Cockerham

"COCKERHAM, a parish and township in the hundred of Lonsdale South of the Sands, in the county of Lancaster, 5½ miles S. of Lancaster, and 1¼ W. from Bay Horse station. It is situated on the river Cocker, near the Preston canal and railway, and contains the districts of Shireshead, Ellel, and Dolphinholme, each of which have their own church and ecclesiastical establishments. The parish church, dedicated to St. Michael, is in the pointed style of architecture. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester, value £640, in the patronage of the lords of the manor. There is a parochial school for both sexes, with an endowment of £11 per annum; also a Sunday school. The population are principally employed in agriculture, but there are two cotton mills and one silk mill in the parish. At Cockerham Point and Plover Rock, near the entrance of the bay, are two fixed lights, which maybe seen at 9 miles distance, put up in 1847, to direct vessels entering the channel. At Thurnham is a fine old mansion, the seat of the Daltons. Thomas Green, R. A. Clarke, J. Villiers Dent, and the Rev. R. Atkinson are lords of the manor. A fair is held on the 24th March for horned cattle."