A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



while in 1374 Robert de Holland and Margaret his 

 wife made a feoffment of their manor of Prestwich, 31 

 and two years later granted to Peter their son all 

 their lands and tenements in Prestwich, Alkrington, 

 and Pendlebury, together with the advowson of 

 Prestwich. 31 



Roger de Langley the son and heir was a minor in 

 1372, and in ward to the Duke of Lancaster, 33 when 

 Robert de Holland assembled a troop of armed men, 

 and by force took possession of the manor, holding it 

 till 1389." The Langleys, however, had not been 

 neglectful of their claim. As early as 1371 a certifi- 

 cate had been procured stating that Margaret de 

 Prestwich had been duly professed, 84 and Roger as son 

 and heir of Richard and Joan appears to have put 

 forward his claim in due form, 36 but it was not till 

 1394, after his death, that a final decision was made. 37 

 The heir, his son Robert, being a minor, the manor 

 of Prestwich, with a parcel of Alkrington and the 

 advowson of the church, were taken into the duke's 

 hands, livery being granted in i^o^. 39 



The manor then descended peaceably in the same 

 way as Pendlebury, 39 the most notable feature of the 



family's tenure being the succession of Langleys to 

 the rectory for 200 years. 



On the death of Sir Robert Langley in 1561 and 

 the consequent partition, the manor of Prestwich be- 

 came the share of his daughter Margaret, who married 

 John Reddish of Reddish, 40 and afterwards Richard 

 Holland, of Denton. 41 Her son, Alexander Reddish, 

 left two daughters as co-heirs, Sarah and Grace. 4 * The 

 former, who married Clement, a younger son of Sir 

 Edward Coke, the famous lawyer and chief justice, 

 had the manor of Prestwich. It descended in the 

 Coke family, though Sarah's issue died out, until 

 1777, when Thomas William Coke, the famous 

 ' Mr. Coke of Holkham,' in Norfolk, a leader in the 

 agricultural revolution which took place in the latter 

 part of the 1 8th century, wishing to increase his Nor- 

 folk estates, began to sell Prestwich in parcels. 4 * 

 T. W. Coke in 1779 P a '^ 9 s - 4^- to ^ e duchy for 

 Prestwich. 44 The manor was, in 1 794, acquired by 

 Peter Drinkwater, who resided at Irwell House in 

 Prestwich, and it descended to his son Thomas. 

 Thomas died in 1861, leaving two daughters ; and 

 Irwell House, with land called Drinkwater Park, has 



81 Agccroft D. 36. 



"Ibid. 38. In 1375 Robert de Hol- 

 land appeared as plaintiff, certain persons 

 having cut down his trees at Prestwich ; 

 De Banco R. 459, m. 10. 



88 On 13 Nov. 1372 John Duke of 

 Lancaster directed the sheriff to take into 

 the duke's hands the manor of Prestwich, 

 because of the minority of Roger de Lang- 

 ley, the heir, the tenure being stated to be 

 by knight's service ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. 

 Bks. xiii, 163. In a plea of 1390 the date 

 of the sherirFs entry is given as I 5 May, 

 1374 ; possibly the father died in one year 

 and the mother in the other ; Lanes. Inq. 

 p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 52. 



84 Ibid., and more fully in an exempli- 

 fication of the pleas of 1390 made in 

 1414 ; Agecroft D. 66. Robert de Hol- 

 land denied that Margaret was a nun or 

 professed. The suit quoted was in form 

 a claim by the duke for the profits which 

 should have accrued to him from the 

 wardship of Roger de Langley, but lost 

 through the forcible occupation by the 

 Hollands. 



85 Agecroft D. 35. ' Dame Margaret de 

 Prestwich, one of the nuns of Seaton, of 

 the age of fifteen years and more, was 

 professed on the morrow of St. {Catherine 

 the Virgin and Martyr, A.D. 1360, in the 

 presence of Sir John Cragge, prior of the 

 Abbey of Furness, Sir John de Huddleston, 

 knight and lord of Millom, Richard de 

 Coupland of Furness, Richard de Huddles- 

 ton and others . . . and the said Margaret 

 on the said day confessed before the said 

 persons that she was not coerced or com- 

 pelled, but voluntarily entered the order of 

 St. Benedict in the said house and was 

 professed.' A similar certificate was pro- 

 cured in 1388 ; ibid. 39,40. 



86 See the statements in the inquisition 

 and plea above cited. 



8 < Agecroft D. 66. When the Duke of 

 Lancaster called upon the Archbishop of 

 York to make inquiry as to Margaret's 

 profession, he gave no reply, Seaton being 

 outside the duke's regality ; so that appli- 

 cation had to be made to the king, in reply 

 to whom the archbishop in June 1394 du'.y 

 certified that ' Margaret, daughter of 

 Thomas, son of Alice de Wolveley . , . 

 was a nun and professed in the house of 

 the nuns of Seaton.' On this judgement 



was given for the duke in his claim against 

 Robert de Holland. 



