A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Before the end of the century, in what way does 

 not appear, the manor was acquired by the Holands 

 of Upholland, 9 from whom it descended, like their 

 other manors, to the Levels, 10 and, after forfeiture, to 

 the Earls of Derby." 



William, the sixth earl, sold it to William Orrell 

 of Turton, 11 and the latter soon after sold to the 

 Bisphams, lords of part of the adjacent manor of 

 Billinge ; ls then by marriage it descended to Thomas 

 Owen, 14 and to Holt Leigh of Wigan. 15 His son, 

 Sir Roger Holt Leigh, of Hindley Hall in Aspull, 

 left it to his cousin, afterwards Lord Kingsdown, for 

 life, and then to the present owner, Mr. Roger 

 Leigh of Aspull. 16 



The Orrell family had numerous offshoots, but the 

 relationships cannot be traced. The survey of 1212, 

 quoted above, shows that there were then two subor- 

 dinate holdings of one-eighth and a quarter of the 

 manor. The former may have descended to the 

 Orrells of Turton, 17 and the latter may be the holding 

 of Alexander Orrell of Orrell Post, whose land in 

 1607 was held by a rent of 3/. 18 



The freeholders in 1 600 were the Alexander Orrell 

 just named, William Prescott, and Thomas Tipping. 19 

 James Bankes of Winstanley also held lands here in 

 1618" 



About the same time another family, the Leighs of 

 Ackhurst, are mentioned, continuing down to the 



9 Robert de Holand was lord in 1292 ; 

 Assize R. 408, m. 37 ; Final Cone. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 173. 



In 1307 Robert de Holand desiring to 

 give a plough-land in Orrell to the chap- 

 lain of Upholland, inquiry was made on 

 behalf of the king ; the manor of Orrell 

 was found to be held of John de Langton 

 and Alice his wife by the service of icw. ftd. 

 an increase of 6d. and doing suit at 

 the court of Newton in Makerfield from 

 three weeks to three weeks ; Lanci. Inq. 

 and Extents, i, 322. 



At a later inquiry in 1324 the same 

 statement was made as to the tenure ; the 

 value of the manor was 6 6s. T&d. ; 

 Inq. a.q.d. 1 8 Edw. II, no. 68. See also 

 Inq. p.m. 47 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 19. 



10 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 2. 



11 Pat 4 Hen. VII, 25 Feb. ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, no. 68. In 1 597 the 

 deforciants of the manors of Orrell and 

 Dalton were William, Earl of Derby, and 

 Edward Stanley ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 58, m. 254. 



12 Bridgeman, Wigan Ch. (Chet. Soc.), 

 257 ; see further below. 



18 See Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), i, 

 200, in 1607. William Bispham died in 

 1639 holding the manor of Orrell of the 

 king as of his manor of East Greenwich ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, no. 97. 



14 See the account of Billinge. 



15 See the account of Aspull. 



16 Burke, Landed Gentry. 



^ In 1292 Adam sou of William de Or- 

 rell, asserting that he was lord of an eighth 

 part of the vill, complained that Robert 

 de Holland and Robert his son had dis- 

 seised him of his free tenement in Orrell. 

 Some of the waste had been improved by 

 the elder Robert, and it was shown that 

 sufficient pasture had been reserved for the 

 commoners ; thus Adam lost his case 5 

 Assize R. 408, m. 37. 



In 1334 William Hert and Emma his 

 wife, Roger Hert and Agnes his wife the 

 wives being granddaughters (or daughters) 

 and heirs of Adam de Orrell claimed 

 lands in Orrell against Henry de Orrell 

 and the brothers Roger and William de 

 Orrell, Henry alleging a grant by Adam ; 

 Coram Rege R. 297, m. 103. 



18 In 1530 there wat a recovery of 

 the manor of Orrell by William Orrell, 

 sen., against William Orrell, jun. ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Plea R. 151, m. i. William 

 Orrell of Orrell claimed against John 

 Orrell of Turton in 1551 a messuage and 

 lands in Orrell, as heir of a certain Robert 

 Orrell, giving his pedigree thus : Robert 

 s. John s. Peter bro. Henry . 

 William ; ibid. R. 191, m. 12. 



In disputes which arose in the time of 

 Elizabeth are numerous details regarding 

 this manor. 



It was tated that William Orrell of 

 Orrell was seised of a capital messuage 

 called the Hall of Orrell, a water corn- 

 mill, and lands in Orrell, by descent from 

 his ancestors. About 1558 he conveyed 

 the estate to Hugh Anderton, from whom 

 it passed to Richard Chisnall of Gray's 

 Inn, and then to Sir Robert Worsley, who 

 gave it to his son Robert. The younger 

 Robert, at the desire of William Orrell, 

 assured the premises to Gilbert Shering- 

 ton of Gray's Inn, who about 1570 sold 

 to Francis Sherington and Katherine his 

 wife. Two years later William Orrell 

 was charged with forging deeds to regain 

 possession, his son John being an accom- 

 plice, and ' they went to the said premises, 

 shooting arrows at the said Katherine and 

 her servants ' ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. 

