Marklands sits on the corner of Chorley Road, and Nightingale Street. I have found references to a Markland family living in Adlington as early as 1640. Henry Markland, an Adlington soldier, was granted poor relief in 1677. A year later in 1678, Henry Markland (unknown if the same as previous) a husbandman (tenant farmer) asked Hugh Adlington, Lord of Adlington Hall, for permission to use sods of turf from Adlington Common (most commonly used for fuel). This was in 1678, and may well be linked to the naming of the modern day building; perhaps Henry Markland farmed here more than three hundred years ago.
The first reference I have found regarding the building itself mentions the first known owner as Reverend Cuthbert Allanson. Allanson was an Adlington man, son of John Allanson, gentleman, and they appear to be the same Allansons as those who built Allanson Hall. The Reverend inherited after the death of his brother George in 1760. It's likely that the Allansons never lived at Marklands, it just formed a part of their estate. In 1766 the property ownership was transferred from Rev. Cuthbert Allanson to Sir Richard Clayton who was the next landowner at Adlington Hall.
There is another reference to the property in 1770 as a part of Sir Richard Clayton's will, where it says it was left in trust. In both of these, it is described as a messuage which is a 'dwelling house with its adjacent buildings and lands', and its area stands at 2 acres, 3 roods and 33 poles. It is rented by John Low.
In 1793 upon the marriage of Jane Hampson of Adlington and Rev. Samuel Johnson of Horwich, the couple acquired Marklands and its land of 2 acres, 3 roods and 30 poles. Reverend Johnson can also be seen paying land tax of 1 shilling and 9 pence on the property in 1799. It doesn't appear that the couple lived at the property, or at least not permanently, as their children were born in Horwich up until at least 1810. Rev Samuel Johnson died about 1825, and left the property, household goods and furniture to his wife Jane. Following the death of his wife Jane around 1836, this passed first to their daughter Elizabeth Johnson, and on her death passed onto their sons Samuel Johnson and John Hampson Johnson.
When we look for the property in the censuses, we find 'Marklands' as a farm in the 1841 and 1851 census, with William Birchall, wife Elizabeth, and family, living and working there. I am making the presumption that he started farming there in about 1835 (as this is when he appears in the parish records as a farmer, rather than a weaver).
There is another reference to the property in 1770 as a part of Sir Richard Clayton's will, where it says it was left in trust. In both of these, it is described as a messuage which is a 'dwelling house with its adjacent buildings and lands', and its area stands at 2 acres, 3 roods and 33 poles. It is rented by John Low.
In 1793 upon the marriage of Jane Hampson of Adlington and Rev. Samuel Johnson of Horwich, the couple acquired Marklands and its land of 2 acres, 3 roods and 30 poles. Reverend Johnson can also be seen paying land tax of 1 shilling and 9 pence on the property in 1799. It doesn't appear that the couple lived at the property, or at least not permanently, as their children were born in Horwich up until at least 1810. Rev Samuel Johnson died about 1825, and left the property, household goods and furniture to his wife Jane. Following the death of his wife Jane around 1836, this passed first to their daughter Elizabeth Johnson, and on her death passed onto their sons Samuel Johnson and John Hampson Johnson.
When we look for the property in the censuses, we find 'Marklands' as a farm in the 1841 and 1851 census, with William Birchall, wife Elizabeth, and family, living and working there. I am making the presumption that he started farming there in about 1835 (as this is when he appears in the parish records as a farmer, rather than a weaver).
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| Marklands labelled on the main road in the centre of this 1845 map. |
By 1854, after the death of Samuel Johnson, there is a newspaper reference to it, where is being sold as part of the Hall O'th Hill estate (which is the golf club near the Asshawes). It is sold with land of 39 acres, 1 rood and 3 poles, and it is rented by the same Mr William Birchall. This is a lot more land that belonged to the property in the last century, and may well be the land that goes on to be Nightingale Street and Ollerton Street, and presumably the rest of the cottages on Chorley Road, which were built 1855 onwards.
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| The Preston Guardian etc (Preston, England), Saturday, July 1, 1854; Issue 2183 |
By the time the 1861 census came around, I can't find the property listed by name, just a lot of 'Chorley Road'. There is a farmer at one, so it is probably that. By 1871, there isn't even a farmer on the road, it's probably either empty, or a house by this point.
By 1881, it's labelled as 37 Chorley Road, and providing house numbers haven't changed since then, Leonard Fairclough is living there, as a stone mason, a couple of years before he started his company.
The 1891 census shows a John Thomas Grundy, coal miner there, with his wife Elizabeth and 4 children. The 1901 census shows John Marsden, engine tenter in a cotton mill, his wife Ann and their two young children.
And 1911 census shows Jeremiah Unsworth, a 74 year old widower, listed as a cotton manufacturer. He is one of the Unsworths of Brook Mill, up Brook Street. He is living there with his 43 year old unmarried daughter Jane.