A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Other families holding land here were the Brad- 

 shaghs," Hultons," Leighs, 14 Reeves, 35 and Moly- 

 neuxes. 16 Many other names may be gathered from 

 rentals and inquisitions. 87 



The only freeholders named in 1600 were James 

 Browne, Robert Leigh, William Molyneux, and 

 Thomas Richardson.* 8 James Browne, James Worth- 

 ington, and William Leigh contributed to the subsidy 

 of 1622 as landowners.* 9 In 1786 the principal 



owners were the Duke of Bridgewater, Milne,. 

 R. Wilbraham Bootle, William Hulton, Starkie, 

 Worthington, the Misses Molyneux, and Thomas 

 Green. 40 



There was a dispute as to inclosures in 1631 2. u 

 The inclosure award, with two plans, may be seen at 

 Preston." 



Westhoughton was the scene of Luddite riots in 

 1812; four men were executed for joining in them. 4 *" 



* Adam son of Richard de Bradshagh 

 in 1331 acquired a messuage and land ; the 

 remainders were to his brother Henry, and 

 to Richard son of John de Bradshagh ; 

 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 ii, 80. 



88 In 1311-12 Richard son of Richard 

 de Hulton released to the abbey of Cocker- 

 sand all his claim to wastes and pastures 

 within Westhoughton, reserving common 

 of pasture and reasonable estovers for 

 himself and his tenants ; Hulton Fed. 6. 



Ellen daughter of John de Hulton 

 granted to Hugh de Hulton and Agnes 

 his wife her toft and croft called the Park 

 and her meadow with appurtenances in 

 Westhoughton ; Towneley MS. RR., no. 

 103. 



John son of Adam de Heaton m 1337 

 claimed a messuage and lands against 

 Adam son of Richard de Hulton. The 

 defendant said he held jointly with Roger 

 his son, not named in the writ. The 

 claim was not pursued ; Assize R. 1424, 

 m. 9 ; 1425, m. 2. 



In later times lands in Snydale in West- 

 houghton were held also by the Hultons 

 of Farnworth ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 

 iii, no. 26. 



An agreement was made in 1521 be- 

 tween Adam Hulton of Hulton and 

 William Hulton of Farnworth respecting 

 lands in Westhoughton, Manchester, Bar- 

 ton, Lever, and Bolton ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 132, m. 6. 



Adam Hulton, a tenant in 1556, men- 

 tioned in a previous note, was son of 

 William and grandson of Adam Hulton. 

 In 1597 Adam Hulton and Alice his wife 

 made a grant of their messuage, &c. ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 58, m. 275. 



84 Kucrden has preserved short notes of 

 some deeds of this family, but they are 

 very unsatisfactory, dates being seldom 

 given and no details of the lands con- 

 cerned ; iii, H. 4. Among them are grants 

 from Hugh de Leigh to John his son and 

 Margery daughter of Henry de Ains- 

 worth, Edw. Ill (no. i) ; from Henry 

 son of Laucoc son of Ranne (?) de West- 

 houghton to Richard son of John de Leigh, 

 I2(?) Edw. Ill (6) ; from Mabel de Leigh 

 to John de Leigh of Cheetham and his son 

 Richard de Leigh of Westhoughton (9) ; 

 from Robert de Pendlebury of West- 

 houghton to Richard de Leigh, 9 Hen. VI 

 (16) ; from the trustee to Richard de 

 Leigh, with remainders to his sons James, 

 William, Roger, Thomas, Thurstan, and 

 John, 23 Hen. VI (18) ; from the trustees 

 to James Leigh, with remainders to Agnes 

 daughter of Henry Hindley, for her life, 

 and to Robert son and heir of John Leigh, 

 ?Hen. VII (21, 22) ; from John Leigh, 

 senior, to Robert his son and heir, 6 Hen. 

 VIII (27) ; from Robert son and heir of 

 John [Leigh] to trustees, with remainder 

 to John his son (29) ; Robert Leigh was 

 living in the reign of Philip & Mary (35). 



From the Cockersand rentals it may be 

 seen that Richard Leigh was a free tenant 

 in 1451, his rent being zid. ; James 



Leigh in 1461 ; and John Leigh in 1501 

 and 1536. John Leigh of Westhough- 

 ton, aged sixty and more, was witness in a 

 tenant-right dispute in 1521 ; Duchy 

 Plead, i, 1 08. 



Robert Leigh son of John Leigh, and 

 John Leigh grandson of John Leigh, were 

 among the defendants in the dispute of 

 1556. 



In 1571 ten messuages and land m 

 Westhoughton, Duxbury, Chorley, and 

 Hindley were the subject of a fine, the de- 

 forciants being John Leigh and Robert 

 his son and heir, the latter's wife being 

 named Anne ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 33, m. 49. 



John Leigh of Westhoughton, who 

 died in 1 6 1 8, held lands of the lord of 

 Westhoughton in socage by izd. rent, the 

 estate being six messuages, a water-mill, 

 &c. ; he also had lands in Hindley, Dux- 

 bury, and Chorley. William Leigh, his 

 son and heir, was twenty-seven years of 

 age ; I. ana. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 133. 



