A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



French wars; was at the sea fight off Sluys in 1340, captain of twenty men- 

 at-arms and twenty archers at the siege of Nantes in 1342, and was at Crecy 

 in 1346. He died in 1347, his will, with codicil directing his burial to be 

 in Swineshead Abbey, was proved at Lincoln, in June, 1347.* By inquest 

 taken at Manchester after his death it was found that he held jointly with 

 Joan his wife, who survived him, 3 of Henry, earl of Lancaster, by knight's 

 service, the manors of Manchester and Cuerdley by the gift and feoffment of 

 Thomas Grelley, brother of the said Joan, made to the said John la Warr and 

 Joan Grelley and their heirs. Roger la Warr, son of John, son of the said 

 John la Warr, was his heir, then aged eighteen years. 8 In 1331 John la 

 Warr, the son, was paying a rent of 100 a year to his father for a lease 

 of the manors of Manchester, Cuerdley, Barton, Heaton Norris, and the 

 chase of Horwich. 4 



Roger la Warr, eldest son and heir of Sir John la Warr (by Margaret, 

 daughter of Robert Holland), who died during his father's lifetime, was 

 knighted in 1360, and summoned to Parliament in 1362 and I363- 6 



Thomas, fifth Lord la Warr, brother and heir of John, fourth Lord la Warr, 

 was a priest, and rector of Manchester from 1373 to 1426. By his instru- 

 mentality the church of Manchester was made collegiate in 1421. He died 

 unmarried in 1426, when he was succeeded by Reginald West, sixth Lord la 

 Warr, being second but only surviving son and heir of Thomas, Lord West, 

 by Joan, only daughter of Roger, third Lord la Warr, by his second wife, 

 Eleanor Mowbray, the said Joan being sister of the half blood to John la Warr 

 and Thomas la Warr, fourth and fifth lords. 6 He succeeded his elder brother 

 Thomas, Lord West, in the family estates in 1415, and his maternal uncle in 

 the manors of Manchester, Wickwar, and other entailed estates of the la Warr 

 family in 1426, being summoned to Parliament the year following by writ 

 directed to Reginald la Warr, chivaler, as Lord la Warr. 7 



The fifth in descent from Reginald, sixth Lord la Warr, was Thomas, 

 second Baron la Warr, who succeeded to his father's peerage in 1575. In 

 1579 he alienated the lordship of Manchester to John Lacye, citizen and 

 clothworker of London, in consideration of 3,000, subject to the right of 

 redemption, which was not exercised within the stipulated time. 8 In 1596 

 Lacye sold the lordship to Nicholas Mosley, esquire, citizen and alderman of 

 London, and to Rowland Mosley, his son and heir apparent, for the sum of 

 3,500.* The eleventh in descent from Nicholas Mosley, viz. Sir Oswald 

 Mosley, bart. of Rolleston Hall, co. Stafford, sold the lordship in 1845 to the 

 mayor and corporation of Manchester for the sum of 2oo,ooo. 10 



1 Cokayne, Comp. Peerage, iii. 45. * She died in 1353. Inq. p.m. 27 Edw. III. (l) 59. 



Inq. p.m. 21 Edw. III. pt. i, No. 56. 



* Campbell, Chart, ii. 20. Dr. Hibbert-Ware, historian of the Foundations in Manchester, erroneously 

 records an imaginary alienation of the manor of Manchester by John la Warr to the abbey of Dore, co. 

 Hereford. Following him, John Harland, in his historical collections relating to Manchester, fell into the 

 same error (Mamecestre, ii. 268-71). The true facts are these : As the result of an inquest ad q uod damnum, 

 made in 1327, licence was given to John la Warr to alienate to the abbey of Dore one acre of land in 

 Albrighton, co. Stafford, together with the advowson of the church there. (Abbrev. R. Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii. 

 1 1). The Calendar of Inquests ad quod damnum (Rec. Com.), 20 Edw. II. No. 42, not only recites the locality 

 of the intended alienation to Abbey Dore, but also the usual particulars of estates remaining to John la Warr 

 after making this gift, amongst which was the manor of Manchester, worth ^200 a year. The authors 

 referred to, basing their remarks upon the bare details given in the calendar, supposed that the alienation 

 comprised all the places named in the calendar, and thus fell into an error which an examination of the 

 original document would have prevented. 6 Cokayne, Comp, Peerage, iii. 46. 



Ibid. 1 Ibid. 8 Harland, Mamecestre, 523. Ibid. 10 Ibid. 530. 



334 



