Top Sources

By Region


Classifieds

Reviews in history
Reviews of significant work in all fields of historical interest. Sign up for email alerts
history.ac.uk
State Papers Domestic
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic 1537-1714, plus Scotland and Ireland for £30 pa - subscribe now
british-history.ac.uk

Latest questions

Coal Porters in England I noticed that from 1806, a salary was paid...
dates What does the date 2d of Richard III mean and is...

Townships
Ashton

Sponsor

Victoria County History

Publication

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4

Author

William Farrer & J. Brownbill (editors)

Year published

1911

Supporting documents

List of maps

Pages

142-148

Annotate

Comment on this article
Double click anywhere on the text to add an annotation in-line

Citation Show another format:

'Townships: Ashton', A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4 (1911), pp. 142-148. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41396 Date accessed: 20 June 2013. Add to my bookshelf

Highlight

(Min 3 characters)

Contents

ASHTON
MANORS CHURCH Footnotes

ASHTON

Eston, 1212; Ayston, 1246; Ashton, 1254; Assheton, 1292.

Grateswode, 1367; Garteswood, xvi cent.

This township, called Ashton in Makerfield or Ashton-le-Willows for distinction, has an area of 6,249½ acres. (fn. 1) The highest ground, 350 ft., lies near the boundary of Billinge; the lowest, about 90 ft., is at the eastern corner, where Glazebrook forms part of the boundary. Sankey Brook is the south-west boundary, and two of its tributaries separate Ashton from Billinge and Haydock. Millingford Brook runs through the centre of the township from north-west to south-east. Ashton village lies on its northern bank; on the same side are Stubshaw Cross, Heybridge, Brynn, Whitley Green, and Brocksteads. The southern side of the brook contains Garswood, with Seneley Green, Leyland Green, and Downall Green. The population in 1901 was 18,687.

The place-names Soughers lane, Skitter farm, and Cramberley occur in 1825.

The surface is sometimes undulating, mostly flat, the soil being clay, sand, and stone. There are occasional patches of old moss-land, but the greater part of the country is cultivated, where possible, and good crops of potatoes, turnips, wheat, and oats are produced. In the south there are fine plantations, including the grounds of Garswood Park, which make a refreshing clump of greenery. But in the northern parts the majority of the trees are reduced to blackened stumps, standing leafless and gaunt, until they fall from sheer decay. As in other mining districts collections of water lie in many places, indicating the subsidence of the ground, as the result of mining.

A narrow strip of the Permian rocks extends from Abram to Edge Green, separating the Coal Measures from the New Red Sandstone, and the latter formation covers the former in the immediate vicinity of the town of Ashton. Elsewhere the Coal Measures alone are in evidence.

The principal road, that from Wigan to Warrington, roughly agreeing with the old Roman road, passes north and south through the township and village; at this point it is crossed by the road from St. Helens to Hindley. The road from Ashton to Billinge is crossed at Leyland Green by one from St. Helens to Winstanley. The Lancashire Union line of the London and North Western Railway from St. Helens to Wigan has stations at Garswood and Brynn. The Liverpool, St. Helens, and South Lancashire Railway of the Great Central system touches the southern border.

Traces of the Roman road have been discovered, and a coin of Trajan was found.

In 1825 Ashton was a 'large and populous village,' 'the centre of a brisk manufacturing district where the poor are industrious and their employers prosperous.' (fn. 2) It had in 1840 cotton-spinning establishments and fustian manufactures, and was noted for hinges and locks. The making of tools, screws, and locks continues; large collieries are also worked.

Stubshaw Cross, Ashton Cross, and Four-footed Cross, once marked on the map, have quite disappeared, (fn. 3) but the first has given a name to a hamlet.

A lazaretto for those suffering from an epidemic of the sweating sickness in the time of Elizabeth is said to have been built on Ashton Common. (fn. 4)

A fair of two days' duration was held on 22 and 23 September, principally for toys and amusements. (fn. 5)

A local board was established in 1872, (fn. 6) but has become an urban district council of fifteen members with five wards under the Local Government Act of 1894. The council owns the water and gas works.

MANORS

Before the Conquest ASHTON was no doubt one of the fifteen berewicks or dependent manors of the royal manor of Newton. (fn. 7) Later it was a member of the fee of Makerfield, which had Newton for its head. (fn. 8) At the survey of 1212 it was found to be held by Thomas de Burnhull or Brindle, being three plough-lands of the three and a half held by him in thegnage for 35s., and providing a judge and a half at the court of Newton. (fn. 9) Two plough-lands he had in his own hands, embracing, it would appear, Ashton proper, or Brynn, north of the Millingford Brook; the third plough-land, probably Garswood, was held of him by Henry de Ashton, 'of ancient feoffment,' (fn. 10) and under this Henry appears to have been held by Henry son of Roger, 'of ancient marriage.' Henry de Ashton had also granted 20 acres to the Hospitallers. (fn. 11)

Thomas de Burnhull was followed by a son Peter, (fn. 12) who married Avice, the heiress of Windle and other manors. (fn. 13) In 1254 he obtained the right to erect a mill in Ashton. (fn. 14) The son of Peter and Avice was Peter, who dying about 1295 (fn. 15) was succeeded by his brother Alan. Alan, who was living in 1315, (fn. 16) left a son Peter, and two daughters, Joan and Agnes. The son died before 1330, and his sisters became heirs of the property. (fn. 17)

Joan married William Gerard, son of William Gerard, lord of a moiety of the manor of Kingsley, near Frodsham; (fn. 18) and Agnes married David Egerton of Egerton, near Malpas, but probably died without issue, as nothing is known of any claim to the Burnhull manors by her descendants. (fn. 19) The heiresses and their husbands were children at the time of their marriage, William Gerard being but thirty years of age in 1352, when his father died. (fn. 20) Two years later he made a settlement of the manor of Ashton, the remainders being to his son Peter, and then to the heirs of Joan daughter of Alan de Burnhull. (fn. 21)

