1801.1811.1821.1831.1841.1851.1861.1871.
623692771686643707601535

The area of the township is 3,426 statute acres.

Weeton-with-Preese. On the arrival of the Normans Weeton contained 300 acres of arable land. In the 9th year of King John, Matilda, wife of Theobald Walter, obtained certain inheritances in Weeton, Treales, and Rawcliffe. Theobald le Botiler, or Butler, held Weeton in 1249; and in 1339, James, son of Edmund le Botiler, earl of Ormond, had possession of it, together with Treales, Little Marton, and Out Rawcliffe. The manor descended in the same family until 1673, when it passed to the 9th earl of Derby on his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Butler, the Lord Ossory. The present earl of Derby is now the lord of the soil, and holds a court baron by deputy. There is a fair for cattle and small wares on the first Tuesday after Trinity Sunday.

Preese is the Pres of Domesday Book, and comprised at that time two carucates. Henry, duke of Lancaster, held Preese at his death in 1361. In the reign of Henry VIII. the manor was in the hands of the Skilicornes, who for many generations were the coroners of Amounderness. Preese Hall, the ancient seat of this family, was much damaged by a fire in 1732, which destroyed the private chapel. In 1864 that portion of the mansion, which had survived the conflagration and been repaired, was pulled down. The site is now occupied by a farm-house, belonging to T. H. Miller, esq., of Singleton, who owns a large amount of the land.

The church of Weeton is dedicated to St. Michael, and was built in 1843 by subscription, to which the late earl of Derby contributed generously. In 1852 the edifice was enlarged, and in 1861 the township of Weeton-with-Preese was united with the Plumptons and Greenhalgh, to form an ecclesiastical parish. The Rev. William Sutcliffe, when curate at Kirkham, performed the duties at Weeton church, and was appointed incumbent there in 1861. In 1862 he was succeeded by the present vicar, the Rev. William Thorold. A National school was erected by subscription and a grant from the National Society of £30, in 1845. A Wesleyan chapel was built about 1827.

POPULATION OF WEETON-WITH-PREESE.

1801.1811.1821.1831.1841.1851.1861.1871.
384508473477545465465433

The area of the township is 2,876 statute acres.

Medlar-with-Wesham. The abbot and brethren of Cockersand Abbey became possessed of this township at an early date, and retained it until the dissolution of monasteries, when the manor of Medlar passed, by gift or purchase, to the Westbys, of Mowbreck Hall. The estates of the Westbys were confiscated by the Commonwealth, and only redeemed on the payment of £1,000. The estate and Hall of Mowbreck are still held by the same family.[183] The mansion preserves many evidences of its great antiquity, including the old chapel and priests’ room.

Bradkirk, in Medlar, belonged to Theobald Walter in 1249, but in the reign of Edward III. it was held by a family bearing the name of Bradkirk, a title acquired from the estate. The Bradkirks resided there as proprietors until somewhere about the opening of the 17th century, when the earl of Derby had obtained the soil. In 1723 Bradkirk was bought by John Richardson, of Preston, from Thomas Stanley, of Cross Hall, in Ormskirk parish, who held the manor by right of his wife Catherine, sister and heiress of Christopher Parker, of Bradkirk, deceased, unmarried, a few years before.[184] From John Richardson the manor passed successively by will to William Richardson, Edward Hurst, of Preston, and James Kearsley, of Over Hulton, by the last of whom it was sold in 1797 to Joseph Hornby, esq., of Ribby, and his descendant, H. H. Hornby, esq., of Ribby Hall, is the present holder. The original Bradkirk Hall, the seat of the Bradkirks and Parkers, has long since disappeared, and the edifice now bearing the name was erected or rebuilt by Edward Hurst in 1764.