A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Alice. 18 His eldest son William did not long sur- 

 vive him, being dead in 1287 ; his widow Joan had 

 by that time married Thomas de Singleton. 16 The son 

 Nicholas was a minor at his father's death, 17 and by 

 his wife Mabel left a son William, a minor in I3<D5. 18 

 This son also appears to have died young. By his 

 wife Isabel he left a son Nicholas, who served as 

 knight of the shire in I344, 19 and occurs from I328 20 

 until about 1364. He was succeeded by his son Sir 

 John Boteler, 21 who rendered public service as sheriff 

 of the county 22 and in other ways. 23 



Sir John died 27 September 1404, leaving as heir 

 his son Nicholas, about twenty years of age, and 



Pilling Grange ; De Banco R. 3, m. 24. 

 There had already (in 1 270) been an 

 agreement as to bound*, which were to 

 go from the head of Pilling straight 

 between Scytholme and aouth by the 

 hedge to the head of Westpool ; Dods. 

 MSS. cxlix, fol. 120. In 1273 Richard, 

 in bequeathing his body to the abbey, 

 released his right in Pilling pasture j ibid. ; 

 Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc.), 1,47-50. 



15 She was the daughter of William de 

 Carleton ; Whittlc-le-Woods and part of 

 Goosnargh appear to have come to the 

 Botelers through her. In iz8i dower 

 was granted to her by her eldest son 

 William, viz. the whole manor of Middle 

 Rawcliffe. The other sons were Henry, 

 John, Richard, Edmund and Geoffrey ; 

 Dods. MSS. liii, foL 85. For Richard 

 see the account of Marton in Poulton. 



Alice, when widow, granted to Richard 

 son of Sir Henry de Kighley all her part 

 of the fishery of Wyre, given her by her 

 brother Adam ; ibid. fol. 97^. 



16 At the beginning of 1287 Joan widow 

 of Theobald le Boteler claimed dower in 

 Rawcliffe as to 6 oxgangs of land, &c., 

 against Nicholas son of Theobald le 

 Boteler, who was custodee of the land and 

 heir of William son of Richard le Boteler ; 

 and as to 10 oxgangs, &c., against Thomas 

 de Singleton and Joan hia wife ; De Banco 

 R. 66, m. 27 d. It appeared that Joan, 

 who held in dower, was the widow of 

 William le Boteler, whose son and heir 

 Nicholas was under age ; ibid. 68, m. 21 d. 



17 Nicholas occurs in a Wrightington 

 plea in 1292 ; Assize R. 408, m. 41. 



18 Assize R. 420, m. gd. ; from which 

 it appears that William's wardship had 

 been granted to Richard de Lathom by 

 John de Kirkby as superior lord of 

 Wrightington, where the family had lands. 

 The lord of Weeton seems for the time 

 to have been overlooked, but in 1313 

 Edmund the Butler of Ireland appeared 

 against William son and heir of Nicholas 

 Boteler for having intruded himself into 

 the manor of Out Rawcliffe, which had 

 been held of plaintiff by the said Nicholas 

 by knight's service, so that William's 

 wardship belonged to him ; De Banco 

 R. 198, m. lod. 



19 Pink and Beaven, ParL Reprt. of 

 Lanes* 29. 



10 In that year Nicholas con of William 

 Boteler claimed the third part of 7 rent 

 from Out Rawcliffe against Randle de 

 Singleton and Mabel his wife. Mabel 

 was the widow of Nicholas Boteler, who 

 had held the manor of a certain William 

 (j/c) Boteler by the rent of a pair of 

 gloves. From Nicholas it had descended 

 to William as son and heir, and he had 

 granted Mabel a third of two-thirds of 

 the manor for dower. The descent of 

 the manor was traced (as in the text) ; 

 it was stated that Joan, as widow of the 



first William (son of Richard), had re- 

 ceived the j rent until her death, and 

 it was argued that a third part of this was 

 due from Mabel to the lord of the manor. 

 The defence was that the rent had been 

 extinguished by the charter to William 

 and Joan j Assize R. 1400, m. 233 d. j 

 De Banco R. 276, m. 93. 



Isabel widow of the second William 

 (father of Nicholas) had married Sir 

 Henry de Croft by 1331 ; ibid. 287, m. 

 307 d. Dower was claimed in seventy- 

 two messuages, lands, &c., in Middle 

 Rawcliffe, Out Rawcliffe, Upper Rawcliffe, 

 Great and Little Sowerby, Inskip and 

 many other places against Nicholas son 

 of William Botcler ; ibid. 295, m. 102 ; 

 Cal. Pat. 1330-4, p. 388. 



Nicholas occurs again in 13467 ; De 

 Banco R. 348, m. 286 ; 351, m. 109 d. 



- 1 Sir John ion of Nicholas Boteler of 

 Rawcliffe in the time of Richard II re- 

 covered a moiety of the manor of Freckle- 

 ton ; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 116. 



Sir John Boteler of Rawcliffe and Agnes 

 his wife occur in 1401; Final Cone. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), in, 62. 



M From 1371 to 1374 ; P.R.O. List, 72. 



23 In 1386 he went to Ireland with 

 Sir John de Stanley on the king's ser- 

 vice ; Cal. Pat. 1385-9, p. 126. John 

 Duke of Lancaster in 1397 retained Sir 

 John Boteler of Rawcliffe for his service 

 in peace and war, giving him a fee of 

 j2O yearly ; Add. MS. 32106, no. 860. 

