94 ^FRECKLETON WATER MILL. /"T~VHE Brick-Built Water Mill At

94 ^FRECKLETON WATER MILL. By Robert Walker. Read 30 May, 1942.1 /"T~VHE brick-built water mill at Freckleton, although disused for -* many years, still remains in a fairly good state of repair, even the mechanism being almost intact. On one of the stone supports of the main cog-wheel is carved the date 1433, but the palaeo graphy of the numerals does not suggest the carving to have been contemporary with the inscribed date. It does suggest, however, that the present mill is on, or near, the site of a water mill which operated in mediaeval times. A deposition of 1427 is the earliest documentary record referring specifically to Freckleton water mill, which was then in the possession of William Hodelliston. All earlier references to mills in the township give no indication of the motive power, which may have been water, wind, or even horses. In consequence it is difficult to recognise those which concern the water mill, and impossible to do more than make a shrewd surmise as to its ownership. Undoubtedly the earliest corn mill would be operated by water power. Prior to 1427 the water mill was probably held by the family assuming the surname of Freckleton, who were principal holders of the manor shortly after the Conquest. Roger de Freckleton, tenant in 1199, confirmed to Richard de Freckleton (who appeared by a brother, Adam) the sixteenth part of a mill and a fishery in the township. 2 By the thirteenth century many subdivisions of the manor had taken place, yet the de Freckleton family continued as principal holders, and were, no doubt, owners of the mill. An heiress, Joan, daughter of a Ralph de Freckleton, carried the manor to William Huddleston about the year 1427. 3 It would be as a result of this marriage that the water mill also came into 1 This is a section of the paper read under the title of " The Marshlands of Newton- with-Scales and Freckleton." As much new material has recently become available, Mr. Walker proposes to extend his study to embrace the whole of the marshlands on the N. side of the Kibble estuary. [Ed.] * Rec. Soc. Lanes. & Ches., i, 7. ' Victoria County History, Lanes., Vol. 7, p. 169. Freckleton Water Mill 95 the possession of the Huddleston, or Hodelliston, family. Upon William Huddleston's acquisition of the mill it seems that his right to the water of the mill stream was disputed by the lord of the adjacent manor of Newton. That he should wish to refute, immediately, any such claim is quite a natural sequel, and accordingly at his instigation depositions were taken of evidence supporting his use of the water. In the depositions themselves the matter in dispute is not clearly stated, but a seventeenth- century deed schedule gives the depositions and certain other fourteenth-century deeds as " dyv[e]rs ould deeds declaringe the righte of the Lords of Frec[kleton] to the streame of the water mill & concerninge the nshinge in the Water of Rible." To appreciate the significance of the evidence contained in these depositions it is necessary to have a clear picture of the site of the mill, and of the course of the stream feeding it. There is only one stream in Freckleton on which a water mill can have been erected, that is the one marked Dow Brook on the six-inch Ordnance map of 1932. At the point where this stream falls into the tidal waters of Freckleton Pool stands the existing mill. Dow Brook forms the boundary between Freckleton and Newton- with-Scales from a point just south of Dowbridge as far as the site of the Kirkham and Wesham sewage plant. Here the stream splits into two channels, one flowing along the foot of the steep slope, or scarp, of Upper Boulder Clay on Freckleton side, and emptying into the water mill dam, finally broadening out into Freckleton Pool; the other flows in a fairly straight course as far as the old Toll House, shortly afterwards turning south-west and entering Freckleton Pool at a point about three hundred yards below the water mill. This latter stream, in its lower course between the old Toll House and its entry into Freckleton Pool, is known by the name of Middle Pool. The distance from the bifurcation of the stream to the water mill is longer than is necessary to secure an adequate head of water, which does not suggest it to have been an artificially constructed mill race. Moreover, the mill stream does not serve the usual purpose of a mill race, since the fall of water at the mill is determined by the difference between the levels of high and low tides. It was thus possible to work the first mill merely by damming back the stream and allowing the water so retained to operate the mill when the tide had ebbed. 