A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Swinton 118 and Stanistreet m were other estates or 

 portions of Worsley named in the ancient deeds. 

 Westwood also was among the lands of Whalley Ab- 

 bey. 114 * Little Houghton gave a surname to a resident 

 family. 115 This estate seems to have passed by de- 

 scent or purchase to the Valentines of BentclifFe in 

 Barton. 11Sa 



W4LKDEN, down to the 1 5th century, appears to 

 have had a wider meaning than at present, spreading 

 into Farnworth and Little Hulton. 116 It also gave a 

 surname to a local family. 1 " Northdene in Worsley 

 probably ' the Deans ' in Swinton, north of Little 

 Houghton was another estate. 118 



Many of the neighbouring landowners, as appears 

 from the inquisitions, held estates also in Worsley and 



Swinton. 1 ' 9 Until the end of the 1 7th century all 

 the farms in the district were held on life leases ; 

 somewhat earlier it was customary for the leases to 

 contain a provision that the tenants should rear one 

 or more hunting dogs for the lord. 



The principal landowner in 1786 was the Duke of 

 Bridgewater, owning apparently over half the land ; 

 Samuel Clowes had a large estate at Booths, and the 

 smaller owners included the Rev. Walter Bagot, 

 James Hilton, and Starkie. 110 



In 1686 an agreement was made as to the inclosure 

 of Swinton Moor and Hodge Common in the parish 

 of Eccles. 111 Walkden Moor, a great part of which 

 is or was in Little Hulton, was inclosed about 

 i 7 6 5 . 1IU 



Westlakes, Kitpool, Westwood, and Mar- 

 land (or Moorland). 



Generally speaking, there was little 

 disputation during the tenure of the 

 monks. After the Dissolution a long 

 quarrel was waged between the Shering- 

 tons, as representing the Tyldesleys, and 

 others. A precept to keep the peace with 

 Thurstan Tyldesley of Wardley was 

 issued in 1566 to Sir William RadcliiFe, 

 Edward Holland, Thomas Valentine, 

 Robert Chapman, and others ; Agecroft 

 D. Many references will be found in 

 the Ducatus Lane. Richard Brereton of 

 Tatton, son of Geoffrey son of Joan 

 Brereton, as lord of Worsley, in 1581 

 claimed the waste grounds called Swinton 

 Moor and Walkden Moor, and the moss 

 called Pendleton hey. Gilbert Shering- 

 ton then held the last-named ground, and 

 Sir John Radcliffe claimed Swinton Moor 

 as representing Whalley Abbey ; John 

 Gawen occupied an inclosure from the 

 moor as tenant of Gilbert Sherington ; 

 and John Derbyshire had a barn in the 

 Stanistreet 5 Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eli/. 

 cxv, B 4. Ten years later Gilbert Sher- 

 ington claimed an inheritance in Swinton 

 Moor as part of his manor of Swinton. 

 He stated that the moor on the east ex- 

 tended to Hendene Brook, dividing Swin- 

 ton from Pendlebury, and on the west to 

 a brook near Wardley wall ; and that 

 parcels of it had been improved by 

 Geoffrey de Byron in the time of Ed- 

 ward I, by the Abbot of Whalley about 

 1460-80, and by Thurstan Tyldesley, 

 Thomas his son, and Thurstan his grand- 

 son, more recently. A witness stated 

 that the tenants of Roe Green had had 

 common of pasture on Swinton Moor. 

 The moor included Pendleton (or Pelton) 

 hey and moss and the White Moss ; ibid. 

 civ, 89. In 1594 Richard Brereton com- 

 plained of the inclosures of Gilbert Sher- 

 ington adjoining Linnyshaw Moss at the 

 head of a mere called Howclough ; ibid, 

 clxii, B 9. 



For a plan of Worsley and Linnyshaw 

 see Lanes, and Cbes. Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 24. 



1U Whalley Couch, iii, 889, 916, 917, 

 921. It is now within the borough of 

 Eccles. 



" Ibid, iii, 886. 



U4 Ibid, iii, 907-15. 



m Paulinus de Halghton has been 

 mentioned ; he is also called ' de Barton ' 

 in a grant by his widow Beatrice ; ibid, i, 

 5J. Thomas son of Robert de Halghton 

 in 1 276 released to the Abbot of Stanlaw 

 all his right in the new inclosures of the 

 Hope in Swinton made by Geoffrey de 

 Byron ; ibid, iii, 921. 



John de Halghton was one of the de- 



fendants in a Worsley suit in 1 301 ; Assize 

 R. 1321, m. 8. Robert son of John de 

 Halghton was a defendant in July 1356 ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5, m. 40. 

 Nine yean later the Abbot of Whalley 

 took proceedings against Robert de 

 Halghton for waste ; De Banco R. 419, 

 m. 203. Robert de Halghton in 1373 

 made a settlement of his estate a moiety 

 of Little Halghton and the Solinhurst 

 in favour of himself and his wife Margery, 

 with remainders to his son John and 

 grandson Robert son of John ; Valentine 

 deeds among the Ellesmere muniments. 

