Weeton, Lancashire
| Weeton | |
| Lancashire | |
|---|---|
 St Michael's Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SD383347 |
| Location: | 53°48’18"N, 2°56’13"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 656 (2011) |
| Post town: | Preston |
| Postcode: | PR4 |
| Dialling code: | 01253 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Fylde |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Fylde |
Weeton is a village in Lancashire, beside the Blackpool to Preston railway line and the M55 motorway, just east of Blackpool and three and a half miles north-west of Kirkham.[1]
The area is mostly rural. The parish, with Preese and Mythop, had a recorded population of 656 in 2011
The Church
The Church of St Michael was built in 1843 and has a number of historic gravestones in the graveyard, including many relating to the Jolly family.[2][3]
History
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The place-name Weeton — first recorded in the Domesday Book as Widetun — derives from the Old English wiðig tun (willow settlement).[4] The village presumably derived its name from the presence of indigenous or farmed willows. To this day, there are fine specimens of willow trees in Weeton.
After 1066, the lordship of Weeton passed from Earl Tostig to the Norman Roger of Poitou. Weeton’s value at this time was assessed at "two carucates" (an area of arable land that could be worked in one day by two ploughteams).
At some time after the Domesday survey, the lordship of Weeton passed to the Butler family, early lords of Amounderness, who in 1328 became the Earls of Ormonde. the fourteenth century, the Butlers owned extensive lands, mills and fisheries in the manors of Weeton, Little Marton, Treales, Wesham, Mowbreck, Greenhalgh, Thistleton, Out Rawcliffe, Bradkirk, Medlar and Esprick.
The manors of Weeton, Preese, Mythop and Swarbrick were acquired by Sir Thomas Stanley of Lathom, later the first Earl of Derby, in 1400. They continued as part of the family estate until 1955. In the nineteenth century, the Earl of Derby commonly used the title ‘Baron of Weeton’. The title is no longer used and although there is evidence it may also have been used by Theobald Walter in the twelfth century, Weeton’s status as a barony was it seems always a matter of dispute.
By 1522, the estate had expanded to include the manors of Treales, Wesham, Out Rawcliffe, Little Marton, Greenhalgh, Plumpton and other lands. On 4 October 1637, William, 6th Earl of Derby, surrendered to James, Lord Strange, the manor of Weeton and various other ones, to enable him to make leases.
In 1670, a charter from King Charles II granted Weeton an annual fair for the sale of cattle and small wares to take place on the Tuesday and Wednesday following Trinity Sunday.[5] Tolls were to be paid to the Earl of Derby and are recorded in the Bailif's Accounts for the manor from 1682 (they amounted to £4 12s in that year). During the seventeenth century, a weekly fair also took place in the parish. The Trinity fair began to falter in the 1920s as local cattle-farmers sought richer markets for their stock. The fair was eventually reduced to a huddle of bring-and-buy stalls on the triangular "goose green" at the centre of the village, and was eventually replaced by the annual Gala.
The village also had a windmill, Weeton Windmill, which was built in 1812. It fell into disrepair and was demolished in the 1950s.[6]
About the village
The village has one church, St Michael's, with an associated primary school, Weeton St Michael's Church of England Junior School.
The one public house in the village, the Eagle & Child, dates back to 1585 and takes its name from the family crest of local landowner Lord Derby. In front of the pub stands the old mounting steps, dating back to 1755 and the only part of the premises which are officially listed. During the years of the Civil War Cromwell is reputed to have stayed at the premises.[7]
Each year the village hosts the Weeton Gala with a parade through the village and a garden party.[8]
Cuadrilla Resources conducted the first hydraulic fracturing trial in the United Kingdom to produce shale gas nearby at Preese Hall, starting in 2011.[9] In 2022 Preese Hall became the home of Black Powder Gin.[10]
Weeton Barracks
One mile from the village is the Weeton Barracks.[11] There was also an RAF base nearby during the World Wars. Royal Air Force Weeton continued long after the Second World War, throughout the years of National Service, until the army took over the base in the late 1950s or early 1960s. It was the RAF's MT (Motor Transport) training school for drivers and technicians—the huge Queen Mary aircraft transporters, with 'L' plates, were a common site in the lanes around Weeton.
Across the road from RAF Weeton was a separate RAF unit, RAF Hospital Weeton, main RAF Hospital for the north of England and quite autonomous from RAF Weeton—they were separate administrative and operational units. The site of the hospital is now (2014) a derelict waste ground, with just the old concrete turning circle for ambulances visible in the scrub opposite the main gate of Weeton Barracks.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Weeton, Lancashire) |
References
- ↑ Information on Weeton, Lancashire from GENUKI
- ↑ "Church of St. Michael's, Weeton". GENUKI. http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Weeton/StMichael.shtml.
- ↑ "SD3834 : Church of St. Michael's, Weeton". Geograph British Isles. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/415780.
- ↑ Victor Watts (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), s.v. WEETON (1).
- ↑ A History of the County of Lancaster - Volume 7 pp 176-178: @ (Victoria County History)
- ↑ "Windmills in mind". Blackpool Gazette. 2001-06-06. http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/blackpoolnews/Windmills-in-set-mind.147938.jp.
- ↑ "Welcome to the Eagle & Child". The Eagle & Child Pub. http://www.theeagleandchild.co.uk.
- ↑ Robinson, Joe (2007-07-09). "Weeton Gala". Blackpool Gazette. http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/blackpoolnews/weeton-Gala.3014119.jp.
- ↑ Jonathan Paige (1 June 2011). "Blackpool earthquake tremors may have been caused by gas drilling". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jun/01/blackpool-earthquake-tremors-gas-drilling.
- ↑ "Black Powder Gin". https://blackpowdergin.co.uk/.
- ↑ "Weeton HIVE". Ministry of Defence. http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceFor/ServiceCommunity/Hive/NorthernEngland/WeetonHive.htm.