Buildings of Interest

Description

Images and text provided by Kath Thompson

The house is a stone-built farmhouse probably built sometime in the 1700s.

The first mention I have of the house itself is 1714. However, I think it was built on the site of another, older house, as I have found Heatons mentioned on the 1664 hearth tax records. 

The Heaton family is mentioned in the Victoria county history of Lancashire as holding a quarter share in the manor of Billinge in 1374.

in 1422 a settlement was made of the manor of Birchley and various messuages and lands, the holders being William De Heaton and his wife, Joan.

In 1530 Richard Heaton gave the manor of Billinge, his messuages, mills and land for the benefit of his son, William. However, in 1581William Heaton and his sons, Ralph and Richard, were involved in a lawsuit with James and Thurstan Anderton and amidst some scandal, Birchley Hall passed to the Andertons.

Later records and wills of the Heatons  suggest that they became yeoman farmers with their land leased from the Andertons of Birchley, 

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