Leyland - Timeline

The name of 'Leyland' has undergone different spellings, so is referred to as 'Leilond' in the Domesday Book, as 'Leiland' in 1212 as then to the modern 'Leyland' in 1243 and then yet later changed again to 'Laylond' (1284). •5 Eventually it settled on its current spelling (though not before even more versions of the word were recorded).

Click On Timeline To Go To That Period

As a general rule of thumb, the clearing of wooded areas, where a farmstead or community could be set-up was well under way about 5000-2500BC. It is therefore conceivable that this is the earliest point in time that Leyland could have begun life. This land clearing process was accelerated somewhat in the Bronze & Iron Ages as people realised they needed to adapt to both changing climates and changes in thinking. Leyland was on the edge of a large swathe of mosses that were frequently reclaimed by the rising waters of the sea. Forests and meadows grew for a few hundred years or so and then it would be flooded again. The process repeated time and again. Apparently even today huge oak trees are pulled from the mosses in West Lancashire and at one stage Martin Mere is thought to be one of the largest lakes in England.

There are of course archaeological sites that are contemporary with this period in the wider local area - for example there is the bronze spearhead that was found during the building of Preston Docks in 1885 and also the Bronze Age Barrow just outside of Parbold to the South of Leyland (but interestingly within the later 'Leyland Hundred'). There are also 'stone structures' and cairns on the hills to the East, around White Coppice and the Rivington hills and aparantly during the roman excavations at Walton-le-Dale some Neolithic flint flakes (both tools/scrapers and waste shards) and some Bronze Age course pottery were found which is a good indication that around this area was a prime location to live and work even in the earliest of times as well.

We'll probably never know if the township of Leyland had started life at the time of the Roman Empire invading England, but what we do know is that on more than one occasion Roman Coinage has been discovered in Leyland and the surrounding area. Coins were found on the moss during turf cutting in 1819 (11 silver & 17 brass coins dating from 96AD to 160AD) and in 1850 (120 coins about 18 inches below the ground level). The 120 coins, because they were found in the medieval townfields close to the town centre that belonged to the Farringtons, fell into their hands and is now in the Harris Museum in Preston. These coins are apparently later then the earlier finds out on the moss, dating from the second half of the third century.•5 Apparently some Roman Coins were found in the Ulnes Walton/Croston area in 1884 as well.•4 And that doesn't include the Curedale Hoard at all (these were mainly Norse & Saxon Coins found by workmen one day when working on the banks of the River Ribble after a storm had washed a river bank away in 1840).

One place we do know that the Romans did stop off at though was Walton-le-Dale, a just a few miles away, south of the River Ribble at Preston.

The Walton-le-Dale Flats are part of the rather low-lying land south of the River Ribble that today houses the Warner Cinema Complex and Capitol Shopping Centre. Prior to some of the construction work for the Cinema/Shopping Complex there was an archaeological study done on the flats and amongst other things a significant roman road and housing were discovered.

The reasons for Walton-le-Dale springing were it did and its actual use to the Romans is up for conjecture... some say military settlement, while others feel it is more urban and less military•6. Of course, just because the Romans came and went from here doesn't mean that one idea is right and one idea is wrong. As an example, most towns appear around a fort or garrison or something that developed into permanent base. These would invariably attract the local inhabitants who suddenly had a new outlet for their wares, and one that paid well at that. Up until this time money was not really used much as payment for goods, as more commonly the art of bartering was the currency of the day. A 'Vicus' would invariably spring up outside the encampment, which is a set of dwellings or settlement just outside the fort walls - good examples of this can be seen on Hadrians Wall at, for example, Birdoswald and Vindolanda. If the Romans left early on in their stay in this country then the Vicus may very well have remained and grown in size, as Walton-le-Dale would make an excellent stopping off point between Lancaster and Chester (Deva), or up the River Ribble to Ribchester (Bremetennacum).

