62 Wallgate - 01942 825677 tic@wlct.org

Rufford's name derives from the Old English ruh and ford, the rough ford. It was a crossing place over the River Douglas. Rufford was recorded as Ruchford in 1212, Rufford in 1285, Roughford in 1318, Rughford in 1332 and Roghforth in 1411.

Part of the manor was granted by Richard Bussel, baron of Penwortham to Richard Fitton in the reign of Henry I. His descendant Dame Maude married Sir William Hesketh. Sir William's grandson married the daughter of Edmund Fitton, who owned the other moiety of the manor which then descended with the Heskeths.

In 1339 Sir William Hesketh was granted a charter for a weekly market and annual fair. He fought at the Battle of Crécy in 1346, and was knight of the shire in 1360.

In the late 15th century the Heskeths built Rufford Hall. It was altered in 1661 and redeveloped in the 1820s. The family built Rufford New Hall in 1760 and enlarged it around 1798-99 when the family left the old hall for the new.

Rufford's two halls lie within a conservation area. Rufford Old Hall has belonged to the National Trust since 1936. It was home to the Hesketh family for over four hundred years until Rufford New Hall in Rufford Park was built. New Hall was bought by Lancashire County Council in 1920 and in 1926 it became a pulmonary hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Another landmark is the parish church built in 1869. The red brick Church of St Mary the Virgin, built in the Gothic style with a steeple, is a Grade II Listed building. The three-storey Hesketh Arms was probably built in the late 18th century of scored stucco on brick with low-pitched slate roof. The inn is painted white with stone quoins. The old inn is a Grade II listed building. The Rufford Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal passes on the east side.