Townships: Nether Wyresdale

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1912.

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'Townships: Nether Wyresdale', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1912), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol7/pp300-305 [accessed 14 October 2024].

'Townships: Nether Wyresdale', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1912), British History Online, accessed October 14, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol7/pp300-305.

"Townships: Nether Wyresdale". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1912), , British History Online. Web. 14 October 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol7/pp300-305.

In this section

NETHER WYRESDALE

Wyresdale, 1246.

The township retains the name of the large district of which it forms part. The River Wyre in general bounds it on the west, and Grizedale Brook on which at one point a reservoir of the Fylde waterworks has been formed, forms about three-fourths of the southern boundary. The surface, level along the Wyre, rises to the south and the east, 1,000 ft. being attained on the side of Grizedale Fell. The small village of Scorton lies in the south-west corner Dolphinholme in the extreme north. The area measures 4,215 acres, (fn. 1) and in 1901 there was a population of 454.

The principal road, from Garstang into Over Wyresdale, passing through Scorton goes thence north-west through the township, being crossed about the centre by another road, south-east from Ellel. From Scorton a road goes west to Cockerham, crossing the Wyre by a bridge; there are various minor roads, and several other bridges over the Wyre, including one at Dolphinholme. The London and North-Western Company's main line to Scotland crosses the southwest end, and has a station called Scorton near that village.

The pipe-line of the Thirlmere-Manchester water supply passes through the township.

The soil is loamy and clayey; practically all the land is in pasture. There is a fish hatchery, in the hands of a limited liability company, on the River Wyre. Formerly there was a cotton factory at Scorton.

The township has a parish council.

At Cross Hill, Scorton, is the base of an ancient cross. (fn. 2)

Manor

In 1066 this township was part of the large manor of GARSTANG, rated as six plough-lands, which was a member of Earl Tostig's Amounderness lordship, (fn. 3) and in later times NETHER WYRESDALE and Garstang were used indifferently to denote the fee of the barons of Kendal in this part of Lancashire, including the whole or large parts of the parishes of Cockerham, Garstang and St. Michael's, and some part of Lancaster also. Members of the fee were granted out to free tenants or to religious houses, (fn. 4) but Nether Wyresdale, Holleth and Cabus in Garstang seem to have been retained in demesne.

The story of the Lancaster family has already been told. (fn. 5) William de Lancaster I held a knight's fee in Warton and Garstang in the times of Stephen and Henry II. He gave Cockerham to monks of Leicester, and at his death in or about 1170 left as successor a son William, the founder of Cockersand Abbey. The second William, by his wife Helewise de Stuteville, left a daughter and heir Helewise to succeed him in 1184. She married Gilbert son of Roger son of Reinfred, (fn. 6) who died in 1220 and had a son known as William de Lancaster III. He married Agnes dc Brus, but died without issue in 1246 (fn. 7); his widow had Garstatig and other manors in dower. (fn. 8) His heirs were the representatives of his three sisters, Helewise, Alice and Sarot, married respectively to Peter de Brus, William de Lindsay and Alan de Multon; but the last-mentioned sister having no children the Lancaster inheritance was divided between Brus and Lindsay.

The Brus moiety of Nether Wyresdale or Garstang descended to Peter son of Peter and Helewise, and on his death without issue in or before 1274 his four sisters were found to be co-heirs, namely Margaret married to Robert de Ros, Lucy to Marmaduke de Thweng, Agnes to Walter de Fauconberg, and Ladarena to John de Bellew. (fn. 9) Of these Margaret de Ros had Kendal and appears to have had little or nothing to do with Wyresdale (fn. 10); and the others, concerned chiefly in Yorkshire, granted their rights to John de Rigmaiden, who appears about 1290, (fn. 11) and founded the family of Rigmaiden of Wedacre or Woodacre, seated for over three centuries in the adjacent township of Barnacre.

The Thweng family, however, remained for about a century the nominal lords of part of Wyresdale. (fn. 12) Marmaduke de Thweng died in or before 1322 holding part of the Lancaster inheritance, but Wyresdale is not expressly named. (fn. 13) He left a son and heir William, thirty years of age, who soon afterwards began a long series of lawsuits concerning the lordship and various lands against John son of John de Rigmaiden and others. (fn. 14) It was in 1333 alleged for the defence that Marmaduke de Thweng had alienated the tenement in dispute to John de Rigmaiden and Isolda his wife before 1285. (fn. 15) William de Thweng died in 1340 or 1341 holding the fourth part of a knight's fee in Garstang, Ellel, Scotforth and Ashton of the Earl of Lancaster, but took no profit to his own use beyond the rent payable to the earl. His heir was his brother Robert, aged fortysix. (fn. 16)

Thwing. Argent a fesse gules between three popinjays vert.

