Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/422

 1861. In 1862 he was succeeded by the present vicar, the Rev. William Thorold. A National school was erected by subscription and a grant from the National Society of £30, in 1845. A Wesleyan chapel was built about 1827.

POPULATION OF WEETON-WITH-PREESE.

1801. 1811.  1821.  1831.  1841.  1851.  1861.  1871. 384    508    473    477    545    465    465    433

The area of the township is 2,876 statute acres.

The abbot and brethren of Cockersand Abbey became possessed of this township at an early date, and retained it until the dissolution of monasteries, when the manor of Medlar passed, by gift or purchase, to the Westbys, of Mowbreck Hall. The estates of the Westbys were confiscated by the Commonwealth, and only redeemed on the payment of £1,000. The estate and Hall of Mowbreck are still held by the same family. The mansion preserves many evidences of its great antiquity, including the old chapel and priests' room.

Bradkirk, in Medlar, belonged to Theobald Walter in 1249, but in the reign of Edward III. it was held by a family bearing the name of Bradkirk, a title acquired from the estate. The Bradkirks resided there as proprietors until somewhere about the opening of the 17th century, when the earl of Derby had obtained the soil. In 1723 Bradkirk was bought by John Richardson, of Preston, from Thomas Stanley, of Cross Hall, in Ormskirk parish, who held the manor by right of his wife Catherine, sister and heiress of Christopher Parker, of Bradkirk, deceased, unmarried, a few years before. From John Richardson the manor passed successively by will to William Richardson, Edward Hurst, of Preston, and James Kearsley, of Over Hulton, by the last of whom it was sold in 1797 to Joseph Hornby, esq., of Ribby, and his descendant, H. H. Hornby, esq., of Ribby Hall, is the present holder. The original Bradkirk Hall, the seat of the Bradkirks and Parkers, has long since disappeared, and the edifice now bearing the name was erected or rebuilt by Edward Hurst in 1764.

In 1864 an Independent Day and Sunday school was built by Benjamin Whitworth, esq., M.P., of London, on land given by R. C. Richards, esq., J.P., of Kirkham, and presented to the