BROUGHTON
Broghton, Brochton, 1277; Brogthton, 1292.
As stated above, this township, often called
Broughton-in-Cartmel to distinguish it from other
Broughtons in the neighbourhood, has recently been
divided into two called Broughton East and Grange.
It gave a name to one of the bailiwicks. It has an
area of 3,425 acres, (fn. 1) and in 1901 had a population
of 218, while Grange had 1,993. The township is
divided physically by Hampsfell, or Hampsfield Fell,
a ridge over 600 ft. high running north and south
through the centre. On the western slope of it is
Hampsfield Hall. To the west of the fell is the
comparatively level vale in which are situated Field
Broughton and Wood Broughton to the north and
Aynsome to the south. The surface rises again on
the western edge. On the south-east of the fell,
sloping down to Morecambe Bay, is the modern
town of Grange, with Blavvith at its northern end,
pleasantly sheltered by the tree-clad hills.
The Furness railway runs along the coast at
Grange, where there is a station. From the station
the chief roads go north-east to Castlehead and
Lindale, and west over the fell towards Cartme],
with a branch sloping down to Kent's Bank on the
south-west. Up the Broughton Vale a road goes
north from Cartmel, passing through Field Broughton
and past the new church to Staveley, with a crossroad from Low Wood to Lindide.
A beautiful view may be obtained from the summit
of Hampsfell, where the Rev. Thomas Remington,
sometime vicar of Cartmel, raised a small tower or
hospice for the accommodation of visitors. There
is a tumulus close by.
By St. Andrew Moor, at cross-roads named Four
Lanc Ends, is a boulder of greenstone, called Egg
Pudding-stone. The local story was that it turned
round when Cartmel Church clock struck twelve at
midnight, and the spot was avoided after dark. (fn. 2)
At Grange, near the Hydropathic establishment,
is a convalescent home belonging to the friendly
societies of the north-east counties. There is a
Working-men's Institute. The well-wooded Holme
Island to the east was formerly quite cut off by the
tides, but has been connected with the mainland by
a breakwater. It was made residential by Alexander
Brogden, the engineer of the Furness railway.
Mrs. Williams now owns it.
Under the present township arrangements Broughton East is governed by a parish council of five
members. Grange has an urban district council of
nine members. The council offices were built about
1902. Gas is supplied by a private company, and
there is a water supply.
Manor
Almost the whole of Broughton was
held as part of the manor of Cartmel by
the customary tenants of the canons. (fn. 3)
The name Broughton originally covered also the
country to the east and north-east. (fn. 4) The rental of
1508–9 (fn. 5) gives a number of details of the several
holdings. Thus William Mokeld took a tenement
at a rent of 19d. each term, paying 15d. for service
and 20d. for ingress, with 1d. and a hen and a half
for tithe hay and 9 bushels of oats and 6 pecks of
barley for tithe corn. The tithes appear to have
been thus paid with the rent in most cases. William
Bare, in addition to a moiety of his father's tenement, took Elvi's Place at a rent of 5d. each term,
and other sums for service, &, and tithes. William
Harrison took it after him. (fn. 6) Aynsome was a separate
division, with tenements of the same character. (fn. 7)
The only estate called a manor was that of
HAMPSFIELD, originally Hamsfell. (fn. 8) The tenure
is older than the foundation of the priory, for
Henry II granted to Simon son of Uckeman, his
seneschal in Cartmel, the whole moiety of Hampsfield, which Uckeman his father had formerly held;
a rent of 1 mark was to be paid by equal portions at
the four terms. (fn. 9) The next tenants known had taken
a surname from their manor, of which a settlement
was made in 1314 by John de Hampsfield, the
remainders being to his children John, William,
Adam, Alice and Godith. (fn. 10) In 1320 the Prior of
Cartmel was claiming suit at Broughton Mill against
John son of John de Hampsfield, Norman de Redmayne and Mary his wife and Simon de Hampsfield. (fn. 11)
In 1417 inquiry was made as to the bounds between
the lordship of Cartmel and the lands of the free
tenants of John Philipson and John Travers of
Hampsfield. (fn. 12) It thus appears that the manor had
descended to heiresses, and
shortly afterwards the two
parts were purchased by Rowland Thornburgh, or Thornborough, (fn. 13) whose family held
the estate for a long period.
Thornburgh. Ermine fretty and a chief gules.
