WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



ships. 14 Henry Byrom of Parr, his son and heir, who 

 was then thirty years of age, died in 1613, holding 

 Byrom by a rent of 3/. 7\d. His son John had died 

 in 1611, and the heir was John's eldest son Henry 

 Byrom, born in i6o8. 25 He espoused the royal side 

 in the Civil War, and is said to have been killed at the 

 battle of Edgehill in 164.2. He had seven chil- 

 dren, the eventual heir being the fifth son, Samuel, 

 born in l634-* 7 His son John succeeded him in in- 

 fancy, and died in i696, 28 the heir (his son Samuel) 

 being once again a minor. In 1 706, having attained 

 his majority, he came to an agreement with his 

 sisters, mother, and grandmother, and obtained posses- 

 sion of the manors and lands. 29 He was, however, a 

 spendthrift, and four years later was negotiating the 

 sale of ' the royalty, manor, and demesne of Byrom.' so 

 The purchaser was Joseph Byrom, a wealthy Man- 

 chester mercer. 31 His daughter Elizabeth carried it 

 by marriage to her cousin, the celebrated John 

 Byrom of Kersal, and it descended to their great- 



WINWICK 



granddaughter Eleonora Atherton of Byrom and 

 Kersal, who died in 1870, having bequeathed this 

 and most of her estate to Mr. Edward Fox, her god- 

 son. He took the name and arms of Byrom. 32 



The Hospitallers had land here by the grant of 

 Pain and Adam de Kenyon. 33 



The Mathers of Lowton are said to have been the 

 parent stock of a celebrated Puritan family. 34 



In 1600 James Lowe was a freeholder. 35 The 

 heirs of John Byrom, John Lowe, and the heirs of 

 John Baxter contributed as landowners to the subsidy 

 of i6z8. 36 John Widdows of Lowton compounded 

 for his ' delinquency ' in 1 649 ; as he had not 

 ' engaged in the latter war ' he had possibly joined 

 the king's forces at the opening of the conflict. 37 

 Richard Holcroft, as a recusant, asked leave to com- 

 pound for the sequestered two-thirds of his estate 

 in I653. 38 



An Inclosure Award was made in 1765." 



The Commonwealth surveyors in 1650 recom- 



34 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, no. 

 37. The pedigree recorded at the visita- 

 tion of 1664 begins with him ; Dugdale, 

 Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 66. His will is 

 printed in Piccope's Wills, ii, 1 1 6. It 

 names his wife Mildred, his son Henry, 

 and grandson John ; 65. 8</. or 5*. each 

 was granted to serving men, maids, &c., 

 and twenty windles of barley were to be 

 distributed among his poor neighbours ; 

 the sum total of the inventory was 

 ^259 181. <)d. The will of his brother, 

 Richard Byrom of Middleton, is also given 

 (p. 117). 



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

 and Ches.), i, 271, 274 ; ii, 1 1. 



Henry Byrom in 1594 acquired a con- 

 siderable property in Lowton from Tho- 

 mas Langton and Thomas Fleetwood ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 59, m. 371. 

 His will is among the Mascy of Rixton 

 Deeds ; Trans. Hitt. Soc. (new ser.), iv, 

 175. Lands in Lowton were to be sold 

 to pay debts ; there were no religious or 

 charitable bequests. 



The inquisitions show that John Byrom 

 was twice married to Ellen Lister of 

 Thornton in 1604, and in 160710 Isabel 

 Nowell of Read, who survived her hus- 

 band. The heir was clearly the issue of 

 the later marriage. 



24 Dugdale, Visit, loc. cit. He was a 

 major in the regiment of foot raised by 

 Lord Molyneux. 



Immediately after his grandfather's 

 death he had been betrothed to Margaret, 

 the nine-year-old daughter of Sir Thomas 

 Ireland of Bewsey, but the contract was 

 afterwards annulled ; Raines, loc. cit. 10. 



*7 Two of the elder sons were lunatics, 

 and two died young. Samuel had a 

 younger brother Edward, who recorded the 

 family pedigree at the visitation of 1664. 

 The heirs being minors and the family 

 Protestant, the estates were not interfered 

 with by the Commonwealth authorities. 

 Three of the sons Adam, Samuel, and 

 Edward were admitted to Gonville and 

 Caius College, Cambridge, in 1646 and 

 1650 ; Venn, Admissions, 221, 231. 



Samuel Byrom of Byrom was buried 

 at Winwick 26 Jan. 1665-6. Allega- 

 tions concerning his will, dated 1668, 

 are preserved in the Diocesan Registry 

 at Chester ; see Index (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 20 ; also Lanes, and Cbes. 

 Antiq. Notes, ii, 154. Entries in the 

 Wilmslow registers are printed in Local 

 Glean. Lanes, and Cbes. i, 1 2. 



