Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/316

 of hands. Subsequently it was converted into a ladies' school, and afterwards pulled down. Two or three residences in the township near the site of the old manufactory still retain the names of 'factory houses,' from their association with it. There is a small Nonconformist place of worship in the village, surrounded by a wall, being partially covered with ivy and overshadowed by trees. This edifice is called Bethel Chapel, and a date over the doorway fixes its origin at 1834. In 1868 a Temperance Hall, comprising a reading room, library, and spacious lecture and assembly room, was erected here by subscription, and forms one of the most striking objects in the village. The Sunday school connected with the parish church, and situated by its side, was erected also by subscription, in 1840, and rebuilt on a larger scale in 1873.

The hamlet of Norbreck is situated on the edge of the cliffs overhanging the shore of the Irish Sea, and consists of several elegant residences tenanted by Messrs. Swain, Burton, Harrison, Wilson, and Richards. None of the houses present any features calling for special comment, but appear, like others at no great distance, as Bispham Lodge, the seat of Frederick Kemp, esq., J.P., to have been built within comparatively recent years as marine retreats for the gentry of neighbouring towns, or others more intimately associated with the locality.

POPULATION OF BISPHAM-WITH-NORBRECK.

1801. 1811.  1821.  1831.  1841.  1851.  1861.  1871. 254    297    323    313    371    394    437    556

The area of the township includes 2,624 statute acres.

The Free Grammar School was established in 1659, when Richard Higginson, of St. Faith's, London, bequeathed unto the parish of Bispham sundry annual gifts in perpetuity, and especially the yearly payment of £30 for and towards the support of a school-master and usher at the school of Bispham, lately erected by him. From a subsequent deed it appears that the annual sums were made chargeable on two messuages in Paternoster Row, London, belonging to the dean and chapter of St. Pauls, but as the interest Higginson possessed in such property was acquired at the sale of the dean and chapter lands during the Commonwealth, it followed that on the restoration of Charles II., the rentals forming his bequest were not forthcoming. Further, the document recites that John Amburst,