DUTTON PARISH
Dutton is a rural Parish stretching from the river Ribble in the south to the ridge of Longridge Fell in the north and lying between Stydd Brook and Ribchester on the west and Starling Brook and Aighton, Bailey & Chaigley on the East. The Norman chapel of Stydd lies on the South West corner. An entirely rural Parish, it enjoys beautiful countryside in the Ribble Valley.
There was no separate record of Dutton in the Domesday Book, so it probably came under Ribchester. In 1102 Henry I gave one plough land to Henry de Lacy and it came under the honor of Clitheroe. The land and the Lordship of the Manor passed through generations of the Clayton family until Sir Richard Shireburn of Stonyhurst bought it towards the end of the 16th Century. The Shireburn estate passed eventually to Thomas Weld who sold the manor in 1831 to Joseph Fenton. The Fenton family built the house Dutton Manor in the 1830’s, Roger Fenton one of the early photographers being a notable member of the family.
DUTTON HALL
From the time of the Claytons in the 15th Century, the principal family living in the Parish seem to have been the Townleys who built Dutton Hall. In this period they paid the Shireburns one red rose as annual rent for their lands. The date of the oldest part of Dutton Hall is uncertain, the square window on the south façade is recorded as being built in the 1670’s. Huntingdon Hall is another significant building in the Parish which was built in the 17th Century by the Crombleholme family.