Walton Lodge

Walton Lodge was large property and estate that was once situated at the top of what we now know as Chruch Brow, in Walton le Dale, which leads onto Cuerdale Lane.  In some cases, it was referred to as Cuerdale Lodge or Carlow Hall.  The property was originally created by Mr. Richard Calrow.  It is said that the mansion of the Calrows at Walton Lodge was built partially of the bricks brought from the demolished Mosney works.

CALROW OF WALTON LODGE

Richard Calrow of Adlington, Co. Chester, was father of Richard Calrow of Bury, Co. Lancaster, who purchased the Walton Lodge estate in this township.  The son, Richard Calrow, Esq., of Walton Lodge, had sons, William ; and Thomas Calrow, Esq., of Woodhill, near Bury. He died, aged 71, in 1830, and was buried at Walton Church.

The Mosney firm of calico printers extended their works, and for some years prosecuted a flourishing business, and bore a high reputation in the trade ; but a succession of pecuniary losses very much shook the credit of the concern, and resulted at last in the suspension of business. The bankruptcy of the firm was announced in the year 1788. The works at Mosney were stopped, and do not appear to have ever been re-started. After lying idle a few years, the buildings at Mosney were demolished, and the machinery taken out of them. Mr. William Assheton, of Cuerdale Hall, bought the site from the executors of Thomas Livesey, in 1792, and sold it to Mr. Richard Calrow about 1797. It is said that the mansion of the Calrows at Walton Lodge was built partially of the bricks brought from the demolished Mosney works.
The only vestiges now to be seen of the once extensive arrangements for calico-printing at this spot are a portion of an old wall, and remains of the brick culvert constructed for turning the water used in the works into the River Darwen. Mosney estate is still the property of the Calrow family. An informant mentions that the Liveseys had bleach-works at Bamber Bridge, and also a cotton mill at Higher Walton, which was purchased by Rodgett Brothers about 1859, and afterwards pulled down and a new mill built. Mr. Thomas Livesey resided at Knott House, and died there ; this house had previously been the residence of Mr. Anstie, one of the masters of the Mosney print-works ; Mr. Hall, another partner, resided at Darwen Bank, now the property of Mr. Rodgett. Knott House was since the mansion of Edmund Calvert, Esq.

However, it appears that its life in the ownership of the Carlows was relatively short.   Below is an interesting advertisement for an auction that took place on Wednesday 25th November 1812.

The following is an illustration (a Lithograph) of Walton Lodge, Lancashire, The Seat of William Calrow Esq, 1846.  It was lithographed and printed by C J Greenwood for ‘The Mansions of England and Wales, illustrated in a series of Views of the Principal Seats in the County of Lancashire’ by Edward Twycross.  This would suggest that the estate of Walton Lodge was bought by Richard Carlow at the 1812 auction and that he built the main house either in addition to, or in place of building that were already there.

The following maps, which are taken from 1848 Ordnance Survey Maps that are available on the National Library of Scotland website, shows the estate and the three main properties that were up for sale in 1812.  These were Walton Lodge, Osbaldeston House and Sallom House.

The next maps, again taken from the National Library of Scotland website, show a comparison between 1848 and the early twentieth century.  By then Walton Lodge had been demolished and replaced by a row of house named ‘The Drive’.  These new house were built in 1899.

The auction was held at the Red Lion Inn in Preston.  However, coincidentally, there was also a Red Lion Hotel just down the road from Walton Lodge at the time.  The property that was once the Walton le Dale Red Lion Hotel public house was built in 1763.  It not clear if it was built to be a Hotel and Public House initially, or whether the building served another purpose originally.  The building survives, it is a private residence, and is now known as Red Lion Cottage.

You can read more about the form Red Lion Hotel (Inn) on the Chorley Inns and Taverns blog/website. As well as Chorley, the site covers many of the public houses in the South Ribble Borough.

https://chorleyinnsandtaverns.blogspot.com/p/walton-le-dale-red-lion.html

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Osbaldeston House stands near the road leading from Walton Church (Saint Leonard’s) to Moon’s Mill (an earlier name for Higher Walton).  It was rebuilt in 1661 by William and Dorothy Osbaldeston, as recorded by their initials and the date on a stone over the porch.

Sallom House Farm exists today, and there appears to be a building in the location occupied by Sallom House. This is possibly the same (original) building.

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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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More about the Historical Buildings in and around Walton le Dale can be seen on the Historical Buildings page.