AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



a son William, who after various disputes obtained 

 the manor from the Prestons.** 



He died in May 1557 holding the manor of 

 Mowbreck of the king and queen as of their duchy 

 of Lancaster in socage by 1. rent, and leaving a son 

 and heir John, twenty-seven years old. 30 This son 

 proved one of the most uncompromising adherents ot 

 the old religion in the county. At the beginning 

 of active persecution in I 568 he was summoned before 

 the queen's commissioners, and replied that he had 

 ' not resorted to the church Sundays and holydays,' 

 as the laws of the realm required, nor ' received the 

 communion in such sort as by the laws he (was) like- 

 wise appointed ' ; he had entertained William Allen 

 (afterwards Cardinal), not as a disloyal subject but 

 regarding him only as a relative. 31 He remained 

 constant, and is found on the recusant lists as heavily 

 fined. 32 In 1585 he sent a petition to the queen 

 asking for some consideration ; he was sixty years of 

 age, he had lately paid 25 for the furnishing of a 

 light horseman, 33 and his goods had been seized 

 for a fine of 80, though his 'ancient rents' 

 amounted to no more than \z a year. He there- 

 fore desired the queen to accept \o or 20 marks 

 is a composition.-' He died in 1591 in possession 



KIRKHAM 



of the family estate* ; the heir was his son John, 

 eleven years old.** 



The younger John Westby died in 1605, and was 

 succeeded by his brother Thomas, then nineteen 

 yean of age. 38 Thomas Westby, who recorded a 

 pedigree in 1613 37 and paid 13 6s. KJ. in 1631 

 on declining knighthood, 38 died at Burn in Thornton 

 in September 1638, leaving his son John heir to a 

 somewhat diminished estate. 39 On the outbreak of 

 the Civil War John Westby and his brothers espoused 

 the king's side, 40 and his estates were sequestered and 

 finally sold for his recusancy and delinquency by the 

 Parliamentary authorities. 41 The estate of his brother 

 and successor Francis suffered a like fate,' 13 as did that 

 of his half-brother George. 43 



Francis Westby succeeded in 1 66 1, and recorded 

 a pedigree in 1664, being then forty-four years of 

 age. 44 Mowbreck descended to his son Thomas 48 

 and grandson John, who in 1717 as a ' Papist ' 

 registered his estates at Burn in Thornton, Mow- 

 breck, Westby, &c., the Lancashire portion being 

 valued at 230 6s. \\J. per annum. 48 He left four 

 daughters as co-heirs, and they or their representatives, 

 after the death of his brother Robert in 1 762, obtained 

 the Mowbreck estates. 47 Division and sales followed, 



Thornton in 1445-6 ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Knights' Feet, belle. 2, no. xo. The 

 William named in the text was probably a 

 later member of the family ; for him tee 

 the pleadings of 1517-18 printed in Fih- 

 wick'i Kirk/urn (Chet. Soc.), 172-4. It 

 appears that John Westby died about 

 1 5 1 1, and that hit ton William wat then 

 under age. 



Writt of diem cl. extr. after the death 

 of William Wettby, probably the grand- 

 father, were ittued on II Mar. 1515-16 

 and I Apr. 1 517; Towneley MS. CC 

 (Chet. Lib.), n. 754, 787. 



The turname Wettby it derived from 

 a place of that name in Gisburn, held 

 of the Percys ; Adam de Wettby occurt 

 in 1258 5 Torki. Iny. (Yorkt. Arch. Soc.), 

 i, 70. 



The agreement was made in 1531 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 1 1, m. 102. 

 William Wettby wat plaintiff, and Law- 

 rence Pretton and Beatrice hit wife were 

 deforciantt. 



*> Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, no. 1 7. 

 In addition to Mowbreck he held landt 

 in Medlar, Wesham, K.irkh <m, Newton- 

 with-Scales, Burn in Thornton, Heaton 

 and Urtwick. Elizabeth hia wife sur- 

 vived him. 



William Wettby't will i printed in 

 Richmond mill (Suttees Soc.), 90. He 

 deiired to be buried in hit pew and under 

 his form in ICirkham Church. He left 

 the manor of Mowbreck to hit ton John, 

 hit wife having been provided for by the 

 assignment of Burn Hall to her. 



11 Gibson, Lfdijn Hall, 205, from 

 S. P. Dom. Eliz. xxxvi, 2. 



A pedigree was recorded in 1 567 ; 

 ytiii. (Chet. Soc.), 47. 



