Brief History of FORTON and COCKERHAM

Village where the devil gambled -  and lost!

CALLED Fortune in the Domesday Book, the village of Forton, which means a ‘fenced in place’, has not been lucky in recent years. It is now only known as a busy service station on the M6 motorway between Preston and Lancaster. These days travellers drive past or without realising what a lovely village this once was. Enough remains however of this Saxon ‘fenced in place’ to plan a visit and to coincide this with a visit to the village of Cockerham.

Up until the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in the late 1530s, the whole of this area was owned by the Premonstratensian monks who later became the rich and influential order of the Cistercians. There were other Cistercian abbeys at Furness, Whalley and Sawley. The monks had granges (or farms) in the area and farming is still important today even though the sounds of sheep, cows and bird song have to blend in with the distant hum of fast moving traffic.
 
Look out for School Lane on which is situated one of the earliest independent chapels to be founded in the area and which was built in 1707. In the case of Forton this chapel is actually older than the parish church.

Situated on Whinney Brow Lane on the opposite side of the A6 the church of St James was built in 1889. Actually it looks to be much older than this, mainly due to its black and white entrance porch which at a casual glance appears to be Tudor in style. The Lancaster canal flirts with the village and to the west of Forton and close to this historic cut is a residence called Clifton Hill. This was built in 1820 in a neo-classical style for Robert Gillow. He was the brother of Richard, the famous furniture maker who had his workshops in Lancaster.
Nearby is the Cleveymere Nature Reserve formed by landscaping the old gravel pits on the catchment area of the River Wyre. The combination of marshland and pools is a haven for wildlife and ensures that visitors to the area can enjoy a generous helping of history and natural history The same is true of Cockerham within a short and pleasant drive from Forton.

Cockerham is a splendid little village sat on Morecambe Bay and overlooks the extensive sands and the Pilling embankment. In the Domesday Book the place was listed as Cocreham and means ‘a settlement on the little river Cocker.’ In the 17th century the village was almost totally destroyed by fire but was rebuilt in fine style. There is a lovely legend which tells of a confrontation between the schoolmaster and the devil. First ‘Old Nick’ had to count the number of dew droplets on a hedge. He succeeded. Next he had to count the number of ears in a cornfield. Nick succeeded without the aid of a calculator. The third task however proved to be “hellishly” difficult and Old Nick failed.. Any failure meant that the devil had to leave the village for ever as he was not able to weave a rope out of sand and wash it in the Cocker. One thing is for sure to this day - Cockerham is a heavenly place to enjoy coastal scenery at its best.

To the west of the village the 15th century timber framed Cockerham hail has survived the fire. Look out also for the church of St Michael now on the outskirts of the village but prior to the fire it was in the centre of the village. Look in the graveyard and look for the last resting place of a past vicar who died of the plague (black death) along with eleven of his congregation. It is not often realised that the plague did not just affect London in 1665 but had a devastating effect all over England.

This and the Devil connection meant hell for the village but it is now a wonderfully peaceful place to enjoy a slow pace of life. This is a complete contrast to the Forton services on the busy M6.

Points of interest
Cockerham Abbey, situated between Cockerham and Glasson Dock, has almost vanished, devastated first by Henry VIII then used as a quarry for local folk but damage has also been caused by the sea. Its position was isolated as it once served as a leper hospital in the 12th century. It was at that time called St Mary’s on the Marsh because it was set above a very boggy area.
The chapter house, where the monks held their meetings has survived as it was later used by the Dalton family who lived at nearby Thurnham Hall as a mausoleum. Many of the furnishings, including the choir stalls, now grace the interior of Lancaster Priory church.
Between Cockersand and Cockerham is the Plover Scar lighthouse which was built in 1843. This overlooks an excellent bird watching area which not only has lots of Lapwings (green plover) but also other waders and wildfowl. Look out for Cocker House Bridge on a minor road to the east and signed from the B5272. Here is an ancient boundary stone between Cockerham Glasson and Forton. Go into Glasson Dock, an ideal place to enjoy a snack and to buy some Lune caught and cured salmon or the Morecambe Bay shrimps.

This article is by Ron Freethy and is from his series of articles "Walking Near Water". It is reproduced here with the kind permission of the Lancashire Telegraph, Saturday 27th October, 2007