Respecting Kirkham’s less antiquated days it may be stated that Messrs. Thomas Shepherd, John Birley, and John Langton were the earliest to commence manufacturing on any large scale there, which they accomplished during the first half of the eighteenth century by establishing conjointly the flax spinning mill still existing, but with many additions, as the firm of John Birley and Sons. John Langton was descended from John Langton, of Broughton Tower, through his fourth son, John, who resided at Preston, and of whom Cornelius Langton, of Kirkham, was the third son. On the 31st of March, 1696, Cornelius Langton paid 30s. for his trade freedom in Kirkham, where he married Elizabeth, daughter of Zachary Taylor, M.A., head-master of the Grammar School, by whom he had issue John, Abigail, Zachary, and Roger. Abigail died in 1776; Zachary entered the church, and espoused the daughter of Alexander Butler, of Kirkland; Roger died in 1727; and John, the eldest, opened, in conjunction with the two gentlemen just named, a mercantile house in Kirkham, and left issue by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Brown, of Ashtree Hall, Kirkham,—Anne, Sarah, Cornelius, Thomas, of Kirkham, and five other children. The children of Thomas Langton, by his wife Jane, the eldest daughter of William Leyland, of Blackburn, were Elizabeth, Leyland, Cornelius, Zachary, Cicely, and William, of Kirkham, born 1758, died 1814. John Birley was the son of John Birley of Skippool, and the ancestor of the large families of Birley, at Kirkham, Manchester, etc. The mills at present standing in the neighbourhood of Kirkham are the flax mill of Messrs. John Birley and Sons, employing about 1,600 hands; the weaving shed of Messrs. Walker and Barrett, 400 hands; the cotton mill of Messrs. Harrison and Company, 150 hands; the cotton mill of Messrs. Richards and Parker, 180 hands; the weaving shed of Messrs. Richards Brothers, 84 hands; and the Fylde Manufacturing Company in Orders Lane, a newly-established concern. John Langton, who started in business at Kirkham as a flax spinner, purchased, in company with Ann Hankinson, in 1760, two years before his death, two closes of land, with their appurtenances, in Freckleton, called Bannister Flatt and Freckleton Croft, containing by estimate 1½ acres, and 12 beast-gates upon Freckleton Marsh, all of which they conveyed by indenture in four months to John Dannet, Thomas Langton, and William Shepherd, in trust for the educating, teaching, and instructing, free from all charge, of such young girls within the township of Kirkham, as they in their discretion should make choice of, to read, knit, and sew; and that they should for that purpose meet twice a year, on the 25th of December and the 24th of June, at Kirkham, to make choice of proper subjects, and keep a book, wherein should be entered the accounts of the receipts and disbursements. During the ten years which elapsed after 1760 additional benefactions were received amounting to £440. By indenture, dated 2nd of March, 1772, Joseph Brockholes and Constantia, his wife, conveyed to William Shepherd and Thomas Langton, trustees of the school, their heirs and assigns, for the sum of £425, two cottages, with appurtenances, in Freckleton, with a garden containing 36 perches; a parcel of ground in a meadow in Freckleton, called Birl Brick Meadow, embracing 30 perches; one cowgate in Freckleton Marsh; five closes in Freckleton, named the Two Baker Meadows, the Two Lamma Leaches, and the Bank, holding six acres of customary measurement. From 1772 to 1813 further donations (£130) were received. The trusteeship of the school appears to have descended in the Langton family, and was held by the late Thomas Langton Birley, esq., whose father, Thomas Birley, had married Anne, the daughter and co-heiress of John Langton, of Kirkham. Clothing, as well as education, is supplied gratuitously to the scholars, who usually amount to 40, or thereabouts. A new building for the purposes of the school was erected on a fresh site a few years ago, in place of the former one, which had stood since 1761.
The Roman Catholics, through the munificence of the Rev. Thomas Sherburne, built a magnificent church at the Willows in 1844-5. The edifice comprises a nave, side aisles, chancel, south porch, and an elegant spire, having an altitude of 110 feet. On the south side of the chancel is the lady chapel, and opposite to it that of the holy cross. The high altar is beautifully sculptured in Caen stone, and the reredos and tabernacle are covered with rich guilding. The walls contain several noble windows of stained glass. This church superseded one which had been erected in the same locality in 1809, anterior to which the chapel attached to Mowbreck Hall had been used by the Romanists of the neighbourhood for their celebrations and services. The Independents and Wesleyans also have places of worship in the town, situated respectively in Marsden and Freckleton Streets. The chapel of the Independents was constructed about 1793, and rebuilt in 1818, but that of the Wesleyans is of more recent origin. At the Willows, it should be mentioned, there is a school, open to all denominations, but under Roman Catholic supervision, which was established about 1828. Kirkham was first illuminated with gas in 1839. It contains a County Court House[163] and the Workhouse of the Fylde Union,[164] in addition to several other public buildings, as a Police Station, Waterworks’ Office, National and Infant Schools, etc. The town is governed by a Local Board of Health.
