Hoghton

"HOGHTON, a chapelry in the parish and hundred of Leyland, county Lancaster, 6 miles E. of Preston, its post town, 4 S.W. of Blackburn, and 6 N. of Chorley. It is a station on the East Lancashire railway. The village, which is considerable, is situated on the W. bank of the river Darwin, a feeder of the Dove, and near the Blackburn canal. On a lofty ridge of hills are the ruined gateway, &c., of the old tower of the Hoghtons, now a farmhouse. During the civil war of the 17th century, part of this massive pile was accidentally blown up by the garrison. Stone is quarried here. A large portion of the inhabitants are employed in handloom-weaving. The soil consists chiefly of clay and sand, on a substratum of limestone. Two-thirds of the land is in meadow and pasture. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Manchester, value £150. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is a stone structure erected by a grant of the Parliamentary Commissioners in 1833. There is a National school for both sexes, endowed by the late Sir Charles Hoghton with £26 per annum; also a place of worship for Wesleyans. Sir Henry Hoghton, Bart., is lord of the manor and principal landowner."