The History of the Parish of Lytham. By Lieutenant-Colonel Fishwick.
(Chetham Society.)—Lytham is a large parish (5,309 acres) in Lancashire. It became the seat of a " cell " founded by Richard Ravenkill towards the close of the twelfth century in dependence on Durham Priory. At the Dissolution its income amounted to £50. There is little of interest in what remains of its history, though the details of the various inventories and catalogues of its properties are curious. In 1446 the house owned six quarters of beef, seventeen flitches of bacon, twelve quarters of barley (of which nine were for seed—surely a large quantity), twenty-three quarters of oats, two quarters of wheat, and twenty-four quarters of malt. In 1503 among the expenses we find 8s. for Peter's Pence, 10s. in gifts to minstrels and other beggars, £8 stipends of servants, 40s. stipend of parish priest, 2s. to the Boy-bishop. A subsidy to the King amounted to 345. 2d., and the Church of Durham had 45. A Free School was founded in 1702-1726 by various benefactors, who gave between them £18 3s. per annum. In 1720 £100, raised to make good the damage caused by an inundation, was added to the school stock, as it was found impossible to make a satisfactory division. In 1728 60 was left by another benefactor. But the real founder was William Gaulten, tailor, who left the residue of his estate to the school. Various lands were purchased with the money. In 1821 the available income was £104 18s. Now it amounts, chiefly through the increase in the value of land at Blackpool, to over £2,000.
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