Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/283

 for a similar yearly payment. Within the residence of Burn was a domestic chapel, over the doorway of which stood a polished oaken slab or board inscribed—"Elegi abjectus esse in domo Dei mei, magis quam habitari in tabernaculis peccatorum." The walls were panelled with oak and carved with shields and foliage, whilst the ceiling was embellished with representations of vine leaves and clusters of grapes. Modern alterations have destroyed most, if not all, interesting relics of past ages. After the death of John Westby, of Burn Hall, a descendant of the John Westby before mentioned, in 1722, Burn passed to the Rev. J. Bennison, of London, who had married Anne, his fourth daughter. It is said that Mr. Bennison utterly ruined his property, by attempting a style of agriculture similar to that described by Virgil in his Georgics. Burn Hall is now, and has been for many years a farm-house, and the estate forms part of the large tract held by the representatives of the late John Horrocks, esq. The land lying towards the coast was formerly subject to occasional inundations of the sea, but an effectual barrier has been put by raising a mound round such exposed localities.

The extensive area known as Thornton Marsh, was a free open common, used as a pasture by the poor cottagers of the township until 1800, when it was enclosed, together with Carleton Marsh, and has since by cultivation been converted into valuable and productive fields.

A church and parsonage house were erected at Thornton in 1835, the former being a neat whitewashed building in the early English style of architecture, with a low square tower, but presenting externally no special features of attraction beyond its profuse covering of ivy, which renders it a most picturesque object in the surrounding landscape. The churchyard also is well worthy of notice, if only for the luxuriance of its foliage, the beauty of its flowers, and the taste and elegance exhibited in several of the monuments. This, like the church and parsonage, is embosomed in trees. The sacred edifice has been named Christ Church, and a separate parochial district was assigned to it in 1862, the title of vicar being accorded to the incumbent.