 From another of these deeds it appears 

 that this estate had been originally granted 

 by Richard, lord of Worsley probably 

 Richard son of Geoffrey to his son 

 John ; John son of Richard de Worsley 

 occurs in 1292 ; Assize R. 408, m. n d. 



John de Halghton in 1413 sold to 

 Geoffrey Massey the lands called Old 

 Houghton (Valentine D.) ; while in 

 1458-9 the Abbot and convent of Whalley 

 came to an agreement with Nicholas 

 Halghton as to the division of certain 

 lands in Worsley which they held in com- 

 mon 5 ibid. 



lisa Thomas son of John Valentine of 

 BentclifFe in 1516 recovered against Joan 

 Langtree various lands in Eccles, Barton, 

 Little Houghton, Worsley, and Bedford ; 

 ibid. The Valentine lands in Little Hough- 

 ton and Hazelhurst were held of the lord 

 of Worsley by the rent of a pair of white 

 gloves or id. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 



*> 3i- 



Another estate in Worsley held by a 

 like rent may be mentioned. In 1292 

 William de Waverton (or Warton) de- 

 manded from John de Chelworth acquit- 

 tance of the service demanded by Edmund 

 Earl of Lancaster for a tenement consist- 

 ing of a messuage and 20 acres, held by 

 fealty and the service of a pair of white 

 gloves yearly. The earl had distrained 

 plaintiff to find puture for all his ser- 

 vants and also to find a ' witness man.' 

 The jury decided that John de Chelworth, 

 as mesne lord, must discharge these ser- 

 vices ; Assize R. 408, m. 71. John de 

 Chelworth is otherwise unknown, but the 

 Warton family long held land in the 

 district. 



118 See the account of Farnworth. In 

 1404 Richard son of Henry de Farn- 

 worth of Charnock granted to feoffees ' a 

 piece of land . . . called Walkden, lying 

 in Farnworth, a hamlet of Barton, be- 

 tween the common of Worsley on the 

 one side and Walkden brook on the 

 other,' tenanted by William the Tasker ; 

 Ellesmere D. no. 3. 



"7 e.g. Robert de Walkden attested a 

 charter in 1394 ; ibid. no. 2. 



390 



118 In 1722 William Chapman, senior, 

 of Northdene Bank in Worsley, fustian 

 weaver, settled his estate there in favour 

 of his son William ; it was leasehold of 

 the Duke of Bridgewater ; Manchester 

 Free Lib. D. no. 114. Among copiei 

 of the Chapman deeds in the Ellesmere 

 muniments are the following : 1358 

 William son of Roger the Barker and 

 Margaret his wife, daughter of Richard de 

 Swinton, granted land in Swinton to 

 Robert Morsell of Monton ; the original 

 deed is at Agecroft. 1371-2 Robert 

 Morsell purchased other land in Swinton 

 from Thomas de Eccles (who had it from 

 Henry son of Henry de Cliveley), and 

 gave it to his son Richard. 1440-1 

 Alice widow of Robert Chapman settled 

 the land on her son William. It seems. 

 to have been held in 1471 by William 

 Chapman, and in 1495-6 by Robert 

 Chapman. 



119 The inquisitions of the i6th and 

 1 7th centuries show the following : 

 William Hulton of the Park, who held of 

 Lady Joan Brereton in socage in 1556 ; 

 Leonard Asshaw of Flixton ; Thomas 

 Fleetwood of Norbreck, who in 1576 

 held of the heir of Geoffrey Massey by a 

 rent of 41. ; Ralph Assheton of Lever, 

 who held of Richard Brereton ; James- 

 Sorocold ; Thomas Mort of Little Hulton ;. 

 Andrew Norris of West Derby ; also in 

 Swinton the Daunteseys of Agecroft and 

 Hollands of Clifton. 



In 1824 a pair of spurs with leathers 

 was paid by the owner of Agecroft to- 

 the lord of Worsley as a chief rent for 

 lands on Swinton Moor ; Agecroft D_ 

 no. 268. 



Ralph Sorocold in 1586 and 1587 pur- 

 chased lands in Worsley and Tyldesley 

 from John Gregory and Richard hi* 

 younger son, and from John Gregory and 

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

 bdle. 48, m. 96 ; 49, m. 91. 



120 Land tax returns at Preston. 



181 Agecroft D. no. 158. The parties to 

 the agreement were Sir William Egerton, 

 K.B., lord of the soil of the said commons, 

 on the one part, and on the other the 

 charterers, Richard, Lord Colchester (after- 

 wards Earl Rivers) and Penelope his wife; 

 Sir Robert Coke, bart., John Dauntesey 

 and John Starkie, esquires ; Richard Val- 

 entine (by Thomas Sorocold his guardian), 

 James Chetham, and Henry Coulborne, 

 gentlemen ; Richard Edge, John Peake, 

 John Lomas, and George Ormerod. 



lau For a dispute about Walkden Moor 

 in 1505 or thereabouts see Duchy Plead. \ r 



37- 



An inclosure award, with plan, is pre- 

 served at the County offices, Preston. 