No papers have so far been discovered throwing any light upon the origin of the Free Grammar School, and the earliest intimation of its existence is in 1551, when Thomas Clifton, of Westby, bequeathed “towards the grammar scole xxˢ.” Thirty-four years later it was arranged amongst the “Thirty-men” that “40s. taken out of the clerk’s wages should be paid to the schoolmaster, and that 4 of the 30-men in the name of the rest should take possession of the school-house in right of the whole parish, to be kept in repair by it and used as a school-house;” also that “Richard Wilkins, now schoolmaster,” should be retained in his office for a year or longer. In 1589 the above assembly “agreed that the 10s. a year pᵈ by Goosnargh to the church shᵈ in future be paid to the schoolmaster, and for every burial (except one dying in childbed) he shᵈ have such sum as was agreed by the 30-men, and also such sum as hath heretofore been paid for the holy loaf, which is of every house 3d., every Sunday successively towards repairs of the schoolhouse and help of his wages.” In 1592 this order, as far as regards the holy-loaf contributions, was rescinded, the money as in former times going to the vicar.
The following is from the copy of an ancient manuscript account of the school, from 1621 to 1663, formerly in the possession of Thomas Martin, esq., of Lincoln’s Inn:—
“Isabell Birly, wife of Thomas Birly, born in Kirkham, daughter of John Coulbron, an alehouse keeper all her life, and through that employment attayned to a good personall estait above most in that towne of that calling, being moved with a naturall compassion to pore children shee saw often in that towne, was heard to say dyvers tymes she would doe something for their good, and in the yeare 1621, having gotten a good stock of money in her hands, was moved to put her sayings into action. The 30-men of the parish being assembled at the church, she, with £30 in her apron, came to them, telling them she had brought that money to give it towards the erecting of a free schole for pore children to be taught gratis, whose parents were not able to lay out money for their teaching, wishing them to take it and consider of it. They were the men especially trusted by the parish for the common benefits of the church, and therefore were the most like persons to move their severall townships to contribute every one something towards the accomplishment of so charitable a work, and not doubting that their good examples in their contributions would be a strong motive to excite others. This gift was thankfully accepted, and wrought so with them that every one was forward to promote it, especially Mr. Jno. Parker of Bredkirk, an eminent man in the parish and one of that companie, being at that tyme one of the earl of Derbie’s gentlemen and somewhat allied to the said Isabell; he forwarded it very much, sparing neither his paynes of his bodie nor his purse; for that end he travelled all the parish over to every particular towne and house earnestly persuading them to contribute to so good an use. Sir Cuthbert Clifton gave £20, Maister Westby of Moulbreck £10, Mr. Parker £5, Mr. Langtree of Swarbreck £5, Mr. Hesketh of Maines 40s., Mr. Greenacres, vicar of Kirkham, £4, and the several townships in the parish gave as followeth:—Kirkham near £30, but not out; Ribby and Wray £3 8s. 6d.; Westby and Plumpton 16s. 4d.; Weeton £7 2s.; Singleton £1 13s. 6d.; Little Eccleston and Larbrick 4s. 4d.; Greenall and Thistleton £4 16s.; Roseacre £7 2s.; Wharles £1 13s.; Treales £8 4s.; Medlar and Wesham £1 5s.; Hambleton 4s. 6d.; Salwick £3 5s.; Clifton £3 7s.; Newton and Scales £3 5s.; Freckleton £8; Warton £1 8s.; Bryning and Kellamer £4 13s.—in the whole £170 14s.”
When the time came for the selection of a suitable person to undertake the charge and education of the pupils, it so happened “that at that instant a young man, an honest, able scholar of good gifts and parts, having a lingering sickness upon him, was come over to Kirkham to Mr. William Armesteed (the curate of Kirkham), his cozen, for change of air, his name being Thomas Armesteed, and he was moved by some of the towne whether he would accept to be schole master if suit were made to the 30-men to elect him; he, in regard to the weakness of his bodie then yielded to the motion, otherwise he was a man well qualified for the ministery and a moving preacher.”[165]
At the meeting of the “Thirty-men” to fill up the appointment there were two candidates, Mr. Armesteed and Mr. Sokell, but the former was elected. About the year 1628, when this gentleman resigned, Mr. Sokell was elected to the vacancy after a contest. Until 1628 the management of all matters connected with the school had rested with the “Thirty-men,” but at that date the Roman Catholic gentlemen, who had been most liberal in their contributions, came to the conclusion that “it was not for their reputation altogether to leave the care of it to others and they to have no hand in it, therefore they took upon them to have a hand about it, and upon their doing so the 30 men, being tenants most of them to some of them, or dependant someway upon them, left it to them; only Mr. Parker was not bound to the gentlemen, and he joined in with them.”[166]
Isabell Birley and others had brought out a candidate, named Dugdall, at the recent election of schoolmaster, and were so incensed at his defeat by Mr. Sokell, a Romanist, that they drew up a petition to the bishop of Chester, complaining that “the gentlemen of the parish, being recusants all saving Mr. Parker, had intruded themselves to order all things” about the free school, and begging his lordship to issue an order how the future election of feofees for the school should be made, which he accordingly did, as follows:—
“Apud, Wigan, 31 July, 1628.