Robert de Thweng died within three years, leaving another brother, Thomas, to succeed him. (fn. 17) In 1346 Thomas son of Sir Marmaduke de Thweng is found prosecuting the claim to the fourth part of the manor of Garstang, &c, already referred to. (fn. 18) He died in 1374 holding four messuages, &c, in Garstang, and leaving four nephews and nieces as heirs. (fn. 19) Of their descendants Sir John Lumley occurs in 1420 as holding the tenement in Garstang. (fn. 20)

The Fauconberg and Bellew families scarcely appear in this lordship. Walter and William sons of Walter de Fauconberg in the father's lifetime were concerned in various local suits from 1276 to 1292. (fn. 21) John son of Walter de Fauconberg in 1333–43 claimed a rent of £10 from Garstang, alleging that it had been granted by John de Rigmaiden in 1305 to his father Walter, lord of Whitton in Lincolnshire. (fn. 22) John's son, Sir Walter de Fauconberg, renewed the claim in 1351–2. (fn. 23)

The heir to the Lindsay moiety of Wyresdale in 1246 was Walter son of William de Lindsay. (fn. 24) Walter died in or before 1272, his son William being then of full age and married to Ada daughter of John de Balliol. (fn. 25) William de Lindsay died in 1282, and soon afterwards his daughter and heir Christiana was by the King of Scotland married to Ingram or Ingelram de Gynes, she being then in Scotland. (fn. 26) This part of the manor was in the escheator's hands for six months in 1282–3, and the receipts amounted to £72 3s. 4d. (fn. 27) In 1292 Ingelram and Christiana were called upon to prove their right to the assize of bread and ale, gallows and infangenthef, and market at Warton and Garstang, but it was alleged that at the latter place only assize of ale was exercised, and that all the rights had been held by William de Lancaster. (fn. 28) In 1297 half a knight's fee in Amounderness was held of the Earl of Lancaster by Ingram de Gynes, Walter de Fauconberg and Marmaduke de Thweng, who rendered 5s. a year for castle ward (fn. 29); and in 1302 Ingram de Gynes and John de Rigmaiden were tenants of the half-fee in Garstang. (fn. 30)

Ingram and Christiana were involved in many local suits, as was a Gilbert de Lindsay, and in 1313–14 the defendants to a claim for common of pasture in Garstang were Marmaduke de Thweng, Walter de Fauconberg, Ingram de Gynes, Christiana his wife, Gilbert de Lindsay, a number of Rigmaidens and others. (fn. 31) Baldwin de Gynes was enfeoffed of the Lindsay moiety of Wyresdale before 1318, (fn. 32) and in one version of the feodary of 1324 he appears as tenant by knight's service, rendering 2s. 6d. a year for castle ward. (fn. 33) Ingram de Gynes died in 1324, but Wyresdale is not named in the inquisition. His son and heir was William, aged thirty-six. (fn. 34) Christiana obtained the lordship of Wyresdale from Baldwin de Gynes, without the king's licence, and received a pardon in 1325. (fn. 35) She was still living in 1333. (fn. 36)

William de Gynes, also known as de Coucy from his French lordship, in 1335, after his mother's death, granted the barony of Lindsay and various manors and lands in Scotland (fn. 37) and England, including Wyresdale, to his son William. (fn. 38) Robert de Gynes, however, another son of Ingram, seems to have been made lord of Wyresdale; on the outbreak of war with France he took the French side, and all his English lands were declared forfeit. William de Coucy, his nephew, was placed in possession, (fn. 39) but died in 1342, when his brother Ingram was found to be the heir. (fn. 40) Several inquisitions were taken, (fn. 41) for Ingram died or forfeited his rights, (fn. 42) so that the Crown entered into possession and made various grants. (fn. 43)

Coucy. Barry of six vair and gules.

In 1346 the land of Wyresdale seems to have been assessed as three plough-lands, half being described as lately held by William de Coucy and the other half as held by John son of Thomas de Rigmaiden; each moiety rendered 2s. 6d. for castle ward. (fn. 44) John de Coupland, a distinguished soldier of the time, who captured David King of Scots at Nevill's Cross in 1346, had a grant of £500 a year partly at one time charged on the Coucy manors. (fn. 45) Joan wife of John de Coupland also had a grant of Wyresdale, (fn. 46) but after her death it was in 1365 restored to Ingram son of the above-named Ingram de Coucy, who won the favour of Edward III, (fn. 47) receiving the king's daughter Isabella in marriage and being created Earl of Bedford in 1366. (fn. 48) Ingram's daughter and coheir, Philippa wife of Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford and Duke of Ireland, had his English estates and died in 1411–12. Wyresdale was granted to John Duke of Bedford, son of Henry IV, famous in the French campaigns of the 15 th century, (fn. 49) and later still to Edmund Earl of Richmond in 1453 and in 1487 to Margaret Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII. (fn. 50) On her death in 1509 it descended to the king, and was granted out on lease to Sir Thomas Parr and others. (fn. 51)

