WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WIGAN 



wife were in possession,* and sold the manor to 

 Richard Hilton/ 1 with whose daughter Abigail it 

 descended to her children by her husband Thomas 

 Crook. 22 



The new owner it appears was a zealous Protestant, 

 and his son Richard Crook was the builder of the Non- 

 conformist chapel at Hindley, after the existing one 

 had been recovered by the Bishop of Chester. 23 

 Richard died without issue in November 1 727, and the 

 inheritance, which, besides Abram, included lands in 

 Walton le Dale and elsewhere in the county, 24 passed 

 to his five sisters as co-heirs. 25 The manor of Abram 

 seems to have been the portion of the second sister, 

 Anne, who married John Darbyshire of Warrington, 

 and her only child, Abigail, married Thomas Clay- 

 ton, M.D., of Little Harwood. 16 Their grandson, 



Thomas Clayton, in 1785 sold the manor to Peter 

 Arrowsmith of Astley, who in 1828 sold it to John 

 Whitley, and his son Henry Jackson Whitley, of Big- 

 gleswade, succeeded. 27 His son, Mr. John Henry 

 Arthur Whitley, of Bourton, Salop, is the present 

 owner ; but no manorial rights are claimed. 28 



The portion called OCCLESHAW, as has been seen, 

 was granted to Cockersand Abbey, 29 and was occupied 

 by the Urmston family ; 30 after the Dissolution it 

 came into the possession of the Earl of Derby. 31 The 

 Occleshaw family long continued to hold an estate in 

 the township ; 32 this eventually passed into the hands 

 of Abigail Crook, and became part of her Abram es- 

 tate. 33 



BAMFURLONG was the possession of the Ashton 

 family for a long period 34 ; it then passed to a junior 



90 In 1649 Abraham Lance appointed 

 William Gerard of Garswood, son and heir 

 apparent of Sir William Gerard of Brynn, 

 receiver for behoof of Abraham Lance and 

 his wife and their heirs, with remainder 

 to the use of the said William Gerard ; a 

 bond, signed by William Gerard in 1667, 

 mentions that Abraham Lance had died 

 about seven years before without male 

 issue. See J. Leyland's Abram, 12, for 

 fuller abstracts of these and other deeds. 



Fines relating to the above are Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdles. 146, m. in ; 180, 

 m. 17. 



21 On 1 6 Sept. 1667 the estate was 

 conveyed to Richard Hilton of West- 

 leigh, yeoman, for 1,505 ; it included 

 two pews in Wigan Church ; also the fol- 

 lowing fee-farm rents : ' William Leyland, 

 51. ; John Anderton, p. 4^. ; late Fran- 

 ces Dukinfield, I \d. ; Richard Occleshaw, 

 I3</. ; James Wreast, 3*. 5</.; Thomas Hol- 

 land, is. 6d. ; Roger Culcheth, zd. ; John 

 Lithgoe, id.;' see Leyland, op. cit. 12, 

 13. Richard Hilton died at the beginning 

 of 1690. 



22 Ibid. 14. Thomas Crook is described 

 as of Hoole, Lancashire. He was the 

 founder of numerous charities, and left 

 money ' to the preaching Protestant min- 

 ister of Hindley chapel.' He expressed a 

 desire to be buried with his mother (Mar- 

 garet Green) and brother in Standish par- 

 ish church ; Leyland, op. cit. 14, 1 18-21 ; 

 also Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 147. 

 An accusation of coin clipping, probably 

 false, was made against William Crook and 

 Thomas his brother in 1684 ; Hist. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 173, 175. 



23 Leyland, Hindley, 65. 



34 The will of Thomas Crook already 

 quoted mentions estates at Bretherton, 

 Much Hoole, Mawdesley, Walton le Dale, 

 Billinge, Euxton, Ulnes Walton, Leyland, 

 Farington, Alston, and Whittingham. 



Richard had an elder brother Caleb, who 

 also died without issue. 



Abigail Crook, the widow, died about 

 1705 ; an abstract of her will is printed in 

 Local Glean, ii, 231, in which volume is 

 much information as to the Crook family. 

 Several documents about their properties 

 are in the possession of W. Farrer. 



25 Ibid, ii, 231, 237. The eldest sister, 

 Lydia, married Thomas Yates of Whit- 

 church ; the second, Anne, married John 

 Darbyshire of Warrington ; the third, 

 Abigail, married in 1707 John Andrews 

 of Bolton le Moors ; the fourth, Margaret, 

 married (i) John Percival of Liverpool 

 and Allerton, and (2) Thomas Summers 

 of Liverpool ; the fifth, Isabel, married (i) 

 Danvers, and (2) Rev. Thomas Heysof 

 Rainhill. 



36 In 1734 all the heirs joined in a 

 lease of the manor of Abram, viz. Tho- 

 mas Yates and Lydia his wife, Thomas 

 Clayton and Abigail his wife, John An- 

 drews and Abigail his wife, Thomas Sum- 

 mers and Margaret his wife, Thomas 

 Heys and Isabel his wife. There is an 

 account of the Clayton family in Abram's 

 Blackburn, 556-61. 



a ' Leyland, Abram, 15, 1 6. 



28 Information of Mr. Whitley and 

 Mr. William Valiant of Newton. 



