SALFORD HUNDRED 



ECCLES 



by the Barton family in thegnage, 6 and of them by a 

 family which took the local name. The earliest known 

 member of it is Richard de Worsley, who in 1203 

 was defending his right to twenty acres of wood in 

 Worsley, 7 and as Richard son of Elias in I 206 gave a 

 mark for a writ. 8 Six years later he held a plough- 

 land of Gilbert de Notton and his wife Edith de 

 Barton, half of the land being in Worsley. 9 It 

 appears that Hugh Putrell had granted ' to Richard 

 son of Elias de Worsley the manors of Worsley and 

 Hulton, i.e. half a plough-land in Worsley, which 

 was the whole of Worsley, and half a plough-land in 

 Hulton, rendering for all services los. for Worsley 



and 6s, 8J. for Hulton,' these being the rents paid 

 by Hugh to the king or chief lord. 9 * The mesne 

 lordships were very quickly ignored, and the Worsleys 

 were said to hold directly of the Earls or Dukes of 

 Lancaster. Richard was a benefactor to the canons 

 of Cockersand, 10 and two other of his charters have 

 been preserved. 11 



His son Geoffrey succeeded and was in possession in 

 1254;" he died before 1268, leaving a widow 

 Agnes." His son and heir Richard de Worsley made 

 several grants and acquisitions of land, 14 and was still 

 living in I292. 14 He had many children, including 

 Richard, who seems to have died about the same time 



' Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rcc. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 65. The whole 

 14 oxgangs so held may have been 

 Worsley 4, Swinton, 4 (or 3), Mont on 2 

 (or 3), and Hulton 4. This, however, 

 makes Monton a thegnage estate, though 

 situated in Barton, which was held by 

 knight's service. 



7 Curia Reg. R. 26 ; the plaintiff was 

 Eda (or Edith) daughter of Matthew. The 

 writ was found to require amendment, 

 because her husband, Gilbert de Notton, 

 was not named in it ; and then because 

 she had sisters, likewise not mentioned 

 in it. 



8 Lana. Pipe R. 216. Nothing is known 

 of Elias the father of Richard. The 

 legendary founder of the Worsley family 

 was an Elias the Giant, who lived in the 

 time of the Conqueror, became a Cru- 

 sader, 'fought many duels, combats, &c., 

 for the love of our Saviour Jesus Christ 

 and obtained many victories,' and died 

 and was buried at Rhodes ; Harland and 

 Wilkinson, Lanes. Legends, 78. 



9 Lanes. Inq. and Extent*, loc. cit. 



** Abstract among the Ellesmere deeds. 

 Another deed shows that Lescelina, a sister 

 of Edith de Barton and co-heir, gave to 

 the same Richard a moiety of Swinton 

 and Little Houghton ; ibid. 



Hugh de Nowell (sic) in 1324 is said 

 to have held in Worsley and Hulton six 

 oxgangs by the service of 201. a year ; this 

 should perhaps have been amended to ' the 

 assign of Hugh Putrell ' and ' six oxgangs 

 and half a plough-land' ; Dods. MSS. 

 cxxxi, fol. 37^. About the same time 

 the receiver of the forfeited estates and 

 offices of Sir Robert de Holland rendered 

 account of '201. of farm of land of Hugh 

 de Menill, which William de Nevill and 

 Gerard de Camvile formerly held in Wors- 

 ley and Hulton ' ; L.T.R. Enr. Accts. 

 Misc. No. 14, m. 76 d. For William 

 and Gerard see Lanes. Inq. and Extents, 

 i, 62, 65 ; they represented the heirs of 

 Adam son of Sweyn in 1212. 



In the sheriff's compotus of 1348 the 

 rent of Henry de Worsley for the manor 

 of Worsley' was returned as 1 31. ^.d. 

 that for Hulton being 6j. %d., as above 

 so that the moiety of Swinton paid 31. 4</.; 

 the whole thegnage rent was 20*. The 

 remainder of the z6s. payable by the 

 Bartons in 1212 was contributed at the 

 later date by the Abbot of Whalley for his 

 tenement in Monton. In an extent made 

 about 1445 it is recorded that Sir Geoffrey 

 Massey held the manor of Worsley for 

 half a plough-land in socage, rendering 

 131. 4</.; the additional oxgang in Swin- 

 ton was not reckoned, though the rent 

 was paid ; Duchy of Lane. Knights' Fees, 

 2/20. 



10 Coekertand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 717. 

 The bounds were Scaithlache, Millbrook, 



Cartlache, Modibrook, Stanwall Syke, by 

 Stanwall to Wolfpit Greaves, and by 

 Peveril's Gate to the starting-point. 



11 To Thomas de Fleckenhow, chaplain, 

 one of the rectors of Eccles, he leased 

 14^ acres in Wardley for twenty years, 

 beginning in Nov. 1218, at a rent of 41., 

 with one pig, * if the said Thomas or his 

 men dwelling on the said land shall have 

 pigs fattened on the mastfall of the said 

 vills ' of Wardley and Worsley ; Lord 

 Ellesmere' s D. no. 133. R. de Maid- 

 stone, Archdeacon of Chester, was a 

 witness. In 1219 became to an agree- 

 ment with Richard de Hulton as to the 

 six oxgangs in Hulton pertaining to 

 Worsley ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i. 41. 



