A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



in 1554 ; the story went that Marsh, in his emphatic 

 denial that his teaching was heretical, stamped so 

 forcibly on the hall pavement at Smithills that the 

 mark of his foot remained in the stone. 26 Robert 

 Barton dying childless in 1580," the manors went to 

 his brother Ralph, reader in Gray's Inn. Ralph, 

 who died in 1 592, 28 was succeeded by his son Randle 29 

 and grandson Sir Thomas. 30 



Grace, the daughter and heir of Sir Thomas, 

 married Henry Belasyse son of Thomas, first Viscount 



BARTON. Azure a 

 fesse between three harts' 

 heads caboshed or. 



BELASYSE, Viscount 

 Fauconberg. Argent a 

 che-veron gules between 

 three fours de Us azure. 



Fauconberg. 31 Henry died during his father's life- 

 time, leaving among others two sons, Thomas, second 



Viscount and first Earl Fauconberg, who died with- 

 out issue in 1 700 ; 3 * and Sir Rowland Belasyse, who 

 seems to have resided at Smithills, 33 and whose son 

 Thomas in 1700 succeeded his uncle as third viscount. 34 

 Thomas, his son, the fourth viscount, sold Smithills 

 in 1722 to the Byroms of Manchester. 35 About a 

 hundred years later it was purchased by Richard 

 Ainsworth, owner of extensive bleach works in the 

 neighbourhood, 36 and has descended to his grandson, 

 Colonel Richard Henry Ainsworth, the present 

 owner. 



Smithills Hall stands on high ground 2 miles 

 north-west of Bolton, on the slopes of the moors from 

 which the town takes its name which, less than 

 2 miles away, attain a height of over 1,200 ft. The 

 hall itself is situated just above the 500 ft. contour 

 line, well outside the town radius, protected by trees 

 on the north and set in picturesque grounds, but with 

 a view southwards from the house embracing the 

 smoke and chimneys of Bolton. The site is a 

 naturally defensive one, being close to the junction 

 of two streams, one the Astley Brook, a quarter of 

 a mile to the south, and the other the Raveden Brook, 

 more immediately to the east. 37 The other sides 

 were protected by a moat which existed at no very 

 remote period, and the moors behind the house would 

 form a natural protection in that direction. 



26 The story is given in Fuller's Worthies. 



2 ? Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, no. 24. ; 

 the estates were unchanged. Ralph Bar- 

 ton, brother and heir, was fifty-seven years 

 of age. A settlement was made in 1565 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 27, m. 100. 

 A pedigree was recorded in 1567; Visit. 

 (Chet. Soc.), 21. Robert's will is printed 

 in Wills (Chet. Soc. new ser.), i, 39-42; 

 Margery, his wife, was the executrix ; she 

 afterwards married Richard Shuttleworth 

 of Gray's Inn ; Towneley MS. OO, no. 

 1654-6; Ducatus (Rec. Com.), iii, 118, 

 139. Some deeds by Robert Barton and 

 Thurstan his brother are in Towneley 

 MS. OO, no. 1649-51, 1653, 1674-6. 



For the muster of 1574 Robert Barton 

 was required to equip two light horses, 

 &c., being third on the list of gentry of 

 the hundred ; Gregson, Fragments, 30. 



28 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, 50. 



29 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 207-12. Randle Barton 

 died at Smithills 10 Dec. 1611. By an 

 indenture of 1607 there given, he settled 

 the capital messuage called Smithills, the 

 lands, meadows, &c., in Heaton, Halliwell, 

 and Sharpies, known as the demesne lands 

 of Smithills, the water-mill in Halliwell 

 called Smithills mill, and all pools, waters, 

 water-courses, multure, toll, and suit there- 

 to belonging ; certain messuages and 

 lands in Halliwell and Horwich, the coal- 

 mines found or to be found in the said 

 tenements, &c., to the use of himself and 

 Elizabeth his wife for life, for jointure of 

 Elizabeth, and then to the use of Thomas 

 Barton for life and heirs male. The 

 tenure is stated as above of the king, 

 as of the late priory of St. John of Jeru- 

 salem, by i zd. rent ; the clear annual 

 value was ^10. 



Thomas Barton the son and heir was 

 twenty-eight years of age. 



For an Edward Barton who died in 

 1598 near Constantinople, see Pal. Note 

 Bk. ii, 82. 



80 Sir Thomas was knighted in 1619 ; 

 Metcalfe, Knights, 176. He was one 

 of the commissioners for the subsidy of 



1622 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 16 1. He made a settlement in 

 1627, probably on his daughter's marriage; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 1 1 1, no. 24. 