Dower was in the same year (1394) 

 granted to Margaret widow of Roger de 

 Langley, from the manor of Prestwich 

 together with the hamlet of Alkrington 

 appertaining to the manor ; it included 

 the Hallfield and Denehead, part of the 

 demesne, and the chapel chamber with the 

 chapel at Prestwich, a stable and haybarn ; 

 ibid. 56. 



The Hollands did not immediately re- 

 sign their claims. In 1395 the feoffees of 

 Robert and Margaret granted to Edmund 

 their son the manor and advowson of 

 Prestwich for the life of Robert de Holland, 

 on whose death it was to go to Peter the 

 son of Robert and his issue, with succes- 

 sive remainders to Peter's brothers and 

 sisters, Nicholas, John, Edmund, Marion, 

 ICatherine, and Alice ; ibid. 42. 



At the end of 1401 Robert de Holland 

 released to Robert de Langley all his claim 

 upon the manors of Prestwich, Alkrington, 

 and Pendlebury, and his sons were to do 

 the same when they should come of age ; 

 an annuity of 5 marks a year was granted 

 in return for this ; the parties were sworn 

 upon the sacrament of the altar to hold to 

 this agreement; ibid. 57*. In 1416 Peter 

 de Holland agreed to give up all his deeds 

 relating to the Prestwich manors, and for- 

 mally gave 'his manors' up to trustees (for 

 the Langleys) in 1418 ; ibid. 69, 73. 



The settlement was not arrived at with- 

 out violence. In May 1402 the king 

 granted his pardon to Robert de Langley 

 for capturing and detaining Robert de 

 Holland. The latter had, it seems, at 

 various times invaded the manor of 

 Prestwich and carried away the cattle and 

 goods of Langley and his tenants into 

 Cheshire, not restoring them without 

 payment. He had also come by night 

 and carried some of Langley's cattle as far 

 as Glossop ; being pursued, he entered the 

 house of Master Wagstaffe and defied 

 Robert de Langley, wounding one of his 

 servants with an arrow. The brother of 

 the wounded man threw fire into the 

 house, so that it was burnt down and Hol- 

 land had to surrender, and was taken into 

 Lancashire. He had already been out- 

 lawed for treason ; ibid. 58. 



88 Inq. p.m. above cited, and Towneley 



78 



MS. DD, no. 1466. In 1398 the Duke of 

 Lancaster released to his ward Robert de 

 Langley a rent of 1 1 marks due as the 

 farm of his lands in Prestwich and Alkring- 

 ton, and this because of Robert's 'good 

 and agreeable service,' rendered to the 

 duke, who had retained him in his service 

 for life ; Agecroft D. 57. 



89 But little is known of the manor 

 during this period. In 1410 it appears 

 that Edmund de Prestwich and Margaret 

 his wife had received from Robert de Lang- 

 ley certain lands in Prestwich as Margaret's 

 portion ; ibid. 34. In 1468 there was a 

 dispute between the Langleys and the 

 Radcliffes of Ordsall ; ibid. 79 ; and in 

 1484 between them and the Radcliffes of 

 Radcliffe, as to the bounds of Crumpsall 

 and Prestwich ; ibid. 86, 87. 



In 1472 it was found that Thomas 

 Langley, deceased, had held the manor of 

 Prestwich of the king as Duke of Lancas- 

 ter, by the sixteenth part of a knight's fee 

 and a rent of izs. a year ; its clear annual 

 value was 10 ; Agecroft D. 80. At the 

 death of Sir Robert Langley in 1561 the 

 tenure was called socage, by a rent of 

 131. \d. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, 16. 



40 Land in Prestwich is named in a 

 settlement of the lands of John Reddish 

 and Margaret his wife in 1569 ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 31, m. 164. 



41 In a list of chief rents paid to Queen 

 Elizabeth occurs ' Richard Holland for 

 another fourth part [of Sir R. Langley's 

 lands], 95.4^.' ; Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1870), 



i> 447- 



4a Margaret Holland died in September 

 1625, and was buried at Prestwich; thus 

 surviving her son Alexander Reddish, who 

 died in 1613 when his daughter Grace was 

 aged twenty-five, and wife of Sir Robert 

 Darcy, while Sarah was only twelve ; 

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

 Ches.), i, 254. 



Sarah Coke died in 1623-4 and Clemnt 

 her husband in 1630, leaving a son and 

 heir Edward, aged twelve, on 17 Feb. 

 1630; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvi, 53. 

 See further in the account of Reddish. 



48 W. Nicholls, Prestwich, 33-6. 'No 

 trace can be found of a [ manor J court 

 being held here' ; ibid. 37. 



44 Duchy of Lane. Rentals, bdle. 14, no. 

 25 m. 