A compotus of 1495 preserved at Sizergh Castle shows that the rents of the Crown moiety of Nether Wyresdale amounted to £51 2s. 7d., including 2s. from Sir Thomas Radcliffe for Winmarleigh, according to a rental renewed in 1461. The mill at Sandholme paid 20s. 8d. a year. Lord Derby paid 4s. for 'Grenoll,' Thomas Rigmaiden 3½d. for the 'Boundes.' The free tenants of the Bonds in all paid 5s. 5d.

The Crown moiety of Wyresdale was purchased in 1574 (fn. 52) by Sir Gilbert Gerard, Master of the Rolls; and as his son Sir Thomas Lord Gerard of Gerard's Bromley (fn. 53) acquired the other moiety in 1602 from the heirs of Rigmaiden, (fn. 54) the whole lordship was reunited in his family. Lord Gerard died in 1617 (fn. 55) and his son Gilbert in 1623, (fn. 56) leaving a son and heir Dutton, who died in 1640. (fn. 57) Gilbert had married Eleanor Dutton, heiress of the great Cheshire family; she afterwards married Robert Needham Viscount Kilmorey, and occurs in connexion with Wyresdale. (fn. 58) Dutton's son Charles was in 1667 succeeded by his son Digby, who married a distant cousin, Elizabeth daughter of Charles Gerard, Earl of Macclesfield, lord of the manor of Halsall in Lancashire. Digby's heir was his daughter Elizabeth, who in 1698 married James fourth Duke of Hamilton, killed in the celebrated duel with Lord Mohun in 1712. (fn. 59) The lordship of Wyresdale descended with the dukedom until 1853, (fn. 60) when it was sold to Peter Ormrod of Bolton, (fn. 61) who settled at Wyresdale Park. He died about 1875, after which his widow held it for life. On her death in 1890 it went to James Cross Ormrod, nephew of Peter, who was in 1895 succeeded by his son Captain Peter Ormrod, stated to be now lord of the manor (fn. 62) Wyresdale Park, a modern house, had a herd of deer; a pack of staghounds is maintained.

Gerard, Lord Gerard of Gerard's Bromley. Argent a saltire gules.

Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton. Gules three cinquefoils pierced ermine.

Courts are held. (fn. 63) In 1642 it was ordered by the jury that the court should be elected out of the several townships in rotation, the first year out of Barnacre, Bonds and Tarnacre, the second year out of Cabus, Cleveley and Holleth, and the third year out of Wyresdale, Longmoor or Pilling Moss and the remainder. (fn. 64) The meeting-place was at Goberthwaite or Gubisthwaite in Cabus. (fn. 65) Gubberford and Gubberford Lanc are marked on the ordnance map in Cabus and adjoining Woodacre, and the bridge over the Wyre is named Gubberford Bridge. The courts are still held in Cabus.

The lords of the manor having been almost sole landowners, no other families occur to be noticed specially in the township. (fn. 66) There were some sequestrations under the Commonwealth. (fn. 67)

Dolphinholme in Nether Wyresdale Forest was the subject of dispute in 1591. (fn. 68) Wyreside, in this part of the township, is the seat of Captain Charles Henry Garnett. (fn. 69) Scorton Old Hall belonged to the Blackburnes in the 17th century. (fn. 70)

In connexion with the Church of England St. Peter's, Scorton, was built in 1878–9; Captain Peter Ormrod is patron. (fn. 71)

The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel at Scorton, built in 1843, (fn. 72) and another at Dolphinholme. The Congregationalists have one at the latter hamlet. (fn. 73)

The Roman Catholic church of St. Mary and St. James, built in 1861–2, replaced an earlier one, and represents missionary work at different homesteads in the township and district, which can be traced back to the early part of the 18th century. (fn. 74)

A school existed at Cross Hill as early as 1717, and another was built at Scorton in 1793, each with a small endowment. (fn. 75)

