A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1912.
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'Townships: Greenhalgh-with-Thistleton', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1912), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol7/pp179-181 [accessed 14 October 2024].
'Townships: Greenhalgh-with-Thistleton', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1912), British History Online, accessed October 14, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol7/pp179-181.
"Townships: Greenhalgh-with-Thistleton". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1912), , British History Online. Web. 14 October 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol7/pp179-181.
In this section
GREENHALGH-WITH-THISTLETON
Greneholf, Dom. Bk.; Grenhole, 1212; Grenele, 1242; Grenehol, 1244; Grenole, 1249; Grenolf, 1331.
Thistilton, 1212; Thistelton, 1242.
Estebrec, 1249.
Greenhalgh or Greenalgh, in which are Esprick and Cornoe, occupies the southern part of this composite township, Thistleton being the northern part. The two portions measure 1,187 and 710 acres respectively, or 1,897 in all (fn. 1); the population in 1901 was 408. The surface is flat, sloping gradually from south to north and from west to east, the extremes being 100 ft. above sea level at the south-west border and 25 ft. in the north-east corner. There is moss land in the south.
A road goes north-north-west through the whole length of the township, passing through Corner Row and Esprick. From it another road goes west to the hamlet of Greenhalgh, turning south to reach Weeton; while yet another in the north turns off to the east and north to reach Thistleton, from which it turns towards Elswick.
The soil is clay; potatoes are grown, but most of the land is permanent grass.
For this township there is a parish council.
Manors
In 1066 three plough-lands in GREENHALGH formed part of Earl Tostig's Preston lordship. (fn. 2) Afterwards there seems to have been a division; so that one of the plough-lands, Medlar, was granted out in thegnage, while the others, Greenhalgh proper and Thistleton, were given to the ancestors of the Boteler family, and held as members of the Weeton lordship, the superior manor descending in the same way. (fn. 3)
By Hervey, the grandfather of Theobald Walter, Thistleton and Greenhalgh were given with his daughter Alice to Orm son of Magnus, and thus descended to Roger de Hutton, lord of the adjacent Medlar. (fn. 4) Roger and his son granted the whole or greater part out in various ways. (fn. 5) Chiefly by purchase the Butlers of Rawcliffe appear to have acquired the greater part, (fn. 6) and were regarded as lords of the manor. (fn. 7) In 1488 John Butler held his lands of the Earl of Derby by knight's service, (fn. 8) but in 1 504 and later the mesne lordship was ignored, and the lands in Greenhalgh and Thistleton were said to be held of the king as of his duchy by knight's service. (fn. 9)
Greenhalgh gave a surname to some local families, (fn. 10) of which one retained possession of its lands till the 16th century. (fn. 11) The Bradkirk family held a fourth part of Greenhalgh. (fn. 12)
THISTLETON, apart from the tenement of the Butlers, was largely held by the Cowdrays (fn. 13) and Aughtons of North Meols (fn. 14) and their heirs, their manor of Thistleton consisting principally of the 2 oxgangs of land, a fourth part of the vill, granted to the canons of Cockersand by Ellis son of Roger de Hutton. (fn. 15) A number of the tenants of Thistleton, which name in former times seems to have been used of the township as a whole, appear in the pleadings and inquisitions (fn. 16); some of them, seated in neighbouring townships, held of the Crown, the Earl of Derby or the Butlers (fn. 17); others, such as Haw, (fn. 18) Hudson, (fn. 19) and Thompson, (fn. 20) resided in Thistleton itself. Several 'Papists' registered estates in 1717. (fn. 21)
CORNOE, (fn. 22) or Corner Row, gave a surname to its tenants. (fn. 23) It, like Esprick (fn. 24) and Whitacre or Whitter, (fn. 25) was usually regarded as part of Greenhalgh.
The Hospitallers (fn. 26) and Cockersand Abbey had lands. (fn. 27)
Peter and John Winstanley in 1653 petitioned for a rent-charge due to them from their father's estate in Cornoe, sequestered for the recusancy of their brother Francis. (fn. 28)
A Congregational chapel was in 1851 built at Corner Row, and provided with a small endowment. (fn. 29)
There is a school at Esprick said to have been founded by John Cooper about 1760. (fn. 30)