WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



conveyed to Holcroft twelve messuages, 220 acres of 

 land, meadow, and pasture here, 1 part of which pre- 

 mises, including the manor, or rather the moiety of 

 it, passed by the marriage of Alice daughter and heir 

 of John Holcroft, esq., to Sir Edward Fitton, of 

 Gawsworth, lent., who passed them by fine in 1591 to 

 his uncle Francis Fitton,' and the remainder was con- 

 veyed in 1577 by Hamlet Holcroft, third son of 

 Sir John Holcroft the elder, knt., to William Shering- 

 ton, gent., and Gilbert Sherington.* In 1632 

 Thomas Charnock of Astley sold to Richard Blower 

 and Francis Sherington for 1,000 the 'manor or 

 lordship of Westleigh and Pennington.' 4 In 1641 

 Blower sold to John Sorocold of Lowton, gent., for 

 730 one moiety of the reputed manor of Westleigh 

 and Pennington, of which Sorocold and Francis 

 Sherington of Booths made a division in 1643.* 

 Francis Sherington's share was purchased in 1685 by 

 Alexander Radcliffe, esq., 6 whose estate in this town- 

 ship was rated that year as of the yearly value of zo. 7 

 Alexander Radcliffe, 8 grandson of the last-named, died 

 in 1718, and soon afterwards Helen Radcliffe, his 

 mother and devisee, appears to have sold the estate to 



Edward Byrom of Manchester, who was assessed to 

 land tax in 1720 for tenements here called the Heylds, 



the Meadows, and the Brickhill 



Fields. 9 His nephew Edward 



Byrom dispersed the estate 



about 1770. 



The Starkeys' part of the 



manor descended from George 



Starkey, who was living in 



1557,' to James Starkey, his 



son and heir, who in 1576 



joined with John, his son and 



heir apparent, in a conveyance 



of the Pennington estates to 



trustees." James the father 



died in 1579, and his son in 



1597. George, son and heir of John the younger, was 



seventeen years of age at his father's death. 12 Upon 



attaining his majority he alienated his estate to Thomas 



Ireland of Bewsey, esq., afterwards knt. After the 



death of Sir Thomas Ireland " the estate descended to 



STARKEY. Argent, a 

 irk sable membered gules; 

 mullet for difference. 



LEIGH 



his eldest son Thomas, who conveyed it to his brother 

 George Ireland, at whose death in 1632 it descended 

 to his daughter and sole heir, Margaret the wife of 

 Peniston Whalley, esq. 14 She and her husband joined 

 in 1652 in a conveyance to Richard Bradshaw of 

 Chester and Pennington, esq., ls fourth son of Roger 

 Bradshaw, then late of Aspull, esq., of the manor of 

 Pennington, 40 messuages, a horse-mill and dovecote, 

 450 acres of land, meadow and pasture, 9/. 6J. free 

 rent in Pennington, Hindley, and Leigh, with markets 

 and fairs in Leigh. 16 



In 1701 John Bradshaw, grandson of Richard, 

 conveyed the manor to trustees " for the use of his 

 daughter and heiress Margaret, who married in 1717 

 George Farington of Worden, 18 who with his wife in 

 1723 conveyed it to trustees, 19 by whom Ponnington 

 Hall, Bradshaw Leach, and other tenements were sold 

 in 1 726 to James Hilton m of Pennington, mercer, for 

 4,550." His son Samuel Hilton, on his marriage 

 with Miss Mary Clowes of Smedley, daughter of 

 Samuel Clowes, then of Chaddock in Tyldesley, 

 rebuilt the hall." In 1808 Samuel Chetham Hilton, 

 grandson of the last-named Samuel, sold the hall and 

 estate to Benjamin Gaskell, of Thornes House, near 

 Wakefield, 23 grandfather of the present owner, Mr. 

 Charles George Milnes-Gaskell, of Thornes House, 

 Yorkshire, and Wenlock Abbey, Salop. The manor 

 of Pennington was sold by George Farington's trustees 

 about 1726 to Richard Atherton of Atherton, and 

 has descended with the manor of Atherton and 

 other estates to John Powys, fifth baron Lilford. 



No courts have been held for this manor for many 

 years past. 



Apart from the manor the Bradshaghs held a small 

 estate here by knight's service, which did not descend 

 with the manor. Sir William Bradshagh of Blackrod 

 and Westleigh at his death in 1415 held lands here of 

 the heirs of Sir William Butler, chr., by knight's service 

 and lid. per annum. 24 Sir William Harrington, knt., 

 grandson of the last-named held the same estate at 

 his death in I44O. 85 Anne, daughter and coheir 

 of Sir James Harrington, knt., son of the last-named, 

 married Sir William Stanley, knt., of Hooton and 

 Storeton, Chester, 26 who was a suitor at the court 



