A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



PILKINGTON. Argent 

 a cms patonce voided 

 gules. 



STANLEY, Earl 

 Derby. Argent on a 

 bend azure three hart? 

 heads cabossed or. 



His son Henry died without issue, on which his 

 daughter Alice, wife of Roger de Pilkington, and her 

 son Roger succeeded in establishing their right to the 

 manor, although her mother Margery, daughter of 

 Richard de Radcliffe, had endeavoured to secure 

 it or a portion of the estate for her younger son 

 Henry. 31 



The Pilkingtons remained in possession till I485, 3U 

 when all the manors and lands of Sir Thomas 

 Pilkington were forfeited for his adherence to 

 Richard III, the new king granting them to the Earl 

 of Derby in 1489." The manor of Bury then de- 



later sent Nicholas de Singleton and 

 others to capture Adam de Radcliffe and 

 his brothers. Adam was seized at the 

 parsonage house at Radcliffe, and his 

 captors then went to Sir Henry de Bury's 

 house to find the brothers, who, however, 

 were not there. Henry de Bury was 

 thereupon taken, and John de Croston, 

 Stephen Scallard, and others slew him, 

 and stole his horse and other goods and 

 chattels, for which death they were 

 hanged ; Sir William de Bradshagh and 

 many others of the confederates were out- 

 lawed ; Coram Rege R. 254, m. 52. 

 From these particulars it would seem that 

 the confederacy was made on 9 Oct. and 

 the murder was done on or about the 

 1 2th. On the following Wednesday (16 

 Oct.) the king ordered Robert de Lathom 

 and others to inquire into it (Cal. Pat. 

 1313-17, p. 419), and another record of 

 the trial states that John de Walton, 

 Stephen Shaw, and Adam son of Adam 

 de Freckleton were the guilty ones, while 

 a large number of others were with them, 

 and Adam Banastre, Henry de Lea, and 

 William de Bradshagh knowingly received 

 them after the felony was committed ; 

 Coram Rege R. 299, Rex m. 20. This re- 

 cord gives 1 6 Oct. as the date of the death, 

 and a number of particulars are given as 

 to the fate of the guilty persons. 



81 By the fine above referred to Margery 

 de Radcliffe (as she was usually called) 

 had the manor for her life. In 1318 and 

 1319 certain lands were settled by fine, 

 the remainders being the same as in the 

 earlier one 5 Final Cone, ii, 29, 34. No 

 mention is made of younger sons of Sir 

 Henry. In the latter year Margery was 

 plaintiff in a suit respecting Bury mill ; 

 De Banco R. 299, m. 66 d. In a feodary of 

 a little later date it is stated that Mar- 

 gery de Radcliffe and Henry her son held 

 3 plough-lands and 6 oxgangs in Bury for 

 a knight's fee ; Duchy of Lane. Knights' 

 Fees, bdle. i, no. 1 1 . Margery daughter of 

 Richard de Radcliffe appeared against Wil- 

 liam de Rawstorn and Adam son of Robert 

 de Middleton to enforce them to do suit 

 at her mill ; De Banco R. 229, m. 66 d. 

 In 1322 she charged Robert de Walkden 

 with having come with other malefactors 

 and disturbers of the peace probably in 

 connexion with the rising of Earl Thomas 

 and taken from her manor of Bury 

 sixty cows, twenty-nine oxen, two horses, 

 ten heifers, &c. ; and Robert was com- 

 mitted to prison ; Coram Rege R. 254, 

 m. 69 d. Margery was living in 1334; 

 Coram Rege R. 298, Rex m. i d.; she was 

 also living in 1336 as appears by a later 

 case cited. She presented to the rectory 

 in 1319, 1323, and 1331 ; and Henry 

 son of Sir Henry de Bury in 1335, as 

 will be seen by the list of rectors. This 

 presentation is almost the only recorded 

 act of the younger Henry. In 1348 Alice, 

 then widow of Roger de Pilkington, ap- 



pears to have been in undisputed posses- 

 sion ; De Banco R. 354, m. 3 d. 



In Oct. 1351 Henry son of Margery de 

 Radcliffe made his claim to the manor of 

 Bury, except twenty-one messuages, 300 

 acres of land, 300 acres of meadow, 300 

 acres of wood, and 2s. rent. The defend- 

 ants were Alice and Roger, widow and 

 son of Roger de Pilkington, and a number 

 of others holding lands within the manor. 

