A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



changed into an urban district council by the Act of 

 1894 ; it consists of fifteen members. 



The manor of INCE appears to have 

 M4NOR been a member of the royal manor of 

 Newton before the Conquest,* and to 

 have been included in the fee of Makerfield from its 

 formation. 4 In 1 2 1 2 Alfred de Ince held this in thegn- 

 age with Haydock, 5 in succession to his father, Orm 

 de Haydock, whose name occurs as early as Il68. 6 

 The whole of Haydock had been granted out, and half 

 of Ince was held of Alfred by Richard de Perpoint. 7 



Some forty or fifty years later Henry de Sefton 

 began to acquire a share in the manor. In 1261 he 

 held the Perpoint moiety by grant of Thomas de 

 Perpoint, 8 and seems to have acquired the remainder, 

 with the mesne lordship, from Henry son of John de 



Ince. 9 He was still living in 1288,' but in 1291 

 his son, styled Richard de Ince, was in possession. 11 

 Richard de Ince occurs as late as 1 3 3 3 ; lt he was 

 succeeded by his son Gilbert, living in I347- 13 At 

 this time Gilbert had a son Ivo living ; but in 1382 

 the manors of Aspull and Ince were granted to feoffees 

 by Richard son of Robert de Ince, whose relation- 

 ship to Gilbert is not known. 14 The manor went 

 with Ellen, daughter of probably the same Richard 

 de Ince, who married John Gerard, a younger son of 

 Peter Gerard of Brynn. 15 



From their son William the manor descended 

 regularly to Thomas Gerard of Ince, who in 1514 

 had a dispute with Sir Thomas Gerard of Brynn, as to 

 the possession of Turneshea Moss, on the boundary 

 of Ince and Ashton. 16 At his death in 1545 it was 



V.C.H. Lanu. i, 286. 



* Ibid. 366, note 8. For later notices 

 see Lanci, Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, I38;ii, 

 99 ; ibid. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 105. 



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

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 74. The separate 

 assessment of Ince appears to have been 

 one plough-land : and its share of the 

 thegnage rent was probably los. ; one of 

 the judges being also supplied by it. In 

 1544 the Gerards' rent was stated to be 

 51. only ; possibly this was a moiety of 

 the manor, the other moiety being held 

 by the Ince family. 



6 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 12. Orm de 

 Haydock gave to Cockersand Abbey a 

 portion of land in Ince, between two 

 brooks, as marked out by the canons' 

 crosses ; Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), 

 ii, 673. Robert Anderton held this in 

 1501 at a rent of lod. ; Cockersand Rental 

 (Chet. Soc.), 5. 



~' Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 74 ; the half 

 plough-land was held 'of ancient feoff- 

 ment.' 



Richard de (or le) Perpoint was a 

 benefactor of Cockersand, his grant being 

 thus bounded : The great brook up the 

 Thele lache, down the lache between 

 Beric-acre and Wolveley to the syke be- 

 tween Hardacre and Bircacre, to the great 

 brook ; Cockersand Chart, ii, 672. He 

 seems to have been succeeded by Robert 

 son of Adam de Perpoint, who released 

 to the canons the lands he had held of 

 them in Ince, and whose daughter Godith 

 did the same ; ibid. 673, 674. For 

 Alfred de Ince see Lanes. Pipe R. 152, 

 &c. 



8 Cur. Reg. R. 171, m. 28 ; Henry 

 de Sefton called Thomas de Perpoint to 

 warrant him as to 4 oxgangs in Ince. 

 He may be the Henry de Seveton who 

 with his wife Alice was taken into con- 

 fraternity with the Knights Hospitallers in 

 1256; Final Cone. ( Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 128. 



9 Assize R. 408, m. 21 d. John de 

 Ince was witness to an Abram charter 

 about 1240 5 Cockersand Chart, ii, 664. 



10 Assize R. 408, m. 73. It is pos- 

 sible that there is an error in the date. 



11 Assize R. 407, m. 3 d. Gilbert de 

 Southworth claimed in right of the dower 

 of his wife Emma, who seems to have 

 been the widow of Henry de Sefton ; but 

 this would not have been so if Henry de 

 Sefton was living in 1288. 



About this time there was a long suit 

 between John son of Richard Maunsel 

 of Heaton and Richard son of Emma 

 de Marhalgh as to messuages, mill, &c., 

 and 6 oxgangs of land in Ince and Aspull. 



Richard is described as son and heir of 

 Henry de Wigan, a brother of Richard 

 Maunsel ; Assize R. 1265, m. 22 d. ; R. 

 1321, m. 13 d. ; R. 418, m. 2, II. As 

 in one of the pleadings in 1284 (Assize R. 

 1268, m. ii) Gilbert de Southworth and 

 Emma his wife were joined in the defence 

 with Richard son of Emma de Mar- 

 halgh, it might seem that Henry de 

 Wigan was the same as Henry de Sefton, 

 but there it probably some other explana- 

 tion. 



12 In 1292 he was defendant in a 

 number of suits concerning his father's 

 acquisitions. 



