Garstang in 1839
Garstang is in Amounderness hundred, on the north-west bank of the Wyre, and on the road from Preston to Lancaster, 229 miles from London and 11 from Lancaster. The parish contains 26,580 acres, with a population in 1831 of 6,927 ; the township of Garstang contains 500 acres, with a pop. of 929. It is a poor town, though somewhat improved of late. The church is at what is termed Garstang Church town, about a mile from the town itself. The town-hall, a decayed building, was rebuilt about ninety years since. The market is on Thursday, and there are three yearly fairs. The Lancaster Canal crosses the Wyre by an aqueduct close to the town. There are some cotton factories and a calico printing establishment in the neighbourhood. Garstang was incorporated by charter of Charles II ; the corporation, consisting of a bailiff and seven capital burgesses, was left untouched by the Municipal Reform Act. The living is a vicarage in the archdeaconry of Richmond and diocese of Chester, of the clear yearly value of £282, with a glebe-house. There were in the township in 1833, one dame-school, with 5 children ; a grammar-school with a small endowment, with 55 children ; an endowed school for Roman Catholics, with 30 children on the endowment, and 35 others ; and two other day-schools, with about 40 children ; and four Sunday-schools with 328 children. |