Carleton, anciently written Carlentun, is named in the Domesday Book as comprising four carucates of land; and in the Black Book of the Exchequer, it is stated that during the reign of Henry II., 1154-89, Gilbert Fitz Reinfred held four carucates in Carlinton and another place. In 1254 the manor of Carleton in Lancashire belonged to Emma de St. John, and at that date there appears to have been some litigation concerning her right of proprietorship, but how settled we have no means of discovering.[103] In the Testa de Nevill it is recorded that Roger Gernet had the 24th part, and Robert de Stokeport the 48th, of a knights’ fee in Little Carleton of William de Lancaster’s fee.
The earliest allusion to the local territorial family occurs in 1221, when Michael de Carleton, as before stated under “Thornton,” paid a fine to Henry III. for having espoused Margaret Wynewick, or Winwick, a royal ward, without first obtaining permission from the king. It has been conjectured that Much Carleton received its peculiar title from this member of the family, and amongst the records of some ancient pleadings is one of 1557 concerning certain lands in Miche Carlton, a mode of writing the name which lends considerable support to the theory. Alyce Hull, widow, was the plaintive in the dispute. The Carletons, of Carleton, were connected with the neighbourhood for a very long period as holders of the manor; Alicia, the daughter of William de Carleton married Sir Richard Butler, of Rawcliffe Hall, in 1281, and received the manor of Inskip as her dowry; and in 1346 H. de Carleton possessed four carucates and a half in Carleton.[104] Thomas de Carleton held the manor of Carleton up to the time of his death in 1500, when he was succeeded by his son and heir George Carleton, aged 22,[105] who died in 1516, leaving an only child, William, then eleven years of age.[106] William de Carleton came into possession of the property on attaining his legal majority,[107] and died in 1557, being succeeded by Lawrence Carleton, probably his brother. Lawrence Carleton, who had married Margaret, the daughter of George Singleton, of Staining, held the estate for barely twelve months, as he died in 1558 without issue, leaving his lands and tenements in Carleton, amounting to several extensive messuages and Carleton Hall, to his only surviving sister, Margaret, the wife of Thomas Almond.[108] Thus Lawrence Carleton was the last of the manorial family of that name connected with the township. Of the ancient Hall of Carlton, the seat of the Carletons for over three centuries, nothing can be learnt beyond the fact that it stood opposite the Gezzerts farm, and that almost, if not quite, within the recollection of the present generation some ruins of the once noble mansion were visible on its former site, long since enclosed and used for purposes of agriculture. In 1261 the abbey of Cockersand held some property in Carleton, as appears from an agreement entered into at that date between the abbot of Cockersand and H. de Singleton Parva, by which the latter transferred a messuage in Carleton, by the side of other messuages already belonging to the abbey, to the abbot, in exchange for messuages and an acre of ground in the vicinity of Stanlawe abbey in Cheshire.[109] Stanlawe abbey itself had sundry possessions in Carleton shortly after its foundation in 1175,[110] all of which were conveyed to the abbey of Whalley in 1296, when the two monastic houses were united, and thus it happened that this township was included amongst the localities in which Whalley abbey held lands at the time of its dissolution.
Sometime during the reign of Henry VIII. the Sherburnes, of Stonyhurst, Hambledon, etc., became holders of soil in Carleton, and at a later period had acquired the manorial rights and privileges. In 1717 Sir Nicholas Sherburne, bart., bequeathed the manor of Carleton, amongst numerous other estates, to his only child and heiress, Maria Winifreda Francisca, the duchess of Norfolk, and two years later the duke of Norfolk had obtained a settlement by which he held a life interest in Carleton, Stonyhurst, and other places, the duchess, however, having reserved to herself the power to dispose of the reversion or inheritance by will or deed, executed in the duke’s lifetime. The duchess of Norfolk bequeathed her real estate, including Carleton, on her death in 1745, to her cousin Edward Weld, esq., grandson of Sir John Weld, of Lulworth Castle, Dorsetshire, whose descendant Edward Joseph Weld, esq., has disposed of most of his inheritance in the township to various purchasers, chiefly amongst the local yeomanry and gentry.
The Bambers, of the Moor, in Carleton, were people of position in the township. Richard Bamber, during the latter half of the sixteenth century, married Anne, the daughter of Thomas Singleton, of Staining Hall, and consequently was the brother-in-law of John Leckonby, of Leckonby House, Great Eccleston, who had espoused Alice, another daughter of the same gentleman. It is impossible to affirm with certainty what children sprang from the union of Richard Bamber and Ann Singleton, but of one of them, Edward, who entered the Romish priesthood, we subjoin an interesting and tragic account, extracted from the “Memoirs of Missionary Priests, by the Right Rev. Richard Challoner, D.D.”:—
“Edward Bamber, commonly known upon the commission by the name of Reding, was the son of Mr. Richard Bamber, and born at a place called the Moor, the ancient mansion-house of the family, lying not far from Poulton, in that part of Lancashire called the Fylde. Having made good progress with his grammar studies at home, he was sent abroad into Spain, to the English college at Valladolid, where he learnt his philosophy and divinity, and was ordained priest. My short memoirs leave us much in the dark as to many passages and particulars relating to the life and labours of this good priest, as well as to the history of his trial; but then short as they are they are very expressive of his zeal and indefatigable labours, his unwearied diligence in instructing the catholics under his charge, disputing with protestants, and going about doing good everywhere, with a courage and firmness of mind almost above the power and strength of man. When, how, or where, he was apprehended, I have not found, but only this, that he had lain three whole years a close prisoner at Lancaster castle, before he was brought to the bar, where he stood with an air of fortitude and resolution of suffering in defence of truth. Two fallen catholics, Malden and Osbaldeston, made oath that they had seen him administer baptism and perform the ceremonies of marriage; and upon these slender proofs of his priesthood, the jury, by the judge’s direction, found him guilty of the indictment. Whereupon the judge sentenced him to be hanged, cut down alive, drawn, quartered, etc., as in cases of high treason. It was on the 7th of August, 1646, that he, with two fellow priests, and a poor wretch, named Croft, condemned to death for felony, were drawn upon sledges to the place of execution at Lancaster. There Mr. Bamber exhorted Croft to repentance, and besought him to declare himself a Catholic, confess some of his more public sins, and be truly contrite and sorry for all—‘and I, a priest and minister of Jesus Christ, will instantly in his name, and by his authority, absolve thee.’ On hearing this the officers of Justice began to storm but Mr. Bamber held his ground, and finally absolved the man in sight and hearing of the crowd. As Mr. Bamber mounted up the ladder, he paused after ascending a few steps, and taking a handful of money from his pocket, threw it amongst the people, saying, with a smiling countenance, that ‘God loveth a cheerful giver.’ Mr. Bamber was encouraging Mr. Whitaker, one of the other two priests about to suffer, who appeared not a little terrified at the approach of death, to be on his guard against the temptation to save his life by renouncing his creed, when the sheriff called out hastily to the executioner to dispatch him (Bamber); and so he was that moment turned off the ladder, and permitted to hang but a very short time, before the rope was cut, the confessor being still alive; and thus he was butchered in a most cruel and savage manner.”
The two following verses, relating to his death, form part of a long ode or sonnet written at the time:—
“Few words he spoke—they stopp’d his mouth,
And chok’d him with a cord;
And lest he should be dead too soon,
No mercy they afford.