Lathom

Lathom

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 53.590
longitude= -2.820
official_name= Lathom
population= 890 (Parish)
shire_district= West Lancashire
shire_county = Lancashire
region= North West England
constituency_westminster= West Lancashire
post_town= ORMSKIRK
postcode_district = L40
postcode_area= L
dial_code= 01695
os_grid_reference= SD458107
civil_parish = Lathom

Lathom is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England, about 5 km northeast of Ormskirk. It is in the district of West Lancashire, and with the parish of Newburgh forms part of Newburgh ward. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal passes through Lathom.

Lathom Hall gives a hint to the previous importance of Lathom and the Stanley family, which has now become the Earls of Derby. The village of Lathom actually grew due to the building of the first "Lathom House" which took place shortly after William the Conqueror had his success in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The first "Lathom" (now spelled Latham) was a man named William who, along with his followers, was a supporter of William the Conqueror. In 1066, all faithful supporters were given just recompense. In the case of this other William, it took the form of vast lands in what is now Lancashire. On this land, William's followers built him a brick house.Fact|date=August 2008 Although brick houses are the norm in Lancashire nowadays, in 1066 they were a rarity due to the difficulty in making and baking the bricks.

Also at this time, due to so many men having the same given name (e.g."William"), surnames were beginning to appear. Thus it was that William became William de Lothe Hom, or William of the brick house. De Lothe Hom has, over the centuries, finally evolved into the form most commonly seen today; Latham.

Lathom House itself has also changed over the years. It was rebuilt during the Middle Ages and again after the famous Siege of Lathom House which took place when the Roundheads, under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, had surrounded the house (then being used as a fortification for Cavalier troops).

The village of Lathom, which remains a small, quiet, rural hamlet, consisted in the past of local farmers and others who worked at Lathom House or farther afield in Ormskirk. As mentioned earlier, The Stanley family play a role here, too. It was in 1526 that Isabella de Lathom, being the oldest daughter of parents who had no male heir, married Thomas Stanley and the Latham and Stanley families became forever linked. The Earl of Derby, since that time, has of course, always come from that particular Latham-Stanley line. The coat of arms of the Latham family had traditionally been an eagle carrying a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes in its talons. In 1526 this coat of arms also became that of the Stanley family. One can still find many pubs throughout the area and, indeed, in much of England, named The Eagle and Child. In fact, the Inklings (members included C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and other notable thinkers and authors active in the mid 20th century) met regularly at a pub so-named in Oxford.

A final note of interest regarding Lathom House or Hall is that recently, the Historical Council of Northern Lancashire, in their efforts to reconstruct the buildings of the 1700s came across the medieval foundations and have tried to salvage them. While the main buildings became uninhabitable several decades ago, there are still almshouse cottages neighboring the Lathom Hall chapel. Senior citizens reside in the cottages and the chapel, named for St. John, still holds regular Anglican services.

One can see various plaques, etc. in the chapel dedicated to the memory of the last residents of Lathom Hall; the Bootle-Wilbrahams. The Latham and Stanley family, to a great extent, migrated to the New World, beginning with a teenaged "cabin boy" named William Latham in 1620. Both families have produced great contributors to science, the arts and their fellow man since that time. In 1967 the immediate descendants returned to the quiet village of Lathom and to Lathom House to celebrate, one year late, the 900th anniversary of the creation of their family name and lineage.

In 2004, Lathom House was immortalized by Steeleye Span in the title track of their album, They Called Her Babylon.

Gallery

External links

* http://www.ehche.ac.uk/~wiredue/ormskirk/lathom.htm
* [http://link.library.utoronto.ca/reed/venue.cfm?VenueListID=20 Lathom House on the "Patrons and Performances Web Site"]


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  • Lathom — (spr. lĕthöm), Flecken in Lancashire (England), am Fluß Douglas und dem Leeds Liverpoolkanal, nordöstlich von Ormskirk, hat (1901) 4361 und als Stadtbezirk mit Burscough 7113 Einw. Dabei Lathom House, 1702–34 im italienischen Stil erbaut, mit… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Lathom — Lathom, Marktflecken in der englischen Grafschaft Lancaster; Mineralquelle; 3300 Ew …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Lathom — This interesting name is of Old Scandinavian origin, and is a variant form of the more familiar locational surname Latham , which derives from any one of the following places: Latham, in West Yorkshire; Lathom, in Lancashire; and Laytham in East… …   Surnames reference

  • Lathom and Burscough Urban District — Lathom and Burscough was an urban district in the county of Lancashire from 1894 to 1931. It constituted the civil parishes of Burscough and Lathom, and apart from these two villages also included Newburgh.Lathom Local Government District was… …   Wikipedia

  • Lathom Hotel Eastbourne (Eastbourne) — Lathom Hotel Eastbourne country: United Kingdom, city: Eastbourne (Eastbourne) Lathom Hotel Eastbourne Location Centrally located, Lathom Hotel Eastbourne is just a 2 minute walk from the Seafront and 10 minutes to the town centre.Rooms All rooms …   International hotels

  • Siege of Lathom House — Infobox Military Conflict conflict=Siege of Lathom House partof=the First English Civil War caption= date=February 27–May 27, 1644 place=Lathom, Lancashire result=Royalist victory combatant1=Royalists combatant2=Parliamentary Army… …   Wikipedia

  • Francis Lathom — (1774 1832), was a British gothic novelist and playwright. [ [http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101016098/ Francis Lathom : Oxford Biography Index entry ] ] BiographyFrancis Lathom was born on the 14th July of 1774 at Rotterdam, Holland, where his… …   Wikipedia

  • Edward Bootle-Wilbraham, 1st Earl of Lathom — GCB PC (December 12 1837 ndash;November 19 1898), was a British Conservative politician.Political careerLathom was the son of Hon. Richard Bootle Wilbraham, MP, eldest son of Edward Bootle Wilbraham, 1st Baron Skelmersdale. He succeeded his… …   Wikipedia

  • Edward George Bootle-Wilbraham, 2nd Earl of Lathom — Edward George Bootle Wilbraham 2nd Earl of Lathom and 3rd Baron Skelmersdale (26 October 1864 – 15 March 1910) was the son of the Edward Bootle Wilbraham, 1st Earl of Lathom. He married Wilma Pleydell Bouverie, daughter of Count and Countess of… …   Wikipedia

  • Francis Lathom — (1774 1832) est un écrivain anglais de romans gothiques et un dramaturge[1]. On considère généralement que son chef d œuvre est le roman gothique The Midnight Bell, que les Austen lisaient à haute voix en famille, le soir à la veillée. Sommaire 1 …   Wikipédia en Français

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