A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



holding of ' ancient feoffment ' by the service of I or. 

 rent and the finding of a judge at the Newton court/ 

 The two subordinate manors were held by Simon 

 and by Roger de Winstanley ; each was considered 

 an oxgang and a third, but the services due are not 

 recorded. Roger's share soon became independent. 

 Yet another tenant, Uctred Leute, held a ridding, 

 and paid \6d. rent. 8 Adam had made grants to 

 Cockersand Abbey and to the Hospital of Chester. 9 



No satisfactory account can be given of the descent 

 of these manors, through lack of evidence. Adam dc 



Knowsley had lands here in 1246 ; 10 and six years 

 later he and his wife Godith seem to have had the 

 lordship. 11 Henry de Huyton, the son of Adam, wa& 

 in 1292 lord of two-thirds of the manor, the other 

 third being Winstanley. 1 * Billinge, however, did not 

 descend with Huyton ; Robert, son of Henry, be- 

 coming lord of it, either by special grant or in right 

 of his mother. His daughters were his heirs." In 

 i 3 74 the manor is found to have been divided into 

 four parts, which seem to have been held by Eves, 

 Heaton, Billinge and Winstanley. 14 The Eves share 



7 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 76. Adam de Billinge 

 contributed half a mark to the scutage in 

 1 20 1 and later years ; Farrer, Lanes, 

 PifeR. 152, 179, 205. 



8 Inq. and Extents, loc. cit. 



Uctred Leute's holding may have been 

 in Crookhurst, a family taking its name 

 from this place. Richard son of Richard 

 de Crookhurst was a defendant in 1302 ; 

 Assize R. 418, m. 10 d. 



9 To Cockersand Abbey Adam de Bil- 

 linge gave all Falling and Ruhlow, the 

 boundaries beginning at Kidsay Brook, 

 going to Blackley, to Walley Clough, by 

 this to Wetcroft Lache, and so by Little 

 Ruhlow to the starting point. Further 

 he gave half of Crookhurst, the bounds 

 being from Swinepit Clough to Birchley 

 Brook and Blackley Brook, and so to the 

 start ; Cockirsand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 

 665, 666. William son of Simon de 

 Bulling granted the same abbey a part of 

 his land called Leyerich Ridding, within 

 the carr and Hennecroft ; also his portion 

 of Crookhurst, the bounds being named 

 with great minuteness ; ' the ford next 

 the house of Thomas Cert which was 

 burnt' is among them ; ibid, ii, 667. 



From the charter last quoted 'the 

 Hospital* is identified as that outside the 

 north gate of Chester. 



The Abbey's lands in Crookhurst were 

 in 1461 held by Henry Atherton of Bicker- 

 stafFe, and descended with this estate ; 

 ibid, ii, 668 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 

 iv, no. 68. The rent paid was \%d. 



William de Falling, probably the tenant 

 of the Abbot of Cockersand, in 1308 

 held lands under the lord of Winstanley ; 

 Assize R. 423, m. 2. A later bearer of 

 the name forfeited his lands for felony, 

 but those he held of Cockersand were 

 given up to the abbot in 1384; Def. 

 Keeper's Rep. xxxii, 356, 357. 



The Cockersand lands here, as in other 

 places, were granted to Thomas Holt ; 

 Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 288. 



10 Christiana widow of Henry son of 

 Quenilda sued Hugh de Crookhurst for 

 dower in 12 acres ; it was found that 

 Adam de Knowsley held the land ; Assize 

 R. 404, m. 13. 



Crookhurst was the subject of an agree- 

 ment in 1256 between William son of 

 Hugh and Emma his wife, and Adam 

 son of Hugh and Agnes his wife ; Final 

 Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 127. William son of Hugh is called 

 William de Rainford in a suit of 1292 ; 

 Assize R. 408, m. 61. 



11 Final Cone, i, 114. 



19 In 1278 William de Billinge com- 

 plained that Henry de Huyton had 

 destroyed one of his ditches in Billinge ; 

 Assize R. 1238, m. 35. 



Six or seven years later Adam de Bil- 

 linge complained that Henry de Huyton 

 and another had disseised him of his free 

 tenement in Billinge ; Assize R. 1268, 

 m. id. 



In 1290 it was Henry de Huyton who 

 was plaintiff, regarding two-thirds of cer- 

 tain wood and moor, and iron mineral ; 

 Assize R. 1288, m. 12, 13. The defen- 

 dants were Roger de Winstanley and 

 Henry son of Ralph de Billinge ; they 

 made an exchange of lands in 1283, to 

 which Hugh son of Ralph de Billinge 

 was one of the witnesses ; Cockersand 

 Chart, ii, 659. 



Richard de Crookhurst in 1292 com- 

 plained that Henry de Huyton, Adam de 

 Billinge, and Roger de Winstanley had 

 deprived him of estovers in 100 acres of 

 wood for housebote and haybote i.e. for 

 burning, fencing, and building pannage 

 for his pigs, &c. Henry, in reply, said 

 he was chief lord of two-thirds of the 

 vill, and Roger of one-third ; as chief lords 

 they had approved from the waste, and 

 the complainant, who was Henry's tenant, 

 had sufficient estovers outside the ap- 

 provement. He wa non-suited ; Assize 

 R. 408, m. 12 d. 



Adam de Billinge' s right in the manor 

 is not here defined ; it appears that he 

 was the representative, and no doubt 

 descendant, of the Simon of 1212. He 

 should, therefore, have had a moiety of 

 Henry de Huyton's two-thirds, and from 

 another suit of 1292 it appears that he 

 claimed the moiety of 50 acres of moor 

 and wood from Henry de Huyton, here 

 called de Rycroft, and others ; ibid. m. 