Footnotes

  • 1. 4,243 acres, including 57 of inland water; Census Rep. (1901). A small detached portion of Cleveley was added in 1887 by Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 20097. At the same time (ibid. 20100) a small part of Ellel was added.
  • 2. Lancs. and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xx, 207. To the north of the township is the site of Bradshaw Cross; ibid. 206.
  • 3. V.C.H. Lancs. i, 288b.
  • 4. Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 2–5.
  • 5. V.C.H. Lancs. i, 357–65, of which the account here given is an outline.
  • 6. Gilbert, usually called Fitz Reinfred, held one knight's fee in Lancashire in 1212; Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 2. This fee was usually said to contain twenty-four plough-lands, and the Wyresdale portion was separately reckoned as half a knight's fee.
  • 7. Ibid. i, 144, 165. He held in all thirty-six and a half plough-lands in Lancashire, cither in demesne or granted out in service or alms, by the service of one knight. The yearly value was £93 10s. 8½d. The heirs were Peter de Brus, of full age, and Walter son of William de Lindsay, aged sixteen.
  • 8. In 1269–70 Agnes de Brus distrained Robert de Holland to appear at her court of Garstang; Curia Regis R. 199, m. 4d.
  • 9. Yorks. Inq. (Yorks. Arch. Assoc), i, 147–50. For the Brus or Bruce of Skelton family see Ord, Cleveland, 249–50. In 1278 Roger de Wedacre claimed a messuage and lands in Garstang against William de Lindsay, who replied that he had a share of the inheritance of William de Lancaster in conjunction with Walter de Fauconberg, Agnes his wife, Marmaduke de Thweng, Lucy his wife, John de Bellew, Ladarena his wife and Margaret de Ros. These were accordingly summoned, Margaret being in Westmorland; De Banco R. 24, m. 50 d. The land claimed may have been in Barnacre, 'Garstang' being used for the whole of the fee within the parish. Later in the same year Richard de Tresal (? Threlfal), Ellen his wife and Agnes daughter of Warine de Blyth claimed 60 acres in Garstang against John le Tailor of Garstang (Kirkland), and he called to warrant him the representatives of William de Lancaster, viz. William de Lindsay, Walter de Fauconberg, Agnes his wife, Marmaduke de Thweng, Lucy his wife, Margaret de Ros, Sibyl and Joan, daughters and heirs of Ladarena de Bellew, which Sibyl and Joan were under age and in custody of John de Bellew, who lived in Yorkshire; De Banco R. 27, m. 41. Margaret de Ros does not appear again in connexion with Garstang. In 1292 Roger de Wedacre (a grandson of Paulinus) claimed certain tofts, &c., against Ingeram de Gynes, Christiana his wife, Ada widow of William de Lindsay and Walter son of Walter de Fauconberg; the trial was adjourned to the full age of Lucy daughter of Robert de Thweng and of Joan daughter of John de Bellew; Assize R, 408, m. 38. Joan and her elder sister sibyl, wife of Miles de Stapleton, are named as heirs in 1292; Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 383. The Bellews do not appear again in Wyresdale except in the statement as to William de Coucy's court (1344) quoted later.
  • 10. For the partition in 1281 see Cal. Close, 1279–88, pp. 105–6.
  • 11. In 1290 Marmaduke de Thweng and John de Rigmaiden were defendants to a Garstang claim by one Robert de Hasthorp; Assize R. 1288, m. 13 d. From 1294 onwards John de Rigmaiden appears to have been in sole occupation; Assize R. 1299, m. 16; De Banco R. 106, m. 145. In 1301 John and his wife Isolda were stated to have a third part of the lordship of the vill of Garstang; Assize R. 1321, m. 5 d. In 1309 Isolda, as widow, called Marmaduke de Thweng and Walter son of Walter de Fauconberg to warrant certain land to her; De Banco R. 179, m. 164.
  • 12. Marmaduke son of Robert de Thweng, according to later pleadings, granted various lands in Wyresdale and apparently a part of the lordship to his son Marmaduke, which latter Marmaduke had a son William, the plaintiff in 1333; Coram Rege R. 294, m. 47. The first-named Marmaduke must have been the husband of Lucy and father of the Robert whose daughter Lucy was a Lancaster co-heir in 1292, as recorded above; see Plac. de Quo Warr. loc. cit.
  • 13. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, ii, 147.
  • 14. The suits began in 1325 and lasted for many years; see De Banco R. 258, m. 284; 264, m. 61; 275, m. 33 d.
  • 15. Coram Rege R. 294, m. 47. For further details see De Banco R. 304, m. 286; 305, m. 339; 323, m. 19 d.
  • 16. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. III (1st nos.), no. 4. Among other land he held a piece of waste called Solam or Sulam in Garstang (in Barnacre), named in later inquisitions of the family.
