A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



and various lands, &c., of Margaret Countess of 

 Richmond by the service recorded in 1362. His 

 son and heir Thomas was six years of age." 



Thomas Butler died in 1526 holding the manor 

 of the king and John Rigmaiden as of the lordship 

 of Goberthwaite in socage. 1 * He left a daughter 

 and heir Margaret, aged eight, but the manor went 

 to his brother John, who died in possession in 1 543 

 holding of the king by a rent of id. and other service 

 not known. The heir was his son John, aged ten." 

 This John Butler recorded his pedigree in 1567,'* 

 and his son and heir John made a settlement in 1591, 

 including the capital messuage called Kirkland Hall 

 in the town of Garstang, forty messuages, water-mill, 

 &c., and a parcel of meadow called Bolon-wray ; 

 he died a few days afterwards, leaving a son James, 

 only four years old. 16 James Butler died in 1600, 

 during his minority, and his younger brother John, 

 aged nine, succeeded him." 



John Butler, who recorded a pedigree in l6l3, 18 

 lived on until 1659. Though he compounded for 

 recusancy in 1632" the estates do not appear to 

 have been molested by the Parliamentary authorities 

 during the Civil War. 80 His son John fought for 

 the king and took part in the burning of Lancaster " ; 

 he was killed at Marston Moor, 1644." His son 

 Thomas, aged twenty-nine in 1665, succeeded his 

 grandfather and recorded a pedigree.* 3 By this 

 time the family had probably become Protestant, but 



Thomas's son Alexander is said to have been a 

 Jacobite.* 4 He died in 1 747," and his son Thomas 

 in the following year, leaving a son Alexander Butler, 

 high sheriff in lj6j, m and constable of Lancaster 

 Castle. Through his mother Dorothy Cole he 

 acquired Beaumont Cote, near Lancaster. He had 

 no children and bequeathed his estates, with an 

 obligation to take the surname of Cole, to his brother 

 Thomas's grandson Thomas,'" who on succeeding in 

 1 8 1 1 was sixteen years old. 



Thomas Butler Cole, an eccentric man,* 8 died in 

 1864, having bequeathed Kirkland to Major Thorn- 

 ton for life, with remainder to Captain Clarke, 

 maternal uncle, with remainder to his second son and 

 male issue ; failing issue it was to revert to the heirs 

 of the Butler family.* 9 



Kirkland Hall stands about half a mile to the 

 north of Churchtown village and has a plain 

 18th-century brick front facing south, three stories 

 in height, with cornice, wide pediment, and sash 

 windows retaining their original wood bars. On the 

 pediment are the Butler arms and over the porch is 

 the date 1760 with the initials of Alexander Butler. 

 The oldest part of the house, however, is at the 

 back, a stone at the north-west corner bearing the 

 date 1668 and the initials of Thomas Butler and 

 Elizabeth (Fleetwood) his wife. Another stone in a 

 gable near to this has the same initials and the date 

 1679, and on the north-east side is a good I7th-cen- 



(of Rawcliffe) ; they were related in the 

 fourth degree ; Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 91*. 

 Richard Boteler was in 1427 accused of 

 having made false returns of the profits of 

 his escheatorship ; Add. MS. 32104, 

 fol. 179. An inquiry was in 1433 

 ordered into a charge that he had held a 

 market at Kirkhouse in Wyresdale to the 

 prejudice of the Duke of Bedford's 

 tenants ; Dtp. Keeper' t Rep. xl, App. 533. 



In 1428 the feoffee* gave to John son 

 of Richard Boteler of Kirkland and Ellen 

 his wife, daughter of Gilbert Barton, a 

 messuage in Kirkland ; DoJs. MSS. Ixii, 

 fol. 90. Richard the father was living in 

 1448, when he gave land in Kirkland in 

 the vill of Garstang to trustees for 

 Elizabeth wife of Edward son of John son 

 of the said Richard ; Kuerden MSS. iv, 

 K 19. A charter by John the son of 

 Richard dated 1446 has been preserved ; 

 it gave Walkerholme and Aldfield in 

 Garstang to trustees ; ibid. Nicholas, 

 another son of Richard Boteler, had land 

 in Homelsco in Kirkland in 1457 i Dods. 

 MSS. liii, fol. 98*. In 1441 Richard, 

 Thomas and Nicholas Boteler of Kirk- 

 land were charged with trespass on the 

 fishery of Richard Catterall at Garstang 

 and Catterall ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 3, 

 m. 17. 



William Boteler and Alice Rigmaiden 

 had an indulgence in 1482 ; Dods. MSS. 

