WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



outside the churchyard. The village wake was falling 

 into disuse in 1836," and no wakes have been held 

 in the district for the last half-century. 



Among the place names in 1824 were Pepper 

 Alley, Wagry Moss, and Ruff House. 



Before the Conquest NEWTON 

 HUNDRED was the head of a hundred assessed at 

 five hides. One of the hides, includ- 

 ing Newton itself, was held in demesne by Edward 

 the Confessor, as lord of the 

 manor. In 1086 the demesne 

 was valued at q.. 13 



Afterwards the 



BJRONr fee or barony of 

 MAKERFIELD 

 was formed, embracing much 

 the same area as the older 

 hundred, and Newton became 

 the head of the barony. The 

 story of this fee and its suc- 

 cessive lords Banastre, Lang- 

 ton, Fleetwood, and Legh 

 has been told elsewhere. 14 



In 1346 it was found that Sir Robert 



M4NOR de Langton held the plough-lands in 



NEWTON by the service of one knight's 



fee, paying io/. for ward of Lancaster Castle, and 



doing suit at the wapentake court at West Derby 



LANGTON. Argent 

 three chrverons gules. 



WINWICK 



every three weeks. 15 The manor of Newton, with its 

 members, Lowton, Kenyon, Arbury, a moiety of 

 Golborne, and the advowson of 

 Wigan Church, was so held ; 

 the other manors of Newton fee 

 Southworth, Wigan, Ince, 

 Hindley, Abram, Ashton, Pem- 

 berton, Billinge, Winstanley, 

 Haydock, Orrell, Winwick- 

 with-Hulme, Woolston, Poul- 

 ton, Middleton, Houghton, 

 and the other moiety of Gol- 

 borne were held by fealty 

 only. 18 At Newton a three- 

 weeks court was kept for the 



barony. 17 A grant of free warren was obtained by 

 Robert Banastre in 1 2 5 y, 18 and licence to crenellate 

 his mansion by Robert de Langton in 1341." 

 Manorial rights are still claimed, but no court has 

 been held for many years. 



A number of grants by the Banastres and Langtons M 

 have been preserved. 



A resident family or families took the local name ; 

 one of them in the time of Edward III was known 

 as Richard the Receiver, from the office he held under 

 the lord of the fee." Another also had an official 

 name Serjeant ; the family remained here down to 

 the end of the iyth century." Among the other 



BANASTRE. Argent 

 a cross fatonce sable. 



some plough irons, and the spirit of his 

 departed mistress, who begged him to 

 have masses said for her in her torment ; 

 from a Narracio de celebracione Misse by 

 Mr. Ric. Puttes, 1372, in Trin. ColL 

 Oxf. MS. vij, fol. 49, kindly transcribed 

 by the Rev. H. E. D. Blakiston, B.D., 

 fellow and tutor. 



12 Baines, Lanes, loc. cit. 



18 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 286. About 1141 

 Randle Gernons, Earl of Chester, con- 

 firmed a grant of the demesne tithes of 

 Newton to the abbey of Shrewsbury, 

 which appears to have been first made by 

 Roger of Poitou ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 

 277. 



V.C.H. Lanes, i, 366-75. For a 

 manumission of villeins by Robert Banastre 

 in 125 6 see Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 125. A deed of sale of the 

 barony of Newton in 1594, Thomas 

 Langton being vendor and Thomas Fleet- 

 wood purchaser, is printed in Local Glean. 

 Lanes, and Cbes. ii, 1 84. 



15 Sur-v. of 1346 (Chet. Soc.), 36. 



16 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 6, 

 17 ; also Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 



99- 



!7 Assize R. 404, m. 412. The 15th- 

 century description of the tenure does 

 not agree with the survey of 1212, by 

 which the lords of Lowton and Golborne 

 were found to be charged with the 

 knight's service of the fee ; Lanes. Inq. 

 and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 ' 73> 74* 1 1 20 1 Adam de Lawton and 

 Thomas de Golborne had rendered account 

 for 2 marks due for the fee of one 

 knight; Lanes. Pipe R. 133. About the 

 middle of the I3th century the Golborne 

 plough-lands appear to have reverted to 

 the lord of Newton, who granted them 

 to Thurstan de Holland in socage ; see 

 the account of Golborne. 



18 Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 4S 8 - 

 There was a second grant for the demesne 

 lands of Newton, Golborne, and Lowton 

 in 1301 ; Chart. R. 29 Edw. I, m. 12. 