  • 17. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. III (ist nos.), no. 45.
  • 18. De Banco R. 345, m. 2 d.; the pedigree is given as Marmaduke de Thweng -s. Marmaduke -s. Sir Marmaduke -s. Thomas. It appears that Robert and Thomas were priests, the latter being rector of Kirkleatham; Ord, Cleveland, 269.
  • 19. Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 4. His three sisters (all dead) were Margaret wife of Sir Robert de Hilton, Katherine of Sir Ralph Daubeny and Lucy of Sir Robert de Lumley. The first left two daughters, Isabel wife of Sir Walter Pedwardine and Maud, represented in 1374 by her son Sir John de Hotham; the second left a daughter Elizabeth wife of Sir William de Botreux; and the third was represented by her grandson Robert de Lumley (son of Marmaduke).
  • 20. Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Hen. VI, no. 42; he held four messuages, &c, in Garstang of John Duke of Bedford, also a messuage in the same place called Sulam, uncultivated. Thomas Lumley, his son and heir, was aged twenty-two in 1431, when the inquiry was made. The Lumley estate in Wyresdale and Cleveley was by Private Act of 1531 granted to the king in exchange for other lands and given to his illegitimate son Henry Duke of Richmond. This son dying in 1536 the lands were granted to Sir William Parr; L. and P. Hen. VIII, xii(1), g. 795 (14).
  • 21. De Banco R. 13, m. 8 d.; 17, m. 89 d.; 51, m. 48 d.; 55, m. 45; Assize R. 408, m. 3.
  • 22. De Banco R. 296, m. 188; 326, m. 204 d.; Assize R. 1435, m. 52.
  • 23. Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 1, m. 4 (Mich.), 5 d. (Lent).
  • 24. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 166, 168. The family had the barony of Lindsay in Berwick-on-Tweed and various manors, &c., in Scotland.
  • 25. Ibid. 236–8.
  • 26. Cal. Doc. rel. to Scotland, ii, 69, 72. In 1292 Edward I caused inquiry to be made as to the loss he might have sustained by the marriage of the heiress, but it was alleged to be the custom that when an heir had lands both in Scotland and England the marriage was granted where the body was found; Coram Rege R. 134, m. 38. For the pedigree see Duchesne, Hist. des Maisons de Guines . . . et de Coucy, 1631. The homage of Ingram de Gynes and his wife was specially named in a grant by Edward I to his brother Edmund in 1291; Duchy of Lanc. Misc. Bks. xi, 42 d.
  • 27. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 258.
  • 28. Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 383; a statement of the descent is given. In 1291 Ingram de Gynes had been commanded to do homage to Edmund the king's brother for the lands in the honour of Lancaster held in right of his wife; D. of Lanc. Royal Chart, no. 172–3.
  • 29. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 289, 297.
  • 30. Ibid. 316.
  • 31. Assize R. 424, m. 2.
  • 32. De Banco R. 225, m. 435 d.
  • 33. Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 39b., which gives Ingram instead of Baldwin (probably his brother). The latter name appears in the version printed in Gregson's Fragments (ed. Harland), 341. The lordship extended over Great and Little Eccleston, Great Carleton, Upper Rawcliffe, Catterall, Sowerby and Rowall.
  • 34. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, ii, 164.
  • 35. Cal. Pat. 1324–7, p. 172; Inq. a.q.d. file 186, no. 8 (19 Edw. II).
  • 36. De Banco R. 294, m. 291 d. She died soon afterwards; Cal. Pat. 1330–4, p. 561.
  • 37. Cal. Doc. rel. to Scotland, iii, 210. The pedigree above referred to states that William married Isabel de St. Paul.
  • 38. Cal. Pat. 1340–3, pp. 69–70. In 1334 there was a treaty of marriage between John Earl of Cornwall (son of Edward III) and Mary daughter of William de Gynes, lord of Coucy, but the marriage did not take place; Rymer, Foedera (Syllabus), i, 274. The elder William appears to have died in or before 1339, leaving his son William a minor; Cat. Pat. 1338–40, p. 252. Robert de Gynes was uncle of William the son; ibid. 1340–3, p. 70. Ingram brother of the elder William is named in 1341; De Banco R. 326, m. 191 d.
  • 39. In 1337 Edward III granted the custody of Robert's lands to his nephew William de Coucy, the king's yeoman; Cal. Pat. 1334–8, p. 404. It seems from this grant that William's own lands had for the time been seized. William de Coucy in 1340 obtained a grant of free warren in his demesne lands of Wyresdale and elsewhere; Chart. R. 14 Edw. III, m. 2, no. 7.
