A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1912.
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'Townships: Hardhorn-with-Newton', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1912), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol7/pp238-239 [accessed 8 November 2024].
'Townships: Hardhorn-with-Newton', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1912), British History Online, accessed November 8, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol7/pp238-239.
"Townships: Hardhorn-with-Newton". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1912), , British History Online. Web. 8 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol7/pp238-239.
In this section
HARDHORN-WITH-NEWTON
Hordorn, 1332. Nuton, 1332.
Staininghe, Dom. Bk.; Steyininges, 1292; Staynyng, 1297; Steyninge, 1302.
This township is bounded on the south and east by the brook running from Marton Mere to join the Wyre. The surface is in general low and level, but there are elevated portions rising to 50 ft. above sea level in the centre, south and east. On the central one stands the hamlet of Hardhorn; to the south-west is Newton and to the south Staining; while near the south-eastern boundary is Todderstaffe Hall. The area is 2,651 (fn. 1) acres and the population in 1901 numbered 597.
A road leads north-west through Staining and Newton and then north to Poulton, with branches west to Blackpool and north and east to Hardhorn and Singleton. The Preston and Wyre railway runs near the eastern boundary, with a station at Todderstaffe called Singleton.
Agriculture is the only industry, chiefly as dairy farms. The soil is variable, with subsoil clay.
The township is governed by a parish council.
Richard Davie or Davies of Newton raised a company for the Parliament's service in the Civil War, but was killed with most of his men at the capture of Bolton in 1644. (fn. 2)
Manor
In 1066 STAINING, assessed as six plough-lands, was part of Earl Tostig's lordship of Preston. (fn. 3) Afterwards it was held by the Constable of Chester, for about 1134 William Fitz Nigel, lord of Halton, granted three plough-lands in Staining to his newly-founded priory of Runcorn, while his son William recovered them when he transferred the house to Norton, but granted two-thirds of the demesne tithes to the canons. (fn. 4) His successor, John de Lacy, 1211–40 gave the whole in free alms to Stanlaw Abbey. (fn. 5) Later the monks were said to hold it by the service of half a knight's fee and a castle-ward rent of 5s. (fn. 6) The grange of Staining seems to have been the abbey's manor-house for all their estates in the Fylde.
In 1348 the monks obtained a charter for a market on Thursdays at their vill of Hardhorn and a fair on the eve, day and morrow of St. Denis (8–10 October); in the following year by another charter the weekly market was assigned to Monday. (fn. 7)
The manor remained in possession of the monks till the confiscation of the Whalley estates after the rebellion of the north in 1537, and was sold by the Crown to Thomas Holt, (fn. 8) who sold to George Singleton. (fn. 9) The family had probably been tenants under the abbey for some time, (fn. 10) and they continued in possession until the beginning of the 18th century. George Singleton, the purchaser of Staining, died in 1551 holding the manor with messuages, lands, &c., of the king by the third part of a knight's fee. (fn. 11) His successor was his son William, of full age, who died in or about 1556 holding the 'manor or grange' of Staining as before and leaving a numerous family, the heir being a son Thomas, seven years old. (fn. 12) Thomas died in 1563, still a minor, and a younger brother, John, succeeded. (fn. 13) He died in 1589 holding the manors of Staining and Carleton. He left two daughters (fn. 14); but the manors went to a brother George, who died in 1598, and was followed by his son Thomas, aged six. (fn. 15) The religious history of the family is not known. Thomas was no doubt a Protestant, for he was a justice of the peace, (fn. 16) but his son Thomas was a Roman Catholic (fn. 17); he raised a troop for Charles I at the outbreak of the Civil War (fn. 18) and was killed at the battle of Newbury in 1643. (fn. 19) His children were very young, as appears by the pedigree recorded in 1664. (fn. 20); four of them succeeded—John, Thomas, George and Anne. (fn. 21) The last-named died in 1719, and Staining went to John Mayfield, son of her sister Mary. The history then becomes obscure. (fn. 22) The manor in 1810 was purchased by Edward Birley, by whose daughter it passed to her husband, William Henry Hornby of Blackburn. (fn. 23) He was succeeded by his son Sir William Henry Hornby, bart.
Thornber states that the hall had its 'boggart,' the wandering ghost of a Scotchman murdered near a tree which has since recorded the deed by perfuming the ground near it with the odour of thyme. (fn. 24)
TODDERSTAFFE (fn. 25) was another estate of importance in former times, (fn. 26) but of Hardhorn and Newton, which give a name to the township, (fn. 27) practically nothing can be stated, though from the former was derived a surname varying between Hardern and Hordern.
The Abbot of Stanlaw obtained leave to have an oratory at the manor of Staining, (fn. 28) but this does not seem to have led to a permanent chapel.
A barn in Hardhorn was in 1689 licensed as a meeting-place for Presbyterians. (fn. 29)