A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



in pleas already cited of the time of Edward I. 78 The 

 next steps in the descent are not quite certain/ 9 but 

 in 1324 Robert de Risley and Isabel his wife made 

 a settlement of their fourth part of the manor of 

 Culcheth, three daughters only being mentioned. 80 

 Robert was still living in 1365," and had a son 

 Henry, 8 * whose sons were William and Nicholas. 

 William in 1397 released to his brother and his 

 heirs all his right to his father's lands in Risley, Cul- 

 cheth, Kenyon, Croft, Lowton, Warrington, and 

 Penketh, except a messuage and 20 acres ; and his 

 daughter Katherine in 1422 gave a similar release. 83 

 Nicholas Risley remained in possession till the year 



1454 or later. 84 He had a dispute with Richard de 

 RadclifFe concerning a certain moor and moss which 

 had been reclaimed and on which a dwelling-house 

 had been built. The evidence adduced contains one 

 of the rare allusions to the ' foreign death ' or plague 

 of I 34S. 85 He was succeeded by his son Gilbert, 8 * 

 his grandson Richard, 87 and his great - grandson 

 Henry. The last-named did homage for his lands to 

 the lord of Warrington in I492. 88 He had a son 

 Robert, 89 who succeeded about 1509, and died in 

 1516, leaving a son and heir, Richard, then eighteen 

 years of age. 90 The guardianship was granted to Sir 

 John Ireland, who married the ward to his daughter 



Southwood. The bounds are carefully 

 recited, Hollinhurst and Stockley Wood 

 being named. A road for Robert and his 

 tenants was allowed through Peasfurlong 

 to the common of Westwood, then fol- 

 lowing the Halgh Field to Holcroft ; by 

 the Brook House to the mills at Culcheth 

 and further to Fastonbrook. In com- 

 pensation for the ' waste and desert ' 

 character of much of Risley, Robert and 

 Ellen received Gilbert de Culcheth's lands 

 in Lowton. This deed may be dated 

 about 1270. 



7 8 From these it appears that Robert 

 and Ellen de Risley were living in 1292 ; 

 Assize R. 408, m. 44 d. Ellen in or 

 before 1 303 married John Gillibrand, and 

 was living in 1314, when she and her 

 husband ' put in their claim ' in a settle- 

 ment regarding Holcroft ; Final Cone, i, 

 200 ; ii, 1 8. She had a portion of Long- 

 ton in Leyland Hundred, which descended 

 to Peter and Gilbert de Risley, younger 

 sons , ibid, i, 200 ; ii, 63 ; Hari. MS. 

 2042, fol. looi, &c. 



7 9 Robert and Ellen appear to have had 

 sons, Robert and Richard ; as also the 

 Peter and Gilbert named in the last 

 note. 



Robert son of Robert de Risley, and 

 Margery his wife, claimed various lands 

 in Kenyon, Lowton, Culcheth, Warring- 

 ton, and Pemberton, from Robert son of 

 William de Sankey ; Harl. MS. 2112, 

 fol. 151-87 (undated). Margery was the 

 daughter and heir of William, elder son 

 f William de Sankey, and in 1295 

 claimed her grandfather's lands in Ken- 

 yon, &c. Her father had died before the 

 elder William, and she had been given in 

 ward to Robert de Risley, who had mar- 

 ried her to his son Robert ; Assize R. 

 1306, m. 15. Margery seems to have 

 married before 1321 William son of 

 the John Gillibrand named in the pre- 

 vious note ; Final Cone, ii, 44. 



The Robert de Risley who had the 

 reversion would be the grandson of the 

 first Robert de Risley, and this settlement 

 may have been made on his coming of 

 age or marriage. 'John Gillibrand and 

 William his son' occur in 1299 ; Towne- 

 ley MS. OO, no. 1465 ; William had mar- 

 ried Margery by 1311 ; Harl. MS. 2112, 

 fol. 151-87 ; Final Cone, ii, 7. In 1347, 

 in a grant to the next Robert de Risley, 

 his mother ' Margaret ' is named as then 

 living ; from the deeds at Hale Hall, 

 near Liverpool, among which are a large 

 number relating to Risley. 



It would thus appear that the first Robert 

 de Risley died before 1303, and the second 

 (his son) before 1311. 



Adam son of Hugh de Hindley 

 granted lands near Westwood in Cul- 

 cheth, which he had acquired from John 

 de Haydock, to Giles de Penketh. Giles 

 was to render the following services to 



the chief lords : To John Gillibrand and 

 Ellen his wife and the heirs of Ellen and 

 Robert de Risley, 14^ a year ; to Robert 

 son of Robert de Risley, homage and \d. 

 at Christmas ; to Gilbert son of Richard 

 de Culcheth, i Ib. of cummin and 8rf. 

 rent; Kuerden MSS. v, fol. n8, no. 

 48 ; Towneley MS. GG, no. 998. 



Richard de Risley, probably another 

 son of the elder Robert, had a confirma- 

 tion of his estate from Richard de Rad- 

 cliffe and Margery his wife ; Dods. MSS. 

 liii, fol. 27. In 1321 John son of 

 Richard de Risley released to Adam de 

 Holcroft all his claim to land in Wigshaw 

 lache, between Peasfurlong and the 

 boundary of Croft ; Hale D. 



