AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



Mowbreck. 4 * This family retained it for over 300 

 yean, 47 frequently residing there/ 14 and then it passed 

 by marriage to the Rev. J. Benison, who married 

 Anne daughter and co-heir of John Westby.' 18 After- 

 wards it was sold to Fleetwood and later to Horrocks 

 of Preston. 10 



ROSSALL after the Conquest does not seem to 

 have been accounted a manor. It became a pasture 

 ground from which the lords of the honour derived a 

 profit of about $ a year. 11 In 1216 King John at 

 the request of the Earl of Chester bestowed it on the 

 abbey of Dieulacres in Staffordshire," and twelve 

 years later Henry III confirmed the gift. 63 The 

 monks obtained surrenders of rights from most or all 

 of the previous landowners there,* 4 and received also 

 a number of gifts in other parts of Thornton and in 

 Bispham. 54 In 1291 the goods of the abbot in 

 Rossall were taxed at 61 io/. a year, but after the 

 Scottish invasion of 1322 at 16 131. J. only. 68 

 In 1498 the abbot was summoned to prove his right 

 to wreck of the sea at Rossall. 57 After the Dissolu- 

 tion the Rossall estate remained in the Crown for 

 some years, 68 but was in 1553 sold to Thomas 

 Fleetwood, who was to hold it by the twentieth part 



POULTON-LE- 

 FYLDE 



of a knight's fee." A year later he obtained a 

 further grant of monastic lands in Marton, Bispham 

 anJ Layton, together with the advowson of Poulton 

 vicarage. 60 He died in 1 576 holding Rossall Grange, 

 with wide lands in the parishes of Poulton and 

 Bispham and elsewhere ; his heir was his son 

 Edmund, aged twenty-eight. 81 



Edmund Fleetwood, who recorded a pedigree in 

 l6l3, M diedin 1622 holding 

 Rossall Grange, with Rither- 

 ham and other lands in 

 Thornton, and the manors of 

 Norbreck and Little Bispham 

 of the king by the twentieth 

 part of a knight's fee, and 

 various other estates. 63 His 

 son Paul, afterwards knight, 64 

 was forty-six years old. Sir 

 Paul died about 1657, in- 

 volved in debt. 65 His eldest 

 son Edward had died about 

 1644 without male issue, and 

 a younger son Richard suc- 

 ceeded ; he recorded a pedigree in 1664, being then 



FLIITWOOD of Ros- 

 Mil. Per fait nthuly 

 azure and or, tix martltti 



CQunttrchangeJ, a canton 

 argent. 



46 In 1445-6 Ellen Westby held one 

 plough-land in Burn in Thornton in 

 socage, paying 101. rent, ai before ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Knights' Fees, bdle. 2, no. 20. 



47 See the account of Mowbreck in 

 Kirkham. William Westby in 1557 held 

 three messuages, ice., in Burn in Thorn- 

 ton of the Icing and queen ai of the 

 duchy of Lancaster in tocage by 101. 

 rent ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. i, no. 17. 

 Thom.ii Westby died at Burn in 1638 

 holding liz messuages, a windmill, &c., 

 there ; ibid, xxriii, no. 42. 



48 They were lometimei described at 

 'of Burn.' There it a short notice of 

 the hall, which had a domestic chapel in 

 their time; Thornber, Blackpool, 312. 

 Burn Hall, originally of the I ;th century 

 but altered at a later date, ii now divided 

 into two tenement! occupied by farmers. 

 Over the porch it the date 1786 with 

 the initials of Bold Fleetwood Hesketh. 

 One of the rooms hat a good 18th-cen- 

 tury ceiling and a mantelpiece with the 

 Hesketh arms. In Whitaker's Rica- 

 mondMrt (1823), ii, 444, it is said : 'At 

 Burn Hall are the remains of a domestic 

 chapel with an oak wainscot richly carved 

 with small statues, shields and foliage, and 

 bearing on a projecting portal the appro- 

 priate passage " Elegi abjectus esse in 

 domo Dei mei, magis quam habitare in 

 tabernaculis peccatorum." ' 



4i Thornber, loc. cit. 5 Mr. Benison 

 ' ruined his property in an attempt to culti- 

 vate it on the plan laid down by Virgil in 

 his Georgics.' An Act of 1731 per- 

 mitted the sale of the manor of Burn 

 and land there, but it does not seem to 

 hare been acted upon ; 4 Ceo. II, cap. 29. 



* Fiihwick, Poulton (Chct. Soc.), 169. 



11 This sum is recorded in the Pipe 

 Roll of 5 Hen. Ill, 4d. In 1212 Rosaall 

 with its stock was in the king's hands, 

 the sheriff answering ; Lanes. Inf. and 

 Extcnti, i, 52. 



" Rot. Lit. Clam. (Rec. Com.), i, 284. 

 This was a grant ' in bail ' or during the 

 king's pleasure. Henry III ordered an 

 inquiry at to value in 1221 ; ibid. 474. 



The boundary between the hey of 

 Rossall and Roger de Heaton's land of 

 Burn was denned in 1222 ; ibid. ei8. 



