A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



of the seventeenth century, when the Ogles of Whiston 

 probably acquired the lordship. 1 



Their tenure did not continue long. In 1684 

 Thomas Willis, a merchant of Liverpool, purchased 

 Halsnead and settled there.* He had a son Martin, 

 whose children Thomas * and Daniell * dying without 

 issue, Halsnead went to their cousin Thomas, grand- 

 son of William Swettenham of 

 Swettenham, by his wife Bertha, 

 daughter of Thomas Willis. 6 

 The heir took the name of 

 Willis, but his son Thomas dying 

 without issue in 1788, another 

 cousin of Daniell Willis, by 

 his mother's side, succeeded. 

 This was Ralph Earle, who took 

 the name of Willis. 6 He died 

 two years later, when his son 

 and heir Richard came into 

 possession and held it till his 

 death in 1837. He was suc- 

 ceeded by his sons Richard, '"*"" 

 Joseph, and Daniell in turn ; 



the last of these died in 1873, and his son Henry 

 Rodolph D'Anyers Willis, in 1902; the latter's son 



between three lion 

 pant gules ; a border 



Richard Atherton D'Anyers Willis, born in 1871, 

 is the present lord of the manors of Whiston and 

 Halsnead. 7 No courts are held. 



The Athertons of Halsnead occur frequently in the 

 fifteenth century. 8 



The freeholders of Whiston in 1600 were John 

 Ogle, James Pemberton of Halsnead, and Peter 

 Wetherby ; 9 in 1628 they were Henry Ogle, James 

 Pemberton, and George Wetherby. 10 According to 

 the hearth-tax list there were in Whiston in 1666 

 eighteen houses of three hearths and more ; the prin- 

 cipal was that of Henry Ogle, with eleven." The 

 ' Papists' estates ' registered in 1717 included those 

 of Henry Case, a house and coal mine ; William, son 

 of Robert Case ; and William Forrest." The land 

 tax returns of 1787 show that the principal owners 

 there were Thomas Willis of Low Halsnead, the 

 Case trustees, and Thomas Mackin. 



In connexion with the Established Church, 

 St. Nicholas's was built in 1868, succeeding a 

 licensed chapel opened in 1846." There are chapels 

 for the Wesleyan Methodists and the United Free 

 Methodists, erected in 1832 and 1879 respectively. 

 The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists also have a chapel, 

 built in 1890. 



