Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/483

 From the Testa de Nevill it appears that about 1400 Warin de Wytingham and Alin de Singilton held respectively the eighth and sixteenth parts of a knight's fee in Elswick from the Earl of Lincoln. Edmund Dudley had the manor until his attainder at the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII.; and in 1521, Thomas, earl of Derby, held it of that monarch. The soil is now in the possession of several landowners.

In 1650 the Parliamentary Commissioners of the Commonwealth reported that the inhabitants, "being fifty families, and five miles from their parish church, had lately, with the voluntary and free assistance of some neighbouring towns, erected a chapel." The Rev. Cuthbert Harrison, who had been ejected from his benefice in Ireland for refusing the oath of Uniformity, procured a license from Charles II. in 1672 for the same chapel, "for the use of such as did not conform to the Church of England, commonly called Congregational." Parliament, however, decreed that the King's authority was insufficient, and forbade divine service to be held there a short time later. In 1702 the chapel seems to have been again opened, and continued in use amongst the Independents until 1753, when it was superseded by a new one, enlarged in 1838. The memorial stone of the present chapel, erected to commemorate the persecutions under the Five Mile Act of two centuries ago, was laid by Sir James Watts, of Manchester, on the 30th of July, 1873, and the building completed with all expedition. The chapel stands on a plot of ground presented by Mrs. Harrison, of Bankfield, adjoining the site of the former edifice, and is a handsome stone Gothic structure. The mortuary, with tower and spire, was given by R. C. Richards, esq., J.P., of Clifton Lodge, in memory of certain members of his family.

Elizabeth Hoole, by will dated 26th of April, 1727, charged a meadow in Elswick, which she gave to the Roman Catholic chapel of Great Eccleston, with the annual payment of £3 to the poor of Elswick.

POPULATION OF ELSWICK.

1801. 1811.  1821.  1831.  1841.  1851.  1861.  1871. 232     256    290    327    303    307    290    254.

The area of the township includes 1,009 statute acres.