These Romans were not probably from Rome, or even Italy for that matter (with the possible exception of the great leaders of the time in Britain, such as Agricola). It is more than likely that these particular soldiers may have come from what is now Romania, or from the Danube for example. Eventually these Romans here would have intermingled and in some cases started families with the locals. They would have brought their own customs and languages with them, while the Romans also would incorporate the local gods into their own cultures which allowed a way of not annoying the locals too much, yet bringing them under your influence.

In the 'dig' of the late Nineties, evidence of kilns and other industries were found (particularly iron work and textiles). The houses were fronted onto the road, so that they had a place to sell their wares to the passers by who had to come that way to cross the river - a very clever selling ploy. The houses were rectangular in shape and in the rear would be a working areas were the metals were shaped in hearths and furnaces or the wool's woven or leathers prepared. Animals would have been a big part of life here, both as providers of sustenance (meats and milk etc.) but also for the supplementary products that you would get, such as leather or wool. They may have lived in these rear rooms or possibly even 'above the shop'. Behind these buildings would be a pit in the ground for all the waste produced both domestically and industrially.

Apparently things started to take a turn for the worse here in the forth century, as Roman Britain became a lesser part of the wider Roman empire. Even after the Romans had left it would still have been home for a good few people, though obviously not as many as before. These people would have become more self sufficient and would have gradually spread out into the surrounding landscapes... quite possibly to the Leyland area. One other possible suggestion of Walton-le-Dale is that an early fort (say 60-70AD) was 'abandoned' and then the area was reused throughout the Roman times •6, possibly as a stopping off post or trading orientated settlement (due to the proximity of the River and the open sea trading networks). This argument can be supported by the amounts of Samien ware pottery found here that would have originated in Gaul around this time..

The Roman Road that was found in the 1990's went in a line that, when looking from above, passes almost goes through the top right and bottom left opposite corners of what is now the Virgin Active Health Club. The River Darwen had a different course in Roman time than it does today... it appears to sweep through the car-park at about 45º and then it loops back towards its current route on what is now the other sire of the A6. So the houses excavated were actually on the left hand side of the river and not the right hand side as today. The road would have headed up towards the Ribble and would have met it at where there appears to be a sandy bank even today... a very easy place to cross what can be a fearsome river. Northwards it would have gone through Preston to a junction of the other main Roman road, the route from Ribchester in the East to Kirkham in the Fylde. Obvious names such as Watling Street Road and even Roman Road give clues to this.

So this Roman route must have crossed through Central Lancashire on its way from Wigan to Walton-le-Dale at somepoint. A traditional route following 'through Welch Whitwill, Euxton Burgh, Rose Whitwill & Bamber Green' is often quoted, and some of these places can be found today if you look on older maps - it appears to help if you are more mature in age as a lot of these places have just ceased to be known by these names today and have merged into larger conurbation's. Replace the word Whitwill with Whittle and 'Rose Whittle' is roughly on the opposite side of the road from the current Wigan Road entrance to the old ROF is (soon to be developed into urban settlement called Buckshaw). And Euxton today is a bustling village on the outskirts of Leyland and Chorley. Apparently traces of this road have occasionally been unearthed around here, most notably during the 1830s when building the main West Coast Railway Line (which passes through Euxton and at places runs almost parallel to the A49).

The traditionally favoured route for the road follows along the edges of a couple of wooded areas and has some modern roads built over it (Meanygate in Bamber Bridge, near the Baxi factory being one). Conventional thinking on this has been challenged recently and a new possible route was reinforced by the angle of the road discovered in the Walton-le-Dale excavations. If followed from Walton-le-Dale out into the fields to the south of the river Ribble it meets up with an old road through what is now Lostock Hall called Todd Lane. This road apparently has (or has had) some stone crosses on it as well which may be of significance. Todd Lane (North) turns into Todd Lane (South) and near its end it veers to one side. If you follow an imaginary line following Todd Lane up until the point it veers off, it lines up slap bang onto Stanifield Lane in Farington. This road is pretty straight in alignment and it then forks in to two roads, one into Leyland and one back up to the A49, a couple of miles or so north of Euxton. For more info on this try the Lancashire Gov website. And it maybe a coincidence, but in Eilert Ekwalls book on Lancashire Place-Names •2, he does mention near the end of his book, in a section titled 'Place-names referring to old roads, buildings, and the like' that "Names containing O.E. 'stræt', 'stret' as in Stretford or Stanistreet, as a rule refer to Roman roads and have been of value in determining the exact lines of such roads ... At Street in Leyland no Roman road has been found, so far as I know. A search for one might very well be worth while." So maybe Stanifield Lane does appear the more likely of the two, especially as it also has a road off it known as Stoney Lane...