A Richard son of Elias de Worsley he 

 granted to Hugh the clerk, otherwise 

 Hugh de Monton, his brother, the whole 

 land of Hazelhurst and other land beside 

 the brook flowing from Wardley Spring ; 

 Ellesmere D. no. 232. Half of Hazel- 

 hurst was afterwards given by Hugh's 

 daughter Ellen, in her widowhood, to 



iohn son of Robert de Shoresworth, who 

 ad married her daughter Margery ; ibid, 

 no. 233. The whole appears to have 

 been afterwards acquired by the Worsley 

 family from Richard son of Hugh de 

 Monton, Ellen de Hazelhurst herself (in 

 1276), Margery de Hazelhurst, and 

 William son of Alice daughter of Ellen 

 de Hazelhurst ; ibid. no. 234-7. Hugh 

 the clerk had been a benefactor of Cocker- 

 sand ; Chart, ii, 718. 



Richard de Worsley took part in the 

 inquiry as to the advowson of Flixton ; 

 Lanes. Fife R. 355. 



18 In that year he was one of the jury 

 to inquire into certain trespasses on 

 Thomas Grelley's parks ; Lanes. Inq. and 

 Extents, i, 193. He occurs also in the 

 Assize Roll of 1246 (R. 404, m. 7). He 

 made grants in Hulton ; Ellesmere D. 

 no. 40, 45. 



To his daughter Isabel, wife of Richard 

 de Bolton, Geoffrey gave in free marriage 

 certain land in Holeclough, with ease- 

 ments in Worsley, Mokenis excepted, the 

 rent being a pair of white gloves ; Elles- 

 mere D. no. 11$. This land Richard 

 de Hulton in 1289 granted to his son 

 Henry ; ibid. no. 141. 



18 The lands which Richard de Worsley 

 and Hugh the clerk had granted to Cocker- 

 sand were by Abbot Roger given to Geof- 

 frey son of Richard de Worsley at a rent 

 of zs., half a mark being payable at the 

 death of himself, his wife, or heirs ; ibid, 

 no. 139. In 1268 Richard de Worsley 

 was in possession, so that Geoffrey had 

 died before this year ; Cockersand Chart. 

 ii,7i8. 



Agnes widow of Geoffrey de Worsley 

 released to the Abbot of Stanlaw all claim 



377 



to land in Little Houghton which her 

 husband had sold to Richard de Byron ; 

 Richard de Worsley, her first-born, was a 

 witness ; Whalley Coucher, i, 55. She 

 also released her claim to dower in lands 

 in Monton and Swinton given to Geoffrey 

 de Byron ; Ellesmere D. no. 214. 



14 To Geoffey de Byron he granted for 

 life lands bounded as follows from the 

 brook flowing from the moss in Stani- 

 street, the hedge as far as Huntley Brook, 

 across to the lower part of Linnyshaw 

 (Lillyngeshald), to Holeclough, by the 

 middle of the great moss to Leparslache, 

 across to Tornedeheg, and so to the start- 

 ing point ; the rent was izd. ; Ellesmere 

 D. no. 126. This grant was extended 

 in 1271 ; no. 216. In the year named 

 he came to an agreement with Gilbert son 

 of Thomas de Lymme and Richard son of 

 John de Hulton, respecting a portion of 

 the waste in Worsley, lying between the 

 king's way and the bounds of Farnworth, 

 Wichshaw and Longshaw at one side and 

 Orlinhead at the other being also limits ; 

 the land was for ever to be in common 

 between the parties and their heirs and 

 their men of the Wich ; ibid. no. 136. 

 In 1276 Robert Abbot of Stanlaw granted 

 the land called Drywood-ridding to Ri- 

 chard de Worsley at a rent of 6d. ; no. 

 137. The same abbot allowed him a 

 free chantry; no. 127. Richard also 

 secured lands in Hulton from Richard son 

 of John de Hulton, and made a further 

 agreement as to the Worsley six oxgangs 

 with David son of Richard de Hulton ; 

 no. 46-7. 



15 Assize R. 408, m. 32 ; he was 

 defendant to a claim for common of pas- 

 ture brought by Richard son of Roger de 

 Worsley. 



Richard married, probably as his second 

 wife, Maud daughter of Alice daughter of 

 William the clerk of Eccles ; and on their 

 marriage John de Wardley granted them 

 all his land in Wardley (Worthier) in 

 Worsley, with remainder to Robert the 

 brother of Maud ; Alice was still liv- 

 ing ; Ellesmere D. no. 161. John de 

 Wardley and Alice are named in the 

 Whalley Coucher, i, 6$. Alice de Wardley 

 was living in 1301 ; Assize R. 1321, m. 

 8 d. Richard son of John de Wardley 

 gave his lands in Wardley in 1293 to 

 Adam son of Richard and Maud ; Elles- 

 mere D. no. 143. Adam again occurs in 

 1316 and 1317; and his widow Cecily in 

 1331; ibid. no. 116, 117, 165 ; also 

 De Banco R. 201, m. 5. John the son of 

 Adam de Wardley was a plaintiff in July 

 1357 ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 6, 

 m. 4. 



An Adam son of Wronou de Wardley 

 occurs earlier ; he held two oxgangs of 

 land of Gilbert de Barton ; de Trafford 

 D. no. 194. 



4 8 



