Claughton within Garstang, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
Garstang is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Lancashire.

Other places in the parish include: Bilsborough, Billisborrow, Cabus, Catteral, Catterall, Claughton, Cleveley, Forton, Holleth, Kirkland, Nateby, Nether Wyresdale, Winmarleigh, Barnacre with Bonds, Barnacre with Ronds, and Bilsborrow.

Claughton village should not be confused with Claughton St Chad, Lancashire Ancient parish, near Lancaster in the Diocese of Blackburn.

Claughton is a tiny village and civil parish in the county of Lancashire, located within the Borough of Wyre. Its full name is Claughton-on-Brock to distinguish it from another Claughton in Lancashire in the Lune valley between Lancaster and Hornby. The Brock Claughton is pronounced /ˈklaɪtən/ "Clyeton", whereas the Lune Claughton is pronounced /ˈklæftən/ "Clafton".

The village has both a Catholic church (St Thomas Apostle) and a Catholic primary school (St Mary's), but no Church of England presence, which might be considered unusual for a parish in England, were it not for the strong Catholic tradition of the area and the presence of an early church building.

The parish was historically in the Amounderness Hundred. It lies between the Calder and Brock valleys. The A6 road runs through the west end of the parish, a short distance south of Garstang.

Claughton is mentioned in the Domesday Book appearing as Clactune. Later variations include Clacton, 1184; Clagton Clahton, 1253; Claghton, 1284. The name is believed to be of Saxon origin, meaning 'farm on the hill'.

The Fitzherbert-Brockholes family have been associated with Claughton on Brock since the time of Edward II. They were regarded as recusants during and after the Reformation.

CLAUGHTON, a township, in the parish and union of Garstang, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 2 miles (S. S. E.) from Garstang; containing 772 inhabitants. This place gave name to a local family, of whom Richard de Clacton appears in a deed without date as a benefactor of Cockersand Abbey. The Banastre family held a moiety of the manor in Edward II.'s reign; and Claughton is afterwards found in possession of the Brockholes, whose descendant, in the last century, devised his estates to William Fitzherbert, Esq., of Swynnerton Hall, Staffordshire, with injunction to take the name and arms of Brockholes. The township lies on the road from Lancaster to Preston, and comprises 3785a. 2r. 4p. of land: the Lancaster and Preston railway and canal also pass through it. Claughton Hall, the seat of the family of Fitzherbert Brockholes, is a noble stone mansion, surrounded by a well-wooded park of 500 acres, abounding with game, and commanding beautiful views. The vicarial tithes have been commuted for £350. At a short distance from the Hall is a Roman Catholic chapel, a neat building in the Grecian style; the interior is very handsome, especially the altar: adjoining is the house of the priest, the Rev. Henry Gradwell. There is a small cotton-mill.

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.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

Lancashire Online Parish Clerks
An extremely useful resource for research in Lancashire Parishes http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/

Church records
Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

For Church of England records see Garstang, Lancashire

for Roman Catholic history of the vilage and area see http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53249&amp;strquery=claughton British History online. The Roman Catholic church of St Thomas the Apostle was built in 1794.

Trinity Presbyterian Church was located in the township of Claughton, in the parish of Garstang.

Trinity Presbyterian Church of England, Claughton : a historical sketch, 1863-1938 by R. S. Archer Publication Birkenhead [England] : Willmer Brothers, 1938 77 p., [16] p. of plates

The Independent churches were ones in which each congregation was autonomous, upholding the principles of independence. In the 19th century they became known as Congregational.

In 1972 the Congregational church joined with the English Presbyterian church to become the United Reformed Church.

Founded in 1777 the church is now known as the United Reformed Church, Croston Road, Garstang.



Census records
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http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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