Claughton St Chad, Lancashire Genealogy

CLAUGHTON (St. Chad), a parish, in the hundred of Lonsdale south of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 7 miles (N. E. by E.) from Lancaster, on the road to Hornby, containing 118 inhabitants. This place was early erected into an independent parochial jurisdiction under its own lords, probably the Kellets. It would appear from an inquisition, 18th of Edward II., that the manor had passed to Hugh de Carnetbye; and a John de Claughton, and subsequently the Flemings, are mentioned as proprietors here. The Crofts were lords of a third part of the manor in the 15th and 16th centuries, and in the reign of Henry VIII.: Simon Croft appears afterwards to have held the whole manor. In 1712 the Fenwicks became lords of Claughton. The parish comprises a large tract of land, which is beautifully diversified, rising on one side into hills, and on the other spreading into a rich and fertile vale, through which the river Lune pursues its serpentine course. The soil is favourable for grazing; and there are some good quarries of flagstone. Claughton Hall is an interesting specimen of the domestic architecture of the reign of Elizabeth; the north-west front is ornamented by two square towers rising some height above the building, evidently erected for the purpose of enjoying the fine prospects up and down the valley of the Lune. It was in possession of Sir W. Croft in the time of Charles I., of whose cause he was a firm supporter. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £9. 13. 10., and in the patronage of the Heir of the late Thomas Fenwick, Esq.; net income, £145. The original church was built in 1070; the present edifice in 1815. There is a day and Sunday school.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 620-623. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50880 Date accessed: 29 June 2010.