19 Cal. Pat. 1 340-3, p. 304. 



30 Robert lord of Makerfield granted a 

 part of his land to William Payvant, 

 Plattclough being part of the boundary j 

 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, 113. 



Robert Banastre, lord of Makerfield, 

 granted to Henry son of William Curtis a 

 number of pieces of land in the vill ; ' the 

 outlane to the wood of Burton ' is named} 

 ibid. 117. 



A grant by Robert Banastre to Mat- 

 thew son of Gilbert de Haydock in 1289 

 gives the bounds thus : From the old 

 ditch on the east, by Roger the Carpen- 

 ter's lands, so to a 'spertgore' in the 

 south, by the ditches westward to John de 

 Orrell's land, and then across to the com- 

 mencement. Matthew was also to be toll 

 free and hopper free in all the mills of 

 Newton; ibid. 125. It was perhaps 

 this grant which occasioned a lawsuit in 

 1 347, Gilbert de Haydock as son and heir 

 of Matthew complaining that he had been 

 disseised of his common of pasture in 

 300 acres of wood ; Sir Robert de Lang- 

 ton and others were defendants, including 

 Hugh dc Laye, 'hermit' ; Assize R. 

 1435, m. 9. 



In 1334 Robert de Langton, lord of 

 Makerfield, granted Gilbert de Haydock 

 ten acres, including the Rushy Field on 

 the west of the highway ; the Gunk by 

 the Longmarsh ; and a piece next to 

 Pimcock's Acre ; Raines, loc. cit. 141. 



The names and services of many ten- 

 ants in Newton lordship in 1502 are 

 given in Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 

 no. 10 1. 



21 Richard Banastre gave to Paulinus 

 son of Richard de Newton land lying be- 

 tween Rece-riding and Cockshaw Head ; 

 Raines, loc. cit. 113. Roger son of 

 Paulinus is named in another deed ; ibid. 



In 1334 John de Langton authorized 

 Richard de Newton, his receiver, to give 

 seisin of two acres of the waste to Gilbert 

 de Haydock ; ibid. 143. The seal of 

 Richard the Receiver is attached to several 

 deeds ; ibid. 139, 143. 



Richard the Receiver of Newton in 



133 



1347 recovered a messuage, &c., from 

 Jordan son of Adam de Kenyon ; Assize 

 R. 1435, m. 33d. William and Cecily, 

 children of Thomas the Receiver, were 

 defendants in Lent 1352 ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Assize R. i, m. 7 d. 



22 It is not clear that the office was 

 hereditary ; there was perhaps more than 

 one serjeant at a time. The officials in 

 1 2 1 2 were William de Newton, who held 

 two oxgangs of land by serjeanty, and had 

 another oxgang ; Robert the Reeve hold- 

 ing two oxgangs in virtue of his office, and 

 Roger the clerk holding the same ; Lanes. 

 Inq. and Extents, i, 78. The reeve and 

 clerk frequently appear in later times ; 

 e.g. ibid. 322. 



In 1 292 two sisters, Alice and Almarica, 

 of whom the former had married Ralph 

 the Serjeant of Newton, claimed an ox- 

 gang of land from Robert son of William 

 son of Roger de Newton ; they were the 

 granddaughters and heirs of Wylot Dagel ; 

 Assize R. 408, m. 21 d. 



About the same time Hugh, * called the 

 Serjeant,' granted to Matthew de Hay- 

 dock part of his land in Newton; Raines, 

 loc. cit. 115. Hugh and Ralph are men- 

 tioned in the charter of Robert Banastre 

 already quoted ; ibid. 117. 



The lands of James the Serjeant are 

 mentioned in a deed of 1315 ; and James 

 was witness to another deed in 1338 ; 

 ibid. 133, 139. John the Serjeant attest- 

 ed grants in 1324, 1337, and 1340 ; ibid. 

 131, 141, 151. He and Hawise his wife 

 occur in 1338; 141. Cecily, his daugh- 

 ter, appears to have married Robert de 

 Warrington about 1349 ; ibid. 155. 



In 1350 John the Serjeant and Alice 

 his wife claimed lands from Richard son 

 Thomas de Wallwork and others ; Assize 

 R. 1444, m. 4. In the following year he 

 granted to feoffees all his lands in Newton, 

 with the reversion of what his mother 

 Hawise held in dower ; Towneley MS. 

 DD, no. 1279. 



In 1479 J onn Serjeant of Newton 

 granted to Peter Legh land in the Wood- 



