- Penwortham Priory
After 1066,
William the Conqueror gave what is now Lancashire was given to his relative Roger de Poicteau for his valour at Hastings. A small castle was built on the hill in Penwortham overlooking the river crossing and the castle mound (the motte) can still be seen behind St Mary's church. Roger also gave land to the Benedictine Abbey at Evesham and they built a small daughter abbey at Penwortham, starting in 1075. The priory continued to function until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1535.The priory and its lands were sold to the Fleetwood family at a then enormous price of £3,088. The Fleetwoods built a grand house which became known as Penwortham Priory. The Fleetwood family resided here from the Dissolution until 1749. The Rawsthorne family lived at the Priory from 1783 until the Priory was demolished in 1925. The Rawsthorne Family employed George Webster, an architect (who in 1832 renovated the near by
Bank Hall in the village ofBretherton for its owner of the time,George Anthony Legh Keck ) to redesign the priory in the mid 1800's.Unfortunately, Penwortham Priory became a victim of the 1920s expansion of
Penwortham when it was demolished to make way for housing.The Lodge was taken down in 1912 and rebuilt in Back Lane,
Hutton .References
*Lancashire Record Office, Preston,
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