Summary of Roman Period

So if the Roman road did pass by the top (or East side) of Leyland then the Romans must surely have known the area reasonably well, if for no other reason that to feed and sustain the onwardly marching Armies of Rome. Being in such close proximity to both a road and settlement at Walton-le-Dale, if Leyland had begun by this stage then I'm sure that the potential of the soils for crops and livestock would have been far too tempting for the Romans to pass by and not exploit in some fashion or other.

At the time of Domesday, 700 years after the Romans left these shores, Leyland was not even the main rent payer to the King - that honour was held by Pemwortham - yet the Hundred was already named after it. So prior to the Norman conquest, logic tells you that Leyland must have been a place of importance at some stage, but that by the time William the Conqueror was fighting King Harold it had lost some of that influence. It appears to me that the seemingly advanced agricultural use of Townfields later on seems to be very structured and precise. Especially in the use of Half-Year Fields. So to my mind it would not be surprising if it was possibly the Romans that brought a stability to the area we know as Leyland today. Maybe not in the form of the Townfields that we understand, but possibly the principle at least. They may not have stayed here, but I think that they coiuld have left an influence. And possibly it was the Romans that were able to bring a handful of hamlets together as one and get them to work the fertile soil. Both for the good of the locals and, of course if it was them, for the good the Romans.

There is much more to the Romans and Romano Britain than just this though... there are some excellent websites and books on various Roman subjects (see resources).

After the Romans had left the future of the Britons in their own, less than capable hands, things rapidly changed. From reasonable law and order to at times all out bloodshed.

The Romans landed almost 1000 years earlier than the Normans did, yet between these two intrusions on our country, Britain was 'invaded' frequently. Some of the invaders are known about (the Angles, the Saxons and the Vikings for example) while some are more mysterious (for example, the Jutes). Some plundered and left, while others hung around a while to see what was going on. And of course, many never left these shores, whether through death or their own free will.

As a rule, your average Anglo-Saxon didn't care much for recording events... they were usually too busy just trying to survive from day to day. In all probability they were probably not literate enough either and the chances are that if they had kept records or accounts then they wouldn't have survived the passages of time. Generally it was only the very highest of landowners and the clergy (monks, nuns etc.) that were capable of reading, writing and recording (individuals such as the Venerable Bede for example).

Vikings were known to be active in the South Lancashire area as well as around the coasts of Lancashire and Wales. Coins were found in the famous Curedale Hoard on the banks of the Ribble in the 1800's after a storm had washed part of the riverside away - they were from the Viking period and were thought to have been hidden here with the obvious intention to pick them up at a later date. For the person that buried them that time never came...

The land and administration of Leyland must have been prestigious enough as it earned itself the title of a 'Hundred'.
Our 'Leyland 'Hundred' measured about 15 miles south from Preston, to the outskirts of Wigan, and roughly the same from the Snoter stone at 'Hundred' End to Rivington in the East.•5. The Townfields are also thought to have developed around these times as well and tiny hamlets would have been located at key points in the landscape (along boundaries such as rivers or around major pathways for example). Hundreds were sub-divisions of shires and counties. They were basically a judicial and taxation unit of land that emerged during Saxon times. The size of a Hundred would have varied, but the basis for them was pretty much the same everywhere - it was the area that contained one hundred families, or one hundred 'hides.' A hide (also known as a carucate - see below) was a measure of land which was the amount required by one family and all its dependents.eA hundred was a division of the local administration for a very long time, though thiss ancient division is not found in every county. Lancashire had six individual hundreds - Salford (Manchester), West Derby (Liverpool), Blackburn, Amounderness (Preston & the Fylde), Lonsdale (Southern Cumbria toady) & of course, Leyland. In order to compare places, Cornwall had nine hundreds, Essex had twenty, Norfolk had thirty-three and this is an indication of how populated aparticular area was... the more hundreds there were then the more people and the smaller a hundred would be.

