A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The descent otffOOLSTO N corresponds with that 

 of the neighbouring manor of Poulton. 

 MANOR Both were in 1094 bestowed upon the 

 abbey of St. Peter of Shrewsbury by 

 Count Roger of Poitou, 1 and both passed pro- 

 bably by purchase to the lord of Makerfield about 

 the reign of Henry II. From that date Woolston was 

 held by a number of free tenants as of the barony of 

 Newton in Makerfield. The names of those exist- 

 ing between 1 175 and 1 182 are recorded in a charter 

 of Ralph, abbot of Shrewsbury, granting to them in 

 fee the riddings or assarts of the ' Eyes ' lying within 

 a ditch by the water of Mersey for 2 1 pence yearly, 

 and one ' land ' or acre strip from each tenant for 

 ever as an obit.* In 1292 two- 

 thirds of the manor were held ----- \ 



by Robert de Woolston, whose 

 ancestors had been enfeoffed by 

 Robert Banastre, sometime lord 

 of Newton in Makerfield.' The 

 remaining third part was held 

 by Richard de Moston, lord of 

 Poulton, in right of his wife 

 Alice, daughter of Gilbert de 

 Haydock, whose ancestor had 

 likewise been enfeoffed by Robert 

 Banastre. 



WOOLSTON or WOOLS- 

 )N. Argent, a wolf 

 This third part de- passant sable. 



scended in the same succession 

 as the manor of Poulton. Some considerable part of 

 it was held in 1292 by Richard son of Emma de 

 Woolston by the yearly service of 8/. s 



Robert son of Orm de Woolston, who was living 

 in I293, 6 had issue by Alice his wife four sons, Adam, 

 father of Agnes, by his wife Ellen, whom he divorced; 7 

 Richard his heir, living in 1313, when he was suing 

 Richard de Moston and Alice his wife for making 

 sale and destruction in their common wood and tur- 

 bary in Woolston; 8 Simon, living in 1309 ; 9 and John, 

 described as John son of Robert Ormeson 10 in 1318, 

 when Hugh de Woolston recovered against him and 



Alice his mother two messuages in this vill." In 

 1326 and 1332 Richard de Woolston, Richard and 

 Robert de Martinscroft, Simon son of Robert, Henry 

 le Wolf and John de Hepay were the principal owners 

 of land." In 1349 Emma, relict of Richard de 

 Woolston, was claiming her dower in the manor of 

 Woolston against Robert de Woolston her son and 

 Alice his wife, and in six messuages, 36 acres of land, 

 and 3O/. of rent in this vill against Alice, relict of 

 Henry le Wolf. 13 Robert de Woolston of the Ferny- 

 heued,' died before 1367, in which year Agnes his 

 relict was sued by Thomas de Southworth for a mes- 

 suage and I oo acres of land which she held in dower, 

 and for waste which she had made in the wood of 

 Woolston." 



In 1359 the abbot of Shrewsbury brought a writ 

 of novel disseisin before the justices at Lancaster 

 against Robert son of Robert de Woolston touching 

 tenements here, but did not prosecute his writ. 15 

 Four years later the abbot successfully traversed the 

 finding of an inquest taken for the king to the effect 

 that one of the king's progenitors had given a plat 

 of land, called Wyldegreve, a fishery in the manor, 

 and 2O/. of rent in Woolston, to find a monk to 

 celebrate divine service daily for ever in the chapel 

 of Wyldegreve for the souls of the kings of England, 

 which chantry had been withdrawn for many years 

 past, the lands being worth yearly 24^. and the 

 fishery 2O/. An inquest found that the abbot and 

 his predecessors had held the tenements time out of 

 mind of the gift of Ranulf, earl of Chester, in free 

 alms, whereupon judgement was given for the abbot 

 with restitution of the tenements, the issues, and the 

 fishery. 16 



The descent of the family of Woolston is some- 

 what obscure during this time. 1 ' In 1401 Hugh de 

 Woolston was in possession of the manor. 18 By the 

 marriage of his daughter Annabel (or Elizabeth) to 

 John de Hawarden of Hawarden, co. Flint, the 

 manor passed to the last-named family. 19 In 1432 



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