WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



The reputed manor of MORLEYS was originally 

 a parcel of pasture ground, first mentioned about 

 1 200-20 as the More-Leghe, 1 lying on the north- 

 western border of Chat Moss and held of the manor 

 of Astley in socage by fealty and the yearly rent of 

 1 id. 1 Subsequently it gave name to a branch of the 

 local family of Astley, who held it of the mesne lords. 

 In 1 303 Alice, relict of Hugh de Morlegh, son of 

 William de Astley, demanded her dower in a mes- 

 suage and oxgang of land from her sons Richard and 

 Henry, who called Hugh son of Hugh de Morlegh 

 to warrant. 3 The last-named heads the list of con- 

 tributors to the subsidy collected here in 1332.* In 

 1344 Hugh de Morley held this estate of Adam de 

 Trafford, who gave the service of the said Hugh to 

 Robert de Radcliffe in fee tail. 5 In 1352 Henry son 

 of Hugh de Morley was claiming a messuage and 

 lands here. 6 The name does not occur in the Poll 

 Tax Roll of 1381, about which time the estate 

 passed to the Leyland family, but the names Robert 

 and Thurstan de Leyland occur in Tyldesley. 7 In 

 1431 Robert Leyland held a free tenement in the 

 manor, which was undoubtedly Morleys, of Sir 

 Richard Radcliffe, lent., for 1 3*. \d. yearly. 8 He was 

 probably father of John Leyland of Kirkby, who mar- 

 ried first Eleanor, daughter of Richard Molyneux, 

 knt., and secondly Cecily, who was living a widow 

 in 1501.' Sir William Leyland, knt., of Morleys, 10 

 succeeded his father in 1501, and the year following 

 sold his lands in Kirkby to William Molyneux, esq." 

 He married first, Anne daughter and coheir of Alan 

 Singleton of Wightgill, Yorkshire," by whom he had 

 issue, and secondly Alice daughter of Sir Edmund 

 Trafford, knt., 13 by whom he had no issue. He was 

 knighted in 1513." He was an active agent in tlie 

 suppression of the monasteries. 15 He was suc- 

 ceeded by his son Thomas Leyland, who married 

 Ann, daughter of George Atherton of Atherton, esq., 

 by whom he had an only daughter Ann, married in 

 1550 to Edward, second son of Thurstan Tyldesley 

 of Wardley, esq., 16 in whose family the manor de- 

 scended to James Tyldesley of Holcroft, 17 who sold it in 

 1755 to the Leghs ofChorley. Subsequently the old 

 hall and a moiety of the demesne were purchased by 

 Josiah Wilkinson, who devised it to his son John 



LEIGH 



Wilkinson, F.R.S. The other moiety was purchased 

 by Thomas Lyon of Warrington. 18 In 1787 Thomas 

 Lyon paid 7 o/. SJ. and John Wilkinson 5 I y. 8</. 

 for land t.ix in Astley, in respect of this estate. 

 Within recent years the hall and estate have been 

 sold by Messrs. Wilkinson ani Lyon, the joint 

 o.vners, to the Tyldesley Urban Council for purposes 

 connected with sewage disposal. 



PEEL HALL represents an estate granted to 

 Cockersand Abbey between 1190 and 1221 by Hugh 

 de Tyldesley, whose charter describes the boundary 

 as beginning at the water called the The Fleet, 

 following this brook northward to the higher part of 

 Limput (Loam pit) hurst, as defined by crosses set 

 up there, thence following the Brunehevese southward 

 by the crosses set there, to the water called The 

 Fleet. 19 In 1251 Alecock (Alexander) de Astley 

 held it of the canons of Cockersand for \^d. yearly,*" 

 and in 1286 John Gilibrond and Margery his wife 

 demanded against Richard son of Alexander de Astlcy 

 the third part of a messuage here as the wife's dower. 81 

 In 1 292 John son of John Gilibrond held the 

 estate under the abbey by the free rent of 2/. yearly. 

 In 1356 it was entailed upon Roger Gilibrond and 

 his heirs male, with successive remainders to his 

 brothers Humphrey, Richard, and Robert, and 

 kinsmen, Adam, Richard son of John, and Henry son 

 of Henry Gi.ibrond. 88 Robert Gilibrond had letters 

 of protection in 1383 upon going to Ireland on the 

 king's service. 83 In the time of Edward III Thurstan 

 Gilibrond and Margaret his wife, daughter of Richard 

 de Hulton of the Wythens, possessed a considerable 

 estate in Astley, which descended to their son Hugh, 

 who had issue, by Catherine Sale his wife, Thurstan 

 his son and heir. Thurstan Gilibrond, son of the 

 last-named Thurstan, resisted apparently with suc- 

 cess a claim to the estate made in 1448 by Henry 

 de Kighley (who alleged that Thurstan was a bastard), 

 claiming in right of his grandmother Ellen, daughter 

 and coheir of Nicholas Tyldesley ; her father having 

 been named fourth in remainder after Thurstan Gili- 

 brond the eldest in a settlement of the estate made temp. 

 Edward III. 24 Roger Gilibrond in 1451, Nicholas 

 in 1461, Charles in 1501, and Nicholas in 1536, 

 successively held the estate under Cockersand Abbey." 



447 



