MANSIONS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.
WALTON LODGE,
WHICH stands near Walton-le-Dale, in that township, about two miles south east of Preston, in the parish and lower division of the hundred of Blackburn, is the seat of WILLIAM CALROW, ESQ.
The mansion is delightfully situated near the banks of the Ribble, and close to the spot where the Darwen joins the former river, over which two handsome stone bridges are thrown at Penwortham and Walton. The vale of Ribble possesses every variety of scenery, and in many parts is highly picturesque. The house, which is placed in the midst of rich plantations, is a noble building, erected by the Asshetons of Cuerdale, and was purchased, several years since, by the Calrows of Bury, of which family the inheritor of Walton
Lodge is the present representative.
In the year 1130, we find that the manor of Walton was granted by Henry de Lacy the first to Robert Banastre. With Alice, grand-daughter of a descendant of the latter, Walton was given in marriage to John Langton. The issue of this union, Robert Langton, was knighted in the 12th of the reign of Edward III. and the manor continued in the family until the time of Queen Elizabeth. About this period a descendant of the Langtons, accompanied by his retainers, having in order to resent an alleged injury, arising from a very trivial circumstance (but which in those times was quite sufficient to excite party strife) , attacked Thomas Hoghton, of Hoghton Tower, and his followers, the latter gentleman was unfortunately killed in the affray. To make his peace with the family of Hoghton, the lord of the manor of Walton surrendered
that possession to the surviving relatives of his former foe.
Not far from the spot now occupied by Walton Lodge, the army of Oliver Cromwell engaged with the forces under the Duke of Hamilton, on the 19th August, 1648, and the scene of this battle the pen of Milton has immortalized in a line of his Sonnet to the Lord Protector,
“And Darwen’s stream with blood of Scots embrued.”
At a subsequent period, in 1715, Walton again became the scene of warfare, when Parson (or General) Wood, of Chowbent, aided by his congregation, gallantly defended the pass of the Ribble, and kept the Scottish rebels at bay till Generals Carpenter and Willis came to their assistance, and completely routed the insurgents.
The family of Calrow, as we have already mentioned, were resident at Bury before they settled at Walton, but originally they were seated at Adlington in Cheshire, where the family resided for upwards of three centuries.
The present inheritor of Walton Lodge, who is great grandson of Richard Calrow, Esq. of Adlington, holds the Commission of the Peace, and is a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Lancaster.
The preceding text was taken from
THE Mansions of England and Wales.
ILLUSTRATED IN A SERIES OF VIEWS OF THE PRINCIPAL SEATS
WITH HISTORICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTIONS
BY EDWARD TWYCROSS, Esq. M.A.
The County Palatine of Lancaster.
VOL. I. NORTHERN DIVISION. THE HUNDREDS OF BLACKBURN AND LEYLAND.
LONDON : PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETOR
BY ACKERMANN AND CO. STRAND. MDCCCXLVII. Entered at Stationers’ Hall.
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