A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



prior and convent of Warter. 1 Having settled his estates, 2 he died without 

 issue in 1334, when the barony became extinct. 3 A short time previous to 

 his death he sold his half part of Ulverston to John de Harrington.* He 

 appears to have had an elder brother of the half blood, Robert de Lancaster, 

 who in 1282, during the lifetime of his father, held the manors of Barton 

 and Witherslack of William de Lindsay. 6 John de Lancaster and Annora 

 his wife had licence in 1320 to settle the manor of Rydal and a messuage in 

 Barton upon John, son of this Robert de Lancaster of Howgill, and his heirs, 

 reserving to themselves life estates 6 and after their lives, a life estate to Roger, 

 brother of the first-named John. After Annora's death John de Lancaster of 

 Howgill succeeded to the manor of Rydal, which continued in his line until 

 the failure of male issue, when it passed by marriage to Thomas Fleming, kt., 

 ancestor of the present possessor. 7 



THE BARONY OF NEWTON IN MAKERFIELD 8 



This liberty is almost conterminous with the Domesday hundred of 

 Newton. During the twelfth century it was charged in the ' corpus comi- 

 tatus,' or sheriffs charge, at the assized rent of 8 i6j. 4</., increased to 

 _n i u. 4*/. in the year 1201.' When Robert Banastre received it from 

 Henry II. these lands appear to have been subject to the yearly payment of 

 the former sum. When delivered to his son by the crown in 1204 the 

 tenure was partly by knight's service and partly in socage. 



The name of Banastre appears to be a corrupted form of the Italian 

 'balastro' (Lat. Balistarius) , one who manipulates the ' balestra,' or machine 

 for hurling stones against a fortification. 10 From Balestro the name became 

 changed to Banastre by the same process by which baluster (the handrail of a 

 staircase) has taken the now accepted form of banister. 11 In the court of the 

 earls of Chester the Balestro, or Banastre, appears to have been an official of 

 great importance. The late Mr. Langton deduced the name from old 

 French, 'Banaste' (Lat. Banasta), a basket or creel, such as may be slung in 



^ Cal. Pat. R. I3I3-7, 523. 



8 In 1319-20 John de Lancaster settled his Northumbrian estates upon William de Herle and his heirs 

 (Cal. Pat. R. 1317-21, 389, 431), his Essex estates upon Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford (ibid. 437); his 

 manor of Barington, co. Cambridge, upon John de Wauton (ibid. 509, but see 1324-7, p. 333 and 1327-30, 

 p. 389) ; and a messuage in Barton upon Ranulf de Dacre (ibid. 513) ; reserving in each case a life estate for 

 himself, Annora his wife, and after their decease for his brother Roger de Lancaster. 



3 Cokayne, Comf. Peerage, v. 3. 



* Coucher ofFurness, Chetham Soc. 481. 6 Lanes. Inq. Rec. Soc. xlviii. 256. 



6 Cal. Pat. R. 1317-21, 523 ; Close R. 1333-7, 2 7- J onn son of Robert de Lancaster of Holegill 

 was pardoned for the death of John de Helton on 1314. Cal. Pat. R. 1313-7, 177. 



7 Foster, Visit, of Cum. and Westmld. 46. 



8 The reputed barony, fee, or liberty of Newton in Makerfield, comprises the several townships of 

 Newton, Golborne, Lowton, Kenyon, Haydock, Croft, Southworth, Middleton, Arbury, Houghton, Fern- 

 head, Poulton, Woolston, Hulme, Winwick, Ashton, Pemberton, Orrell, Billinge, Winstanley, Wigan, Ince, 

 Hindley, and Abram. 



9 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 131, 249 ; Lanes. Inquests, Rec. Soc. xlviii. 79. 



10 See Ducange's Glossary, ed. Henschel, i. 537^. 



11 ' Banister,' the handrail of a staircase, has for centuries been accepted as a proper word, although a 

 corruption of the older word ' baluster.' See New Eng. Diet. s.v. banister. Variants of this name may be 

 seen in that of Helpo Balistarius, the Domesday tenant in chief in Lincolnshire, whose descendant, Helpe 

 Balista, occurs in the Lincolnshire Pipe Roll of Hen. II. ; also in Roger Baneista (possibly a brother of Richard 

 Banastre) , who attests a charter between 1121 and 1129 of Ranulf Meschin , earl of Chester, to the abbey of 

 St. Evroul, in the diocese of Lisieux (Cal. of Docs. France, 222). Adam Banastre, kt., is mentioned in a 

 record of eirca 1320 as 'Adam Ballaster ' ; Gale, Reg. Honor, de Richmond, App. 72. 



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