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

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HOOLE, a village, two townships, and a parish in Preston district, Lancashire. The village is Much Hoole; stands near the river Douglas, 2¾ miles NW of Croston r. station, and 7 SW of Preston; and has a post office under Preston. The townships are Much Hoole and Little Hoole; the latter N of the former, and on the estnary of the Ribble. Acres of Much Hoole, 1,701. Real property, £3,511. Pop., 708. Houses, 136. The chief landowners are Lord Lilford and the Marquis de Rothwell. Acres of Little Hoole, 1,222; of which 70 are water. Real property, £2,533. Pop., 424. Houses, 72. A large cotton factory is here. The parish consists of the two townships. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £280. Patron, T. B. Addison, Esq. The church was originally a chapel of ease to Croston; is a plain edifice, with a low tower; and was enlarged in 1864. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, a national school, and some small charities.

John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)

HOOLE, a township and parish in the Croston or lower division of Leyland hundred, the polling district and poor law union of Preston, extending over 1,974 acres. The divisions are Much Hoole, and Little Hoole. Much Hoole village is 7 ½ miles S. W. of Preston. A court baron is held for Little Hoole. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, date 15th century, re-edified 1628, a chapel to Croston till July 27, 1642, when it became independent, living a rectory, patron Rev. M. Barton, annual value £175. – The Wesleyans and Primitives have chapels. Weaving of light cottons is prevalent. The population in 1801 was 596; 1811, 744; 1821, 860; 1831, 934. The parish school is endowed with £26 per annum: in 1833 there were 2 daily and 3 sunday schools. In Little Hoole are 4 almshouses. Three-fourths of the land is in pasture, average rent per acre £2. 15s. Annual value of property 1815, £4,611; 1829, £4,667. The district is destitute of mineral treasures.

“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.

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