  • 40. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. III (1st nos.), no. 51; Robert son of Ingram de Gynes is named, and Ingram, brother and heir of William, was of full age. The manor of Wyresdale (of which William had held a moiety) was held of the Earl of Lancaster by knight's service. The manor (place) was worth 12d.; 60 acres of arable land held by tenants at will rendered 6d. a year each, as did 11 acres of meadow. Various tenants at will paid £18. There was a park rendering 9s. yearly; the moiety of three water-mills rendered £4 and a fulling-mill 10s. The court was held jointly with Robert de Bellew from three weeks to three weeks, and was estimated to produce 20s. in all. There were also nine free tenants of the Coucy moiety, holding by knight's service and rents amount.ng to 24s. 10d. William de Coucy had by the king's grant held certain estates which had belonged to Robert de Gynes. The inquiry as to the estates of the said Robert, 'an adherent of the king's enemies in France,' was made a year later. It was found that he had held of the Earl of Lancaster a moiety of the manor of Wyresdale in fee in the vill of Garstang by knight's service; William de Coucy had occupied it for his life, and after him the king had granted it to the Countess of Pembroke; Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. III (2nd nos.), no. 58.
  • 41. A further inquiry was made in 1347; Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. III (2nd nos.), no. 63. It gives many details. The pasture of the manor site was worth 6d.; 75¼ acres of demesne farmed to various persons were worth 112s. 10½d.; in Hallsteads and Mekmyr were 4 and 4½ acres of meadow, 17s.; a several pasture, 40s.; tenants at will of improved land, £38 7s. 10d.; 8 acres more might be improved, worth 8s.; Thomas de Rigmaiden, who held per indiviso with the other lord, inclosed 12 acres, of which 6 acres belonged to the Coucy moiety, 6s At Cleveley a water-mill and the moiety of another were worth £4, a mill at Garstang 40s., the moiety of a mill at Sandholm 46s. 8d., a fulling-mill at Cleveley and the moiety of a mill at Calder 20s. The sale of wood produced 6s. 8d. The rents of free tenants came to 24s. 10d. There were two courts—a common court, the perquisites of which were worth 20s. a year, and a several court, 13s. 4d Other profits arose from the pannage of pigs, dead wood, the fishery of the Wyre, honey and bees in the park and outside wood. Other inquisitions were taken in 1365–6, as cited below.
  • 42. The lands of Ingram son of Ingram de Gynes were escheated in 1342; Cal. Close, 1341–3, p. 452. This may refer to a son of the earlier Ingram. In 1343 a preliminary grant of William de Coucy's lands was made to his brother Ingram; Cal.Pat. 1343–5, p. 36.
  • 43. A grant to the Countess of Pembroke (Mary de St. Pol) has been recorded above. After the expiry of her term the manor of Wyresdale was to go to Aymer Darcy for life; Cal. Close, 1343–6, p. 643. The Earl of Lancaster was in 1345 suing her for her free tenement in Garstang, viz. a moiety of the manor of Nether Wyresdale; Assize R. 1435, m. 35 d.
  • 44. Survey of 1346 (Chet. Soc), 50, 52. The former moiety is wrongly described as one plough-land only. The sheriff's compotus of 1348 gives it correctly.
  • 45. Cal. Pat. 1345–8, p. 370. The Archbishop of York in 1368 gave licence to the Prior and Canons of Kirkham (in the East Riding) to remove the body of John de Coupland from Carham to their church; Dods. MSS. vii, 202. For will see Wills and Invent. (Surt. Soc), i, 29.
  • 46. The Duke of Lancaster in 1361 claimed a moiety of the manors of Mourholme and Wyresdale against John de Coupland and Joan his wife; Assize R. 441, m. 2 d. Joan is described as daughter and heir of John de Rigmaiden; Feud. Aids, iii, 90. She died early in 1365 holding by grant of Edward III the Coucy part of the Lancaster family's possessions. The moiety of the manor of Wyresdale was held of John (of Gaunt), Duke of Lancaster, by knight's service, with reversion to Ingram de Coucy Earl of Bedford and Isabella his wife; Inq. p.m. 49 Edw. III, pt. i, no. 29.
  • 47. In Sept. 1365 a fresh inquiry was made as to the lands, &c., of William son of William de Coucy; Inq. p.m. 49 Edw. Ill, pt. i, no. 22. It was stated (erroneously) that William had died without heir in 1335 and that he was 'a man of the kingdom of. France.' In the next year another jury found that William de Coucy had held the moiety of the manor of Wyresdale, &c., as before, that he died in Feb. 1341–2, and that his heir was Ingram de Coucy Earl of Bedford, son and heir of Ingram brother of the said William; ibid. 50 Edw. III (1st nos.), no. 18. William the English and then John de Coupland and Joan his wife were said to have occupied the manors, &c., after William's death.
