WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WINWICK 



the religious houses, 67 and Sir John himself had 

 a grant of Upholland Monastery and its lands. 68 

 His son, another Sir John, succeeded him, 69 and 

 left an only daughter Alice as heir, who married 

 Sir Edward Fitton of Gawsworth. 70 Shortly after- 

 wards Holcroft came into the hands of Ralph Calveley 

 of Saighton, Cheshire. 71 In 1642, as previously 

 stated, the manors of Holcroft and Peasfurlong were 

 in the possession of Sampson Erdwick and Anne 

 Erdwick, 71 widow. Ten years later John Holcroft 

 and Margaret his wife were in possession. 73 Of his 

 son Thomas's children two daughters became co- 

 heirs ; 74 Eleanor married Thomas Tyldesley of 

 Myerscough and Morleys, and Margaret married Sir 

 Richard Standish of Duxbury/ J and afterwards Sir 



Thomas Stanley of Bickerstaffe. The manors were 

 divided ; Peasfurlong went to the Standish family 

 and Holcroft descended with the Tyldesleys until 

 1761, after which there is 

 no trace of them in the 

 records. 76 



IV. To Ellen, the re- 

 maining daughter of Gilbert 

 de Culcheth, and her husband 

 was assigned RISLETJ 7 and 

 the family descended from 

 them retained possession until 

 the 1 8th century. Robert de 



Risley and Ellen his wife TVLDESLEY. Argent 



were among the defendants three mole-hills vert. 



/"X 



Edward VI ; Metcalfe, Book of KnigAts, 

 90. 



From Sir Thomas Butler in 1549 he 

 procured the enfranchisement of his 

 manors of Holcroft and Peasfurlong, with 

 the lands there and in Pennington. The 

 manor of Holcroft, with messuages, lands, 

 and two water-mills, had been held by 

 homage, fealty, uncertain scutage, and a 

 rent of 35. 6d. with suit to the court of 

 the manor of Warrington ; thenceforward 

 it was to be held by fealty only for all 

 services, customs, exactions, and demands ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 1 3, m. 77. Sir 

 John died in 1 560 and was buried at New- 

 church in Culcheth ; Dods. MSS. cliii, fol. 

 46. His will with the inventory is printed 

 in Piccope, Wills (Chet. Soc.), i, 148-57. 



67 Thomas Holcroft first appears in the 

 records as a gentleman servitor at the 

 coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533 ; L. 

 and P. Hen. VIII, vi, 246. He had a 

 place at court and was trusted by the king 

 and Cromwell with various missions, in- 

 cluding the visitation of the monasteries. 

 He procured grants of the friaries at War- 

 rington, Preston, and Lancaster ; a por- 

 tion of the Whalley lands, and Cartmel 

 Priory; also Vale Royal Abbey in Cheshire; 

 see L. and P. Hen. VIII ; also Ormerod, 

 Cheshire (ed. Helsby), ii, 1 5 3, 1 54. He was 

 knighted during the Scottish expedition 

 in 1 544 ; Metcalfe, Knigbtt, 74. His 

 family very soon died out. His son 

 Thomas in 1590 was 'professed in reli- 

 gion, but not so forward in the public 

 actions for religion as was meet' ; Gibson, 

 Lydiate Hall, 243. 



68 See the account of Upholland. In 

 1539 he also procured a grant of the 

 tithes of Culcheth for ever, paying a rent 

 of 10 to the rector ; Lanes, and Ches. 

 Recs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 302 ; 

 Lichneld Epis. Reg.-xiii-xiv, fol. 24. 



69 An agreement between John Hol- 

 croft and Margaret widow of Sir Richard 

 Bold, on the marriage of the former's son 

 John with Dorothy Bold, is in Dods. MSS. 

 xxxix, fol. 107. A fine as to the manor 

 of Peasfurlong was made in 1553 between 

 Sir John Holcroft senior and Sir John 

 Holcroft junior ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 14, m. 4. Sir John Holcroft was 

 the plaintiff in a right-of-way case in 

 1565, the disputed road leading from 

 Hollinfare through Culcheth to Leigh ; 

 Ducatu! Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 285. 



7 In 1589 a settlement of the tithes of 

 Culcheth was made by Sir Edward Fitton 

 and Alice his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdle. 51, m. 148. In 1590 it was re- 

 ported that he resided but little in Lanca- 

 shire ; he was 'of good conformity' to 

 the religion established by law, but ' not 

 much commended for any forwardness in 



the cause ' thereof ; Lydiate Hall, 243 

 (quoting S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4). He 

 was returned in 1600 as a freeholder ; he 

 was also a justice ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 238. 



The male line of this branch of the 

 Fittons quickly died out, and the inheri- 

 tance passed to female heirs on the death 

 of the third Sir Edward Fitton in 1643 ; 

 see Ormerod, Cheshire (ed. Helsby), iii, 



553- 



7 1 Ralph Calveley died 23 Dec. 1619 

 holding Holcroft Hall, with its lands, 

 mills, free fishery in the Glazebrook, and 

 messuages and lands in Wigshaw, which 

 he had purchased of Thomas Southworth 

 and others, probably trustees of the Fit- 

 tons ; the hall was leased to Dame Alice 

 Fitton, who resided there ; Lanes. Inq. 

 p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 258- 

 61. 