80 Final Cone, ii, 58; daughters Mar- 

 garet, Margery, and Agnes are named. 

 Robert must therefore have been born 

 about 1300. Adam de Holcroft, Joan de 

 Holcroft his mother, William de Rad- 

 clifre and Margery his wife, and William 

 their son, put in their claims. 



81 He contributed to the subsidy in 

 1332; Excb. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 4, and he attested charters 

 between 1341 and 1357 ; Culcheth D. no. 

 51, 62. Henry de Bradshagh and Joan 

 his wife in 1353 claimed lands in Kenyon 

 from Robert de Risley and Isabel his wife 

 and Henry son of Robert. Joan was the 

 widow of John, another son of Robert ; 

 Assize R. 435, m. 29 ; De Banco R. 418, 

 m. 287 d. 



8a De Banco R. 419, m. 52 d. He 

 died in or before 1397, leaving a widow 

 Margaret, as appears by deeds quoted 

 below. A daughter Ellen married Thur- 

 stan de Penketh ; Hale D. 



83 Hale D. William son of Henry de 

 Risley had released his lands to his father 

 by a deed of 1398-9. 



84 Henry de Ditchfield in 1437-8 

 granted to Nicholas de Risley and Gilbert 

 his son the marriage of his son and heir 

 William to Katherine daughter of 

 Nicholas ; Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 247^, 

 no. 43. 



Nicholas was still alive in 1454, when 

 his son Gilbert contracted with John 

 Byrom for the marriage of his son Richard 

 with John's daughter Alice ; Gilbert, it 

 appears, married Elizabeth daughter of 

 Richard Bold ; Hale D. ; Towneley MS. 

 GG, no. 1037. 



85 Trans. Hist. Soc. iii, 1 06, 107. 

 Richard Wilkinson the Wright said he 

 was forty (? fourteen) years old at the 

 foreign death, and was present when 

 Richard de Radcliffe and Robert de Risley 

 (grandfather of Nicholas) made an agree- 

 ment as to the disputed land, one end 

 lying to the Readyshaw. Atkin Jackson 

 was sixteen years old at the foreign death, 

 and was present when Margery, mother 

 of Richard de Radcliffe, seized certain 

 tenant* of Southworth upon the 'mean 



l62 



moss* in dispute, and sent him to Robert 

 de Risley ' to bid him come and help to 

 punish for pasturing on their mean moss ; 

 and he said there was moor and moss 

 enough for her and all her kine and him 

 and all his kine for evermore, and he 

 would punish no poor folk therefor.' 

 Adam of Longshaw was four years old at 

 the foreign death, and soon afterwards 

 became servant to the wife of Robert de 

 Risley. This evidence appears to have 

 been taken early in 1411. 



Seven years later an award was made 

 between Nicholas de Risley and Richard 

 son of James de Radcliffe, touching 

 Readyshaw Moss ; ibid. 107. The dis- 

 putes continued till the end of the cen- 

 tury. 



In 1431 Richard Stanley, Archdeacon 

 of Chester and rector of Winwick, de- 

 cided a case of trespass between Nicholas 

 de Risley and Dykone his son and others: 

 there had been faults on both sides, but 

 Nicholas was the more aggrieved and for 

 compensation was awarded ' a hogshead 

 of wine at Warrington, as good as the 

 said Nicholas will choose, of red or white," 

 or two marks instead ; ibid. 105. 



86 The descent is thus given in 1494-5 : 

 Nicholas s. Gilbert s. Richard s. 

 Henry ; Pal. of Lane. Misc. 1-9, m. 14, 

 1 6 ; but in 1539 the descent was stated 

 thus : Henry s. Nicholas s. Gilbert 

 s. Nicholas s. Henry s. Robert 

 sons, Richard, Henry, and John (plain- 

 tiff) ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 169, m. 14 d. 

 The second Nicholas is an error for Richard 

 ( Nic. for Ric.) ; Pal. of Lane. Sess. Papers, 

 bdle. 5 Hen. VIII. 



Gilbert de Risley made feoffments of 

 his estates in 1457 and 1463 ; Hale D. 

 He granted to his son John a messuage in 

 Culcheth with remainder to another son, 

 Thomas j Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 46, 

 m. 4_d. 



87 Richard's son and heir apparent, 

 Henry Risley, was in 1463 married to 

 Margery daughter of Hamlet Mascy of 

 Rixton ; Hale D. 



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

 i, 14. He is also named in Culcheth D. 

 no. 126, 260, from which it appears that 

 he was living in 1505. 



89 In 1494 a marriage was agreed upon 

 between Robert son of Henry Risley, and 

 Elizabeth daughter of Richard Holland 

 of Denton ; Henry's mother was then 

 Alice Southworth ; Hale D. 



90 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, no 85. 

 Besides Risley Hall he held twenty mes- 

 suages, two burgages, a windmill, land, 

 meadow, &c. in Culcheth, Warrington, 

 Penketh, Lowton, Kenyon, and Croft. 

 The premises in Culcheth and Warrington 

 were held of Sir Thomas Boteler by the 

 tenth part of a knight's fee, the yearly 

 rent of zs. 7^., and suit at the court of 

 Warrington every three weeks. A dis- 