39 ' The whole land of Occleshaw ' was 

 granted by William de Occleshaw to the 

 canons of Cockersand about the end of 

 the 1 2th century. The bounds are thus 

 given : 'From where Deep lache runs 

 down from Bageley head, by the lache to 

 Glazebrook, up this brook and Occleshaw 

 brook, to Rushy lache and so to Bicker- 

 shaw, then up the lache to the Slavi-lache, 

 by this to within Bageley wood Eves, and 

 so to Deep lache ;' Cockersand Chart, ii, 

 660, 664. William de Occleshaw is 

 called William Gillibrand in the confirm- 

 ing charter ; and John Gillibrand had the 

 land as the canons' tenant in 1268 at a 

 rent of izd. ; ibid. 643, 66 1. Other Oc- 

 cleshaws occur in Hindley and Aspull. 

 The spelling of the Cbartulary is Aculue- 

 saue or Aculuesahe ; in 1292, Okeleshawe. 



80 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p. m. iii, no. 30 ; 

 John Urmston of Westleigh, 1507. 



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

 Ches.), ii, 433 ; Richard Urmston, 1624. 

 The rent payable was i zd., as paid by John 

 Gillibrand. 



82 In 1292 William del Platt unsuccess- 

 fully claimed right of way beyond the 

 lands of Thomas and Roger de Occleshaw 

 in Abram ; Assize R. 408, m. 65 d. The 

 same William demanded lands in Abram 

 and Ince from William Gillibrand, Mar- 

 gery his wife, and others in 1305 ; it was 

 agreed that he should receive a rent of $d. 

 for them ; Assize R. 420, m. 3 d. A fine 

 between Beatrice daughter of Thomas 

 de Occleshaw and her father in 1303 set- 

 tled a messuage and lands upon her ; Final 

 Cone, i, 200. Richard Gillibrand and 

 Cicely his wife ; Roger Gillibrand ; and 

 Margery and Lucy, daughters of Adam 

 son of William Gillibrand, occur in vari- 

 ous suits of 1365 ; De Banco R. 419, m. 

 192, io8d. ; 420, m. 17. 



John Occleshaw of Abram, gentleman, 

 was a trustee in 1531 ; Add. MS. 32105, 

 no. 912. Thomas Occleshaw in 1568 

 held four messuages, &c. in Abram ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 30, m. HI. In 

 1600 John Occleshaw was a freeholder 

 and Henry Occleshaw in 1628 ; Misc. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 240 ; 

 Norris D. (B.M.). 



88 A mortgage by Richard Occleshaw 

 and Thomas his son in 1698 seems to 

 have prepared the way to a sale, the re- 

 lease being granted 3 Apr. 1700 ; the 

 purchase money was 590. In 1713-14 

 an indenture was made between Thomas 

 Occleshaw and Elizabeth his wife, and 

 Thomas son of Thomas and the repre- 

 sentative of Abigail Crook. From ab- 

 stract of title in possession of W. Farrer. 



84 It is possible that this was the oxgang 

 of land held by Alan de Burton in 1212, 

 rendering yearly i zd. in fee-farm ; Lanes. 

 Inq. and Extents, i, 77. 



William son of John de Ashton was a 

 defendant in 1305 ; Assize R. 420, m. 8. 



Amota daughter of Robert de Ashton 

 by his wife Emma was with Robert del 

 Coran and Eva his wife and Jordan de 

 Rixton and Agnes his wife a plaintiff in 

 1329 respectingjlands in Abram; De Banco 

 R. 278, m. 31 d. ; 281, m. 76. Another 

 suit of the series is recorded under Hind- 

 ley ; the defendant in the Abram cases is 

 called William de Ashton instead of 

 William the Fisher. William de Ashton 

 contributed to the subsidy of 1332 ; Exch. 

 Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 13. 

 Richard de Ashton of Abram attested a 

 Newton charter in 1373 ; Raines MSS. 

 (Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, 146. Richard de 

 Ashton of Abram in 1388 granted to his 

 son Roger and another lands in Sankey 

 and Penketh acquired from Margaret 

 widow of Simon de Langtree ; ibid. 87. 



The name occurs in 1445 in a complaint 

 by Katherine the widow and Gilbert the 

 son of William de Ashton, as executors, 

 against Richard de Ashton of Abram and 

 others, respecting the seizure of cows and 

 other property ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 8, 

 m. 6. In the following year there were 

 cross-suits between Katherine the widow 

 and Oliver, Gilbert, and James the sons 

 of William de Ashton, and Richard, also 

 son of William de Ashton of Abram, 

 Hindley, and Ince ; ibid. R. 9, m. 1 3^, 14, 

 146. In 1448 William son of Richard 

 de Ashton of Bamfurlong was charged 

 with breaking into Sir John de Byron's 

 close at Atherton ; ibid. R. 12, m. 6. 



In 1478 a marriage was agreed upon 

 between Oliver son and heir of Thurstan 

 Anderton and Margaret daughter of 

 John Ashton of Bamfurlong ; Duchy Plead. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 92, 97. 



John Ashton, about fourteen years of 

 age and in ward to Roger Anderton of 

 Bickershaw, being son and heir of Gilbert 

 Ashton, in 1552 made complaint that 

 various servants of Sir Thomas Gerard 

 had prevented his viewing Bamfurlong 

 Hall and its lands, Sir Thomas apparently 

 asserting that a Richard Ashton was the 



15 



