Inskip, with Sowerby

INSKIP, with Sowerby, a township, in the parish of St. Michael, upon Wyre, union of Garstang, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 4¾ miles (N. N. E.) from Kirkham; containing 735 inhabitants. In the Domesday book this place is written Inscip. It appears to have early belonged to the Carletons and the Butlers. In the reign of Henry VIII., the manor was held by the Cliftons; and subsequently, in the same reign, conjointly with them, by Sir Henry Kyghley. In the 2nd of Edward VI., Sir William Molyneux, who had married the heiress of Cuthbert de Clifton, was lord of the manor, which was afterwards transferred to the noble family of Cavendish by marriage with an heiress of the Kyghleys. The fishery of Sowerby mere, in Henry VIII.'s reign, belonged to the Hoghtons; and Thomas Rigmayden, and Thomas, Earl of Derby, were possessed of lands in this part of the township about that period. The manor of Sowerby has long been considered as belonging to the Stanleys, by whom a court baron is held on the first Friday after Trinity Sunday. A court baron is also held for Inskip. The township comprises 2888 acres, of which 62 are common or waste. The foundation stone of a church dedicated to St. Peter, was laid 10th June, 1847, by the Rev. William Hornby, vicar of St. Michael's, on an elevated site given by the Earl of Derby, who also contributed £500 towards the erection: Mr. Hornby presented £1000, and has endowed the living from the tithes of bis vicarage. The edifice is in the early English style, with a tower at the west end, and contains 300 sittings. The impropriate tithes of the township have been commuted for £63, and the vicarial for £129. There is a place of worship for Baptists; also a school.