Little is known of the son, except that he became a knight. (fn. 22) Sir Peter Gerard died in 1380, and was succeeded by his son Sir Thomas Gerard, who like others of the family is traditionally said to have been engaged in the wars of the time. (fn. 23) At his death in 1416 he was found to have held the two-thirds of the manor of Ashton of Henry de Langton, baron of Newton, in socage by the service of 20s. a year, besides many other manors and lands in Lancashire. (fn. 24) His son and heir John, aged thirty at his father's death, succeeded. He died 6 November 1431, leaving a son and heir Peter, then twenty-four years of age. (fn. 25) This son, afterwards Sir Peter Gerard, had a comparatively short life, dying on 26 March 1447, when the manors devolved on a minor, his son Thomas being but sixteen years of age. (fn. 26)

Sir Thomas Gerard, who came of age in 1452, (fn. 27) was married in childhood to Douce daughter of Sir Thomas Ashton; afterwards he married Cecily, daughter of Sir Robert Foulshurst, by whom he had a son and heir Peter, and other children. (fn. 28) He died on 27 March 1490; (fn. 29) his widow Cecily afterwards made a vow of chastity. (fn. 30) The son Peter, aged thirty at his father's death, married Margery daughter of Sir Thomas Stanley of Hooton, and granddaughter and coheir of Sir John Bromley, by whom the estate of Gerard's Bromley came to this family. Peter Gerard died four years after his father, (fn. 31) leaving as heir his son Thomas, only six years of age. He was made a knight, but showed himself a turbulent and lawless man, (fn. 32) and died at Berwick in 1523, during an expedition against the Scots. (fn. 33) His son, another Sir Thomas, was only eleven years of age at his father's death; but little is known of him. He died between 1550 and 1560. (fn. 34)


Bromley. Quarterly per fesse indented gules and or.


Gerard of Brynn. Azure a lion rampant ermine crowned or.

His son Sir Thomas Gerard sold his interest in the Kingsley estates of the family, (fn. 35) and purchased the other third part of the manor of Ashton from John Atherton, thus becoming sole lord. (fn. 36) His wife was the heiress of Sir John Port of Etwall in Derbyshire, and this manor-house became a favourite residence of the family. (fn. 37) After a brief period of compliance he became conspicuous for his resistance to the religion established by Elizabeth, and suffered accordingly. He was sent to the Tower in 1571, perhaps being suspected of a share in the rising of the previous year or for sympathy with Mary Queen of Scots; his release is said to have been purchased by the surrender of Bromley to Sir Gilbert Gerard, Master of the Rolls. (fn. 38) He was again committed to the Tower in 1586, but liberated about three years later, having been induced to give evidence against Philip Earl of Arundel, then in the Tower also, to the effect that he had prayed for the success of the Spaniards. (fn. 39) In 1590 he was reported as having 'made show of conformity' while in Lancashire, but was 'in general note of evil affection' in religion. (fn. 40) His younger son John became a Jesuit, and laboured in England until the storm aroused by the Gunpowder Plot, when he escaped to Belgium, and became the chief agent in the foundation of the English College at Liège. (fn. 41)

Sir Thomas Gerard is said to have died in September 1601. (fn. 42) His son Thomas, made a knight in 1603, and a baronet in 1611, succeeded him. (fn. 43) Like his father, he was in 1590 reported as 'of evil affection in religion'; his wife Cecily was then a 'recusant and indicted thereof.' (fn. 44) He died at the beginning of 1621, holding the manors of Ashton and Windle in Lancashire, and Etwall and Hardwick in Derbyshire; the tenure of Ashton was stated to be 'in free socage, by fealty only.' His heir was his son Thomas, aged thirty-six and more. (fn. 45) This Sir Thomas, second baronet, was succeeded in 1630 (fn. 46) by his son Sir William Gerard, who warmly espoused the king's cause at the outbreak of the Civil War, (fn. 47) and was appointed governor of Denbigh Castle; he sold the Derbyshire estates to provide money for the campaign. (fn. 48)

Charles II lodged at Brynn 15 August 1651, on his way from Scotland to Worcester. (fn. 49) Sir William's estate was of course sequestered by the Parliament, and being a convicted recusant he was not at first allowed to compound even for the third part retained by recusants who were not 'delinquents' also. The estates were sold under the confiscation Act of 1652, the purchaser being John Wildman. (fn. 50) All or most was recovered in some way, probably by composition with the new owner, and Sir William Gerard of the Brynn recorded a pedigree at the Visitation of 1665. (fn. 51) He was buried at Winwick in 1681.

His son Sir William, aged twenty-seven in 1665, succeeded. The family had been greatly impoverished by their fidelity to their religion and to the cause of Charles I, and it is said that even the stipends of the priests serving the domestic chapels at Ashton could not be paid. (fn. 52) Sir William's son, another William, married about 1696 the heiress of the Cansfield family, and this probably helped to restore the fortunes of the Gerards. (fn. 53) Sir William died in 1702; his son as 'a papist' registered his estate in 1717, and died four years later. (fn. 54) For the succeeding century there is but little to record of the family. They were shut out of public employments by the legal proscription of the ancient religion, and do not seem to have produced any distinguished ecclesiastics.

The development of the coal mines in Ashton during the 19th century brought great wealth to the family.

The Sir William Gerard last mentioned was succeeded by his son and grandson, each named William. (fn. 55) The last was followed by his brothers Thomas and Robert Cansfield; the latter, who died in 1784, had sons, Robert Clifton, (fn. 56) and William who succeeded; a younger son John, drowned at Southport in 1822, (fn. 57) was father of Sir John Gerard, who succeeded his uncle William in 1826, and held the manors of Ashton and Windle for nearly twenty-eight years. His heir was his brother, Robert Tolver, created Baron Gerard of Brynn in 1876. He has been followed by his son William Cansfield and his grandson Frederick John, second and third lords. The latter, who succeeded to the title and estates in 1902, on the death of his father, came of age in 1904.

In 1836 courts leet and baron were held twice a year; (fn. 58) but they seem to have been discontinued.

A description of Brynn Hall, as it existed near the end of the 18th century, is given in Baines's Lancashire. (fn. 59)

The third part of the manor held in 1212 by Henry son of Roger cannot be traced for some time. It became the possession of the Athertons of Atherton, (fn. 60) who held it down to the middle of the 16th century, when it was sold to the Gerards of Brynn (fn. 61) as above stated.


Atherton of Atherton. Gules three sparrow-hawks argent.

