History of the Fylde of LancashirePorter, John (Writer on the Fylde of Lancashire)
History
History of the Fylde of Lancashire
Porter, John (Writer on the Fylde of Lancashire)
Lancashire (England) -- History
of the Royal Lancashire regiment of Militia Artillery, a
deputy-lieutenant, and a justice of the peace of this county. Colonel
Bourne has recently restored the old manor house, but in such a way
as to preserve, and not obliterate, its links with a bygone age. The
antique fire-places, one of which was protected by a massive arch of
stone sweeping across the whole width of the room, have been renewed as
before, and although the main doorway has been removed to another part
of the building, the stone with the initials F. R. A., being those of
Richard Fleetwood and Anne, his wife, has been reinstated in its original
position above the newly-constructed lintel. Rumour affirms that during
certain alterations two or three skeletons, supposed to be those of
females, were found bricked up in a narrow chamber in one of the walls,
and whilst confirming the discovery of a long secret recess, we dare not
venture, for the evidence is somewhat contradictory, to hold ourselves
responsible for the strict accuracy of the other part of the story, which
suggests the enactment of a scene of revolting cruelty, similar to that
introduced by Sir Walter Scott in the following lines:—
“Yet well the luckless wretch might shriek,
Well might her paleness terror speak!
For there was seen in that dark wall,
Two niches, narrow, deep, and tall.
Who enters at such grisly door
Shall ne’er I wean find exit more.
In each a slender meal was laid
Of roots, of water, and of bread.
...
Hewn stones and mortar were display’d,
And building tools in order laid.”
The moat has now been nearly filled up, but its extent and direction
can still be pointed out. There are no indications of a chapel having
formerly constituted part of the residential building, but several years
since, when an outhouse was destroyed, at a short distance, about twenty
yards, two gravestones were discovered, and it is probable that they
were somewhere near, if not actually on the site of, the private chapel
or oratory. One of the stones was broken up immediately, and the other
is practically illegible, although three or four words, still preserved,
prove that the inscription has not been in raised characters. The rights
to wreckage, etc. on the foreshore of the manor have pertained to the
lords of Hackensall from time immemorial, and still continue to be held
and exercised as portion of the lordship.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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