HORNBY - Lancashire County Council

Lancashire Historic Town SurveyHornbyperiod (Farrer and Brownbill 1912, 192). The market was held every Friday and the faironce a year (Mannex 1851, 532). By the later sixteenth century the market was held onMondays (Chippindall 1939, 27) and this was still the case a century later when, accordingto Ogilby, the market was not considered to be of much merit (Farrer and Brownbill 1912,191).It is unclear for how long Hornby was considered to have urban status. It may have ceasedto be regarded as a functional town by the late sixteenth century, although the settlementwas known at least locally as a market town(Chippindall 1939, 27). Moreover, at least aremnant of burgage tenure was still recognisedin a survey of the Hornby Castle estates in thesixteenth century (Chippindall 1939, 35). In1626 a market hall was built, and it wasgenerally referred to as a town hall (White1986, 3).Plate 1: The market crossBy the mid-nineteenth century the burgageplots within the north-west quarter of Hornbyhad long ceased to have any integrity. Thereorganisation of the properties in this part ofthe settlement is, like the ruination of the markethall, a physical indicator of Hornby’s urbandecline. It is likely that this reorganisation wascompleted in the eighteenth century as much ofit relates to the creation of the Hornby Hallestate, the principal buildings of which date tothe mid-eighteenth century(www.imagesofengland.co.uk).Hornby did not develop an industrial base and itfunctioned as only a minor commercial centreduring the nineteenth century. However,Hornby did retain some importance as alivestock market for much of the century,reflected in the fact that cattle pens wereerected near the railway station (OS 18941:2500). The markets and fairs, however, hadceased by 1912 (Farrer and Brownbill 1912,191).© Lancashire County Council 2006 2