William Thornburgh died
in 15 21 holding messuages
and lands called Hampsfield
in the vill of Broughton of
James Gregg, Prior of Cartmel, by the yearly rent of
13s. 4d. He was succeeded
by a son and heir Rowland,
twenty-four years old. (fn. 14) Rowland was dead in 1544, when his son William was
engaged in dispute with the tenants of Cartmel as to
common of pasture on the waste, part of which William
had inclosed as belonging to his manor of Hampsfield. (fn. 15)
He acquired some of the monastic estates, (fn. 16) and by
his wife Thomasine Bellingham acquired others in
Westmorland. (fn. 17) He took part in the invasion of
Scotland in 1547, and was knighted by the Duke of
Somerset at Roxburgh. (fn. 18) His son William married
Awdrey Carus, whose monument stands in Cartmel
Church, (fn. 19) and died in 1608 (fn. 20) Their grandson
William in 1636 sold Hampsfield to Robert Curwen
of Cark and his nephew, and the estate has since
descended with Cark Hall. (fn. 21) The Thornburghs,
adhering with fair steadiness to the Roman Catholic
religion, suffered the legal penalties, (fn. 22) but as they
removed into Westmorland, where they had long had
an estate, their story ceases to concern this county. (fn. 23)
Hampsfield Hall (fn. 24) is a picturesque two-story gabled
house standing at the foot of Hampsfell, below an
extensive wood known as the Haening. (fn. 25) The building, which is of stone and rough-cast, was erected
shortly before 1636, (fn. 26) and yet retains many of its
ancient features, notably a large external chimney,
but some of its mullioned windows have given place
to sashes and the building has been otherwise
modernized. The interior contains some old panelling. On the hill-side, about 60 yds. above the
house, are the foundations of an older building, a
portion of which in the form of a tower, (fn. 27) measuring
36 ft. by 23 ft., was standing till about the year 1814,
when it was pulled down by the tenant in the absence
of the owner and the materials used in the erection of
new farm buildings. Since 1686, when the widow of
Robert Rawlinson died there, Hampsfield Hall has
been used as a farm-house. (fn. 28)
Another free tenancy, the origin of which is not
known, was that in WOOD BROUGHTON, held by
the Waleys and Knipe families. One Robert de
Prees in 1277 claimed the manor of Cartmel against
the prior, who defended by alleging that he did not
hold the manor entirely, for Robert le Waleys held
60 acres, John de Aythehead 11 acres and Thomas
Wydemer (or de Wimbergton) 30 acres, and this plea
was accepted. (fn. 29) William le Waleys and Godith his
wife occur in 1309 (fn. 30) and 1321. (fn. 31) In 1314 Simon
de Knipe (fn. 32) settled a messuage, 60 acres of land, &,
in Broughton, in addition to lands in Westmorland,
upon Henry de Knipe and Beatrice his wife for life. (fn. 33)
In 1321 two messuages, 80 acres of land, &, in
Broughton and Holker were settled by Simon de
Knipe upon Alexander le Waleys with remainders to
his brothers Roger, John and Simon, with further
remainder to William son of Alexander. (fn. 34) Alexander
Waleys died about 1340 holding a tenement in
Heysham and five messuages, &, in Cartmel of the
prior by a rent of 3s., doing suit to court and mill. (fn. 35)
There is then a long period of silence. In 1578
George Thornburgh claimed land in Wood Broughton
against Robert Walles (fn. 36) ; Miles and William Walks
occur about the same time. (fn. 37) Isaac Knipe, who had
land at Darlington, died in 1618 holding a water
mill called Anysham (Aynsome) Mill of the king as
of his manor of East Greenwich; his son William,
aged eleven, succeeded. (fn. 38) This William recorded a
pedigree in 1665, having then a son of his own name
and eight daughters. (fn. 39) The male line ended with a
William Knipe who died in 1761, having devised the
Broughton Hall estate to his four surviving sisters. (fn. 40)
This came to the youngest, Susanna wife of Walter
Barber, captain of a Liverpool privateer, whose
only child Elizabeth married John Gardner. The
estate was sold by her son Walter Gardner, who
settled at Broughton Bank, and was in 1843 purchased by Gray Rigge of Wood Broughton; his
son Henry Fletcher Rigge purchased Broughton Bank
in 1866. (fn. 41)
The Fletchers are named in the rental of 1508–9
as customary tenants in Broughton. (fn. 42) The family is
found established at Field Broughton later in the
century. (fn. 43) By various marriages and by purchase the
Hampsfield, Wood Broughton and Cark Hall estates
came into the possession of the Rigge family, and
have thus descended to Mr. Robert Stockdale Grayrigge of Wood Broughton. (fn. 44)
Aynsome a century ago was the seat of a Machell
family. (fn. 45) Another branch of the Machells had
Broughton Grove, where Richard Machell was living
in 1826. (fn. 46) This estate was purchased from them by
the late Thomas J. Hibbert in 1859 and is now the
property of his nephew Mr. Henry Hibbert, who
resides there. (fn. 47) Broughton seldom occurs in the older
records. (fn. 48) Grange comes into notice only recently. (fn. 49)
In connexion with the Church of England a chapel
of ease was built at Field Broughton in 1745 (fn. 50) ; this
was replaced by the present church of St. Peter in
1893–4. The benefice is in the gift of five trustees.
A separate parish was created for it in 1875. (fn. 51) The
Rev. H. A. Ransome, M.A., is the incumbent. At
Grange St. Paul's was built in 1853 and had a parish
assigned to it in 1884; the Bishop of Carlisle has the
patronage. Services are also held at Grange Fell.
The Wesleyan chapel at Grange was built in
1874–5. The Congregational chapel there dates
from 1899.
The small Roman Catholic church of St. Charles
was built in 1884, the mission having been founded
two years before. (fn. 52)