Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/423

 trustees of the chapel belonging to that sect at Kirkham. The railway station and several weaving sheds and cotton mills are situated in this township.

POPULATION OF MEDLAR-WITH-WESHAM.

1801. 1811.  1821.  1831.  1841.  1851.  1861.  1871. 216    230    215    242    209    170    563    860

Greenhalgh is stated in the Domesday Book to contain three carucates of soil. The township was held by the Butlers of the Fylde at an early epoch, and retained until 1626 at least, when Henry Butler, of Rawcliffe, was lord of Greenhalgh and Thistleton. During the sovereignty of Edward I. the abbot of Cockersand had certain rights there, including assize of bread and beer.

Henry Colbourne, of London, bequeathed, in 1655, £5 10s. to establish a school at Esprick in this township, but his wishes were not properly carried out before 1679, at which date his legacy was supplemented by gifts from 41 yeomen in the neighbourhood, and a school erected to provide free education to the children of Greenhalgh and Thistleton. Further endowments of £60 in 1766 from John Cooper, and £80 a little later by subscription, were given to the institution; and in 1805 Mary Hankinson left £200, and Richard Burch, of Greenhalgh, £200, to the same object. The original school-house, formed of clay and thatched with straw, has been pulled down, and a fresh one built. Subsequent donations have been received under the wills of the Misses Ellen and Hannah Dewhirst, the former of whom left £200, in addition to a gift of £100 during her lifetime, and the latter the residue of her estate.

The interest of £20, bequeathed for that purpose by a person named Lawrenson, is distributed annually to the poor of Greenhalgh.

POPULATION OF GREENHALGH-WITH-THISTLETON.

1801. 1811.  1821.  1831.  1841.  1851.  1861.  1871. 378    403    409    408    371    362    383    365

The township embraces 1,821 statute acres.

At the Domesday Survey, Singletun contained six carucates of arable land, the lord of the manor being Roger de Poictou, who gave the tithes at the close of the eleventh century to the priory of St. Mary's, Lancaster;