John Calveley, aged thirty-six, was 

 Ralph's son and heir. The manors of 

 Holcroft and Peasfurlong were claimed 

 by a John Calveley as late as 1661 ; Exch. 

 Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 36. 



7 2 See previous note. Sampson Erd- 

 wick (Erdeswick) was probably the grand- 

 son of the Staffordshire antiquary of that 

 name, who died in 1603 leaving a son 

 and heir Richard, the name of the Hol- 

 croft Sampson's father ; Staff. Visit. (Wm. 

 Salt Soc. v, 2), 1 24. 



7 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 152, 

 m. 77. The son, Thomas Holcroft, was 

 married this year. 



John Holcroft was the John Holcroft 

 junior, grandson of Hamlet, already men- 

 tioned in the account of Peasfurlong. He 

 sided with the Parliament from the com- 

 mencement of the Civil War, and rose to 

 be lieutenant-colonel ; in 1643 ^ e was ' n 

 command at Lancaster when Lord Derby 

 assaulted and took it ; Civil War Tracts 

 (Chet. Soc.), 30-2, 85. 



John's younger son Charles succeeded 

 his brother Thomas (who died in 1667), 

 but died without issue in 1672. 



7* It was probably on the death of 

 Charles Holcroft that the notorious 

 Colonel Thomas Blood endeavoured to 

 secure the manor of Holcroft as the right 

 of his wife Mary, eldest daughter of 

 Colonel John Holcroft. In a petition to 

 the king he complained that to defeat 

 him some of the Holcrofts had combined 

 with one Richard Calveley 'to promote 

 an old title . . . which title for this forty 

 years hath been overthrown at law,' and 

 further, ' about six years ago they hired 

 several obscure persons out of Wales that 

 went to the house of a gentleman, one 

 Hamlet Holcroft, . . . and with a pistol 

 killed him dead for not giving them pos- 

 session . . . ; and some weeks since the 



161 



said Richard Calveley being attacked by 

 some of the sheriff's bailiffs . . . catched 

 up a rapier and killed one of the said 

 bailiffs dead on the place '; printed by 

 Mr. Rylands, op. cit. 19, 20, from S.P. 

 Dom. Chas. II, cxlii, 19. Hamlet Hol- 

 croft senior was buried at Newchurch in 

 1 663, and another Hamlet on 2 June 1664. 



7 s A moiety of the manors of Holcroft 

 and Peasfurlong and of estates in Cul- 

 cheth and Woolden was settled upon 

 Thomas Tyldesley and Eleanor his wife 

 in 1680 ; the other moiety being at the 

 same time settled on Sir Richard Standish 

 and Margaret his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 204, m. n, 35. 



In August 1700 Sir Thomas Stanley, 

 Margaret his wife, and Sir Thomas Stan- 

 dish were deforciants of the manor of 

 Peasfurlong and land there and in Hol- 

 croft ; ibid. bdle. 245, m. 85. Two years 

 later Sir Thomas Standish was plaintiff 

 and Sir Thomas Stanley and his wife 

 deforciants of the manor of Heapey, a 

 moiety of the manors of Holcroft and 

 Peasfurlong and various lands ; ibid. bdle. 

 249, m. 32. In the following year Thomas 

 Tyldesley and Edward his son and heir 

 were vouchees in a recovery of the same 

 manors ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 478, m. 

 4d. In 1709 a further settlement appears 

 to have been made, the deforciants in the 

 fine being Sir Thomas Stanley and Mar- 

 garet his wife, Sir Thomas Standish, 

 Thomas Tyldesley, Edward Tyldesley, 

 son and heir of the late Eleanor Tyldes- 

 ley, wife of Thomas ; and Henry Bunbury 

 and Eleanor his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 263, m. no. Then in 1761 

 James Tyldesley and Sarah his wife were 

 in possession, and sold or mortgaged it to 

 John Lloyd ; ibid. bdle. 366, m. 114. 



A case prepared for counsel's opinion 

 in 1740 respecting the settlement of 1700 

 was printed in Preston Guardian local 

 notes, i Dec. 1877. 



7* In 1787 Holcroft appears to have 

 been owned by Samuel Pool ; Land Tax 

 Ret. 



'7 At the time of the partition of Cul- 

 cheth Robert de Risley was allowed to 

 retain all the approvements he had made, 

 except 12 acres in Rossale, and pasture 

 on the moss between Risley and Croft, 

 without hindrance from his brother 

 Adam ; 20 acres in the Rough Hurst by 

 Croft Wood were also allowed to him, but 

 his horse-mill was to be taken down, 

 being to the prejudice of the other par- 

 ceners ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 113^, 114. 



The consent of Robert son of Hugh de 

 Hindley and Ellen his wife has also been 

 preserved ; ibid. fol. 1 1 8. Their share 

 lay ' in the southern part of Culcheth 

 called Risley,' and included Rossale in 



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