96 Freckleton Water Mill Freckleton Water Mill 97 At the point of divergence there are the remains of a stone weir designed, when erected, to keep most of the water flowing along the original course of the Dow into the water mill dam. The surplus water overflowed the weir and emptied into Freckleton Pool by way of the Middle Pool. Now that the weir is broken down, practically all the water from the upper reaches of the Dow finds its way to the Ribble by the same route. No stream of this kind forms such a deltaic entry into the sea, unless one of the watercourses has been artificially cut. Upon superficial examination of the Ordnance map it appears to have been a simple example of a mill race, the main stream having been dammed by a weir to divert water to the mill. This view is supported by the fact that now the weir is broken down little water flows along the mill stream. It by no means, however, conclusively disproves the theory that the mill stream was the original course of the Dow, and that the course now followed south of the weir was, for a considerable distance, artificially constructed. Had the water always flowed as it does to-day, it is extremely unlikely that the lord of Newton manor would have allowed the diversion of Dow Brook to the exclusive advantage of the township of Freckleton. Originally there must have been two independent streams, the Dow Brook, running past the water mill, and another which was the stream now called Middle Pool, then having ato*. independent source in the marshy land of Clifton, and in %K course to the sea flowing, at its nearest point, within a few rrandred yards of Dow Brook ; this nearest point must have been about 300 yards north of the site of the old Toll House. That Middle Pool was anciently called Proud Brook, or Ryver of Prowde, although the name is no longer known locally, is con clusively proved by an agreement1 made on u August, 1735, between the owners of Newton and Freckleton stinted commons concerning the division between their respective marshlands. The division ditch agreed upon was to " begin at the foot of the said Marshes adjoining to the Sand side . and from thence in a direct line Northwards towards a place called and known by the name of Clow Dubb to a Brook or Watercourse called Proud." This division ditch is still in existence and remains 1 Document in the possession of Mr. R. Cunliffe Shaw. 98 Freckleton Water Mill the boundary between the two stinted commons. At its northern I end it runs into the Middle Pool, therefore Middle Pool and Proud Brook are one and the same. That its source was in Clifton is suggested by an entry, dated 8 November, 1699, in the household account book of Thomas Clifton, who was lord of the manor of Clifton at that time. " Paid George Noblett for 3 loads of stones, and leading them to Prowde Bridge, 2s. Gd." 1 Having identified Proud Brook, we may appreciate more readily the significance of the depositions of 1427. Evidence given by a certain Roger Freckleton, or as he calls himself, Hogekyn of Freckleton, proves that there were originally two independent streams, and also a water mill on the Dow, in the fourteenth century. The depositions were taken before William de Kerby, clerk, of Carlisle diocese, on 27 August, 1427, the witnesses being " Joh[an]ne de Cotu[n]," bachelor at law, vicar of the parish church of Kirkham ; " Will[el]mo de Cotu[n] " of Kirkham, scrivener, and " Will[el]mo Cowp[er] et Ric[ard]o Bray " of the diocese of York. As the preliminary portion of the document states, in Latin, the evidence concerns a certain water mill in the parish of Kirkham, in York diocese, near to the boundaries of the township of Frekylton, and was given " in vulgari sub hac forma verbor[um]." " Be it knawen to all men b[a]t I hogekyn of Frekylton be son of aid Rawlyn of Frekylton in my hole mynd because b[a]t it is nedefull and spedefull to ber wittynes of trewth as mot I answar before god I sail record be trewth of bis mat[te]r und[e]rwrittyn als for as I have knawlage bat is to say of be watyr betwene be lord of Frekylton and be lord of Newton bat was as I herd record be eldyrs befor bis tyme bat was a conand 2 made betwene bes forsayd lord bat be mene watyr betwene bai suld be holy drawyng to be lords mylne of Frekylton sanand3 thre dayes and thre nyght in be som[me]r tyme at thre div[e]rse tymes to wat[e]r bayr catall w[i]t[h]all and if at it wer not sufficient bai schuld come w[i]t[h] bair catell to be milne dame and wat[e]r bai bair and so agayne to bair pasturfe] in sothf astnes4 bis have I sene done indede and as I herd say by my forsayd eldyrs b[a]t was gefen for be course of be wat[e]r fro be lord of Frekylton to be lord of Newton be land and medowe b[a]t lyse w[i]t[h]in aid prowde and ben be dych was schorne wyth mens hand betwene be haynyng medowe 1 In The Clifton Papers, edited by R.

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