Penwortham

"PENWORTHAM, a parish in the hundred of Leyland, county Lancaster, 2 miles S.W. of Preston, its post town. At Farington, in this parish, the London and North-Western and the Lancashire and Yorkshire railways have each a station. The village, which is extensive, is situated on the S.W. bank of the river Ribble. It is a petty sessions town for the hundred of Leyland, the sessions being held here alternately with Chorley, Cuerdon, Leyland, and Rufford. The parish comprises the townships of Farrington, Longton, Howick, and Hutton. There was formerly a Benedictine priory here, founded by Warine Bussel in the reign of the Conqueror, as a cell to Evesham. Its revenue at the Dissolution was £114 16s. 9d., when the site was given to the Fleetwoods. There are no traces of the buildings now remaining. The neighbourhood of the village is studded with villas. A portion of the inhabitants are employed in the cotton mills. The soil is of a marshy description, with red loam in one part of the township, and marl in the other. One of the heaviest cuttings on the line of the North Union railway was made through Penwortham Hill, and the embankment of the Ribble valley, for the same railway, was also a work of considerable labour; the bridge carrying the line over the Ribble is a massive structure of five semi-elliptical arches, each of 120 feet span, and the road 44 feet above the level of the stream. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Manchester, value £106. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, has a square embattled tower containing six bells. The interior of the church contains some monuments of the Fleetwood and Rawstone families, also a stained window. The nave was rebuilt in 1856, at which period two aisles were added. The register chest and contents were destroyed by fire in 1857, owing to the over-heating of the flues.