Henry de Litherland claimed 4 ox- 

 gangs less 12 acres ; he had in 1288 re- 

 leased his right in them to Henry de 

 Sefton, but now said he was a minor at 

 the time ; Assize R. 408, m. 73. It is 

 possible that the plaintiff was the Henry 

 son of Thomas de Ince who at the same 

 assizes claimed 6 acres of land, &c., 

 from Robert son of Fulk Banastre, 

 Hugh de Hindley, Alan son of Peter, 

 Adam de Urmston and Isabel his wife, 

 and Richard de Molyneux and Beatrice 

 his wife ; ibid. m. 68. Agnes widow of 

 Thomas de Ince was also a claimant in 

 respect of dower ; 2 oxgangs of land are 

 named ; ibid. m. 3, 13 d., 64 d. Henry 

 son of Thomas de Ince held 12 acres 

 claimed by William, brother and heir of 

 Robert de Wytonelake, who asserted that 

 Thomas had demised to Henry de Sefton, 

 who had disseised Robert ; ibid. m. 51. 



Robert de Abram and Emma his wife, 

 in right of the latter, claimed the moiety 

 of an oxgang of land, Sec., from Richard 

 son of Henry de Sefton of Ince, and from 

 Gilbert de Southworth and Emma his 

 wife. The latter pair said they had only 

 Emma's dower out of Richard's inheri- 

 tance. The plaintiffs said that Henry de 

 Ince gave the tenements to Adam son of 

 Wido and Margery his wife ; the latter 

 being, it would seem, a daughter of Henry; 

 and that Emma was their daughter and 

 heir ; Robert was the son of John de 

 Abram, who had married the said Mar- 

 gery. Richard de Ince's reply was that 

 Margery had granted the lands to his 

 father while she was a widow and free to 

 do so ; but the jury decided for the plain- 

 tiffs, believing a grant was made after she 

 had married John de Abram. Gilbert 

 and Emma were also to have nothing 

 from the land, ' because the seisin of the 

 latter's first husband was unjust'; ibid, 

 m. 26 d. The last sentence seems to 

 prove that this Emma was widow of 

 Henry de Sefton. 



In the same year, 1292, Richard de 

 Ince and Alice his wife, 'put in their 



102 



claim ' in a fine concerning the manor of 

 Haydock ; Final Cone, i, 174. 



Late in 1334 Richard son of Henry 

 de Ince granted Gilbert de Culcheth leave 

 to carry turves from Hindley to Wigan 

 through Ince ; Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and 

 Gen. Notes, i, 52. 



18 In 1323-4 Gilbert son of Richard 

 de Ince remitted to Gilbert de Haydock 

 a rent of 1 31. 4^. ; Raines MSS. (Chet. 

 Lib.), xxxviii, 33. Gilbert de Ince was 

 witness in 1334; Crosse D. no. 45. 

 Ten years later John de Tyldesley made 

 a claim against Gilbert son of Richard 

 de Ince and others concerning land ; As- 

 size R. 143 5, m. 47. A little later, 1347, 

 William son of John Donning of Ince 

 sued Gilbert son of Richard de Ince for 

 a messuage in Ince. Gilbert claimed by 

 a grant from Elias Donning and Margery 

 his wife, parents of John Donning ; in 

 the defence there were associated with 

 him his brothers Richard, Thomas, and 

 John ; also his son Ivo ; ibid, m. 41 d. 

 Gilbert de Ince at Easter 1354 was con- 

 victed of disseising John son of Thomas 

 Jew of a rent of 131. $d. in Ince ; and 

 Hugh, Gilbert's brother, cut off Johr.'s 

 arm ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 3, m. 

 3. Henry, another brother, occur, in 

 1347; Cal. Close, 1346-9, p. 49. Gil- 

 bert de Ince attested a charter in 1358; 

 Standish D. no. 46. 



14 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 2, m. 

 36 ; a list of the tenants is given. 



Robert was perhaps yet another brother 

 of Gilbert's, for a Robert son of Richard de 

 Ince was plaintiff in 1353 against Roger 

 de Leigh, and others; Assize R. 435, 

 m. 20. 



Richard and Thomas de Ince contri- 

 buted to the poll tax of 1381 ; Lay Subs. 

 Lane. bdle. 130, no. 24. 



15 Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), ii, 131, 

 where it is stated that a dispensation was 

 granted for the marriage. John Gerard 

 of Ince occurs in 1425 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Chet. Soc.), ii, 13. 



In 1420 John Gerard of Ince and Ellen 

 his wife arranged for the succession of the 

 manor of Ince, with fifteen messuages, 

 140 acres of land, &c., in Warrington, 

 Wigan, and Aspull ; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 5, m. 18. At the inquisition 

 after his death, taken in 1434-5, his son 

 and heir William was said to be aged 

 twenty-three ; Ormerod, loc. cit. 



16 Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 3-7 ; the date should be 6 

 Hen. VIII. The plaintiff's pedigree is 

 given : ' The said moss ... is the freehold 

 and inheritance of plaintiff as parcel of 

 his manor of Ince, whereof William 

 Gerard his great-grandfather, Thomas 



