Torentum, or Thornton, was estimated in the time of William the Conqueror to contain six carucates of land fit for the plough, but this computation was exclusive of Rossall and Burn, which were valued at two carucates respectively, so that the whole townships held ten carucates, about one thousand acres of arable soil, or farming land, a large amount for those days, but insignificant indeed when we recall the nine thousand seven hundred and thirty acres embraced by the township at present, either in use for grazing and agricultural purposes, or forming the sites of town and village buildings.
Thornton was held immediately after the Conquest by Roger de Poictou, and subsequently by Theobald Walter, after whose death it passed to the crown.
During the reign of King John, Margaret Wynewick held two of the six carucates of Torentum, or Thornton, in chief from that monarch, and her marriage was in his gift. In 1214-15 Baldewinus Blundus paid twenty marks to John for permission to espouse the lady and gain possession of her estate.[87] The request was granted conditionally on Blundus obtaining the consent of her friends; and in this he appears to have been successful, for we learn from a writ to the warden of the Honor of Lancaster in 1221, that Michael de Carleton paid a fine of ten marks to Henry III. at that date for having married Margaret, the daughter and heiress of William de Winewick, without the royal assent, and for marrying whom Baldewinus Blundus had formerly paid twenty marks to King John.[88]
In 1258, Margaret de Carleton still retained her lands in Thornton in her maiden name of Winewick,[89] and it is probable from that circumstance that her second husband was then dead, for the writ cited above expressly commanded that her inheritance should be handed over to Michael de Carleton, the penalty of ten marks for his disobedience having been received.
According to the Testa de Nevil, Matilda de Thorneton, a spinster, whose marriage also lay in the king’s gift, held lands in Thornton, of the annual value of twenty shillings; and later, about 1323, a moiety of Thornton was held by Lawrence, the son of Robert de Thorneton, a member of the same family. In 1346, John, son of Lawrence de Thorneton, held one carucate of land in Thornton and Staynolfe, lately of Robert Windewike, in thanage, paying yearly at four terms thirteen shillings relief, and suit to the county and wapentake.[90] In 1421 John de Thornton died, possessed of half the manor of Thornton and the Holmes, which descended to his son, William de Thornton, who died in 1429, aged thirty years, leaving four daughters—Agnes, afterwards the wife of William Wodey; Katherine, who married William Carleton; Elizabeth, the wife of Robert Adlington; and Johanna, who espoused Christopher Worthington.[91] Much as it is to be regretted, no more than the scanty information here given can be discovered concerning the Thorntons, of Thornton; even tradition is silent on the matter of their residence or local associations, although it is very likely they occupied Thornton Hall, a mansion long since converted into a farm house, and consequently we are obliged to dismiss with this brief notice what under more favourable auspices would probably have proved one of the most interesting subjects in the township. In 1292 the king’s attorney sued Thomas de Singleton for the manor of Thornton, etc., but the defendant pleaded successfully, that he only held a portion of the manor, Thomas de Clifton and Katherine, his wife, holding the third of two parts of twelve bovates of the soil.[92] In the seventeenth year of the reign of Edward II., William, father of Adam Banastre, who granted certain concessions to the prior of Lancaster, held, half the vill of Thornton, the other half being held, as before shown, by Lawrence de Thorneton.
In an ancient survey of the Hundred of Amounderness, completed in the year 1346, it is stated that the following gentlemen had possessions in the place called Stena, or Stainall, in Thornton, at the rentals specified:—John de Staynolfe held four oxgangs of land, at four shillings and sixpence;[93] Roger de Northcrope, one messuage and one oxgang, at sevenpence halfpenny; Sir Adam Banastre, knt., five acres, at fourpence; Thomas, the son of Robert Staynolfe, one messuage and one oxgang, at sevenpence halfpenny; William Lawrence, a fourth part of an oxgang, at sixteen pence; Thomas Travers, a fourth part of an oxgang, at sixteen pence; John Botiler, a fourth part of an oxgang, at sixteen pence; and Richard Doggeson, five acres, at sixpence. William de Heton held one carucate of land at Burn, in Thornton township, for which he paid yearly at two terms, Annunciation and Michaelmas, ten shillings relief, and suit to the county and wapentake.[94]
In 1521, during the sovereignty of Henry VIII., Thomas, earl of Derby, was lord of the manor of Thornton, which subsequently passed into the hands of the Fleetwoods, of Rossall, who retained it until the lifetime of the late Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, bart., when it was sold. Thornton has for long been regarded only as a reputed manor. The largest land proprietors at present are the Fleetwood Estate Company, Limited, and the trustees of the late John Horrocks, esq., of Preston, but in addition there is a number of smaller soil-owners and resident yeomen. Burn Hall is a building of the fifteenth century, and was occupied in 1556 by John Westby, of Mowbreck, the owner.[95] In 1323 the land of Burn was held by William Banastre at a rental of ten shillings per annum, and about 1346 one carucate of the same land was held, as already stated, by William de Heton for a similar yearly payment. Within the residence of Burn was a domestic chapel, over the doorway of which stood a polished oaken slab or board inscribed—“Elegi abjectus esse in domo Dei mei, magis quam habitari in tabernaculis peccatorum.”[96] The walls were panelled with oak and carved with shields and foliage, whilst the ceiling was embellished with representations of vine leaves and clusters of grapes. Modern alterations have destroyed most, if not all, interesting relics of past ages. After the death of John Westby, of Burn Hall, a descendant of the John Westby before mentioned, in 1722, Burn passed to the Rev. J. Bennison, of London, who had married Anne, his fourth daughter. It is said that Mr. Bennison utterly ruined his property, by attempting a style of agriculture similar to that described by Virgil in his Georgics. Burn Hall is now, and has been for many years a farm-house, and the estate forms part of the large tract held by the representatives of the late John Horrocks, esq. The land lying towards the coast was formerly subject to occasional inundations of the sea, but an effectual barrier has been put by raising a mound round such exposed localities.
The extensive area known as Thornton Marsh, was a free open common, used as a pasture by the poor cottagers of the township until 1800, when it was enclosed, together with Carleton Marsh, and has since by cultivation been converted into valuable and productive fields.
A church and parsonage house were erected at Thornton in 1835, the former being a neat whitewashed building in the early English style of architecture, with a low square tower, but presenting externally no special features of attraction beyond its profuse covering of ivy, which renders it a most picturesque object in the surrounding landscape. The churchyard also is well worthy of notice, if only for the luxuriance of its foliage, the beauty of its flowers, and the taste and elegance exhibited in several of the monuments. This, like the church and parsonage, is embosomed in trees. The sacred edifice has been named Christ Church, and a separate parochial district was assigned to it in 1862, the title of vicar being accorded to the incumbent.