 Ixii, fol. 90*. The first recorded ped'gree 

 begins with Robert father of William 

 Bo'eler. 



'" Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, no. 44. 

 He made a settlement of the manor, &c., 

 in 1501 in favour of his male issue by 

 Al'ce his wife and in default to his right 

 heirs male. His will (1505) is recited 

 also ; it provides for his son John and 

 other younger children. Alice, the 

 widow, and two daughters were executors ; 

 Dods. MSS. Ixii, fol. 90. Thomas, the 

 heir, was at once contracted to marry 

 Isabel daughter of John Brockholes : ibid. 



" Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 71. 

 Isabel in 1528 claimed dower in the 

 manor of Kirkland against John Boteler 

 and others ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 142, 

 m. 3. 



u Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, no. 32. 

 His will is recited. He left zos. to the 

 parish church; to his son John 'all 

 things belonging to my chapel, with my 

 velvet night-cap, my damask doublet and 

 all the harness that I have, to the 

 intent that the said harness with all 

 things pertaining to my said chapel and 

 my clock shall be left at my manor of 

 Kirkland as heirlooms for ever.' He 

 had in 1527 made a settlement on 

 Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Farington, 

 whom he was to marry ; Pal. of L.inc. 

 Plea R. 178, m. 3. Another, of 1538, 

 is in Towneley MS. DD, no. 679. 



16 fiiit. of 1567 (Chet. Soc.), 43. 



The grant of a crest in 1560 is printed 

 in Gregson's Fragments (ed. Harland), 267. 



16 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, no. 17 ; 

 the deceased is called grandson of John 

 Butler late of Kirkland. Kirkland Hall 

 was held of the queen as of her manor of 

 Nether Wyresdale in socage by the rent 

 of half a pound of cummin ; Bolon-wray 

 was held of the queen in chief by knight's 

 service and a rent of 4;. By the settle- 

 ment recited the remainders were to 

 James and John, sons of John Butler, 

 and then to his brother James. 



17 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, 

 no. 29. 



18 Vi,it. of 1613 (Chet. Soc.), 74. 

 There was a recovery of the manor of 

 Kirkland in 1612, John Butler and Anne 

 his wife being vouchees ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 310, m. 4. Another settlement 

 wa made in 1636 by John Butler and 

 John his son and heir j Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bd'e. 129, no. 2. 



19 Tram. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xxiv, 175. 

 30 John Butler gave certain lands to 



younger children James, Elizabeth and 



3*4 



Mary (wife of James) Anderton and 

 they being recusants the lands were 

 sequestered, so that the purchaser, 

 Thomas Cole of Cotes, had in 1651 lost 

 possession j Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. 

 Soc . Lanes . and Ches .), i, 2 6 1 -2 . Wear- 

 ingmoor, Kinsacre and Bredenham are 

 among the field-names given. 



Part of the manor-house of Kirkland 

 was in 1659 in possession of Thomas 

 Carus, Mary his wife and Reginald 

 Heber ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 164, m. So. 



111 Cat. Com. for Comp. i, 21. 



Dugdale, fiat. (Chet. Soc.), 63. 



Ibid. 



" 4 According to a local tradition re- 

 ported in Hewitson, Our Country Churches, 

 447-8 ; it refers apparently to 1715. 



15 The remaining part of the descent 

 has been taken from Fishwick, Garstang 

 (Chet. Soc.), 227-30, where fuller details 

 may be read. 



The following recoveries of the manor 

 of Kirkland are on record : 1696, Alex- 

 ander Butler, vouchee ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 463, m. 12. 1728, Alexander 

 Butler ; ibid. ; 29, m. 6 d. 1 762, Alexander 

 Butler ; ibid. 59;, m. 3. 



* P.R.O. List, 74. His monument 

 in Garstang Church declares that 'he 

 chose an elegant retirement as most con- 

 genial with his literary and philosophical 

 pursuits ' ; Fishwick, op. cit. 94. 



17 The brother Thomas was rector of 

 Bentham in Yorkshire and Whittington 

 in Lancashire 1793-1825. His son 

 Thomas, a custom-house officer at Liver- 

 pool, married Sarah Clarke and had a 

 son Thomas ; Fishwick. 



Thomas Butler was deforciant in a fine 

 of the manor in 1826; Lane. Aug. 

 Assizes, 7 Geo. IV. 



98 Hewitson, Our Country Churches, 456. 



89 Fishwick. The Rev. Henry Clarke 

 of Torquay is one of the beneficiaries 

 having a life interest. 



