A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Vilers appears to have left an heir of the same name, 

 who some years later attempted to recover the lost 

 rights, claiming suit from Peter de Burnhull and 

 Alice his wife between 1274 and 1278.' 



Alan de Windle, the father of the Alan who was 

 tenant in 1212, died before Easter 1200.* Shortly 

 afterwards his widow Edusa claimed from the son her 

 power in lands in Skelmersdale, Syfrethley in Dalton, 

 Pemberton, and Windle. 3 The younger Alan, some- 

 times called ' Le Styward,' 4 perhaps survived until 

 about 1 240, when he was succeeded by a son of the 

 same name. 6 



Alan de Windle III, later called Sir Alan, 6 was acting 

 as juror at various inquests from 1242 onwards. 7 In 

 1252 William de Ferrers, earl of Derby, was par- 

 doned for a false claim against him, 8 and next year 

 Alan de Windle and Thurstan de Holand joined in 

 resisting an encroachment by the earl. 9 Alan died 

 between 1256 and 1 2 74, and was succeeded by the 

 above-named Peter de Burnhull and his wife Alice, 

 the daughter and heir of Alan. 10 The new lord died 

 before 1292," leaving two sons, both under age; 

 Peter, the elder, died without issue before 1298, and 

 Alan his brother succeeded." He was living in 1 3 1 8, 1J 

 but did not enjoy the manor long, for his son Peter 

 was in possession in 1324," but died soon afterwards, 



when his sisters Joan and Agnes inherited his manors. 

 The former married William Gerard, of Kingsley, in 

 Cheshire, and the latter David de Egerton. 15 Ulti- 

 mately the whole inheritance was held by the 

 Gerards, so that it may be presumed there was no 

 issue by the other marriage. The manor has 

 descended regularly to the present Lord Gerard of 

 Brynn 16 in Ashton. 



A dispute occurred in the early part of the reign 

 of Henry VIII, the Gerards wishing to escape the 

 dependence on Warrington. Sir Thomas Boteler, 

 however, succeeded in enforcing a claim for an annual 

 castle-guard rent of lid., and a relief of los." In 

 September, 1516, at the general sessions, Sir Thomas 

 Gerard did homage for the manor, as for the tenth 

 part of a knight's fee, in the great hall of the castle ot 

 Lancaster, ' where the justices of our Lord the King 

 were wont to dine and sup when they came to hold 

 session there,' and the names of the witnesses were 

 carefully recorded. 18 



Among the suits of the time of Edward III relating 

 to Windle was one between the families of Hindley 

 and Urmston. 19 A family of longer standing was 

 that of Colley, or Cowley as the name was spelt in 

 later times. They appear from the end of the thir- 

 teenth century to the beginning of the seventeenth.*" 



372 