 Eliz. bcxxviii, S. 18. 



From another document it appears that 

 Sir Robert Worsley, about 1558, was the 

 owner of Orrell Hall and conveyed it to 

 William Orrell, who bought out the in- 

 terest of Thomas Molyneux in part of the 

 estate. It is not clear whether Sir Ro- 

 bert's title arose from a purchase from the 

 grantee of Upholland Priory, or from a 

 sale (or mortgage) by William Orrell ; 

 ibid. Ixxiii, O. 4. The money to be paid 

 to Sir Robert Worsley was 280. Gil- 

 bert Sherington paid this ; William Orrell 

 was to be tenant for life, and his son 

 Thomas released all his interest in the 

 estate ; ibid, xciii, O. i. 



Somewhat earlier, in 1549, James An- 

 derton had purchased lands in Orrell from 

 William Orrell ; PaL of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 13, m. 66. James died shortly 

 afterwards holding lands in Orrell of the 

 Earl of Derby by a rent of 31. a year ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 14. In 

 April 1555 Hugh Anderton, the son and 

 heir of James, purchased a messuage, 

 water-mill, &c., from William Orrell ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle, 15, m. at. 

 Two years later Richard Chisnall secured 

 the same from Hugh Anderton and Alice 

 his wife ; ibid. bdle. 17, m. 71. 



A settlement by William Orrell and 

 Thomas his son and heir-apparent was 

 made in 1561; ibid. bdle. 23, m. 193. 

 Sir Robert Worsley, his son and heir Ro- 

 bert, whose wife was Elizabeth, made a 

 settlement two years later ; ibid. bdle. 25, 

 m. 225. Gilbert Sherington's purchase 

 took place in 1569 ; the deforciants being 

 Robert Worsley and Elizabeth his wife, 

 William Orrell and Margaret his wife, and 

 William Stopforth and Blanche his wife ; 

 ibid. bdle. 31, m. 200. 



There were perhaps two estates ; Or- 

 rell Hall held under the priory and then 

 under Worsley, and sold to Sherington ; 

 and another held under the Earl of Derby 

 and sold to James Anderton. If so, the 



90 



latter was perhaps regained by the Orrells, 

 the rent (3*.) being the same in 1552 and 

 1607. In 1567 John Orrell conveyed an 

 estate to feoffees ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdle. 29, m. 85. He seems to have 

 been the great-grandfather of Alexander 

 (son of John) Orrell, who, as a minor, in 

 1587 complained that Elizabeth, wife of 

 John Rivington, and widow of the elder 

 John Orrell, was detaining part of his es- 

 tate ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz. cxlii, 

 O. 2. This is no doubt the Alexander 

 Orrell who died in 1607, leaving a son 

 and heir Ralph, aged eighteen in 1612 ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 199. 



The former, Orrell Hall, was retained 

 by the Sheringtons. In 1601 William 

 Orrell of Turton, having purchased the 

 manor, had disputes with Katherine, 

 widow of Francis Sherington, as to her 

 coal mine in Harre hey adjoining the 

 High Street in Orrell. The latter com- 

 plained that William Orrell had dug a pit 

 in the highway and made a passage to her 

 mine, had caused the water from the 

 ditch to flow into it, and had stopped up 

 the gate through which her coals were 

 carried. He replied that Katherine's 

 messuage was held of the manor, which he 

 had demised to his brother Richard, of 

 London ; and that she had taken coals 

 from his land ; Duchy Plead. Eliz. cxcv, 

 S. 10 ; cciv, O. i ; ccv, S. 27. 



In 1650 Edward Rigby, who held Or- 

 rell Hall of Francis Sherington of Booths 

 at a rent of ,38, petitioned the Parlia- 

 mentary Commissioners for relief. Sher- 

 ington's estate had been sequestered in 

 1643, and from that time Rigby paid his 

 rent to the sequestrators ; but when Prince 

 Rupert was in the county (1644) Shering- 

 ton took him prisoner, made him pay 

 n 55., and seized his goods, &c., the 

 place being within 3^ miles from Lathom. 

 He desired that Sherington might not be 

 allowed to compound until he had satisfied 

 him ; Cal. of Com. for Compounding, ii, 

 1192. 



19 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 242-3. Thomas Prescott died in 1591, 

 holding a messuage, shop, and lands in 

 Orrell and Upholland of the queen as of 

 the late priory of Upholland, by a rent of 

 iifed. His son William was thirty-five 

 years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 

 xv, no. 7. 



William Prescott occurs 1597 ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 58, m. 223. He 

 died in 1601 leaving a son Thomas, one 

 year old ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xviii, 

 no. 21. 



20 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), ii, 97 ; 

 part was held of Richard Fleetwood, and 

 part, as already stated, of the Earl of 

 Derby. 