This son was afterwards rector of 

 Standish, and ancestor of the Leighs of 

 Singleton Grange; Dugdale, Visit. 183. 

 A later William Leigh occurs in 1686 ; 

 Excb. Dtp. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 67. 



85 James Reeve of Westhoughton, aged 

 fifty-four, was a witness in 1521 ; Duchy 

 Plead, i, 101. William Reeve, as al- 

 ready stated, was a defendant in 1553 ; 

 ibid, iii, 145. Robert Reeve was fre- 

 quently a juror in the time of James I ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. i, 36, &c. He is prob- 

 ably the Robert Reeve who died in 1 640, 

 holding a messuage, &c., in Westhough- 

 ton of the lord of the manor, and another 

 at Penketh ; Richard his son and heir 

 was fifty-three years of age ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, 37, 



86 From the Rentals it appears that in 

 1451 John Sale was one of the free ten- 

 ants, paying 6s. \od. ; the wife of John 

 Sale held the same in 1461 ; the wife of 

 John Molyneux in 1501 ; and Henry 

 Molyneux in 1536. 



Robert Molyneux, who died in July 

 1545, held one messuage, &c., of James 

 Browne as of his manor of Westhough- 

 ton, by services unknown, and another of 

 the same by a rent of 6s. loo 1 . ; he had 

 married Anne daughter of Thomas Ma- 

 kand, and left a son and heir William, 

 about four years old. Robert's father, 

 William Molyneux of Mouldsworth, Che- 

 shire, had held the above tenement, and 

 another called Warcock Hill, which he 

 sold to Roger Urmston of Lostock ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 32. In a later 

 inquisition (1561) the service is called 

 'knight's service and the rent of 6s. io</.'; 

 Anne, the widow, was then living at 

 Haigh, and William the son was nine- 

 teen years old and more ; ibid, xi, no. 

 50. 



William Molyneux, perhaps his son, 

 was frequently a juror in the time of 

 James I ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. i, 28, &c. 



24 



Henry Molyneux of Westhoughton 

 was in 1646 a member of the Presby- 

 terian classis ; Baines, Lanes, (ed. iS68),. 

 i, 227. His will was proved at Chester 

 in 1662. 



A number of allusions (about 1690) to- 

 Nathaniel Molyneux of Daisy Hill in 

 Westhoughton and some of his letters 

 will be found in Kenyon MSS. (Hist. AfSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv). He used ' to ex- 

 change broad money for narrow ' (p. 1 74), 

 according to an informer. His son Thomas- 

 matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, in 

 1683, and entered Gray's Inn ; Foste^ 

 Alumni. He was afterwards knighted. He 

 married Margaret More, heiress of the 

 Mores of Loseley, and died in 1719 ; see- 

 G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, ii, 176. 

 His son, Sir More Molyneux, knighted 

 in 1724, entered Corpus Christi College, 

 Oxford, in 1709, aged nineteen; became 

 a commissioner of excise, and died in 

 1769. His son, Thomas More Molyneux, 

 of Wadham College, died in 1776 ; Foster, 

 Alumni Oxon. In 1750 John Probyn 

 purchased from Sir More Molyneux, 

 Richard Wyatt and Susannah his wife, 

 and Jane Molyneux, spinster, twelve mes- 

 suages, 50 acres of meadow, &c., in West- 

 houghton and Great Bispham, and the 

 manor and rectory of Westleigh ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 345, m. 85. For 

 the later descents of the More Molyneux 

 family see Burke, Landed Gentry. 



87 There were nine free tenants in 

 1251. In 1451 there were only five 

 John Sale, Richard Leigh, Richard Hodg- 

 kinson, Henry Isherwood, and Margery 

 Chaddock. This arrangement was un- 

 altered down to the Dissolution. Deeds 

 of Richard Hodgkinson, in 1457, are re ~ 

 corded in Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App. 



175- 



The inquisitions post mortem of Isabel 

 Harrington (1519), Alexander Osbaldes- 

 ton (1543), Roger Downes of Worsley 

 (1639), and Ralph Holden (1634) show 

 that they had had some lands in the town- 

 ship, but the tenures are not stated ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, no. 2 ; xxvii, 

 no. 54 ; xxvii, no. 39. The heir of the 

 last-named was his nephew James Holden, 

 son of Richard ; but Ralph had a son 

 William. Francis Locker was in 1631 

 found to have held a messuage and land* 

 of the king by the two hundredth part of 

 a knight's fee ; Francis, his son and heir, 

 was just of age ; Janet, the widow, wa* 

 living at Chorley ; ibid, xxv, no. 40. 



Some particulars of the Hart family's 

 holding are given in Duchy Plead, ii, 

 157- 



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

 246-9. 



89 Ibid, i, 1 60. 



40 Land-tax returns at Preston. 



41 Pleas of Crown, Lane. bdle. 330. 



43 The Inclosure Act is 1 1 Geo. I, 

 cap. 32. 



48 See Lanes, and Ckes. Hist, and Gen. 

 Notes, iii, 80 ; Manch. Guardian N. and Q. 

 no. 638, 660. 



