Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/481

 William Fyld, of Great Eccleston, bequeathed £2 annually to the poor of that township.

Ellen Longworth left the interest of £20 to be distributed in bread to the poor people attending divine service at Copp church.

POPULATION OF GREAT ECCLESTON.

1801. 1811.  1821.  1831.  1841.  1851.  1861.  1871. 455    540    648    624    661    631    641    565

The area of the township in statute acres is 1,412

The manor of Out Rawcliffe was presented to Theobald Walter by Richard I., and from that time to 1715 remained in the hands of the same family. Theobald Walter, the son of the above-named gentleman, and Butler of Ireland, a title which, as elsewhere stated, he adopted as a surname, gave the whole of Out Rawcliffe, and one carucate of land in Stainall, to his relative, perhaps son, Sir Richard Butler, and from him sprang the long line of Butlers of Rawcliffe. In 1627 the inquisition post mortem of Henry Butler, of Rawcliffe Hall, revealed that his possessions consisted of the two manors of Out and Middle Rawcliffes, and of lands in Upper Rawcliffe. Henry and Richard Butler of Rawcliffe, father and eldest son, joined the ranks of the insurgents in 1715, and after the suppression of the rebellion, their estates were confiscated; Henry escaped, but Richard was seized, and died in prison at London in 1716, before the day appointed for his execution. The sale of Out Rawcliffe by Government was enrolled on the 19th of September, 1723, the purchasers being the Rev. Richard Crombleholme, (vicar of St. Michael's), John Leyland, Cornelius Fox, and James Poole; and in the diary of the Rev. Thos. Parkinson, curate of Garstang, reference is made to the completion and terms of the transfer as follows:—

"April 1723.—* * * * At night I preached for T. Raby, of Tarnacre, at St. Michael's. His son paid me 10s. Mr. Crombleholm, the vicar there, came from London, whilst I was there, who, in conjunction with three more, had bought Rawcliffe demain and tenants, paying to the board £11,260. It cost them near £1,000 more in hush money, as they call it."

In 1729 the Rev. Richard Crombleholme, who seems to have bought up the shares of his co-investors, died, and five years later his heir, Edward Crombleholme, disposed of the lordship of Out