“If any of those acting Burgesses are alive I would advise them to assemble at their former Gild or usual Place of meeting, and then and there choose other Burgesses, after which they may elect from among them Two Bailiffs and make an entry of such choice in one of the Old Books, and then proceed as formerly to act in their corporate capacity; and let their first Punishment be inflicted on some person unlikely to dispute their authority, for instance a woman drunkard may be set in the stocks.

“Having done as above directed they may for the better Government of the town make some Byelaws, and enter them ffair into a Book to be kept for that purpose, but let none of these new Laws be put in Execution till they are confirmed by the Chancelour, and that will be some foundation ffor a petition to that Court.

“But if all the Burgesses are dead I can see no Remedy whatsoever but by obtaining a new Charter, which will be very Difficult if not Impracticable.”

A statement as to manorial extent of Kirkham at the latter part of the seventeenth century is preserved amongst the records of a court, further reference to which will be made anon, and reads as here given:—“The lands lying within the manor of Kirkham, belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, in Oxford, and to the burgesses inhabitants of the borough of Kirkham, are bounded east by the lands of Edward Robinson and George Brown, lying within Newton and Scales; westward by the lands of Sir Thomas Clifton, within Westby, and the lands of Christopher Parker, esq., lying in Ribby with Wrea; northwards by the lands of Mrs. Dorʸ. Westby, of Mowbreck, and the lands of Mr. Edward Fleetwood, of Wesham; and southwards by the lands of Mr. George Sharples, of Freckleton.”

It has already been shown that the manor was conveyed by the authorities at Oxford to Thomas Fleetwood as fee-farmer in 1601, and that the lease was subsequently renewed or confirmed to his son and heir Sir Richard Fleetwood. Before 1700, however, probably about 1650, from the contents of a petition presented by the inhabitants to the dean and chapter in 1705, the Cliftons, of Lytham, had the manor in a tenure similar to that of their predecessors, and held each year, in the month of June, a court leet, at which the two bailiffs were elected. The late Thomas Langton Birley, esq., of Carr Hill, Kirkham, acquired the lordship by purchase a short time previous to his death in 1874, when it descended to his son and heir, Henry Langton Birley, esq. Bailiffs still continue to be annually appointed, and have in their hands several charitable bequests, the interest arising therefrom being devoted to the service of the poor of the township, either in the form of alms, or in maintaining some useful convenience, as the parish pump, for their benefit. The property at present belonging to the bailiffs consists of one meadow, situated behind the Roman Catholic church; a garden in front of the same edifice; a plot in the field called the “Iron Latch”; and a pew in the parish church of Kirkham. In 1676 the bishop of Chester acceded to a petition from the minister and churchwardens that a wainscot might be placed so as to enclose the bailiffs’ pew, “which seat, for want thereof, was pressed into and thronged by others to the disturbance of the said officers.”[152]

The Moot Hall, in which all business relating to the town was transacted, stood in the Market-place until about the year 1790, when it was accidentally burnt down. This building was erected in two stories, the upper of which was divided into a small room, used for flax dressing at the time the Hall was destroyed, and a larger one, devoted to court meetings and other public matters, which was separated from the remainder of the edifice insomuch as it could only be entered from the outside by means of a flight of stone steps. The ground floor or lower story was converted into shops in the occupation of tradesmen of the town. The original borough seal, which still exists, although somewhat defective, represents a dove bearing an olive branch in its beak. Notwithstanding that Kirkham was made a borough, during the last years of the thirteenth century, it never appears upon any occasion to have returned a Member of Parliament, and it may safely be conjectured that no writ for that purpose was ever issued to the burgesses, as the sheriffs exercised a discretionary power in such matters, and consequently only those boroughs, whose inhabitants seemed affluent enough to support the expenses of an election, were selected for the honour, amongst which it is scarcely likely Kirkham would be classed.

A market cross stood in the centre of the town, near to the ancient Moot Hall, about the beginning of this century, but has now, like the stocks, which originally had their place in the churchyard and afterwards were removed to a more public site, been long numbered amongst the memories of a past and less refined age. There is no allusion to a whipping post in any of the old documents, but we have the authority of a gentleman who witnessed the spectacle, that a man was publicly whipped in the Market-place fifty years ago.

The “Thirty Sworn men of Kirkham” was the name given to a council which took cognizance of parochial affairs, and of certain matters connected with the church, amongst other things appointing the churchwardens. This assembly was composed of representatives from the different sections of the parish, two persons being elected from each of the fifteen townships as under:—

“Thirty Sworn Men in 1570.