A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The Hospitallers 1J and the Abbeys of Whalley 

 and Cockersand 14 had small estates in the township, at 

 Whitfield, Gartside, and Crompton Park respectively. 

 The Byron estate in Crompton seems to have been 



regarded as part of Royton. 14 There was thus no 

 resident lord of the manor, and little is known of the 

 other holders of land, but the names of Buckley, 16 

 Crompton, 17 Prestwich, 18 Scholefield, 19 and Wild 20 



12 The Prior of the Hospitallers in 1243 

 called upon Gilbert de Barton to warrant to 

 him 80 acres of land in Crompton, and 

 the same in Barton, held by charter ; 

 Curia Regis R. 130, m. 2$d. Crompton 

 is named among the r laces in which the 

 order had lands in 1292 ; Plac. de Quo 

 War. (Rec. Com.), 375. Forty years later 

 the prior claimed due service from John 

 de Traffbrd for a messuage and 20 acres 

 in Crompton ; De Banco R. 292, m. 

 354d. 



The Hospitallers' land, which was at 

 Whitfield, was in 1639 tenanted by James 

 Buckley, as may be seen in the inquisition 

 quoted later ; see also Lanes, and Chcs. 

 Antlq. Soc. viii, 156, 157. 



18 Charles, Abbot of Stanlaw, granted 

 to Adam de Windhill in Blackburnshire 

 the land in Crompton called Gartside, 

 lying on the west of Aspiwallesyke, near 

 the Hospitallers' land, which they had 

 had from Gilbert de Barton at a rent of 

 iz</. Adam seems to have sold his right 

 to Geoffrey de Chetham, who regranted 

 it to him. Then Adam released his right 

 to the Abbot of Stanlaw for 14 marks of 

 silver, and Clarice his widow afterwards 

 released her claim ; Whalley Coucber 

 (Chet. Soc.), i, 163-5. 



This land was probably among the 

 other Whalley lands granted to Holt of 

 Gristlehurst ; in 1580 Thomas Holt and 

 Constance his wife sold a messuage in 

 Crompton to Francis Entwisle, Alice his 

 wife, and John his son ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 42, m. 43. 



14 Gilbert de Notion granted part of 

 his land in Crompton to the canons of 

 Cockersand, the bounds being the Bathe 

 (or Bache) brook, the Heal, Hullilache, and 

 the Black lache. Roger de Notion (his 

 son and successor) granted a land in 

 Gholmerscliff called Hesseneslac, to wit, 

 from Lovenath-denebrook to Heneces- 

 clough ; together with the Cliff on which 

 stood the buildings of Geoffrey de Man- 

 chester ; Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc.), 

 ii, 726-9. It appears from the margin 

 that Geoffrey son of Luke de Manchester 

 held both pieces of land in 1268, by in- 

 heritance, rendering for the former 2s. a 

 year and J mark at death, and for the 

 latter 6d. 



In 1246 Simon son of Thomas de 

 Chaydock did not prosecute a claim for 

 warranty made against Geoffrey son of 

 Luke de Crompton ; Assize R. 404, m. 

 13 d. It appears that John son of Thomas 

 de Chaydock had a grant from William 

 son of Adam de Crompton of half his 

 lands in the township ; Clowes D. no. 

 94. 



In 1259 Geoffrey son of Lukede Man- 

 chester leased for ten years to Sir Geoffrey 

 de Chetham all the land he held of the 

 Abbot of Cockersand in Crompton at a 

 rent of 2s. 6d. ; ibid. no. 95. 



Part of this land afterwards came to the 

 Chethams. Thomas de Chetham in 1383 

 held lands called Crompton Park of the 

 abbot in socage by the rent off*/. ; worth 

 21*. clear ; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1463. 

 Crompton Park is mentioned in 1461 ; 

 Clowes D. no. 123. It was leased in 1475 

 to Edmund Brereley for the life of James 

 \Chetham; ibid. no. 1285 but is not 

 named in the later inquisitions of the 

 fani^y. 



\ 



15 It is not separately mentioned in the 

 inquisitions. 



In 1551 the tenants of Crompton had 

 a dispute with Sir John Byron regarding 

 common of pasture ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. 

 Com.), i, 250. Sir John Byron in 1561 

 purchased lands in Castleton and Cromp- 

 ton from Robert and James Stott ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 23, m. 6. 



16 The Buckleys occur from the be- 

 ginning of the 1 5th century, when James 

 Chetham married Eleanor daughter of 

 Ellis Buckley ; Clowes D. no. 102. 



An estate in 1346 held by William the 

 Parson (alias Pereston) by a rent of izd. 

 and i^d. for castle ward, was a century 

 later held by James Buckley, by the same 

 services; Add. MS. 32103, fol. 146; 

 Duchy of Lane. Knights' Fees, bdle. 2, 

 no. 29. 



In 1463 the feoffees of Thomas Chad- 

 derton granted lands in Crompton to 

 Bernard Buckley ; Clowes D. The wife of 

 Robert Buckley of Whitfield contributed 

 to the subsidy of 1526 for 'goods' ; Shaw, 

 Oldham, 1 6. Lawrence Buckley in 1564 

 purchased from Edmund Trafford and 

 Elizabeth his wife two messuages, two 

 dovecotes, &c., in Crompton and Butter- 

 worth ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 26, 

 m. 43. John Chetham in 1565-6 sold 

 land in Whitfield to William Buckley ; 

 Clowes D. In 1590 a settlement was 

 made of three messuages, &c., in Cromp- 

 ton and other places, by James Buckley 

 and Elizabeth his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 52, m. 83. 



