Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/58

 Newton with Scales                  3 men. Layton with Warbrick                8  " Elliswicke                           5  " Kelmyne and Brininge                5  " Kirkham                              3  " Westbye and Plumpton                8 men. Rigby with Wraye                    8  " Lithum                               5  " Much Singleton                      7  " Plumpton                            11  "

The commanders of the regiment were—Sir Thomas Hesketh, Sir Richard Houghton; George Browne, John Kitchen, Richard Barton, William Westby (of Mowbreck), and William Barton, Esquires.

Dodsworth, who lived in the latter part of the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth centuries, informs us that sometime during the year 1555 "a sudden irruption of the sea" took place near Rossall grange, and a whole village, called Singleton Thorp, was washed away by the fury of the waves. "The inhabitants were driven out of their ancient home, and erected their tents at a place called Singleton to this day." It has been surmised that Singleton Thorp was the residence of Thomas de Singleton, who opposed Edward I. in a suit to recover from that king the manors of Singleton, Thornton, and Brughton. The site formerly occupied by the ancient village is now called Singleton Skeer. Dodsworth also declares that the Horse-bank lying off the shores of Lytham was, in 1612, during the reign of James I., a pasture for cattle, and that, in 1601, a village called Waddum Thorp existed between it and the present main-land.

In January, 1559, about two months after the accession of Elizabeth, another muster took place throughout the several counties of the kingdom, and subjoined are enumerated the bodies of soldiers furnished by the different Hundreds of Lancashire:—

—407 harnessed men, 406 unharnessed men. —213 harnessed men, 369 unharnessed men. —356 harnessed men, 114 unharnessed men. —80 harnessed men, 22 unharnessed men. —394 harnessed men, 649 unharnessed men. —459 harnessed men, 413 unharnessed men. Sum Total of harnessed men 1919. Sum Total of unharnessed men 2073.

An epidemic, described by Hollinworth as a "sore sicknesse," prevailed in this county during some months of 1565, and carried off many of the inhabitants.