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Lathom, Lancashire

Historical Description

Lathom, a township and local government board district in Lancashire. The township lies on the river Douglas, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, with a station at Hoscar Moss on the Southport and Manchester branch of the L. & Y.R., 3 miles ENE of Ormskirk and Burscongh Junction on the Liverpool and Preston line. It contains the ecclesiastical parish of Newbnrgh and the hamlet of Westhead. Post town, Ormskirk; money order and telegraph office, Burscough Bridge. Acreage, 8694; population, 4371. It is governed by a local board of fifteen members. The manor belonged formerly to the Lathoms and the Stanleys, ancestors to the Earl of Derby, passed in 1714 by marriage to the third Earl of Ashbumham, went afterwards by sale to Sir Thomas Bootle, and passed again by marriage to Mr Richard Wilbraham, ancestor of Lord Skelmersdale, who derives the title of Earl of Lathom from the township. Lathom Castle, the ancient baronial mansion, had eighteen towers, and was surrounded by a fosse 24 feet wide; gave entertainment to Henry VII. and James I.; was defended for three months in 1644 by Charlotte, Countess of Derby, with 300 men, against Sir Thomas Fairfax with 3000 Parliamentarian troops; was besieged next year by General Egerton with 4000 troops, when it made such resistance as to destroy about one-half of the besiegers, and surrendered finally from failure of ammunition. It was dismantled by order of Parliament. Lathom House, the seat of the Earl of Lathom, was built on the site of the castle in the middle of the eighteenth century after designs by Leoni, is a stately edifice in the Grecian style 156 feet by 76, and stands in an extensive park. Biythe Hall is the residence of the Wilbraham family. There is a mineral Bpring. The township is divided into the ecclesiastical parishes of Lathom St John or Bnrscongh Bridge, Lathom St James, and Newburgh, with a portion of the parish of Ormskirk. St John was constituted in 1847, and St James in 1860. Population, 8852 and 1096. The livings are vicarages in the diocese of Liverpool; gross values, respectively, £200 and £138 with residence. Patron, the Vicar of Ormskirk. The church of St John was erected in 1831-32, and is a building in the Gothic style. The church of St James is a handsome edifice in the Decorated style, with tower and spire. The ecclesiastical parish of Newburgh was formed in 1871. Population, 618. There is a free school, built in 1881, and supported by the Earl of Lathom, and in Lathom Park are nine almshouses, the inmates of which are selected by the Ear], There are Roman Catholic and Wesleyan chapels at Burscougli Hall and Moss Lane.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyLancashire 
Civil parishOrmskirk 
HundredWest Derby 
Poor Law unionOrmskirk 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Lancashire Archives, have images of the Parish Registers for Lancashire online.


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Lathom from the following:


Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Lancashire is available to browse.


Maps

Online maps of Lathom are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Lancashire newspapers online:

DistrictWest Lancashire
CountyLancashire
RegionNorth West
CountryEngland
Postal districtL40
Post TownOrmskirk

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