1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Walton-le-Dale

WALTON-LE-DALE, an urban district in the Darwen parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, on the S. bank of the Ribble, immediately above Preston. Pop. (1901) 11,271. The church of St Leonard, situated on an eminence to the east of the town, was originally erected in the 11th century. The earliest portions of the present building are the Perpendicular chancel and tower, the nave having been rebuilt in 1798, while the transepts were erected in 1816. There are a number of interesting old brasses and monuments. Cotton-spinning is carried on, and there are market-gardens in the vicinity. Roman remains have been found here, and there was perhaps a roadside post on the site. The manor of Walton was granted by Henry de Lacy about 1130 to Robert Banastre. It afterwards passed by marriage to the Langtons, and about 1392 to the Hoghtons of Hoghton. Walton was the principal scene of the great battle of Preston, fought on the 17th of August 1648 between Cromwell and the duke of Hamilton. In 1701 the duke of Norfolk, the earl of Derwentwater and other Jacobites incorporated the town by the style of the “mayor and corporation of the ancient borough of Walton.” In 1715 the passage of the Ribble was bravely defended against the Jacobites by Parson Woods and his parishioners of Atherton (q.v.).