The first written evidence for the existence of Leyland, as is true for many places, comes from that most famous of Tax Surveys, the Domesday Book. At that time it was compiled the county of Lancashire didn't exist and when the recording of the 'land between the Ribble and Mersey' was written down it was bolted on at the end of the section on Cheshire!!!

In the Domesday Book, 'Leyland Hundred' is partly recorded as follows... 'In Lailond 'Hundred'... King Edward held Lailond. There [are] one hide and two carucates of land. Wood two leagues long and one broad and an eyrie of hawks'. The King in question was none other than King Edward the Confessor and the strange references are of Saxon and Norse origin ('Hide is Saxon while 'Carucate' is a Norse unit of measurement of roughly 120acres). •4 After the Norman Conquest, the lands in the North West were handed over to Roger of Poitou. He in turn carved this up as he saw fit. According to the Domesday book there were 4 Radmans (a messenger or mounted escort), a priest, 14 villiens (farmers), 6 bordars (small holding dweller) and 2 Oxherds. In addition, they had between them 8 ploughs and also mentioned are 4 eyries of hawks. The whole lot was worth 50 shillings to the Crown - in contrast to the Barony of Pemwortham which was worth more at 60 shillings.•5

One of the next mentions of Leyland turns up confusingly in the records of Evesham Abbey! In the early 1100's the Church at Leyland is mentioned in reference to grants being paid by the Bussel family, the Barons of Pemwortham. .•5 Warrin Bussell was the first to be made Baron of Pemwortham and he & his wife apparently owned lands in and around Evesham Abbey. She 'gave' the Priory at Penwortham to the Abbey, which would have contained Leyland (and the Parish Church) so hence why this reference turns up so far away. The Abbots of Evesham Abbey would have had the right to appoint the vicar of the church (In 1190 a chap named 'Sweyn' is referred to as chaplain at Leyland) and all the monies received in the form of tithes and such like would have all been property of the Abbey •5.

1212 saw the estates of Warrin Bussel being tenanted by his son, Robert. Soon after, the estate was divided between the aires apparent in this family line - half went to our friends from Ulnes Walton, the Waltons, while the other half went through a daughter to the ffarington family.

Obviously in the Thirteenth century Leyland was a very different place. A reconstructed map of the Leyland township of c.1250 •5 shows an intriguing pattern of key roads, many still in existence today. We have (in todays road layout terms) Fox Lane, Leyland Lane, Golden Hill Lane, Towngate, Worden Lane (part) Hough Lane, School Lane, Church Road (leading to the Kings Highway, the A49) and Bent Lane/Turpin Green Lane. Another 'road' is infact now the main path through Worden Park, down by the Football Pitches, so next time you take the dog for a walk down 'The Avenue', you are in fact following in footsteps that may be over 1000 years old.

Life progressed slowly in Leyland, as it would in the rest of the counties of England. Kings came and went, as did the local 'big families', though in Leylands case, one 'big family' stayed in these parts for many a long year - The Faringtons (or ffaringtons as they used to call themselves).

A jump to 1500 shows that little has changed in the area. The fields are still worked and the main family have changed fro being the Bussels to the Faringtons.
Originally having attained stature from a marriage into the Bussels family, the Faringtons were to become THE family of the area.
By the time of the 1500s, the Faringtons owned parts of Leyland, Ulnes Walton, Farington, Coppull, Worthington, Cuerden, Preston & Howick.

Members of the family were very favoured by the King of the time, and a couple even had royal positions - Henry Farington 1471-1551 was appointed 'Squire to the King's Body' (a sort of Royal Bedroom doorman).