Caton with Littledale

History

The original settlement of Caton was renamed Brookhouse after Brookhouse Hall and is separated from modern Caton, originally Town End, by Artle Beck.

Evidence of the Roman occupation in the area is from a mill stone, eight feet long found in Artle Beck in 1803, bearing the name of the Emperor Hadrian; and further engraved stone found some time later.

Archaeological, place name and other evidence attests that Norse invaders settled in the area in the tenth century (Wainwright 1975). Caton is supposedly named from the Norse personal name Kati (Ekwall 1960), meaning 'cheerful' and ton. Geoffrey Hodgson (2008) argues that the Viking invasion of the area accounts for the relatively high frequency of the Hodgson surname in Caton and elsewhere in Lonsdale.

In late 18th century five mills were built in Town End. Low Mill cotton mill was built for cotton weaving in 1783 on the site of a 13th-century corn mill. it was built by Thomas Hodgson(1738–1817), a slave-trader and son of a Liverpool merchant.(Hodgson 2008) It was powered by a millrace from the Artle Beck at Gresgarth. Water power was replaced by steam in 1819. In the mid 19th century there were two silk mills, two cotton mills, and a flax mill. In 1846 Ball Lane Mill was burnt down. Rumble Row Mill and Forge Mill operated until the 1930s and Willow Mill and Low Mill closed in the 1970s. In 1826 coal and slate were worked in Littledale and bobbins for the mills were made.

Governance

Caton was a chapelry composed of four districts; Brookhouse, Caton Green, Littledale, and Town-End, and a township in the ecclesiastical parish of Lancaster in the Lonsdale hundred in Lancashire.

Geography

Caton is 5 miles north-east of Lancaster on the road to Hornby in the valley of the River Lune. It covers over 8,000 acres of which 4,000 were moorland where stone was quarried. The township is hilly, Caton Moor in the east rises to over 1,000 feet (361 metres) above sea level and to the south rises to Clougha Pike at 1,355 feet (413 metres) and Ward's Stone at 1,841 feet (561 metres). The Artle Beck flows in a northerly direction towards the wider flatter valley of the River Lune.

Transport

A turnpike road from Lancaster to Hornby and Kirkby Lonsdale, the A683, was constructed in 1812, bypassing the old route through Brookhouse and Caton Green. This road connects Caton to the M6 motorway to the west.

Caton railway station was opened in 1850 on the "Little" North Western Railway between Wennington and Lancaster and closed in 1966. The section between Caton and Lancaster is now a popular cycle and pedestrian path.

Economy

The village was home to SJ Bargh haulage, including a Scania garage and repair plant, until the firm moved to Caton Road, Lancaster in 2015.

The village of Caton has a health centre, pharmacy, Co-operative store, petrol station and Ford dealership, the Station Hotel and the Ship Inn. It is also home to a custom made cake shop.

The village of Brookhouse has a Chinese fish and chip takeaway, a convenience store, a bridal shop and a hair salon, previously a florist and The Black Bull Inn public house.

Specialist Bobbin maker T. Wildman & Sons operated in Copy Lane from 1859–1973..

Landmarks

An ancient oak tree stands near the Ship Inn, on which the monks of Cockersand Abbey are supposed to have hung fish for sale.

Religion

The original chapel built in about 1245 was rebuilt in the 1500s with a square tower. The present Church of St Paul is the parish church and, with the exception of the tower, was rebuilt between 1865-67 by Edward Graham Paley retaining some Norman features. There are other places of worship including Our Lady Immaculate Roman Catholic Church, Caton Methodist Church, Caton Baptist Church in and Brookhouse Methodist Church. There is a memorial to the younger Thomas Hodgson inside St Paul's Church, displaying the family's coat of arms.

Twinning

On 12 April 2008, a formal twinning agreement was signed with the village of Socx in France.