  • 48. G.E.C. Complete Peerage, i, 292; 'Ingelram or Enguerraud de Coucy, Sire de Couci, La Fère and Oisi in the district of Marie, &c., only s. and h. of Enguerraud de Couci of the same . . . succeeded his father in 1344, being then in his fifth year. He was one of the hostages for John King of France to England, where he arrived in 1360. The English king showed great favour to him, restoring him to lands in Lancashire, &c.' He in 1367 gave the king the reversion of his manors, then held by Joan widow of Sir John de Coupland (Arch. Journ. xxxv, 166), and finally renounced his English honours in 1377. Mention is made of a grant by him; Cal, Pat. 1385–9, p. 413.
  • 49. G.E.C. op. cit. i, 293. At his death in 1435 he held the manor or lordship of Wyresdale of the king in chief by knight's service, and other parts of the Lancaster inheritance; Chan. Inq. p.m. 14 Hen. VI, no. 36. The king was his nephew and heir. Jaquetta his widow had as dower the third part of a moiety of Wyresdale, &c., and held it till her death in 1472; Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 91. Richard Boteler of Kirkland was the farmer of the lordship; Cal. Pat. 1436–41, p. 275. A rent from the manor is named among the possessions of John Duke of Somerset in 1444; Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Hen. VI, no. 19.
  • 50. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. iv, no. 28. Henry VI granted all the late Duke of Bedford's manors, &c., to Edmund Tudor Earl of Richmond (d. 1456), from whom they descended to his son afterwards Henry VII; as king he gave the same to his mother for life. She had dower in 1459, confirmed 1464; Cal. Pat. 1461–7, p. 363. For a grant by her to Sir William Parr (1472, 1475) see ibid. 1467–77, pp. 334, 532. She survived her son three months, dying 14 July 1509, and Henry VIII succeeded her. She had a further connexion with Lancashire as wife of the Earl of Derby, and sometimes lived at Lathom; Cooper, Lady Margaret, 57. In 1498 a writ was issued summoning Margaret Countess of Richmond and John Rigmaiden to hear judgement in a plea concerning their right to assize of bread and ale in Garstang; Pal. of Lanc. Writs Proton. 15 Hen. VII.
  • 51. To Sir Thomas Parr in 1513 for forty years; Pat. 4 Hen. VIII, pt. i. To William Parr Earl of Essex in 1546; Pat. 38 Hen. VIII, pt. vi. To Henry Earl of Cumberland in 1553–4 for twenty-one years; Pat. 1 Mary, pt. iv.
  • 52. Pat. 16 Eliz., pt. ii; the grant, to Gilbert Gerard and his wife and their issue, included the manors of Nether Wyresdale, Ashton, Carnforth and Scotforth.
  • 53. G.E.C. Complete Peerage, iv, 17–18; Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 653.
  • 54. A third part of a moiety from Charles Fleming and another third part from Thomas Brockholes; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 64, no. 21, 28. A settlement of the manors of Wedacre, Nether Wyresdale, Winmarleigh, &c., was made in 1611; ibid. bdle. 77, no. 58.
  • 55. Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccclxviii, 119 (16 Jas. I); the purchase of the two moieties of the manor is recited, also a settlement on Eleanor wife of Gilbert Lord Gerard for life with remainder to Gilbert in tail male. Gilbert, the son and heir, was twenty-one years of age.
  • 56. Ibid. cccci, 119; Dutton, the son, was nine years old.
  • 57. Ibid. dxcix, 92; Charles, the son and heir, was five years of age.
  • 58. The following refer to settlements of the manors:—1618, by Gilbert Lord Gerard; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 94, no. 7. 1635, by Dutton Lord Gerard, Robert Viscount Kilmorey and Eleanor his wife; ibid. bdle. 127, no. 7. 1662, by Charles Lord Gerard and Jane his wife; ibid. bdle. 168, m. 7. Lord Kilmorey is named in Cal. Com. for Comp. ii, 1284–5.
  • 59. G.E.C. Complete Peerage, iv, 146–50. The descent may be given in outline as follows: James, 4th duke, killed 1712 -s. James, 5th duke, d. 1743 -s. James, 6th duke, d. 1758 -s. James George, 7th duke, d. 1769 -bro. Douglas, 8th duke, d. 1799 -uncle Archibald, 9th duke (son of James, 5th duke), d. 1819–s. Alexander, 10th duke, d. 1852. Lord Archibald Hamilton (afterwards duke) was knight of the shire 1768–72; Pink and Beaven, Parl. Repre. of Lancs. 85. He died at Ashton Hall. There were fines and recoveries of the manors of Nether Wyresdale, &c., in 1701 by James Duke of Hamilton and Elizabeth his wife, 1737 by James Duke of Hamilton, 1762 by Lord Archibald Hamilton, and 1800 by Archibald Duke of Hamilton and Alexander Marquess of Douglas; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdles. 247, m. 105; 319, m. 10; Plea R. 596, m. 5; Aug. Assizes, 40 Geo. III, R. 6.
