Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/69

 considered lawful sports to be indulged in on "Sundays and Festivals."

The gentlemen enumerated below were free-tenants, residing in the Fylde, during his reign:—

Clifton, Sir Cuthbert, of Westby, knight. Banister, Sir Robert, of Plumpton, knight. Fleetwood, Edward, of Rossall, esq. Westby, Thomas, of Mowbreck, esq. Kirkby, William, of Upper Rawcliffe, esq. Veale, Edward, of Whinney Heys, esq. Burgh, Richard, of Larbrick, esq. Leckonby, John, of Great Eccleston, esq. Longworth, Richard, of St. Michael's, esq. Parker, John, of Bradkirk, esq. Hesketh, William, of Mains, esq. Singleton, Thomas, of Staining, esq. Brown James, of Singleton, gent. Leigh, Robert, of Plumpton, gent. Smith, John, of Kirkham, gent. Sharples, Henry, of Kirkham, gent, ffrance, John, of Eccleston, gent. Thompson Wm., of Little Eccleston, gent. Dobson, William, of Bispham, gent. Hornby, Henry, of Bankfield, gent. Bradley, James, of Bryning, gent. Taylor, James, of Poulton, gent. Bamber, Thomas, of Poulton, gent. Bailey, Lawrence, of Layton, gent. Bonny, Robert, of Kirkham, gent. Whiteside, Robt., of Thornton, gent.

In the Registers of Kirkham is the annexed statement, from which it appears that a few years from the death of James I. the Fylde, or at least a considerable tract of it, was visited by some fatal epidemic, but its peculiar nature cannot be ascertained:—" 1630. This year was a great plague in Kirkham, in which the more part of the people of the town died thereof. It began about the 25th of July and continued vehemently until Martinmas, but was not clear of it before Lent; and divers towns of the parish was infected with it, and many died thereof out of them, as Treales, Newton, Greenall, Estbrick, Thistleton. N.B.—The great mortality was in the year 1631; 304 died that year, and were buried at Kirkham, of whom 193 in the months of August and September". Charles I. soon after ascending the throne in