The Parish of Caton in the County of -- Lancashire --

CATON, a township, a chapelry, and a subdistrict in Lancaster district, Lancashire. The township lies on the river Lune and the Midland railway, 4-1/2 miles NE of Lancaster, is in Lancaster parish, includes Littledale hamlet, and has a station on the railway, and a post office under Lancaster. Acres, 8,373. Real property, £6,683. Pop., 1,160. Houses, 223. The property is much subdivided. A rising ground commands a noble view, much praised by the poet Gray, of the valley of the Lune backed by Ingleborouth mountain. Coal and slate are found and the cotton manufacture is carried on.

The chapelry comprises all the township, except Littledale hamlet. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester. Value £100. Patron, the Vicar of Lancaster. The church was rebuilt in 1864. There are Independent and Wesleyan chapels, a national school, and charities, £20. The sub-district contains also Quermoor township and Claughton parish, Pop., 1,817. Houses 346.

From: John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870-72.

Entered here 30 December 2006 by Lynn Ransom Burton.