James Buckley died in 1608, holding 

 nine messuages and lands in Whitfield of 

 the king as of the dissolved priory of St. 

 John of Jerusalem in socage by 3^. rent ; 

 his son and heir George was over thirty 

 years of age ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 145. James Buckley, 

 who died in 1627, had the same or a simi- 

 lar holding in Whitfield and land in But- 

 terworth held by a ginger root ; James, 

 his son and heir, was five years of age ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, 51. 



Another James Buckley died in Sep- 

 tember 1638 holding a messuage and 

 lands in Whitfield as above, and a cot- 

 tage, &c., also of the king, by the 200. h 

 part of a knight's fee. James, the son and 

 heir, was seventeen years of age. A set- 

 tlement made in 1637 is recited in the in- 

 quisition ; ibid, xxviii, 72. James Buckley 

 was in ward to the king in 1641 ; Shaw, 

 Oldham, 92. James Buckley of Whitfield 

 occurs in 1673 an d 1681, and was buried 

 at Oldham, 24 January 1699-1700 ; John 

 Buckley is named in 1708 ; ibid. In 

 1713 the estate was sold by James Buckley 

 to John Lever of Alkrington and was after- 

 wards (in 1849) in severalties ; Raines, in 

 Notitia Cestr. ii, 115. In the Clegg 

 Pedigree (1840) the succession is given as 

 Lawrence Buckley, s. James, s. George, 

 s. James, s. James, s. James, who died in 

 1726, leaving his sisters as heirs. 



*7 From some of the preceding notes it will 

 be seen that a family or families using the 

 local surname had existed in the I3th 

 century. Among the Agecroft deeds 

 (334) is a grant of homages and services 

 from Adam son of Hugh de Goledene and 

 Eve his wife to Adam son of Jordan de 

 Crompton, but the place is not men- 

 tioned. 



IIO 



Disputes as to bounds and right of way 

 between Thomas Chetham and William 

 Crompton were in 1481 and 1482 settled 

 by arbitration, bounds being 'preket be 

 iiij men' ; Clowes D. no. 131, 132. 



From 1451 to 1537 one John Crompton 

 after another was a free tenant of the 

 Abbot of Cockersand, paying izd. rent ; 

 Chartul. iii, 1238-41. 



Robert Crompton of Crompton Hall 

 contributed to the subsidy of 1523 for 

 his lands; Shaw, Oldham, 15. 



William Crompton died in 1587, hold- 

 ing a capital messuage called Whetstone 

 Hill in Oldham of Edmund Prestwich of 

 Hulme, and messuages in Crompton of 

 James Browne of Westhoughton (the pur- 

 chaser of the Cockersand lands), by a rent 

 of 12 d. Thomas, his son and heir, was 

 thirteen years of age ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Inq. p.m. xiv, 25. About the same time 

 died Edmund Crompton, whose will is 

 printed in Shaw, op. cit. 32. 



Thomas Crompton's name is on the 

 list of freeholders, 1600; Misc. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 247. He died 

 in 1607, leaving three young daughter* 

 as heirs ; the lands in Crompton were 

 stated to be held of the king (as duke) by 

 the twentieth part of a knight's fee ; Lanes. 

 Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 

 92. His will is printed in Shaw, op. 

 cit. 45 ; it mentions brothers Abel and 

 Samuel. 



Some deeds relating to the Cromptons 

 of Crompton and Oldham are contained 

 in the Hyde of Denton charters, Harl. 

 MS. 21 12, fol. 153, &c.; for Robert Hyde 

 in 1630 married Alice, one of the daugh- 

 ters and co-heirs of Thomas Crompton. 

 Deborah, another daughter, married Sa- 

 muel Hamer. 



Crompton Hall, perhaps at first so 

 called from its tenants under the Abbey 

 of Cockersand, was in 1672 owned by 

 William Richardson, and in 1696 and 

 later by Hugh Yannes ; Shaw, op. cit 

 176, 218, 264. 



Hugh Yannes of Crompton Hall died 

 in 1746 or 1747, having made a settle- 

 ment in 1732. His heirs were his daugh- 

 ter Alice wife of the Rev. Samuel Town- 

 son and the children of his other daughter 

 Esther, who had married John Buckley ; 

 note of his will by Mr. W. F. Irvine. 



18 Edmund Prestwich of Hulme in 1577 

 held lands in Oldham and Crompton of 

 the heirs of Robert Chadderton ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, no. 4. 



19 This family has been mentioned 

 above. Cuthbert Scholefield of Shaw was 

 a freeholder in 1 600 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 249. 



80 The Wilds seem to have lived at 

 Low Crompton and Cowlishaw. Robert 

 Wild contributed to the subsidy of 1523 

 for lands; Shaw, Oldbam, 15. Ottiwell 

 Wild in 1571 made a settlement of his 

 messuage, burgage, lands, &c. ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 33, m. 156. His 

 name, as ' of Cowlishaw,' appears among 

 the freeholders of 1 600 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 249. Henry Wild 

 of Low Crompton, Henry Wild of Dog- 

 hill, and William Wild, senior, a recusant, 

 contributed to the subsidy of 1641 ; Shaw, 

 op. cit. 88. James Wild in 1672 left a 

 rent-charge of 5 for the poor ; Char. Rep. 

 1826, xvi, 233. 