 A similar grant was made to him in 

 1399 ; Cal. Pat. 1396-9, p. 557. 



34 Towneley MS. DD, no. 1460. The 

 tenure of the lands in Middle and Out 

 Rawcliffe is not stated. The marriage is 

 also noted in Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 97^. 



K Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 50, 52. 

 Licence for an oratory was in 1428 

 granted to Nicholas Boteler of Rawcliffe 

 and Margery his wife ; Raines MSS. 

 (Chet. Lib.), xxii, 407. 



26 In 1441 Nicholas appears to have 

 married Katherine widow of Sir Thomas 

 Radcliffe, and lands in Cattcrall, Gar- 

 s tang and elsewhere were assigned to 

 her j Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 93. Nicholas 

 was living in 1443 and 1451, as appears 

 by the note following, but was dead in 

 1455 ; ibid. foL 98. John Boteler of 

 Rawcliffe, as son of Nicholas, granted 

 lands to Katherine, his father's widow, 

 in 1464 ; ibid. fol. 92. 



John son of John Boteler and brother 

 of Nicholas released to trustees all his 

 right in lands in Catterall, &c. ; ibid. 

 cxlix, fol. ii5/>. 



37 A feoffment by Nicholas Boteler 

 occurs in 1443 ; Final Cone, iii, 108-9. 



In 1423 an agreement was made 

 between Nicholas Boteler of Rawcliffe 

 and John son and heir of Sir Richard 

 Boteler of Warrington for the marriage 

 of John son and heir of the former and 



274 



married in 1401 to Margery daughter of Sir Richard 

 Kirkby. 24 Nicholas Boteler, who was knight of the 

 shire in 1419 and I4z6, 25 was about 1452 succeeded 26 

 by a son John, 27 who died in September 1488 a very 

 old man, his heir being a great-grandson James, twenty 

 years of age. The manor of Out Rawcliffe, with 

 messuages, lands, &c., there and in Stalmine, Staynall, 

 Thistleton, Kirkham and Freckleton, was held of the 

 Earl of Derby by knight's service and the rent of 8/. 28 

 James Boteler, who married Elizabeth daughter of Sir 

 Thomas Molyneux of Sefton, 29 died in 1 504, leaving 

 two sons John and Nicholas, 30 of whom the former 

 proved his age in 1 5 1 2. 31 This John Boteler recorded 



Elizabeth sifter of the latter ; Dods. 

 MSS. liii, fol. 83*. In 1451 Nicholas 

 made a grant of moss and turbary to his 

 son John ; ibid. 



An earlier deed (about 1430) records 

 an agreement between Nicholas Boteler 

 and John his son on the one side and Sir 

 Thomas Radcliffc on the other for the 

 marriage of John's son and heir-apparent 

 Nicholas to Thomas's daughter Alice. 

 There are mentioned Sir John, the father 

 of Nicholas, Margery his wife and Eliza- 

 beth wife of his son John j ibid. fol. 97. 



John and Richard, sons of Nicholas 

 Boteler, were defendants in 1449 ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Plea R. 12, m. 2. 



In 1467 William son of John Boteler 

 of Rawcliffe received lands in Freckleton, 

 and in 1502-3 John son and heir of 

 William Boteler, on marrying Beatrice 

 daughter of Richard Singleton, had lands 

 in Esprick, Thistleton and Freckleton ; 

 Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 101-2. 



88 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 43, 

 45. The descent is thus given : John 

 Boteler the elder -s. Nicholas -s. John 

 -s. James. 



From later pleadings it appears that 



the younger John married Elizabeth, one 

 of the daughters and heirs of Robert 

 Lawrence of Ashton, &c. 



19 The agreement was made 18 July 

 1488 ; Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 98*. But 

 in it James Boteler is styled ' esquire.' 



30 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 109. 

 The manor of Rawcliffe was held of the 

 Earl of Derby by knight's service. James 

 Boteler had in 1500 granted various mes- 

 suages and lands in Freckleton, Warton, 

 Tarnacre, &c., to trustees for Anne 

 daughter of Sir Richard Shireburne and 

 wife of his son John Boteler; in 1501 

 James made a grant to his brother Richard, 

 and in the same year another to his son 

 Nicholas. At his death his son and heir 

 John was fourteen years of age. 



Elizabeth Boteler, widow of James, died 

 in Nov. 1508, and Richard Boteler in 

 Oct. 1507 ; ibid, iv, no. 33. 



31 Ibid. no. 23. It was stated that 

 John Boteler was born at Rawcliffe on 

 16 Aug. 1489, and baptized at St. 

 Michael's ; John Rigmaiden and Mar- 

 garet wife of John Kirkby of Thornton 

 were sponsors. 'A certain missal wa 

 shown, and in the calendar of the said 

 book the day of birth of the said John 

 Boteler was written by Richard Brid, a 

 brother of the order of Preachers on the 

 said Morrow of the Assumption ... in 

 these words : John Boteler son of James 

 Boteler was born 1489.' One witness 

 remembered being sent by the father to 

 announce the birth -to Dame Anne 

 Molyneux, who sent him back with a 

 * royal ' for the said John. 



For a recovery of the manor in .1521 

 see Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 132, m. lid. 



