A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



for some reason passed over by the husband, the 

 manor of Barton and the estate there being bestowed 

 upon Cecil, his son by a second marriage ; it has 

 descended like Stretford. 60 Courts leet and baron 

 continued to be held until about 1872." 



The vill of Eccles" is named in ^th-century 

 charters ; it appears to have been largely in the 

 hands of the monks of Whalley, being a rectory 

 manor." Possibly MONKS' HALL, standing on 

 higher ground a quarter of a mile to the north-west 

 of the church, took its name from them.* 4 In 1632 

 Christopher Anderton of Lostock, as impropriator of 

 the rectory, sold Monks' Hall to Ellis Hey. Ma The 

 Hey family were of some continuance in the neigh- 

 bourhood, and a pedigree was recorded in i664. Mb 

 In the Civil War they experienced the displeasure of 

 the Parliamentary authorities for aiding the king's 

 forces." After the Restoration the hall became the 

 place of worship for a Nonconformist congregation. 56 



By the end of the I yth century it had been acquired 

 by the Willises of Halsnead near Prescot. 66 * 



Monks' Hall was described in 183635 a 'venerable 

 wood and plaster fabric now a farm-house.' Of this 

 timber building, however, only a portion remains at 

 the back of the present house, and a picturesque 

 black and white half-timber end facing the garden 

 on the east side has been spoiled by the insertion 

 of a large bay window on the ground floor. A stone 

 wing, now entirely modernized, has been added, 

 probably in the I yth century, in front of the old 

 timber building ; it is covered with rough-cast, and 

 has little or nothing to distinguish it from an ordinary 

 modern villa, except that the roofs are covered with 

 stone slates. The building has long ceased to be 

 used as a farm-house, and is now a private residence. 57 

 A stone with the inscription, ' Mrs. Helen Willis, 

 relict of Martin Willis, gent, deceased, me aedifi- 

 cavit,' 58 is said to have been in the older part of the 



MONKS' HALL 



60 The manor of Barton has been regu- 

 larly included in the records of Traffbrd 

 estates ; see Lanes. Inq, p.m. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 329 ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 80, no. 4 ; 100, no. 22 ; 

 282, no. 99. 



41 Information of Messrs. Taylor, Kirk- 

 man & Co. 



w There is no variation in the spelling 

 of the name calling for notice, except 

 Heckeles, 1278. 



" Whalley Couch, i, 42. William de 

 Eccles released 8 acres belonging to the 

 church of Eccles in exchange for half an 

 oxgang of the church land, formerly held 

 for life. To John his brother the same 

 William granted 16 acres in the vill of 

 Eccles ; ibid, i, 43. Monithorns was ad- 

 jacent to Eccles and to Monton, and was 

 granted by Gilbert de Barton to the monks 

 in pure alms ; a pit at Sevenlows was one 

 of the boundaries ; ibid, i, 50, 49. lor- 

 werth son of Morgan de Barton and 

 Agnes his wife released all their claim to 

 Monithorns in consideration of a payment 

 of 6s. ; ibid, iii, 921. lorwerth de Barton 



and Richard his son were also benefactors 

 regarding Westwood ; ibid, iii, 912-13. 



54 In 1394 Richard de Burghton 

 [Broughton] granted to Henry del Monks 

 and Margaret his wife all his messuages 

 and lands in the vill of Barton ; Ear- 

 waker MSS. There was thus a family 

 surnamed Monks living in the township, 

 who may have given a name to Monks' 

 Hall, or taken one from it. 



S4a Anderton of Lostock D. (Mr. 

 Stonor), no. 112. A pleading of 1632 

 shows that Ellis Hey of Monkton Hall in 

 Eccles, Chorlton Hall, Bolton le Moors, 

 &c., had a son and heir Ellis, then mar- 

 ried to Mary, daughter of StephenRadley ; 

 Pleas of Crown, Lane. bdle. 331. The 

 younger Ellis and his wife were both 

 under age. 



34b Dugdale, Visit. 133 ; they are de- 

 scribed as of Chorlton Hall in 1664. 

 Dorothy Hey occurs at Irlam in 1529 ; 

 Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 136. John 

 Hey about 1540 held a house, garden, and 

 land at Frearforth Green in Monton, pay- 

 ing 1 31. 4</. a year to the Abbot of Whal- 



3 68 



ley; Couch, iv, 1238. Roger Hey in 

 1541 contributed to the subsidy 'for 

 goods ' ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 140. In 1552 Thomas Hey 

 and Isabel his wife had a suit with Ro- 

 bert Edge, Margaret his wife, Thurstan 

 Woodward and Ellen his wife, respecting 

 a house, &c., at Eccles ; Ducatus Lane. 

 i, 255. 



85 Ellis Hey of Monks' Hall was, about 

 1647, stated to be 'very old and infirm, 

 and too much in debt to compound ' ; but 

 later he or the trustees of his infant grand- 

 son and heir paid a fine of ,309 for his 

 ' delinquency in assisting the forces raised 

 against the Parliament ' ; Cal. of Com. for 

 Compounding, iii, 1923 ; Royalist Comp. 

 Papers, iii, 221. 



46 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v, 3. 



561 Raines, in Gastrell's Notitia, ii, 53. 



V Canon Raines (loc. cit.) says that 

 when it was a farm-house the public had 

 the privilege of a passage way through 

 the building. 



" She married Willis in 1681. 