 25. Nine years later the suit, or a simi- 

 lar one, appears in the rolls, Adam claim- 

 ing the moiety of 60 acres of wood and 

 waste. Henry de Huyton, the principal 

 defendant the others were William Bird 

 and Alan son of Eva de Billinge replied 

 that he was lord of the two-thirds of Bil- 

 linge and Adam of one-third ; and they had 

 agreed that the 60 acres should pertain to 

 Henry, and another portion of the waste, 

 called Catshurst, should belong to Adam. 

 The jury found that Catahurst was only 12 

 acres, and that Henry had approved 40 

 acres, a share of which should be given 

 to Adam; Assize R. 1321, m. 5 d. In 

 the following year Adam de Billinge and 

 Henry de Huyton were chief lords, the 

 complainants being William de Huyton 

 and Robert his brother ; Assize R. 418, 

 m. 10 d. 



A possible solution is that Winstanley, 

 having become detached, paid 31. 6d. rent 

 to the lord of Newton ; that the remain- 

 ing 6s. 6d. was shared between Henry de 

 Huyton and Adam de Billinge in the 

 ratio of two to one, while they divided 

 the land equally. 



18 Robert and William de Huyton were 

 among the defendants in a suit of 1309 

 affecting the boundaries of Billinge and 

 Winstanley, Henry de Huyton and Adam 

 de Billinge being also joined ; Assize R. 

 423, m. 2. 



Four years later Robert de Huyton 

 recovered from Henry de Huyton the 

 manor of Billinge ; Assize R. 424, 

 m. i d. 



8 4 



In 1321 William son of Robert de 

 Huyton settled messuages and lands upon 

 Robert de Huyton the elder for his life ; 

 Final Cone, ii, 41. The pedigree of the 

 Huyton family is not clear ; but Robert Ac 

 Huyton the elder was probably a brother 

 of Henry. Robert son of William brother 

 of Henry de Huyton and Robert son of 

 Henry de Huyton were last in the re- 

 mainders of a settlement made by Ellen 

 de Torbock in 1332 ; Croxteth D. Z, i, 

 4. In the same year Robert de Huyton 

 and William de Billinge contributed to 

 the subsidy ; Excb. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 26. Six years later 

 Robert de Huyton of Billinge acquired 

 some land in Ashton ; Final Cone, ii, 108. 



Robert de Huyton of Billinge, pro- 

 bably a descendant, complained in 1348 

 of the damage which William Dawson of 

 Billinge had done to property while he 

 had it on lease ; he had pulled down a 

 hall worth 10, and two chambers worth 

 ^5 each, and cut down twenty apple-treei 

 worth 201. each, <&c. ; De Banco R. 355, 

 m. 21 ; 356, m. 234 d. Four years later 

 certain lands were held jointly by Alan 

 the clerk of Rainford, whose wife was 

 Agnes, and Robert son of Matthew de 

 Huyton ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2 

 (Pent.), m. 2. Another defendant in the 

 case was Isolda, widow of Roger de Win- 

 Stanley and daughter of Roger (? Robert) 

 de Huyton. Richard de Huyton appears 

 in 1357 ; ibid. R. 6, m. 5. 



14 By charter of June 1331 Robert de 

 Huyton and Mary his wife granted an 

 estate in Billinge to trustees, with re- 

 mainders successively to their children, 

 Henry, Richard, Isolda, Agnes and Avice. 

 By 1363 Robert and Mary were dead, 

 and Henry and Richard had died without 

 issue j Isolda was the wife of William the 

 clerk of Wigan, and her estate having 

 been taken into the king's hands for some 

 default of Eustace de Cottesbech, for 

 whom her father had been a surety, she 

 petitioned for restoration ; L.T.R. Memo. 

 R.I 28, m. 5. Isolda seems to have been the 

 widow of Roger de Winstanley ; in 1363 

 Hugh de Winstanley sued William the clerk 

 of Wigan and Isolda his wife for waste ; 

 De Banco R. 416, m. 299 d. It appears 

 from the following that there was another 

 daughter who shared the inheritance. 



From a plea of 1372 it is clear that the 

 manor of Billinge, i.e. the Huyton half 

 as previously explained, had become di- 

 vided among four co-heirs and their issue ; 

 for Geoffrey de Wrightington and Ellen 

 his wife, executors of the will of Robert 

 de Winstanley (Ellen "being the widow), 

 in that year claimed dower from Henry 

 de Scarisbrick as guardian of the land and 

 heir of Robert de Billinge, from Richard 

 de Heaton and Isolda his wife ; and from 

 Alan the Barker and Agnes his wife, 

 each of the defendant parties holding a 

 fourth part of the manor ; De Banco R. 

 447, m. 1 84 d. 5454, m. 141. 



Alan the Barker may have succeeded 



