • 48. Cal. Pat. 1396–9, p. 154; Mins. Accts. bdle. 1044, no. 4.
  • 49. Thomas Hadwen died in 1607, leaving a son Robert, aged three. He had purchased some land from Thomas Lord Gerard, held of the king by knight's service and 6s. rent; he had also 2 acres of unknown tenure; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 77.
  • 50. John Stamthwaite alias Stanfield of Over Kellet held 1½ acres in Carnforth of the king by the three-hundredth part of a knight's fee in 1614; ibid, ii, 15.
  • 51. Francis Bainbridge the younger died in July 1622 holding land of the king in fee-farm by the yearly rent of 8s. 1d. His widow Janet survived him. His heir was his son Peter, aged nine; ibid, iii, 310. In 1632 William Bainbridge of Slyne, son of Francis Bainbridge the elder, filed a bill of complaint against Richard Heblethwaite of Carnforth, Peter Bainbridge and Robert Thompson of Lancaster and Janet his wife (widow of the above Francis), concerning the tenement. The lands were known as Baudron, Hall Croft, Nether Heathwaite, Wood and Barn Close. It was replied that the elder Francis in 1617 gave the lands to his son Francis, who died a month before his father. It appeared that the land was held on lease from Lord Gerard (1608) for the lives of the elder Francis and his sons William and Francis; Duchy of Lanc. Plead, bdle. 329, 330, 7 & 8 Chas. I.
  • 52. William Simpkinson died in 1630 holding land in Carnforth. Henry his son was six years old; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xxv, no. 41.
  • 53. Randle Hawes of Bolton died in 1634 holding a small piece of land in Carnforth of the king; Towneley MS. C 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), 518.
  • 54. Duchy of Lanc. Plead, bdle. 345. He had undertaken to raise the walls of his dwelling 2 yds. and to build a new house at the end of the old one in uniformity. The house should be 8 yds. in breadth and 16 yds. in length, the walls and roof 7 yds. high, with a decent parlour and chamber and lofts and useful and convenient chimneys, William Wright of Bramhall in Westmorland was plaintiff. In another suit by William Wright, apparently the same person, there is mentioned the close called 'Bardrome' (Bartherholme) adjoining the River Keer; ibid. bdle. 351.
  • 55. Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9, Lancs. A farther list in 1673 gives Richard Wason four hearths and Hoole House three; ibid. bdle. 132, no, 355.
  • 56. About the year 1320 it was recorded that Carnforth had anciently belonged to the parish of Bolton-le-Sands until the interdict of England (1208), when it had been transferred to that of Warton, doubtless by Gilbert Fitz Reinfred the chief lord and at that time an active supporter and favourite of the king; Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 41.
  • 57. The township was formed into an ecclesiastical parish in 1875; Lond. Gaz. 14 May. A vicarage was built in 1899.
  • 58. Nightingale, Lancs. Nonconf. i, 243, and information of Mr. W. Rigg.
  • 59. Nightingale, loc. cit.
  • 60. Ibid.