The only landowner contributing to the subsidy in Mary's reign was Sir Thomas Gerard; (fn. 62) but the following freeholders were recorded in 1600: Sir Thomas Gerard of Brynn, Thomas Gerard of Garswood, James Ashton, Edward Knowles, James Richardson, William Slynehead, and William Stanley; (fn. 63) some other names occur. (fn. 64) Under the Commonwealth the Gerard estates, as above related, were confiscated; the properties of Hugh Orrell (fn. 65) and Elizabeth Rogerson, widow, (fn. 66) were also sequestered for recusancy. In 1717 John Darbyshire, Thomas Naylor, Elizabeth Aray of Chorley, John Taylor of Lydiate, Edward Unsworth, John Boardman, and Andrew Moore registered estates as 'papists.' (fn. 67)

The family of Lander of New Hall appears during the 17th century. (fn. 68) This estate was acquired by the Gerards about 1796, and became their principal residence. (fn. 69)


Lander of New Hall. Sable three mullets in bend argent between two bendlets indented or.

The Sorocold family were seated at Eyebridge in the 17th century. (fn. 70)

A troop of yeomanry cavalry, commanded by Sir William Gerard, existed in 1804, when two companies of infantry volunteers were raised for the protection of the country from invasion. (fn. 71)

CHURCH

There is no record of the origin of St. Thomas's Chapel at Ashton, which is first named in the pleadings in 1515 respecting the dispute about Turnshea Moss between Sir Thomas Gerard and his namesake of Ince; it was then deposed that the priest at Ashton Chapel had given public notice that Sir Thomas intended to make a straight ditch through the moss that his turfrooms might be the drier. (fn. 72) Little is known of it for a century after this; (fn. 73) but the new services were certainly used there, Sir Thomas Gerard about 1562 forcibly carrying to it his relation Nicholas Gerard as a too obstinate adherent of the old. (fn. 74) The ministrations were probably irregular; in 1590 there was 'no preacher' there, (fn. 75) and more than twenty years later 'seldom a curate,' there being, it would seem, no income except what the rector allowed. (fn. 76) The Commonwealth Surveyors of 1650 found everything in order, and recommended it to be made a parish church; to the minister had been assigned the sequestered tithes of the township, worth £120 a year. (fn. 77)

At the Restoration the curate, proving a Nonconformist, was ejected. (fn. 78) In 1718 Bishop Gastrell found the certified stipend only £1 12s.; the rector, however, gave £50, 'being obliged to provide for it;' and other inhabitants subscribed £7 a year on condition that the curate resided and read prayers on Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-days. (fn. 79) The chapel was rebuilt in 1706 on Sir William Gerard's ground, and he leased out the chapel yard. (fn. 80) It was enlarged in 1784 and 1815; and in 1845, on the division of the rectory of Winwick, was made a parish church, being endowed with the tithes of Haydock. (fn. 81) There is a licensed mission of St. Luke's.

The incumbent has the title of vicar, and is appointed by the rector of Ashton. The following have been in charge:— (fn. 82)

oc. 1609 John Janion (fn. 83)
1645–62 James Woods (fn. 84)
oc. 1663 —Maddock
oc. 1668 — Atkinson (fn. 85)
1690 Thomas Wareing (fn. 86)
oc. 1710 — Smith (fn. 87)
oc. 1736 — Pierce (fn. 88)
— — Shuttleworth
1742 Richard Bevan (fn. 89)
1779 Edward Edwards, B.A.
1796 Giles Chippindall
1804 John Woodrow
1809 Edmund Sibson (fn. 90)
1848 Edward Pigot, M.A. (Brasenose Coll.)
1857 Frederick Kenney, M.A. (Christ Church, Oxford)
1870 William Page Oldham, M.A. (Christ's Coll., Camb.)
1871 Henry Siddall, B.A. (Clare Coll., Camb.)

By the same Act of 1845 Holy Trinity Church, Downall Green, built in 1837, was made the principal church, its incumbent having the title of rector of Ashton, and being endowed with the tithes of the township, from which £50 a year was to be paid to the vicar of St. Thomas's. (fn. 91) The rector is presented by the Earl of Derby. At Stubshaw Cross is St. Luke's Mission Church.

A school was founded in 1588. (fn. 92)

A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built here as early as 1821. There are now also places of worship of the Primitive Methodists, the Independent Methodists, and the Welsh Wesleyans.

The Congregational church at Ashton appears to have originated in the occasional preaching visits of the Rev. W. Alexander of Prescot, in 1802 and later. A church was formed in 1824 and a chapel built in 1829. It did not prosper, and from 1846 to 1866 the condition of affairs was 'very low.' The present church was built in 1867 by Richard Evans and his family; the old building is used as a school. (fn. 93)

The Society of Friends had a small meeting here from about 1717 to 1835. The place was on the north-west boundary of the township. (fn. 94)

On the restoration of the Prayer Book services in 1662 the objectors under the ministry of the ejected curate, James Woods, worshipped in a farm-house. (fn. 95) A chapel was built at Park Lane in 1697, which still exists, having been altered in 1871. The congregation, as in other cases, gradually became Unitarian. Some of the ministers were of note in their time. (fn. 96)

The dominant family and a large number of the inhabitants adhered to the ancient religion (fn. 97) at the Reformation, but nothing is positively known as to the secret provision for worship until the middle of the 17th century, when the Jesuits had charge of the Brynn mission. (fn. 98) Later there was another chapel in Garswood; and in 1822 the church of St. Oswald was built in the village; it is in charge of secular priests. Here is preserved the 'Holy Hand' of the Ven. Edmund Arrowsmith, of which many miraculous stories are related. (fn. 99) Thomas Penswick, Bishop of Europum and vicar apostolic of the northern district from 1831 till his death in 1836, was born at Ashton manor-house, where also he died. (fn. 100)

Footnotes

1 6,251, including 63 of inland water, according to the census of 1901.
2 Baines, Lancs. Dir. ii, 717.
3 Lancs. and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xix, 235, 236.
4 Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1836), iii, 628; no reference is given.
5 Ibid. 639.
6 Lond. Gaz. 14 June, 1872.
7 V.C.H. Lancs. i, 286.
8 Ibid. 366 n. It is regularly entered among the members of Newton fee in the inquisitions; see Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 99.
9 Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 74, 75.
10 i.e. reaching back to the time of Henry I.
11 Ibid. The grant to the Hospitallers does not appear again.
12 Whalley Coucher (Chet. Soc.), iii, 852; Thomas de Burnhull and his son Peter attested a charter. Peter de Burnhull was in possession of Ashton by 1246; Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 98.
13 See the account of Windle; her manors were Windle, Skelmersdale, and half of Rainhill.
14 Final Conc. i, 116. By this Robert Banastre also released to Peter de Burnhull all right to any suit of mill from Peter and his heirs and the men of his fee in Ashton; for the grant and quitclaim Peter gave 35 marks, and promised to render at Newton 2s. a year for ever.
15 Thomas Moody, of Ashton, in 1292 complained that Gilbert de Clifton (guardian), and Peter son of Peter de Burnhull had disseised him of certain land, but they showed that it had never been arable land in plaintiff's time, only moor and marsh; Assize R. 408, m. 60 d. Thomas Moody had another charge to make against Gilbert de Clifton—that he had been seized at Ashton and taken to the church of Wigan, where he was imprisoned; ibid. m. 53 d.
16 Alan son of Peter de Burnhull was lord of Ashton in 1302 and 1305, as appears by pleas of those years; Assize R. 418, m. 4; 420, m. 3. He was lord of Skelmersdale in 1300; Final Conc. i, 189; ii, 143 n. He is also called Alan de Windle.
17 Assize R. 424, m. 2; De Banco R. 284, m. 119.
18 It will be seen from the account of Kirkby that William Gerard, the father, had a share of the manors of Kirkby and Melling in right of his wife.
An account of the Gerards of Kingsley is given in Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), ii, 96, and 131, 132. Abstracts of inquisitions and family deeds are there printed.
19 Ibid. ii, 628. In 1346 inquiry was made as to why William Gerard, jun., and David de Egerton had not been made knights: a list of their possessions was made; Q.T. Mem. R. 122, m. 123 d.
20 Ormerod, op. cit. ii, 96. William and Joan were in possession of Ashton in 1338, when they made a sale of land; Final Conc. ii, 108.
21 Ibid. ii, 143, 144.
22 The Bishop of Lichfield granted to Sir Peter Gerard a licence for his oratory at Brynn for two years from 7 Oct. 1379; Lich. Epis. Reg. Scrope, v, fol. 33. The writ of Diem cl. extr. after his death was issued 20 Feb. 1380–1; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 353.
23 Ormerod, ii, 96. Thomas Gerard was knight of the shire in 1384, 1388, and 1394; Pink and Beaven, Parl. Repre. of Lancs. 40, 43, 44. In 1393 Thomas Gerard received the royal pardon for having entered into certain estates during his minority and for having married, when he should have been in ward to the king; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 195. In 1402 he made provision for the marriage of his son John with Alice daughter of Sir John Boteler; ibid. 196.
24 Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 123; the clear value was 100 marks. His name does not occur in Sir Harris Nicolas's account of the Agincourt campaign.
25 Ormerod, loc. cit. The writ of Diem cl. extr. was issued 10 Dec. 1431, and writ of livery 14 Mar. 1431–2; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App. 301. The writ of Diem cl. extr. on the death of Alice, widow of John Gerard, was issued 27 Feb. 1441–2; ibid.
26 Ormerod, loc. cit. The Lancashire inquisition taken after his death is preserved in Towneley MS. DD, no. 1465. This recites among other deeds, that John Gerard, the father, had in 1428 granted lands in Rainhill, with Smalley, Lawfield, and other parcels in Ashton to his son Peter and Isabel his wife. It also appears that Peter was 'esquire' in 1440, when various lands were settled on Douce, daughter of Sir Thomas Ashton, in view of her marriage with Thomas Gerard, son of Peter. The said Peter died seised of 'the manor of Ashton, otherwise called the manor or capital messuage of the Brynn,' but the jury did not know by what rent it was held of the chief lord, Henry Langton. The custody of the lands of the heir was granted to Thomas Danyell, and afterwards to John Ashton; Isabel, widow of Sir Peter, had dower; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App. 302.
27 Proof of age was given at St. Mary's Church, Chester, on 2 Aug. 1452. John Leicester said that Thomas was of age on 15 July; he remembered being at Winwick Church on pilgrimage to St. Rhadegund on the day of the baptism. John Abram remembered Sir Peter Gerard asking Sir Thomas Stanley to be godfather to his son; Richard Clive remembered the same, and held a lighted candle at the baptism. Others were at Winwick Church attending a funeral, when they heard of Thomas's birth, and others heard of it while staying at Ashton for a 'love day' between Sir William Atherton and Henry Kighley; Ormerod, loc. cit.
A pension of £20 to Sir Thomas Gerard granted by Edward IV was excepted from the Act of Resumption in 1464; Parl. R. v, 546.
28 This appears from the later inquisitions, in which Peter is called the son of Cecily. Other sons were Robert, mentioned in the will of Thomas Gerard, and John, a clerk, to whom the Cheshire manors were granted for life by his father; Ormerod, loc. cit.; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 132.
29 Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 21: the inquisition was not taken until 1508.
30 Lich. Epis. Reg. Hales, xiii, fol. 121b; commission to receive the vow and give the widow's veil, ring and mantle, dated 22 May 1491. She died 24 May 1502, having a life interest in the Gerard lands which had been assigned to her as dower by her son Peter; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 95.
31 Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. ii, no. 21, where the date is given as 20 June 1494. This does not agree with that on the memorial brass in Winwick Church, which sets forth the lineage of his wife. In 1502, after the death of Dame Cecily, the manors were granted to Margary, widow of Peter, during the minority of the heir; Duchy of Lanc. Misc. Bks. xxi, 32a. Cecily Gerard's Inq. p.m. states that the Bromley lands were in Bromley, Whittington, Beddill, Chadkilne, Ridges, Podmore, Kaunton, Milwich, Woolsall, and Selfort, with a moiety of the manor of Hextell, in Staffordshire.
Margery, the widow of Peter Gerard, requested that as various lands had been assigned to feoffees on the marriage of Sir Thomas Gerard with Cecily daughter of Sir Robert Foulshurst, which Cecily was still living, she should have the rule of Thomas her son during his minority; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. ii, no. 112.
32 In Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 61–7, is an account (wrongly dated) of a cock fight at Winwick in 14 Apr. 1515, attended by Thomas Boteler of Bewsey, son of Sir Thomas, and others of the neighbouring gentry; James Stanley, Bishop of Ely, though he had arranged to come, does not seem to have been present. The meeting was disturbed by the appearance of Sir Thomas Gerard and a number of retainers, all fully armed, and determined to wreak vengeance on some obnoxious members of the party. His quarrel with Thomas Gerard of Ince occurred a little earlier; ibid. 3–7. Roger Platt of Ince complained that Sir Thomas Gerard of Ashton, 'of his own rigorous and malicious mind,' had seized his cattle and carried them off to the Brynn, where he detained them, and out of 'further rancour' set in the stocks one Lawrence Charnock, who had taken fodder for the cattle; ibid. 75.
A settlement of various manors was made in 1511, Thomas Gerard and Margery his wife being in possession; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 11, m. 246.
33 Duchy Plead. ii, 234. He died 7 Nov. 1523 seised of the manors of Brynn, Windle, and Brindle, and wide lands in the district. In his will, dated a year before his death, he recited the provision made for his wife Margery daughter of Sir Edmund Trafford; his son and heir Thomas and his wife Joan; Peter and other younger sons; Katherine, Elizabeth, and Anne, his daughters. The last appears to have been already married to Richard Ashton of Middleton. The remainders were to Robert Gerard, his uncle, and to the issue of his grandfather, Sir Thomas Gerard; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. viii, no. 13.
Margery, the widow, afterwards married Sir John Port, and died 10 May 1540, when the son, Thomas Gerard, was thirty-eight years of age; ibid.
34 In 1533 he 'would not be spoken with' by the herald; Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 182. He was made a knight in 1544 during the invasion of Scotland; Metcalfe, Bk. of Knights, 78. In 1536 Thomas Gerard of Brynn was expected to bring a contingent of 450 men to serve against the Pilgrimage of Grace; L. and P. Hen. VIII, xi, 511. He was sheriff of the county in 1548 and 1553; P.R.O. List, 73. In 1552 he was claiming exemptions for the suppressed chantry of Windle; Ducatus Lanc. (Rec. Com.), i, 254. He appears to have had several illegitimate children, of whom one, Thomas, was employed as trustee. Another Thomas Gerard, contemporary with these, was the natural son of William Gerard.
Sir Thomas married Jane, a daughter of Sir Peter Legh of Lyme, from whom he was separated; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxii, 170; Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), iii, 677. Her will, in which she is described as Dame Jane Gerard of Bromley, is printed from the Lyme deeds in Wills (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 78; she makes bequests to her son, Sir Thomas Gerard and his wife Elizabeth, and to her brother Sir P. Legh.
35 Ormerod, op. cit. ii, 96.
36 See below.
37 With this Sir Thomas and his wife the pedigree recorded in 1665 begins; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 116. His sons on matriculating at Oxford in 1575 were said to be 'of Derbyshire'; and ten years later Sir Thomas was described as 'lurking' in his house at Etwall; Morris, Life of John Gerard, 6 (quoting Clifford, S.P. of Sir R. Sadler, ii, 525).
Sir Thomas Gerard was sheriff in 1557 (P.R.O. List, 73), and knight of the shire in 1562; Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 5.
38 Morris, op. cit. 5, quoting Murdin, Coll. of S.P. 771, 35. Those committed to the Tower with him were Sir Thomas Stanley, probably of Winwick Rectory, and Francis Rolleston; 'they were reconciled to the pope according to the late bull.' The story as to Bromley is quoted in Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 237, from Wotton, Baronetage, 55. John Gerard says simply that his father 'obtained his release by the payment of a large sum'; Morris, loc. cit.
39 The story that he abandoned his religion and adopted a licentious course of life is discredited by Gillow, Bibl. Dict. of Engl. Catholics, ii, 426.
40 Lydiate Hall, 244; quoting S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4. Another Thomas Gerard, perhaps the bastard, was 'soundly affected in religion'; ibid. 246.
41 His adventurous life is told, mainly from his autobiography, in the work of Fr. Morris already cited; see also Dict. Nat. Biog. and Gillow. The confusion created by the mistakes he made as to his age at entering Oxford, &c. is cleared by the record in Foster, Alumni Oxon. showing that he and his elder brother Thomas entered Exeter College, Oxford, in Dec. 1575, at the ages of thirteen and fifteen. When admitted to the English College at Rome in 1587 as a scholar—he had already lived there seven months—his age was recorded as 'in his twenty-third year'; Foley, Rec. S.J. vi, 173. He is said to have been born 4 Oct. 1564. His country upbringing stood him in good stead in his later life, suspicion on one occasion being averted 'as he spoke of hunting and falconry with all the details that none but a practised person could command'; Morris, op. cit. 43.
42 A number of settlements were made during the reign of Elizabeth, of which the fines give evidence. In 1573 Sir Thomas claimed from Thomas Gerard, base son of Sir Thomas Gerard deceased, the manors of Ashton in Makerfield, Brindle, Windle, and Skelmersdale, with messuages and wide lands, twelve watermills, twelve windmills, two fulling-mills, two horse-mills, six dovecotes, &c.; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 35, m. 3. This would be just after Sir Thomas's release from the Tower. A settlement apparently on behalf of his wife Elizabeth was made in the following spring; ibid. bdle. 36, m. 230. Shortly afterwards he purchased Lord Mounteagle's lands in Ashton; ibid. bdle. 36, m. 102.
In 1582 a settlement or mortgage was made by Sir Thomas Gerard, Elizabeth his wife, and Thomas his son and heir apparent; ibid. bdle. 44, m. 226.
Four years later a large number of settlements were made, separate properties being dealt with. In some the remainders after the death of Sir Thomas and Elizabeth were to Thomas the son and heir and Cecily his wife, and then to John Gerard, second son of Sir Thomas. In many others the further remainder was to Sir Gilbert Gerard, Master of the Rolls, and then to the male issue of William Gerard, late of Harrow, Henry Gerard of Rainhill, and William Gerard, late of Ince; ibid. bdle. 48, m. 118–198, 262, 305. A number of similar feoffments were made in 1598; ibid. bdle. 60, m. 4–22, 43, 47.
43 Feoffments were made by Thomas Gerard in 1587, his father being then in the Tower; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 49, m. 271–9. He had gone up to Oxford in 1575, as above stated; but he and his brother John soon left, finding that 'at Easter the heretics sought to force them to attend their worship, and to partake of their counterfeit sacrament'—so John Gerard in Morris, op. cit. 14.
Their tutor, Edward Lewknor, followed them, 'being resolved to live as a Catholic in very deed, and not merely in desire.'
For the knighthood see Metcalfe, op. cit. 140; and for the baronetcy G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, i, 21. The fee of £1,000 is said to have been remitted in consideration of the father's services to the king's mother. He represented Liverpool in the Parliament of 1597, and Wigan in that of 1621; Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 184, 224.
In 1612 a settlement was made by Sir Thomas Gerard of the manors of Ashton, Garswood, and Windle—the other Lancashire manors having been disposed of— and lands in Ashton and neighbouring townships; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 81, no. 26.
44 Lydiate Hall, loc. cit. In 1592 Thomas Gerard of High Carr was reported to have had a 'notorious recusant' as his schoolmaster for some years; ibid. 258 (quoting S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxv, 19). His sister Dorothy and her husband Ralph Layton of the Brynn were in like case.
Dame Anne Gerard, widow of Sir Gilbert Gerard, was in 1590 living at Highley Carr, indicted of recusancy; ibid.
45 Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), iii, 297–301. The fine above cited is given, as also another relating to the Derbyshire manors. The remainders were to Thomas, eldest son of Sir Thomas, and his sons by Frances his wife; in default to John, the second son, &c.
46 Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xxvi, no. 57; funeral certificate (with coat of twenty quarters) in Lancs. and Ches. Fun. Cert. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 203.
Sir Thomas had been made a knight in 1615; Metcalfe, op. cit. 165. He was member for Liverpool in 1624; Pink and Beavan, op. cit. 186. As a convicted recusant he paid double to the subsidy of 1628; Norris D. (B.M.). Gilbert, one of his sons, became a Jesuit priest, and died of a disease contracted while acting as chaplain to some English troops in Belgium in 1645; Foley, Rec. S.J vi, 337; vii, 294.
Richard, another son, cup-bearer to Queen Henrietta Maria, acquired the manor of Ince in Makerfield.
47 Sir William Gerard, Sir Cecil Trafford, and four other convicted recusants, joined in a petition to Charles I that their arms might be restored to them 'in this time of actual war,' for the security of the king's person as well as of their own district and families, 'who are not only in danger of the common disturbance, but menaced by unruly people to be robbed.' The king writing from Chester, 27 Sept. 1642, very readily granted the permission; War in Lancs. (Chet. Soc.), 12–14.
48 Etwall is said to have been sold to secure the barony of Newton, but the money was spent in providing funds for the campaign of 1651; see Visit. of 1533 (Chet. Soc.), 184.
49 'The last night this king lodged at Brynn, six miles from Warrington, being Sir William Gerard's house, who is a subtle jesuited Papist'; letter dated Stockton Heath, 16 Aug. in Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 288.
50 G.E.C. op. cit. and Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), iii, 51–71, where details are given of a settlement made in 1632; see also Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 122, no. 5. It appeared that in 1632 Sir William had compounded with the king for a lease of two-thirds of his Lancashire lands sequestered for recusancy, he having been in ward to the king until April of that year; Royalist Comp. Papers, iii, 62. 'Getting coals' is named among the disbursements; 66. A survey of the lands in Ashton, taken in 1652, is printed on p. 68; it gives the names, areas, and values of the fields. Tootell, Leachfield, Tunstall Heads, Coalpit Banks, Mill Hill and Pingotts appear among the field names.
For the sale see ibid. 70; Index of Royalists (Index Soc.), 42.
51 Dugdale, Visit. 116. Sir William Gerard and William his son were recusants in 1678; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 109. Two of the younger sons went to the English College in Rome—Thomas who entered in 1660, and became a Jesuit, and died in Yorkshire in 1682, while attending victims of an epidemic; and Cuthbert who entered in 1662, and left for England two years later; Foley, op. cit. vi, 401, 404; vii, 296. Thomas, on entering, gave details of his parentage, stating that 'his parents and himself had suffered much for the Catholic religion'; he had been baptized by Fr. Howard in 1641.
52 Foley, op. cit. v, 361; the time referred to seems to be early in the 18th century.
An anecdote of Sir William Gerard is given in Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 142. He remained loyal to James II, and was carried off to Preston a prisoner in 1689, and accused of a part in the 'Lancashire Plot' of 1694; ibid. 294, 359, &c.; inquiry was also made as to whether Garswood Hall was not devoted to 'superstitious uses'; Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 84. His son William was also among the accused. A number of the baptisms of Sir William's children are recorded in the Winwick registers.
53 See the account of Cansfield of Robert Hall.
54 Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 114. The estate was the 'manor of Ashton, &c., entailed with remainders successively to sons by Mary his wife, to John his brother, to Thomas Gerard of Ince, and to Richard Gerard of Wigan; subject to £100 per annum to Dame Mary Gerard of Birchley. Also the rectory of Childwall, for lives of his wife Mary, the granddaughter of James Anderton, and of his daughters Anne and Elizabeth—£1,272 11s. 8d.'
The brother, John Gerard of Garswood, registered an annuity of £80; and the father's widow, Dame Mary of Birchley, also registered; ibid. 99, 97.
55 The brief summary of the descent here given is quoted from G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, loc. cit. The following references to Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. may be useful: Lent 1693—Recovery of the manors of Ashton and Windle, &c., Sir William Gerard and William Gerard vouchees; R. 457, m. 9. Aug. 1703— King's Silver, manor of Windle, &c., Sir William Gerard and Mary his wife, John, Thomas, and Richard Gerard; R. 478, m. 8. Lent 1721—Recovery of manor of Ashton, Sir William Gerard and William Gerard vouchees; R. 512, m. 6. Aug. 1745—Recovery of manors of Ashton and Windle and a fourth part of Billinge, Sir Thomas Gerard vouchee; R. 563, m. 4. Lent 1796—Recovery of manors of Ashton, Windle, and Aspull, and parcels in Aspull, Billinge, Ince, Golborne, Parr, Winstanley, Prescot, Wigan, Hindley, Hale, Halewood, and Halebank; Lent Assizes 1796, R, 12.
56 A short notice of him is printed in Pal. Note Bk. iv, 57.
57 He was described as of Windle Hall. For an account of the accident see Bland, Ann. of Southport, 79.
58 Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1836), iii, 639.
59 Ibid. iii, 637; it is by Barritt, the Manchester antiquary.
60 The earliest record is in 1302, when Hugh de Atherton claimed reasonable estovers in Ashton, with heybote, housebote, &c., against Alan son of Peter de Burnhull, William de Atherton, and Jordan the Woodward. Thus William de Atherton appears to have been then the lord of a third; Assize R. 418, m. 4. Alan de Burnhull in 1313 claimed William and Hugh de Atherton, Hugh Spark, Henry Tootell and others as suitors at his mill; De Banco R. 199, m. 134 d.
Hugh de Atherton was a brother of William's; Culcheth D. nos. 35, 44 (in Lancs. and Ches. Hist. and Gen. Notes, i). Hugh had a son Henry who may be the Henry de Atherton of Aintree in 1332; his daughter Joan married Robert de Nevill of Hornby, who in 1346 claimed Hugh de Atherton's lands in Ashton and elsewhere; De Banco R. 345, m. 393 d.; 346, m. 349. The claim was no doubt successful as lands were held here by Lord Mounteagle in the time of Henry VIII as of the inheritance of James Harrington; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. v, no. 64, xi, no. 1. They were sold, as already stated, to Sir Thomas Gerard in 1574. The Molyneux lands in Ashton may have been part of the inheritance; ibid. xiii, no. 35.
Various suits are on record involving the principal Atherton family. In 1332 Hugh de Atherton claimed common of pasture in Ashton against Henry son of William de Atherton and others; Hugh de Atherton the younger and Henry his brother were sureties; Assize R. 1411, m. 12d. At the same time Hugh de Atherton charged Alexander de Atherton with carrying off his goods; De Banco R. 292, m. 231 d. In 1346 Henry son of William de Atherton made a claim for waste against Alexander de Atherton; Agnes de Atherton was the lessee; De Banco R. 348, m. 427 d. She may be the Agnes, widow of Henry de Atherton, who contributed to the subsidy of 1332; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 18. Hugh de Atherton in 1347 succeeded in a claim against Adam son of William de Atherton; Assize R. 1435, m. 41 d. This Adam de Atherton who was a chaplain, was in 1352 and 1353 a plaintiff; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 2, m. 4 d.; R. 435, m. 28 d. (where a long list of tenants is given).
In 1367 Ralph de Langton claimed from Sir William de Atherton a certain rent in Ashton in Makerfield due to the lord of Newton, from a third part of the wood and pasture called Garswood within the demesne of the manor of Newton. This rent had been granted in 1331 by Henry son of William de Atherton, and father of the defendant. The latter said that William his grandfather had held the third part, and so settled it that Henry, when the charter was made, had nothing except fee tail only; De Banco R. 438, m. 337.
A later Sir William de Atherton died in 1414 seised, among other estates, of a third part of the manor of Ashton, held of Henry de Langton by fealty and the service of 2 marks a year; its clear value was 40 marks; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 107. The increase of the rent from 10s. to 26s. 8d. may be accounted for by the statements in the preceding case.
The manor is named in 1443 in a settlement by William son of Sir William Atherton on marrying Isabel daughter of Richard Balderston; Towneley MS. C. 8, 5 (Chet. Lib.), Hen. VI, no. 43. Isabel was a widow in 1479; ibid. Edw. IV, no. 14.
John Atherton of Atherton, who died in 1488, made various provisions for his illegitimate children from his manor of Garswood and lands in Ashton; at the inquisition taken in 1507 it was stated that the manor was held by fealty only, and the lands by a rent of 26s. 8d.; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 39. For the settlements alluded to see also Dods. MSS. lviii, fol. 164b, no. 9; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 33, m. 7, 7 d., where it is stated that Thomas Harrington of Hornby, Thomas Totehill, and John Standish had paid rents to Sir William Atherton. A similar statement as to the tenure of the manor of Garswood and the lands in Ashton is made in the inquisition taken in 1518 after the death of George Atherton, son of John; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. v, no. 12.
Thomas Hesketh of Rufford, who died in 1523, held lands of John Atherton, son of George, by fealty and a rent of 20d.; ibid. v, no. 16. Peter Gerard of Aughton, who died in 1528, held lands in Ashton of the same John Atherton in socage by the rent of 13s.; ibid. vi, no. 58.
61 In 1562 Sir John Atherton and Margaret his wife sold the manor of Garswood and messuages, lands, windmill, and rents in Ashton to Sir Thomas Gerard; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 24, m. 89; also Plea R. 211, m. 5, reciting a feoffment and recovery.
In 1554 Sir John Gerard—an error for Sir John Atherton or Sir Thomas Gerard —declared that he was the owner of 'the manor or chief mease place called Garswood in Ashton in Makerfield, and certain lands, meadows, and tenements, with the windmill in the town of Ashton.' This was in reply to a complaint by Jane Taylor, widow of Thomas Taylor, who had in 1539 obtained a lease from John Atherton, then lord of Garswood, of certain tenements there, from which she had been in part ejected by John Gerard and his sons John and Thomas; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), iii, 165; compare Ducatus Lanc. (Rec. Com.), i, 249, 272, 282, 289. This John Gerard and his wife Anne, and his son John and wife Ellen, occur in a Gerard fine of 1599; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 53, m. 304.
62 Mascy of Rixton D.
63 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 239, 240, 243.
John Ashton in 1561 purchased the lands of Lionel Gerard of Aughton and Miles his son and heir; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle 23, m. 104. James Ashton purchased a messuage and lands from Thomas Gerard in 1594; ibid. bdle. 56, m. 126. In the same year a child of 'Mr. John Ashton of Ashton' was baptized at Winwick.
William Slynehead purchased a messuage, &c., from Henry Lathom in 1579; ibid. bdle. 41, m. 38.
In a settlement of land in Ashton made by Sir Thomas Gerard in 1586, is a lease of it to Richard Stanley for the life of his brother William's second son Thomas Stanley, at a rent of 30s.; ibid. bdle. 48, m. 262.
James Downall of Ashton occurs in 1549; Ducatus (Rec. Com.), ii, 99.
64 Ralph Hasleden died in 1636 holding a messuage, &c., of Sir Richard Fleetwood as of his manor of Makerfield, and leaving a son and heir Thomas, fifty years of age; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xxviii, no. 67.
David son of Lawrence Pendlebury died in 1640 holding a messuage, &c., of Sir William Gerard as of his manor of Ashton by suit of court and a rent of 14d.; Robert, his son and heir, was twenty-three years of age; ibid. xxix, no. 72.
65 Royalist Comp. Papers, iv, 236.
66 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, v, 3186; her husband Richard was living in 1641.
Roger Lowe's Diary (published in Local Glean. Lancs. and Ches. i) contains many particulars of local interest about the Restoration period, the writer having been a resident.
67 Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 97, 98, 99, 110, 124, 127, 153. For John Darbyshire see Payne, Engl. Cath. Rec. 25.
68 Thomas son of Mr. John Gerard of New Hall was baptized at Winwick, 10 Dec. 1608.
The Launder or Lander family afterwards acquired the property, and were described as 'of New hall' in 1687. An account of them is given in Local Glean. Lancs. and Ches. i, 216; ii, 95, from G. S. Master, Family of Master. John Launder of New Hall was a benefactor to the poor of Ashton; he died in 1692 and was succeeded by his son Thomas, who died in 1695, and whose daughter Margaret carried the New Hall estate to the Master family. See also pedigree in Burke, Landed Gentry (Master of Barrow Green House).
69 Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1836), iii, 639.
70 George Sorocold of Ashton is mentioned in 1651; Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iv, 2787. See further in the account of Leigh.
71 Local Glean. Lancs. and Ches. ii, 205, 206.
72 Duchy Plead. i, 5.
73 Humphrey Winstanley and Alice Worsley were married in 1559 'in a chapel within the house of Sir Thomas Gerard, by one Oswald Key, chaplain singing at Ashton Chapel;' Furnivall, Child Marriages (Early Engl. Text Soc.), 3. The domestic and public chapels were thus quite distinct.
Oswald Key appeared at the first visitation in Queen Elizabeth's reign.
74 Foley, Rec. S. J. ii, 26. Nicholas, who was gouty and unable to move, sang psalms in Latin as loud as he could, and was taken out again.
75 Lydiate Hall, 248.
76 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 13.
77 Commonwealth Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 48. The order as to the tithes was made in 1645 upon the petition of the inhabitants; Plund. Mins. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 6.
78 Nightingale, Lancs. Nonconformity, iv, 44.
79 Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 267. Even the £1 12s. was not ancient, consisting of £1 for an anniversary sermon and 12s. interest on sums left at various times. To have a resident curate was obviously a recent innovation.
80 The site was conveyed in 1745, and the chapel was consecrated in 1746; Church Papers at Ches. Dioc. Reg. An article on the church appeared in the Liverpool Dioc. Gaz. Nov. 1904.
81 Notitia, 268; note by Canon Raines. See also Lond. Gaz. 8 Aug. 1873.
82 From information in part supplied by the present vicar, the Rev. H. Siddall.
83 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxii, 298.
84 He 'came in by free election of the whole town;' he was 'a very godly preacher, a man of good life and conversation,' but had not kept the fast day appointed by Parliament; Commonwealth Ch. Surv. 48. He was in charge as early as Aug. 1645; Plund. Mins. Accts. i, 6. From the Winwick registers it seems that Thomas Potter, afterwards of Culcheth, was assisting in 1656.
Woods continued to preach for about a year after his ejection, and then removed into Cheshire; Roger Lowe's Diary in Local Glean. Lancs. and Ches. i, 170, 173.
85 Ibid. 186; Roger Lowe, being rebuked by Mr. Atkinson for not standing up at the reading of the gospel, 'told him his mind to the full.'
86 Stratford, Visitation Bk. at Ches. Dioc. Reg. He seems to have lived at Newton. Vicar of Garstang, 1712.
87 This name occurs in the Winwick registers.
88 See preceding note.
89 The church papers at Chester begin here.
90 He contributed an account of the Roman roads to Baines' Lancs. (ed. 1836), iii, 573. There is a eulogy of him in Beamont, Warrington in 1465 (Chet. Soc.), p. lxxviii.
91 Gastrell, Notitia, loc. cit.
92 Ibid.
93 Nightingale, op cit. iv, 52–60.
94 Information of Mr. J. Spence Hodgson.
95 John Hasleden's house and his barn in Park Lane were licensed in 1689; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 232.
96 Nightingale, op. cit. iv, 44–52.
97 See the Recusant Roll of 1641 in Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiv, 245.
98 Foley, Rec. S.J. v, 360–1. Fr. Thomas Tootell was resident at Garswood in 1663. At Brynn Fr. Waldegrave was serving in 1680. In 1701 both Garswood and Brynn are named; ibid. 321. In 1784 ninety-three persons were confirmed at Brynn, where the Easter communicants numbered 180; the corresponding numbers at Garswood were 39 and 100; ibid. 324.
Fr. Cuthbert Clifton probably served Brynn and Garswood as early as 1642; he died there in 1675, being regarded by his brethren as 'a pious man, who laboured with fruit for many years in the Lord's vineyard,' and by Roger Lowe, the Puritan undertaker, as 'the great and profane monster of Jesuitical impiety'; Foley, vii, 139; Local Glean. Lancs. and Ches. i, 196. Some further particulars as to the priests here may be gathered from Lowe's Diary.
99 Liverpool Cath. Ann. 1901. For E. Arrowsmith see the account of Haydock. The Holy Hand was preserved at Brynn and Garswood till the erection of St. Oswald's; Harland and Wilkinson, Lancs. Legends, 41.
100 Gillow, Bibl. Dict. of Engl. Cath. v, 259. His father was steward to the Gerards.