"In I $86 he was liable to the Ane of 

 /i 60 a year ; Gibson, op. cit. 238. In 

 15(2 hit houte had been one of the 

 retortt of one of the missionary print!, 

 a nephew of his ; ibid. 222, quoting 

 S. P. Dom. Eliz. cliv, 76. It it related 

 that on one occation he ' wat glad to 

 ttand for a whole winter' t day almost 

 in a pit of water up to the cart, and often 

 forced to duck under the water let! he 

 should be espied of the persecutors ' j 



Allen, True, Sinctre and MoJtit Dtfenci of 

 Engl. Cathi. 1734 (quoted in Month, civ, 



5 '7)- 



88 This wat a tpecial tax on recusants. 



** Gibson, op. cit. 235, quoting S. P. 

 Dom. Eliz. clxxxvii, 51. The peti- 

 tioner had a wife and four children, of 

 whom the eldest wat under six years. 

 He had elder daughter! by a former 

 marriage. 



** Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, no. 6. 

 In addition to landt in Lancashire he alto 

 had the manors of Holmes, Dufncld and 

 Wettby in Yorkshire, with landt there 

 and in Gargrave, Thorpe, Settle, Gitburn 

 and York. The tenure! of Mowbreck, 

 &CT were recorded at before. Hit will 

 (recited in the inquisition) names his 

 youngest ton William, daughters Ellen 

 and Mary and coutin William Haydock 

 of Cottam. 



Anne hit widow was a recutant in 

 1593 ; Gibson, op. cit. 261. 



* Lanci. Inj. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Chet.), i, 33-6. The tenure! of the 

 manors of Mowbreck, &c., are recorded 

 at before. 



* fhii. (Chet. Soc.), 90. Two of hit 

 tons, John and Thomas, were safely taken 

 to Douay in 1623, but the attendant wat 

 captured at Dover on hit return ; Cal. 

 S. P. Dom. 1623-5, p. 6. 



Mitt. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Chet.), 



1,221. 



** Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, 

 no. 42. The tenure! of Mowbreck and 

 Wetham were recorded as before. John 

 Wettby wat aged twenty-nine. 



'" It it laid that six of the brothert 

 fought for the king ; Miic. (Cath. Rec. 

 Soc.), i, 128. In the 1664 pedigree it it 

 recorded that one brother, Thomas, was 

 killed at Pretton on that side. This was 

 'the popish doctor, Dr. Westby,' killed 

 in 1643 ; Cifil War Train (Chet. Soc.), 



75- 



41 Cal. Cm. for Comf. iv, 2634 ; Indtx 

 of Royalim (Index Soc.), 44. Mowbreck 

 and other manors were purchased by 

 Thomas Wharton and James Lowd. 

 Though most or all was recovered, the 

 family were impoverished. 



'55 



41 Cal. Com. for Comf. iv, 3124. 



"Ibid, iv, 3138. George Westby ol 

 Rawcliffe was ancestor of the later 

 Westbyt of Mowbreck. In thit way 

 White Hall in Rawclirfe became the 

 principal seat of the family. 



44 Dugdale, fisii. (Chet. Soc.), 331. 

 Most of the details as to later descents 

 in the text and following notes are from 

 the pedigree in Foster's Lanci. Pedt. 



46 He was one of those charged in the 

 ' Lancashire Plot ' of 1694 ; Jacobite Tritili 

 (Chet. Soc.), 1 6, 30, 33. He died in 

 1699. Three of his sisters in 1681 sent 

 401. to the receiver of recusants' estates, 

 ' which is ' (they state) ' according to what 

 we always paid since this charge was laid 

 upon ut'; Hiu. MSS. Com. Rtf. xiv, App. 

 iv, 127. 



In 1688 John Wettby ton and heir- 

 apparent of Thomas Wettby of Mowbreck 

 wat contracted to marry Jane daughter of 

 Chrittopher Parker of Bradkirk ; Piccopc 

 MSS. (Chet. Lib.), iii, 202, quoting 

 2nd-3rd Roll of Geo. I at Pretton. 



' Ettcourt and 1'aync, Engl. Catli. Non- 

 jurort, 147, 318. John Wettby died in 

 1722. 



John Wettby wat succeeded by his 

 brother Thomas, who died in 1729, and 

 was followed by Robert. In 1731 i 

 Private Act wat obtained (4 Geo. II, cap. 

 29) by which the manor of Burn and 

 lands in Thornton and Carleton were to 

 be sold for the discharge of debts, Ac. 

 Several family deeds are recited in it. 



47 Foster, ut sup. The co-heiresses were 

 Catherine wife of Alexander Osbaldeston 

 (of Sunderland), Mary wife of Rev.Thomat 

 Alderton, Anne wife of Rev. John Benison 

 and Bridget wife of William Shuttleworth, 

 whose only child and heir (Margaret) 

 married Thomas Westby of Rawclirfe in 



'744- 



In 1740 Robert Westby, having no 

 male issue, settled hit estates with re- 

 mainders to the right heirs of Thomas 

 his father ; Piccope MSS. iii, 194, quoting 

 Roll 9 of Geo. I at Preston. Another 

 deed (1756) states that Catherine mother 

 of Alexander Osbaldeston was a daughter 

 and co-heir of John Westby ; Robert, the 



