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Newton in Mackerfield in Lancaster County England History and GeographyNEWTON in MACKERFIELD, a borough (formerly a market town) and chapelry, in the parish of WINWICK, hundred of WEST DERBY, county palatine of LANCASTER, 47 miles (S. by E.) from Lancaster, and 192½ (N.W. by N.) from London, containing 1643 inhabitants. During the parliamentary war, and about the month of August, 1648, some Highlanders having been defeated and made prisoners by the parliamentary forces, at Red Bank, near this place, were hanged in an adjacent field, which still retains the appellation of Gallows Cross. The town consists chiefly of one broad street; and there are an ancient court-house, and a handsome assembly-room. The manufacture of fustians is the principal branch of business. and spinning and dyeing cotton is also carried on. The market has long been discontinued, but the cross is standing. Fairs are held on May 17th and August 11th, for horned cattle; and on May 18th and August 12th, for horses. Newton, anciently the head of a barony, is a borough by prescription, and has returned two members to parliament ever since the first year of the reign of Elizabeth: the right of election is in the freeholders to the value of forty shillings and upwards: the number of voters is about sixty: the steward of the borough, and the bailiff of the manor, are the returning officers; and the influence of Thomas Legh, Esq., is predominant. Courts leet and baron are held three times a year, at which small debts are recoverable. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, endowed with £200 private benefaction, £400 royal bounty, and £600 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of Thomas Legh, Esq. The chapel, which is parochial, and dedicated to St. Peter, was built in 1632, by Richard Legh, Esq.: the burial-ground has been recently enlarged, and enclosed with a stone wall and palisades, by the patron. A free school is kept in the court-house for the instruction of poor children; the average number is from seventy to one hundred: the master receives about £55 per annum, arising from the proceeds of certain enclosures of Leyland common, and the rental of a messuage called Dean school. Upwards of four hundred children are instructed in the Sunday schools, which were established in 1823. About half a mile northward of the town are the remains of an ancient barrow, called Castle Hill, the sides and summit of which are crowned with venerable oaks; it is from eight to nine yards high, and twenty-five in diameter. A whetstone, encased in wood, was discovered in sinking a coal-pit in this neighbourhood, in 1822, about thirty yards below the surface of the earth. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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