28 John Byrom was born 24 June 

 1659, as appears by an entry in the Rog- 

 therne registers. He was admitted to 

 Gray's Inn, 1676, and about 1683 mar- 

 ried Elizabeth daughter of Sir John Ot- 

 way ; she afterwards married Robert 

 Hedges and Hamilton ; Raines, loc. 

 cit. 10. At the beginning of 1 694 he was 

 chosen at a bye-election to represent 

 Wigan in Parliament ; Pink and Heaven, 

 Part. Refre. of Lanes. 230; Hist, MSS. Com. 

 Rep. xiv, App. iv, 282, 283. He was 

 buried at Winwick 3 Mar. 1695-6, the 

 register describing him as 'of Parr.' The 

 monumental inscription describes him as 

 'a hearty champion of the Church of 

 England, vigorously resisting the sacri- 

 legious usurpations of the schismatics at 

 his own charges ' ; as for instance in his 

 recovery of St. Helen's Chapel for the Es- 

 tablished Church ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. 

 xiv, App. iv, 246. 



M Raines, loc. cit. 12. 



Early in 1707 in a fine concerning the 

 manors of Byrom and Parr, and various 

 houses, mills, and lands in Lowton, Parr, 

 Westleigh, Abram, Hindley, Sutton, 

 Windlc, and Golborne, the deforciants 

 were Samuel Byrom, John Robinson, 

 Lady Elizabeth Otway, widow, Robert 

 Hedges and Elizabeth his wife, and Eliza- 

 beth Byrom, spinster (Samuel's sister) ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 258, m. 33. 



80 He was known as ' the Beau.' An 

 account of his pamphlet, written in the 

 Fleet Prison in 1729, will be found in 

 Canon Raines's book, 13, 14. He states 

 in it that ' he had a competent estate in 

 Lancashire, but by being ill-introduced to 

 the world, and soon falling into the hands 

 of sharpers and gamesters (the very bane 

 and ruin of many young gentlemen when 

 they first come from the University), his 

 estate was diminished, and, what was 

 more valuable, his reputation was lost.' 

 He was still living in destitution in Lon- 

 don in 1739. 



81 An account of this family is given in 

 Canon Raines's work already cited. See 

 further under Kersal. 



82 Baines, Lanes, (ed. Croston), iv, 372. 

 88 Pain de Lawton gave Flitcroft to 



the Hospital and Adam his son regranted 

 or confirmed it. Afterwards the Hos- 

 pitallers granted part to Jordan de Ken- 

 yon ; the land appears to have been in 

 two places, one in Lowton and the 

 other in Kenyon ; Kuerden, fol. MS. 

 3 6 3 R- 



53 



About 1 540 the lands were held by the 

 heirs of William Flitcroft, at a rent of 

 lid. (? lid.), and by Richard Holland at 

 i zd.; Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84. Sir Wil- 

 liam Leyland of Morleys was found in 

 1547 to have held lands in Lowton and 

 Kenyon of the king as of the late priory 

 of St. John by a rent of izd. ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 43. The Earl of 

 Derby afterwards acquired this land; Lanes. 

 Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and dies.), ii, 

 268. 



84 Five members of it have notices in 

 Diet. Nat. Biog. See Local Glean. Lanes, 

 and Ckes. ii, 217. Richard and Samuel 

 Mather are said to have been born at 

 Lowton. Simon Mather was constable 

 of Lowton in 1507 ; Beamont, Lords of 

 Warrington (Chet. Soc.), ii, 375. 



86 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 242. In 1631 James Lowe paid ,10 

 as a composition on refusing knighthood ; 

 ibid, i, 213. 



Hamlet Lowe acquired a messuage and 

 lands in Lowton and Newton from Hugh 

 Thornton in 1555 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdle. 1 6, m. no. They seem to have 

 been transferred to James Lowe by Ham- 

 let and his wife Maud in 1564; ibid, 

 bdle. 28, m. 230. 



Another freeholder was James Sorocold, 

 who at his death in 1622 held lands in 

 Lowton and Kenyon recently purchased 

 of John Ashton and Nicholas Lythgoe ; 

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

 Ches.), ii, 406. Richard Lythgoe and Sir 

 Piers Legh had in 1564 and 1565 pur- 

 chased the Eccleston lands in the town- 

 ships named ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdles. 26, m. 171 ; 27, m. 133. 



Thomas Arrowsmith, rector of En- 

 borne, in 1597 claimed certain lands in 

 Lowton against Geoffrey Hope, Alice 

 widow of Henry Arrowsmith, and others 5 

 Ducatus (Rec. Com.), iii, 361 ; also 267. 



86 Norris D. (B.M.). 



87 Cat. of Com. for Compounding, iii, 

 2076. 



John Thomason alias Widdows in 1601 

 claimed land under a lease to his father, 

 Thomas Johnson ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. 

 Com.), iii, 476. 



88 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iv, 

 3176. 



89 Lanes, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 56 ; for a map of the 

 same time see ibid, i, 55. The Act was 

 passed in 1762. There is a copy of the 

 award (without plan) at Preston. 



20 



