A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The most famous event connected with Lathom 

 is the siege of 1644. In the previous year, Lord 

 Derby being occupied in the Isle of Man, the 

 countess was summoned by the Parliamentary governor 

 of Manchester to subscribe to the propositions of 

 Parliament, or yield possession of Lathom. She 

 refused, but offered to dismiss all her armed servants 

 except such as were needful for the protection of the 

 household in the disturbed state of the county. This 

 was allowed, but her people were constantly harried ; 

 and in the following February it was determined to 

 demand the surrender of the house. The countess 

 had timely notice and made preparations for a siege. 



On Tuesday, 27 February, 1643-4, the Parlia- 

 mentary forces took up positions around the house, at 

 the distance of a mile or more ; their leaders were 

 Colonel Ralph Assheton of Middleton and Colonel 

 John Moore of Bank Hall, Liverpool, to whom 

 Colonel Rigby afterwards joined himself, and Ormskirk 

 was chosen as head quarters. Next morning a formal 

 demand was made for its surrender. A week was 

 spent in fruitless negotiations, and the countess having 

 peremptorily rejected the demand for surrender, the 

 besiegers began to raise earthworks. They tried a 

 little further parleying, but this time the countess 

 responded with a sally of a hundred of her men 

 (12 March), who, headed by Captain Farmer, a 

 Scotchman, drove the enemy from their nearer 

 trenches and secured a few prisoners ; a similar 

 sally was made on the succeeding Sunday. On Tues- 

 day (19 March) the besiegers brought their first gun 

 into position and next morning opened fire. By the 

 following week several more cannon were available, and 

 on 2 April a mortar was brought into use. No per- 

 ceptible progress being made, the besiegers devoted 

 themselves to prayer for several days, but on Wednes- 

 day 10 April the garrison made another sally, drove 

 the besiegers from their works and spiked many of 

 their guns. 



This damage being repaired the attack became 

 more serious, the guns being used more frequently 

 and sometimes even during the night ; the mortar in 

 particular caused great annoyance. Easter Tuesday 

 (23 April) was marked by specially vigorous firing, 

 and such damage was done to the Eagle Tower, in 

 the centre of the building, that the countess had to 

 seek another lodging. On the Thursday, Colonel 

 Rigby, now chief commander, sent a new summons 

 to surrender, but the answer was a fierce refusal, the 

 countess declaring that she would set fire to the place 

 and perish therein, rather than surrender to Rigby. 

 At four o'clock next morning (26 April) a determined 



sally was made in order to capture the mortar, and 

 to the joy of the garrison this terrifying weapon was 

 within a short time brought within the defences. The 

 countess ordered a public thanksgiving. A prisoner 

 captured at the same time revealed the plans of the 

 enemy for stopping the supply of water. 



For the next month the besiegers did little, hoping 

 to starve the garrison into surrender ; their troops, 

 however, began to grow mutinous. On 23 May 

 Colonel Rigby made another demand for surrender, 

 which was refused as firmly as before ; and at night 

 there was news that Prince Rupert was in Cheshire 

 on his way to relieve the place. This was too much 

 for the besiegers, and on the following Monday 

 (27 May) Colonel Rigby withdrew the last of his 

 troops ; marching off in the direction of Bolton he 

 encountered the Prince and the earl of Derby, and 

 was routed with considerable slaughter (28 May). 

 Next day the earl presented to his countess ' twenty- 

 two of those colours which three days before were 

 proudly flourished before her house.' ' 



After this the earl and countess of Derby went to 

 the Isle of Man, and Lathom House was delivered to 

 Prince Rupert to fortify and defend. He placed 

 Captain Rawsthorn in command, with a due store of 

 provisions and ammunition. The second siege was 

 not seriously undertaken until the early summer of 

 1645. The defeat of the king's forces at Rowton, 

 near Chester (24 September), prevented him from 

 doing anything to relieve the place ; but the garrison 

 held out until the beginning of December, when they 

 surrendered on conditions.* 



The house was then given up to plunder, and sub- 

 sequently almost destroyed, two or three little timber 

 buildings being alone left to mark the site of the 

 palatial mansion. 3 



The earl's estates were sequestrated and afterwards 

 confiscated by the Parliament. Lathom was found to 

 be one of the manors charged with an annuity of 

 600 to the countess of Lincoln and her children by 

 her first husband, Sir Robert Stanley. 4 In 1653 

 Henry Neville and Anthony Samwell contracted to 

 purchase Lathom, Childwall, and some other manors, 

 and others bought various lands in Lathom. 6 Soon 

 afterwards, however, these manors were again in the 

 possession of the earl. 6 



Lathom was sold in or about 1717 by Henrietta 

 Maria, then countess of Ashburnham, daughter and 

 heir of William, ninth earl of Derby, the transac- 

 tion being completed in 1722. The purchaser was 

 Henry Furnesse, described as ' of the parish of St. 

 Stephen's, Coleman Street, London ' ; 7 and two 