  • 60. Fishwick, op. cit. 54.
  • 61. The Ormrods were cotton spinners of Bolton. James Ormrod of Chamber Hall died in 1825, leaving two sons, Peter and James; Barton, Bolton Glean. i, 153. The latter was father of Col. James Cross Ormrod named in the text. Peter Ormrod rebuilt the parish church at Bolton; his brother James built St. Peter's, Scorton, in memory of him. The price paid for Nether Wyresdale (4,027 acres) was £110,500, for Cleveley (693 acres) £35,100, and for Cabus (1,359 acres) £54,100; Preston Guard. 21 Nov. 1874.
  • 62. Hewitson, Northward, 75.
  • 63. Fishwick, op. cit. 57.
  • 64. Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1870), ii, 528. Fishwick (op. cit. 47–54) gives a list of the tenants in 1604–5 with the allotments of common made to each by agreement with Lord Gerard.
  • 65. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 72; the manor of Wyresdale is here called Goburthwaite. See the account of Little Eccleston.
  • 66. Scabgill in Wyresdale was in 1615 held by Robert Foxe of the king as of his manor of Wenden Ferrens in Bucks, in socage. Thomas Foxe, aged twenty, was next of kin and heir; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 122. Park House, part of the lands of William (Parr) Marquess of Northampton, was in 1561–4 in dispute between Anthony Harrison (in right of his wife Margaret, daughter and heir of Richard Hodgekinson) and William Harrison, &c.; Ducatus Lanc. (Rec. Com.), ii, 286–7. There were disputes as to tenures in the manor in 1664 and later, yielding the names of many of the tenants; Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 38, 43, 44. The depositions were printed in the Preston Guard. 6 Nov. 1886 and later. A court held at Wedacre is named. There were further disputes in 1687, Lady Elizabeth Gerard being in possession; Exch. Dep. 71.
  • 67. William Baines, recusant, had twothirds of his estate under sequestration in 1653; Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 157. John Baines, aged thirty, admitted to the English College, Rome, in 1659, was son of William. He stated that his parents, 'Catholics of the middle classes, descended from an ancient stock . . . suffered much on account of their religion and were reduced to very slender means in consequence'; Foley, Rec. S. J. v, 399. He was ordained and sent to England. John Baines, who had taken part in the 'second war' on the king's side, escaped with a fine of £3; Royalist Comp. Papers, i, 118. Thomas Mercer and Mary his wife, who were leaseholders under Lady Kilmorey, for recusancy suffered sequestration, but were dead in 1655; ibid, iv, 130. The surname is given as Myerscough in Cal. Com. for Comp. v, 3242. John Rigmaiden of Wyersdale, recusant, desired to contract for the two-thirds of his estate in 1654; ibid. v, 3186. John seems to have died soon after, the trustees of his daughter Anne, wife of Roger Green, petitioning for discharge later in the year; ibid, iv, 2851. William Windress, though not actually sequestered, compounded in 1651 for having been in arms for the king in 1643; ibid, iv, 2899.
  • 68. Ducatus Lanc. iii, 275.
  • 69. Burke, Landed Gentry.
  • 70. Fishwick, op. cit. 256.
  • 71. A district was formed for it in 1880; Lond. Gaz. 17 Sept.
  • 72. Hewitson, Our Country Churches, 524. A poor woman, employed at the mill, held a class meeting in her house; this, after some persecution, found protectors in the mill-owners and regular services were instituted.
  • 73. Services began in 1875 and an iron church was opened in 1881; Nightingale, Lancs. Nonconf. i, 207.
  • 74. Hewitson, op. cit. 521–3. Mass used to be said at Brackenlea (occupied by the Jenkinsons), and there was a priest's hiding-place at Foxhouses. 'The original Catholic chapel at Scorton was a small rude thatched building. In its early career the building, it is said, was used as a clogmaker's shop on weekdays and for Catholic worship on Sundays. It was eventually replaced by another building, set apart entirely for religious purposes. This was afterwards used as a schoolroom. For the convicted recusants in Nether Wyresdale and Cabus c. 1670 see Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc), v, 172–4. The names include Baines, Blackburn, Cawthorne, Cross, Hubbersty, Myerscough, Parkinson, Sykes and Windress. The Garstang churchwardens in 1755 reported a 'Papist chapel' at Wyresdale; Visit. Ret. at Chester.
  • 75. End. Char. Rep. for Garstang, 7, 8.