M The king resumed possession in 



1226; Rot. Lit. Clam. (Rec. Com.), ii, 

 160. Two years later he ordered the 

 sheriff not to interfere with the abbot's 

 sheep and other animals in the pasture 

 of Rossall, and on 14 July 1228 he 

 granted Rossall in alms for ever ; Cat. 

 Clou, 1227-31, pp. 35, 62; Cal. Pat. 

 122532, p. 125 5 Cal. Chan. R. 1226-57, 

 p. 78. This grant wat perhaps revoked, 

 but on 28 July 1247 a definitive charter 

 was passed, granting Rossall in free alms ; 

 ibid. 325 ; Ditulacra Ckartul. (Wm. Salt 

 Soc.), 341. 



Thomas de Rigmaiden, Adam son of 

 Agnes de Middleton and Adam ton of 

 Alan de Middleton in 1290 claimed the 

 manor of Rossall from the abbot, who 

 alleged the charter of King Henry ; De 

 Banco R. 83, m. 40 d. 



In 1292 the abbey's right was called 

 in question by the king, and the jury 

 found that Rossall had been held in bail 

 of King John for seven years, being then 

 worth 20 a year, which was also its 

 value for the first twenty-four years of 

 Henry III, but in the following six years 

 it was worth 40 marks yearly ; the abbot 

 wat liable for the arreart ,780 in all ; 

 Plac. dt Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 374-5. 



M Ditulacrti Ckartul. 346. Theobald 

 Walter, as heir of the lord of Amounder- 

 nets in the time of Richard I, about 1230 

 released to the abbey all his title in 

 Rossall. William de Tatham in 1228 

 gave a timilar releate in return for 200 

 marks ; he had claimed three plough-landt 

 there; Final Cone, i, 55. Of the three 

 plough-lands one may have formerly 

 belonged to Burn. William de Clifton 

 released his right for 9 marks. For 

 Clifton see also Close 44, 17 Hen. Ill, m. 

 9d., tod. Roger de Heaton about 1235 

 released his claim between Saltholmpool 

 and Stodfoldpool according to the boundary 

 between Rotsall and Burn fixed in the 

 time of Theobald Walter. 



w Roger son of Alan de Singleton gave 

 land in Stanah, excepting right in the 

 field called Tranehole (Tninnah), and 

 made several other grantt and exchanges 

 in the same part of the township ; 

 Ditulacrti Ckartul. 347-8. Henestcbreck 

 and the Gald Rene are place-names. 



William son of Alan de Suynole 



(Stanah) gave a 'land' at Foxholes upon 

 Trunnah, Ice. ; ibid. 348-9. Roger son 

 of John de Stanah, William de Thornton 

 and Richard de Thornton gave shares of 

 the Crook in Stanah ; ibid. 349, 351. Some 

 'natives ' also were given ; ibid. 3523. 



* Poft Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 329. 

 47 Pal. of Lane. Writs Proton. 1 5 



Hen. VII. 



" About 1 540 the farm of the Grange 

 amounted to \ 3 (a. 8</. ; Dugdale, Man. 

 dngl. v, 630. 



s ' Pat. 7 Edw. VI, pt. ix. The grant 

 included lands in Little Poulton, Bispham, 

 Norbreck, Ritherham and Thornton. 



*> Pat. 2 Mary. 



" Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, no. 2. 

 John Fleetwood of Penwortham was his 

 brother. Rossall Grange with its appurte- 

 nances was held, according to the patent, 

 by the twentieth part of a knight's fee. 

 In addition to this and the lands in Layton 

 and Marton he had tcattered estates in 

 other parts of the county, including the 

 Peel in Hulton, Lostock Hall in Walton- 

 le-Dale, the manors of Eccletton and 

 Heskin, Ac. 



Thomas Fleetwood was also lord of the 

 Vache in Buckinghamshire, treasurer of 

 the Mint, sometime knight of the shire 

 and Sheriff of Buckinghamshire and Bed- 

 fordshire. He was buried in Chalfont St. 

 Giles Church, where there is a monument. 



There is an account of the family in 

 Fishwick's Poulton, I 57-67. The late J. P. 

 Earwaker made collections for a history of 

 them. The place from which their sur- 

 name it taken does not seem to be known. 



fill/. (Chet. Soc.), 89. He wat 

 Sheriff of Lancashire in 1 606 (P.R.O. l.itt, 

 73), and seemt to hare lived at Rotsall. 



61 Lanct. In j. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Chet.), iii, 315-16. 



14 At Greenwich, 2 June 1623 j Met- 

 calfe, Bk. tfK.ntgk.tt, 181. He purchased 

 the manors of Preetall and Hackinsall. 

 See Exch. Dtp. (Rec. Soc. Lanct. and 

 Chet.), 22, 24. 



Robert Fleetwood of Rossall, younger 

 brother of Paul, compounded in 1631 on 

 refusing knighthood ; Mite. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Chet.), i, 221. 



Fiihwick, op. cit. 161-2. Th family 

 estates were much reduccJ. 