 The fine of 1313 was adduced ; Henry de 

 Bury, Margery, and the younger Henry 

 were all dead ; but Margery had alienated 

 the manor to Henry, the plaintiff; Henry 

 had also secured a release from one Adam 

 de Bury, described as the true heir of 

 Henry the elder ; Duchy of Lane. Assize 

 R. i, m. 7. Henry son of Margery de 

 Radcliffe also claimed forty messuages, 

 600 acres of land, &c., in Bury, Totting- 

 ton, and Middleton ; ibid. m. 7 d. Similar 

 statements as to the succession were made 

 in reply to a claim to messuages and houses 

 in Bury put forward at the same time by 

 John de Radcliffe, the defendants being 

 Alice and Roger de Pilkington and John 

 son of William de Bury ; ibid. m. 2 d. 

 In this case the jury found that Henry 

 son of Sir Henry died before Margery ; 

 and that Adam, the true heir, was a 

 younger son of Sir Henry. 



The name of the plaintiff Henry's 

 father is not given in these suits, but he 

 is called Henry de Bury, and may have 

 been, like Adam, a son of Sir Henry born 

 after the fine of 1313 ; see Dep. Keeper' t 

 Rep. xxxii, App. 348. 



A further claim made by Henry son of 

 Margery in 1353 was defeated, the jury 

 again finding that Henry son of Henry de 

 Bury died before Margery, and that the 

 plaintiff was not ;" rerum natura in 1313 ; 

 Assize R. 435, m. 21 d. In the following 

 year Henry son of Margery did not pro- 

 secute a claim he made against John de 

 Radcliffe the elder; Duchy of Lane. Assize 

 R. 3, m. i. John de Radcliffe was more 

 successful in 1355 against the Pilking- 

 tons, it being found that the lands he 

 claimed were his free tenement, and that 

 Alice de Pilkington had wrongly entered 

 into possession; ibid. R. 4, m. 27 d. About 

 the same time Henry son of Margery was 

 also successful in a claim to certain lands, 

 it being found that these were in Totting- 

 ton and not in Bury ; ibid. m. 28 d. It 

 is here stated that the quitclaim by Adam, 

 the son and true heir of Sir Henry de 

 Bury, was dated in 1336. The dispute 

 still continued in the following year ; ibid. 

 R. 5, m. 19 d., 20 d. See Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 { Chet. Soc.), ii, 175. 



81a In spite of the claims put forward 

 Roger de Pilkington appears to have re- 

 tained possession, contributing to the aid 

 of 1 346-5 5 as lord of Bury ; Feud. Aids, 

 iii, 87. He probably made a settle- 

 ment of the manor in 1350, a fine of 

 ,100 being recorded in that year for an 



130 



alienation ' ; Accts. (Exch. Q.R.), bdle. 

 108, m. 34. From a suit of July 1354, 

 it appears that lands in the Rhodes which 

 William the Baxter of Stockport had 

 granted to Margery de Radcliffe de- 

 scended to Roger de Pilkington, who 

 obtained a quitclaim from Almarica, 

 William's widow ; Duchy of Lane. Assize 

 R. 3, m. 3d. In 1368 Sir Roger de Pil- 

 kington again made a formal statement of 

 his title ; De Banco R. 431, m. 351. 



An account of the family is given under 

 Pilkington in Prestwich. In 1421 it was 

 found that Sir John de Pilkington had 

 held a moiety of the manor and the ad- 

 vowson of the church in conjunction with 

 Margery his wife, and also a fourth part 

 of the manor by grant of his father, while 

 he had given the other fourth part to his 

 ion Sir John de Pilkington and Margaret 

 his wife ; the whole manor was held of 

 the king as of his duchy of Lancaster ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc. ii, 179). A 

 number of the Pilkington charters of the 

 period 1420-50 are copied in Raines MSS. 

 (Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, fol. 117. 



In 1431 Sir John Pilkington was in 

 possession ; Feud. Aids, iii, 96. So also 

 in 1445-6, the reliefbeing stated as 1001.5 

 Duchy of Lane. Knights' Fees, bdle. 2, no. 

 20. In 1443 Sir John Pilkington com- 

 plained that the bailiff of Salfordshire had 

 unjustly distrained his cattle at Redvales 

 (Redyuals). The bailiff asserted that 

 Bury was held of the king by knight's 

 service, to wit, by homage, fealty, and 

 scutage, and by the service of doing suit 

 at the king's wapentake of Salford every 

 three weeks, by the rent of 10*. called 

 castle ward, and by the rent of 8*. ; and 

 the castle ward rent being in arrear for 

 four years, he had taken four oxen. