Townships: Rainhill

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1907.

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'Townships: Rainhill', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, (London, 1907) pp. 368-371. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp368-371 [accessed 18 April 2024]

In this section

RAINHILL

Reynhull, 1256; Raynhull, 1285.

This township has an area of 1,639½ acres. (fn. 1) It occupies the southern slope of the hill from which apparently it has taken a name; roughly speaking the ridge of the hill forms the boundary against Eccleston on the north. The portion next to Sutton is called Ritherope. The open country is occupied by pastures and arable fields where crops of barley, wheat, potatoes and turnips are cultivated. Plantations dotted about give the landscape a park-like appearance.

The principal road, from Prescot to Warrington, passes through the township south-eastwardly; at the north-western boundary is the Holt; farther on, where the road crosses the London and NorthWestern Company's line from Liverpool to Manchester, is the station, where in recent times a considerable village has grown up. Formerly there was only a house or two, and the place was called the Cross, or Kendrick's Cross. Then the modern hall is passed on the left, and the original village reached, now reduced to a few houses; close by are the Stoops. At this point, near which is the old 'manor house,' a more southerly road from Prescot joins it, having passed the old 'hall' at a point known as Blundell's Hill, more than 250 feet above sea level. The view from this point is very fine, embracing an extensive panorama of the immediate country, right away over the River Mersey to the hills and plains of Cheshire, to which, farther still, the undulating line of the Welsh mountains forms an imposing background. On the north this township is bounded by a colliery district, and consequently the country becomes less pleasing in character. The greater part of the township lies upon the pebble beds of the Bunter series (new red sandstone), but small areas of the lower mottled sandstone of the same series occur on the western side of Cronton Lane and half a mile to the north-west of Rainhill Stoops.

The population in 1901 numbered 2,208.

There is a parish council of eight members.

A quarry is worked. The place has long been celebrated for the manufacture of files; other tools and parts of watches are also made, and there is a brass foundry.

Kendrick's Cross, in the village, is a small stone pillar fixed in an ancient pedestal; Blundell's Hill Cross also stands on an ancient pedestal. (fn. 2)

MANORS

From what has been recorded of Sutton and Eccleston it will be known that RAINHILL, assessed at two ploughlands, was held by the lord of Eccleston of the lord of Sutton, the latter holding of the Constable of Chester as of his barony of Widnes. (fn. 3) The Eccleston family, however, early created a subordinate manor of Rainhill, of which the first undertenant appears to have been Roger de Rainhill, father of Simon and Waldeve, who were enfeoffed by John de Lacy, constable of Chester, between 1220 and 1232, of four oxgangs of land in Rainhill, which had been their father's, to hold by knight's service, where ten ploughlands made the service of a knight, and by rendering the farm which belonged to Richard de Eccleston. (fn. 4) Simon seems to have had issue by Emma his wife (fn. 5) two daughters, to whom before 1246 the manor had descended, viz., Amice who married Alan de Windle, and Agnes who married Roger de Molyneux, a younger son of Adam de Molyneux of Sefton. (fn. 6)

The manor was divided between them, each family having one plough-land. The Windle half, like the other possessions of the family, descended through the Burnhulls, to the Gerards of Brynn, who held it until the sixteenth century. (fn. 7) In 1565 it was sold to the immediately superior lord, Henry Eccleston, (fn. 8) but it appears to have soon changed hands again, for in 1629 the heirs of Hugh Lee or Ley were lords of the manor. (fn. 9) John Chorley, son of Alexander Chorley of Furnival's Inn, married Elizabeth Ley, a daughter and coheir of Hugh Ley of Liverpool, and in August, 1630, a settlement was made of the manor of Rainhill and various lands there, John Chorley and Elizabeth his wife being in possession. (fn. 10) This family, who became attached to the Society of Friends, continued to hold the Rainhill estate for several generations, the last being John Chorley of the Red Hazels in Huyton, who died in 1810, leaving two daughters Mary and Sarah, married respectively to John Ford and John Walker. (fn. 11) The father had been one of the great West Indian merchants of Liverpool, but failed in 1808, when his estates were sold. Dr. James Gerard of Liverpool, who afterwards lived at Sandhills, Kirkdale, purchased Rainhill manor-house, and in 1824 sold it to Bartholomew Bretherton of Rainhill, a famous stage-coach proprietor, whose principal establishment was situated in the village. (fn. 12) It descended to his daughter and heiress, the Marchioness Stapleton-Bretherton, and on her death in December 1883, passed to the present owner, Mr. Frederick Annesley Stapleton-Bretherton. (fn. 13)

Bretherton of Rainhill. Per chevron indented sable and argent, in chief two lions passant and in base a cross raguly flory counterchanged.

The second moiety descended from Roger and Agnes de Molyneux to their son Richard; (fn. 14) on the death of the latter's son Sir John (fn. 15) without surviving issue, it became the right of John de Lancaster, son of that John de Lancaster who married Margery, one of the daughters of Richard de Molyneux. (fn. 16) But little is known of the Lancaster family, (fn. 17) though they held the manor for four centuries and their pedigrees were recorded at the visitations. (fn. 18) In 1628 Thomas Lancaster, as a convicted recusant, paid double to the subsidy; (fn. 19) but though his son John was a Royalist, and as such suffered the confiscation of his property by the Parliament, he does not seem to have been charged with the equally serious offence of recusancy. (fn. 20) Subsequently the estate was recovered. In 1717 John Lancaster and two other members of the family as 'Papists' registered estates here. (fn. 21) Parts of the estate were sold, but the hall descended to the Fleetwood family. (fn. 22) On Miss Fleetwood's death, in 1877, it passed to a cousin, James Beaumont, by whom it was sold to the Marchioness Stapleton-Bretherton, and has since descended with the manor-house. (fn. 23)

Rainhill Hall is now used as a farm-house, and is only reached by a field road. The main building is L-shaped, with north and west wings, but it is clear that it was originally built round a court. The south wing has entirely disappeared, but the south end of the east wing remains in a dismantled state, separated from the rest of the house and used as a lumber-room. The west wing is entirely modernized, but the north wing has a front of c. 1600 with mullioned windows, and at its east end an upper room with an open timber roof of c. 1350, a good specimen with quadrant wind braces, and valuable on account of the rarity of domestic work of this date. The room was formerly used as a chapel, and is lighted by mullioned windows on the east and south, of early seventeenth-century date. The south-east block is also c. 1600, and has a projecting rectangular bay at its south-east angle, with a stone chimney-stack immediately to the north. It has been of two stories with an attic, and, though now neglected and ruinous, was evidently a good specimen of its class in its best days, with large mullioned windows, and no doubt the usual accessories of ornamental glazing and panelling.

Lancaster of Rainhill. Argent, two bars gules; on a canton of the second a lion passant guardant or.

The farmyard lies to the north-east of the house, and has on its north side a range of wooden farmbuildings, on low stone walls at least as old as the sixteenth century. They are a fine example of the primitive method of construction known as 'building on crucks,' the crucks in this case being set about 15 ft. apart from centre to centre, a little less than the normal width of a bay.

Two other Molyneux families had estates here in the fourteenth century. Alan de Molyneux, son of Roger, had a son Roger described as 'of Rainhill'; (fn. 24) and at RITHEROPE settled Robert de Molyneux, possibly another son of Roger. (fn. 25) He was followed by a son Roger, (fn. 26) and a grandson Richard of the same place. (fn. 27) Molyneuxes of Rainhill are mentioned from time to time down to the sixteenth century, but it is not possible to give a detailed account of them. (fn. 28) Ritherope also is now owned by Mr. Stapleton-Bretherton.

Another family having lands in Rainhill bore the local name; (fn. 29) others were the Lees (fn. 30) and Garnets. (fn. 31) In 1600 the only resident freeholders seem to have been Thomas Lancaster and Simon Garnet. (fn. 32) Thomas Parker, Ralph Glover and Ellis his son, and Peter Glover of Sutton, registered estates here in 1717 as 'Papists.' (fn. 33) In 1785 the trustees of John Lancaster, — Chorley, and Edward Faulkner were the largest land-holders. (fn. 34)

In connexion with the Established Church St. Anne's was built in 1837; the patronage is held by Mr. James Brierley.

A Wesleyan Methodist church was built in 1858.

Congregationalist preaching at the Holt began in 1828, but it was not till 1857 that a mission room was erected; in 1891 a stone church was built by Miss Ruth Evans as a family memorial. (fn. 35)

St. Bartholomew's Church was built in 1840 by Bartholomew Bretherton for the Roman Catholics of the district. (fn. 36) There is also a convent of the Sisters of St. Paul. (fn. 37)

Footnotes

  • 1. 1,658, including 5 acres inland water, according to the census of 1901.
  • 2. Trans. Lancs. and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xix, 206–7. The crosses are due to Bartholomew Bretherton.
  • 3. Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 41, 148. The Ecclestons from time to time acquired lands in Rainhill; see, for example, Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 334, 352.
  • 4. Anct. D. P.R.O. v, A. 11171.
  • 5. Chartul. of Cockersand (Chet. Soc.), 599.
  • 6. In 1246 Alan de Windle and Amice his wife, and Roger de Molyneux and Agnes his wife, called upon Richard de Eccleston to acquit them of the service for two plough-lands in Rainhill—to wit, the whole town of Rainhill—held by them of Richard by knight's service; the king, as guardian of the heir of John de Lacy, earl of Lincoln, had claimed a three weeks to three weeks suit, which they asserted that Richard, as mesne lord, should perform. The defence put forward was that the charter under which they held did not require him to do this; Assize R. 404, m. 11. Ten years later Alan de Windle (his wife being dead) and Roger and Agnes de Molyneux came to an agreement with Robert de Eccleston, Richard's son, by which he acquitted them of the service required by Edmund de Lacy, in particular the finding of a judge or doomsman at the court of Widnes; Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 125. For this Molyneux family see the accounts of Little Crosby and Speke. In 1276 John de Northale of Sutton recovered from Peter de Windle and Alice his wife, Roger de Molyneux and Agnes his wife, Richard their son, and others, 12 acres of wood, &c., of which they had taken possession, pretending that the lands were within Rainhill; the damages were assessed at 2s.; Assize R. 405, m. 1.
  • 7. Sir Peter de Burnhull (Brindle) granted to Ralph Banastre land in the western part of Rainhill, at a rent of 12d.; and this gift was confirmed by his son Alan in 1315; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 228. Nicholas Banastre called on the Burnhull heirs to warrant him in 1330; De Banc. R. 284, m. 119; 286, m. 170; 287, m. 185d. (on which occasion the charter of Peter de Burnhull was produced), &c. In 1524 this land was held by John Mosley of Rainhill; Dods. loc. cit. In 1354 half their moiety of the manor was granted by William Gerard and Joan his wife to Peter Gerard and Katherine his wife; Final Conc. ii, 142. In 1416 it was found that Sir T. Gerard had held a moiety of the manor of Rainhill of the heirs of Henry de Eccleston by knight's service and a rent of 18d.; but in 1447, in the inquest after the death of Sir Peter Gerard, nothing is said of any manor here, though he had held of John Eccleston 'certain messuages, with all the lands and tenements, rents, and services' belonging to them; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 123; Towneley MS. DD. n. 1465. The manor of Rainhill was included, with other lands there, in a settlement of the Gerard estates made in 1511; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 11, m. 246. It is noticeable that as late as 1598 land in Rainhill was said to be held of the 'heirs of Peter Burnell'; see the inq. p.m. of Henry Coney of Ditton.
  • 8. Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 27, m. 126; the manor of Rainhill, twenty messuages, a windmill, and various lands there, were claimed by Henry Eccleston from Sir Thomas Gerard and Elizabeth his wife, and others.
  • 9. See the Inq. p.m. of Thomas Lancaster below. The residence was called the Manor House. The Ley family occur also in connexion with Maghull. In 1525 Christopher, son and heir of Hugh Ley, was called upon to pay £20 to Ralph Ley, brother of Hugh; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 140, m. 16. The will of Hugh Ley of Rainhill, dated in June and proved at Chester in Aug. 1592, expresses a desire to be buried in Prescot church, near where his father was buried. It mentions his son John, and his children, John, Hugh, Richard, and Margaret; another son Thomas; his daughters Margaret Wood (with children, Nicholas and Alice) and Alice Orme, wife of Edward Orme; and his sister Elizabeth. Earlier in the same year a settlement of the lands of Hugh and John Ley had been made; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 54, m. 101.
  • 10. Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 117, n. 2. Alexander Chorley of Rainhill, and Elizabeth his wife, were in 1678 indicted as recusants; Kenyon MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 109. Over the main entrance to the manor-house, now a farm, is the inscription 'A. 1662, C.'; probably for Alexander Chorley, who was in possession as early as 1651, as appears by a recovery in the Common Pleas, Mich. m. 22.
  • 11. This account is taken from Foster's Lancs. Ped. (Chorley of Chorley), and other sources.
  • 12. Baines, Lancs. Directory (1824), ii, 706.
  • 13. Ex inform. Mr. F. A. StapletonBretherton and others.
  • 14. In 1301 Richard son of Roger de Molyneux made complaint against Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln, and others; Assize R. 1321, m. 8. In 1304 Alan de Burnhull attempted to recover certain land from Richard de Molyneux, his brother Henry, and Thomas and John his sons; it appeared that this land had been improved from the waste by Peter de Burnhull and Richard de Molyneux as lords of Rainhill; Assize R. 419, m. 9; 424, m. 2.
  • 15. Sir John de Molyneux retained the manor to the end of his life; he was concerned in numerous suits concerning lands there. Here, as in Scholes in Eccleston, Henry and Agnes de Atherton laid claim to the inheritance; Assize R. 1435, m. 47 d. In 1344 a claim was successfully made by Henry son of Henry de Atherton, and Agnes his wife to certain lands, when it appeared that Richard de Molyneux had given a fourth part of the manor to his brother Henry for life, and had afterwards bestowed the reversion on his own son John; and that John had granted part of the disputed lands to Roger de Molyneux and part to William the clerk of Liverpool and Nichola his wife; Coram Rege R. 297, m. 17. Agnes wife of Henry de Atherton had in 1322, whilst a minor, been seized by emissaries of John de Molyneux and carried to Chester, where she was detained for eighteen months, in hope of securing her inheritance; ibid. Rex. m. 22.
  • 16. John de Lancaster the father is described as 'of Rainhill' as early as 1313. He was certainly married to Margery daughter of Richard de Molyneux in or before 1314; Final Conc. ii, 19. He had a moiety of the manor at once conferred upon him, and in 1318 demanded a partition, the other lords being Alan de Windle (or Burnhull) and John son of Richard de Molyneux. All then held jointly 1,000 acres of pasture, part of the inheritance of Alan de Windle from Alan le Styward, his great-grandfather; De Banc. R. 230, m. 172d.; 235, m. 124d. A claim for a third part by Roger son of Alan de Molyneux in 1334 shows that at that time John de Molyneux and Richard his son, John de Lancaster and John his son held moieties of the Molyneux part of the manor by gift of Richard de Molyneux (brother of the Alan named above). Robert de Bebington and Beatrice his wife, Henry de Atherton and Agnes his wife, Nicholas Banastie, Philip de Penwortham and Agnes his wife, and Philip his son also had lands. Agnes widow of Alan de Burnhull had married Sir Geoffrey de Warburton; Coram Rege R. 297, m. 107. John son of John de Lancaster frequently appears as plaintiff or defendant from 1346 onwards; e.g. Assize R. 1435, m. 15; 1444, m. 8d.
  • 17. Early in 1396 John son of Richard de Lancaster was engaged to marry Margery sister of John de Bold; Joan, the mother of Richard, was still living; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 214b, n. 151. The provision included two parts of Holbrookfield in the township of Widnes. John de Lancaster was a juror at the Widnes court about 1430, and Thomas in 1476; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 240. The latter was excused from serving on assizes in 1498, being seventy years of age; Towneley MS. CC. n. 653. Richard Lancaster, son and heir of Thomas, in 1526 joined with Thomas Gerard, lord of the other portion of Rainhill, in renouncing a claim to a pasture called the Copped Holt, which they acknowledged to be within Whiston, not in Rainhill. Richard was then fifty years of age, and 'calling to his remembrance the short time of this transitory life, and fearing the eternal damnation of his soul,' he repudiated the 'feigned and false title' which had been set up; Ogle R. He died in 1535, and the subsequent inquest shows that he had held the moiety of the manor of John Eccleston by fealty and a rent of 18d.; a messuage in Rainhill of the king, by a rent of 8d. paid to the bailiff of West Derby; also lands in Euxton and in Appleton; his son and heir Richard Lancaster, married to Alice daughter of Bartholomew Hesketh in 1530, was seventeen years of age in 1538; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. vii, n. 11. Licence of entry, without proof of age, was granted to Richard son and heir of Richard Lancaster, 20 Nov. 1543; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 555.
  • 18. Printed by the Chet Soc.; Visit. of 1567, p. 118, where the pedigree starts from John de Lancaster, apparently the one living in 1430; Visit. of 1613, p. 18; Visit. of 1664, p. 172. This last ends with Thomas Lancaster, aged twentyseven, and his infant sons John and William.
  • 19. Norris D. (B.M.). At the inquisition after his death, 10 May, 1629, it was found that he had held the hall of Rainhill of the heirs of Hugh Lee. His widow Margery was living, and the heir was his son John, aged eighteen on 17 March preceding; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xxv, n. 43. Nathaniel Lancaster, a strong Puritan, rector of Tarporley, is said to have been a half-brother of Thomas; Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), iii, 898. Thomas Lancaster, their grandfather, was in 1590 one of those in 'some degree of conformity' to Elizabeth's laws concerning religion, but 'in general evil note' and a non-conmmunicant; Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 245 (quoting S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, n. 4).
  • 20. Royalist Composition Papers (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), iv, 53. It appears that Rainhill Hall and other lands of John Lancaster had been sold in 1653 to John Sumner, the purchaser of Allerton. The estate was 'much encumbered.' See also Index of Royalists (Index Soc.), 43. Elizabeth wife of John Lancaster was a recusant in 1641; Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xiv, 241. For another sequestration for religion, see Royalist Com. P. iv, 72.
  • 21. Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 121. John Lancaster's estate was worth £87 6s. 4d. a year, and he was described as son of John and grandson of Thomas Lancaster. Thomas Lancaster, son of John and Catherine, born 1690, who studied at the English College in Rome and was sent to England as a priest, was probably a brother; Foley, Rec. S. J. vi, 462. Thomas Lancaster of Rainhill had an annuity of £10 out of Percival's house; and his son Francis had an estate of £5 17s. 6d.; Engl. Cath. Non-jurors, 119, 120. The will of Francis Lancaster, apothecary, dated 21 Feb. 1744–5, was enrolled in the Common Pleas, Mich. 1748, R. 21, m. 57d. In Piccope's MS. Pedigrees, ii, 38, the pedigree is continued thus: John Lancaster, born in 1661, was living in 1690. He had a son and heir John, who registered his estate as above, and daughters Anne and Mary. John Lancaster, whose wife's name was Elizabeth, had a son John, baptized in 1723, and a daughter Mary. From family deeds Mr. Edward W. Woods of Warrington has been able to construct a more complete descent. John Lancaster the younger, who was living in 1758, married Elizabeth Houghton, and had several children, including John, his heir, who died unmarried in 1784; Thomas, heir of his brother, whose son James died without issue in 1807; and Margaret, who married John Lancaster.
  • 22. On the death of James Lancaster Rainhill Hall descended to his sister Jane, who died in 1824, and to her children by Robert Fleetwood, her husband. Joseph Fleetwood, the eldest son, died unmarried in 1857; James, his brother and heir, a priest, died in 1862; and their sister Elizabeth, born in 1793, died unmarried in 1877.
  • 23. The Margaret and John Lancaster named in a preceding note had a daughter Frances, who married James Tatlock of Scholes, and their daughter Frances, who died in 1871, married Joseph Beaumont of the Tump in Monmouthshire. Their son and heir, James Beaumont, sold the hall in 1881 to Lady Stapleton-Bretherton. Information given by Mr. F. Stapleton-Bretherton and Mr. Woods.
  • 24. Roger son of Alan de Molyneux complained in 1343 that Sir John de Molyneux and Richard his son had disseised him of a third part of the moiety of 200 acres and other lands, and on inquiry Richard was found guilty; Co. Plac. (Chan.), m. 5. Some further complaints were next year made by Roger and his wife Godith, but it appeared that Sir John held the land in dispute by feoffment of Roger; Assize R. 1435, m. 38d. In 1355 there were cross-suits between John de Lancaster and Roger de Molyneux and Thomas his son as to certain lands and the third part of a mill, which continued for some years; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 4, m. 3; R. 5, m. 4, &c. In 1371 Thomas and Richard de Molyneux of Rainhill were jurors; Plac. of Lanc. Chan. file, bdle. 1621.
  • 25. This Robert may be the 'Robert de Molyneux, clerk,' who appears among the witnesses to local charters. A Robert, son of Roger de Molyneux, was defendant in a Penketh suit in 1301; Assize R. 1321, m. 10d. A certain Alan de Sutton had lands in Rainhill before 1284; he left a son Roger and a daughter Lymota under age, and had granted some of his land to this daughter. She, while still a minor, granted 4 acres to Robert de Molyneux, which were afterwards recovered by her brother Roger; Assize R. 1268, m. 12; 408, m. 18. In 1318–19 Robert had a grant of land from the waste between the field of Ritherope and the Chestergate from John de Molyneux and John de Lancaster; Blundell of Crosby Evidences, K. 232.
  • 26. He seems to be the Roger son of Robert de Molyneux of Rainhill, by whose agency the settlement of Little Crosby and other manors was arranged in 1314; Final Conc. ii, 19. As Roger son of Robert de Molyneux of Ritherope, he granted to Henry, son of Roger Garnet, and Alice, grantor's daughter, all the land which his father had had from Sir John de Molyneux of Sefton and John de Lancaster at a rent of 8d.; Roger de Molyneux of Rainhill was a witness to this charter. Robert son of Roger at the same time confirmed this grant; Blundell of Crosby Evidences, K. 233.
  • 27. In 1356 Richard son of Roger de Molyneux of Ritherope was defendant in a suit brought by Richard Hitchcockson; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 5, m. 1 d.
  • 28. In the time of Henry VII Roger Molyneux was seised of certain lands in Rainhill, which descended to his son Richard, his grandson Roger, and his great-grandson Thomas Molyneux, who occurs in a plea of 1557–8; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 203, m. 6. A few years later Thomas Molyneux sold his lands to Edward Halsall and others; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdles. 21, m. 68; 22, m. 55, 61. This was the Molyneux of Hawkley family; it does not appear from which of the two Rainhill families it was derived.
  • 29. Simon de Rainhill and John son of Robert de Rainhill were among the defendants in the suit of John de Northale mentioned above; Assize R. 405 (1276), m. 1. In 1292, Margaret daughter of Matthew the Tailor summoned Simon de Rainhill to warrant her in the possession of a tenement, but was non-suited; Assize R. 408, m. 32 d. A dispute as to a messuage and some land took place in 1345 between Ralph son of Alan de Rainhill and Robert son of Robert de Rainhill; De Banc. R. 344, m. 259d. Alan also appears to have been a son of the elder Robert; Assize R. 1444, m. 8 d.
  • 30. A settlement by fine was made by William de Lee of Rainhill upon his son Henry in 1301; the property was 2 messuages and 14 acres; Final Conc. i, 192. Roger son of William de Lee in 1320–1 granted to William his son his right in the Longshot with Lee field and 5 half-selions in Rainhill; also the reversion of the dower of Emma, widow of the grantor's brother William; Blundell of Crosby Evidences, K. 70, K. 250. William son of Roger de Lee in 1362 granted to his son John a messuage and all his land in Rainhill, except 2 acres which Richard Sherlock held of the grantor in a place called the Lee; Kuerden, fol. MS. 249. Richard, son and heir of Henry de Lee, in 1426–7 sold to Henry Blundell of Little Crosby and Ditton all his lands in Rainhill; ibid. 213, 249.
  • 31. The origin of the Garnet interest may have been the Molyneux of Ritherope charter already quoted. William Garnet and James his son made a settlement of their lands in 1550; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 279. For a dispute between James Garnet and Richard Garnet and others in 1552, touching lands in Rainhill and Bold, see Ducatus Lanc. i, 253. Simon Garnet also occurs similarly in 1569 and 1593; on the latter occasion John and James Garnet alias Lyon were joined with him; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdles. 31, m. 82; 55, m. 112.
  • 32. Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 238, 240. In 1628 the landowners paying to the subsidy were Thomas Lancaster, the heirs of Hugh Lee, John Barnes for Garnet's lands, and Henry Sutton; Norris D. (B.M.).
  • 33. Eng. Cath. Non-jurors, 121, 122, 118.
  • 34. Land Tax Ret. at Preston.
  • 35. Nightingale, Lancs. Nonconf. iv, 168.
  • 36. Twelve entries appear on the recusant roll of 1626; Lay Subs. 131/318.
  • 37. Liverpool Cath. Ann. 1901; End. Char. (Prescot) Rep. 1902, p. 69. One of the first priests at St. Bartholomew's was James Austin Mason, previously a Wesleyan minister; for his works see Gillow, Bibliog. Dict. iv, 512.
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