The Parish of Broughton in Furness in the County of -- Lancashire --

BROUGHTON-IN-FURNESS is a parochial chapelry, township, and market town, in the parish of Kirkby Ireleth, the liberty of Furness, the West or Ulverstone division of the north of the sands portion of the Hundred of Lonsdale, and the polling district and poor law union of Ulverstone. The chapelry extends over 7,040 statute acres: the town is 10 miles N. W. of Ulverstone. To the S. W. are the traces of a Roman settlement, and British celts have been found. Broughton tower, the manor house, was existing 1272. A court baron is held yearly. The parochial chapel, dedicated to St Mary Magdalen, was built in Norman times, rebuilt 1739-1759, living a curacy, annual value £108, patronage variable. In the vicinity is a Baptist chapel. The market is held on Wednesdays; and fairs, August 1st, by charter of Edward I, October 6th, and April 27th. The trade in brush-stocks and hoops is extensive; and the Duddon is navigable to near the town. The population 1801 was 1,005; 1811, 966; 1821, 1,253; 1831, 1,375. Two slenderly endowed day schools, and two sunday schools. The sum expended in 1838 on the poor, etc was £244. The market-house is a neat erection. Two-thirds of the land are pasture, heath etc, one-third arable, wood, etc. Annual value of property 1815, £4,175; 1829, £4,303.

“A Statistical Sketch of the County Palatine of Lancaster (1841)”, by Edwin Butterworth, facsimile reprint 1968, by the ‘Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society’. With grateful thanks to the Society.