 A further settlement was made in 1652, 

 the deforciants being Sir Thomas Barton, 

 Grace Belasyse, widow, and Thomas Be- 

 lasyse ; ibid. bdle. 152, m. ^7. Sir 

 Thomas does not appear to have taken 

 any active part in the Civil War, being 

 probably disabled by age, and his estates 

 were not interfered with by the Parliament. 

 There is a pedigree of the family in 

 Whitaker's Whalley,i\, 319, 320. 



81 Henry Belasyse and his family were 

 strong Royalists, and adherents of the 

 ancient faith or favourable to it. Henry 

 died in 1647; his epitaph is printed 

 in Collins' Peerage (ed. 1779), v, 359. 

 He had seven sons and seven daughters. 

 His lands having been seized by the Par- 

 liamentary authorities, his widow Grace 

 and her father in 1651 petitioned for the 

 restoration of the manor of Oulston, the 

 lease of which had been assigned to her 

 on her marriage ; Cal. of Com. for 

 Advances, i, 421. 



A meeting of Roman Catholic gentry 

 at Smithills in 1666 led to a disturbance, 

 the Bolton women being convinced that 

 they were met to cut the Protestants' 

 throats ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, App. 

 vii, 41. 



82 He was born in 1628. Though 

 married to a daughter of Oliver Crom- 

 well and a member of his House of Peers, 

 he favoured the Restoration. He was 

 put out of the lord lieutenancy of the 

 North Riding by James II, and afterwards 

 took part in the Revolution; in 1689 

 he was advanced to an earldom by Wil- 

 liam III; G.E.C. Complete Peerage, iii, 323. 



A settlement of the manors of Smithills, 

 Quarlton, &c., was made in 1679 ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 202, m. 4. 



88 Sir Rowland was made a Knight of 

 the Bath at the coronation of Charles II. 

 He died in 1699, and like his wife (heiress 

 of Davenport of Sutton) was buried at 

 Bolton ; Earwaker, East Cbes. ii, 442. 



14 



He professed the old religion ; Gillow, 

 Bib!. Diet, of Engl. Cath. i, 179. 



84 In 1717 as a 'papist' Thomas Lord 

 Fauconberg registered an estate in the 

 manors of Sharpies, Quarlton, &c., sub- 

 ject to annuities to his brothers ; Engl. 

 Cath. Nonjurors, 113, 114, 149. He 

 died in 1718. 



85 He was born in 1699 ; sold Smithills 

 and other estates after coming of age ; 

 conformed to the Established religion in 

 1737, and was advanced to an earldom in 

 1756. He died in 1774; G.E.C. utsup.; 

 Abram, Blackburn, 255. 



Some further particular* are given in 

 the account of Pendleton, of which he 

 had a moiety in right of his wife. The 

 deed of sale is enrolled at Preston (Roll 8 

 of Geo. I), and recites that Thomas, Lord 

 Fauconberg, had for 11,057 6s. sold to 

 Thomas Eyre of Stockport and Thomas 

 Foxley of Manchester his manors of Halli- 

 well, with Smithills Hall and lands, Hor- 

 wich (with lands there), Sharpies and 

 Quarlton ; Piccope MSS. (Chet. Lib.), 

 iii, 220. Joseph Byrom of Salford pur- 

 chased Smithills in 1722 for 4,688; 

 Raines, Byrom Ped. (Chet. Soc.), 38. 



Edward Byrom in 1779 paid 2s. 6d. 

 to the duchy for Smithills ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Rentals, 14/25 m. 



86 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 46; 

 here it is stated that traditionally Smithills 

 was dependent on Sharpies, the service 

 being a pair of spurs and the use of the 

 cellars at Smithills by the lord of Sharpies 

 for a week in each year. 



In 1749 the owner of Sharpies Hall 

 had a chief rent of 6s. <)d. issuing from 

 Smithills Hall, and the demesne and other ' 

 lands in Halliwell, then the inheritance 

 of Edward Byrom of Manchester, mercer; 

 Bolton Hist. Glean, ii, 188 (from Pic- 

 cope MSS.). In Burke, Landed Gentry, is a 

 pedigree of the Ainsworth family. 



8 ? The Astley Brook joins the Eagley 

 Brook (above which is situated Hall-i'-th'- 

 Wood) a little more than a mile east of 

 Smithills, the two streams together form- 

 ing the River Tonge. 



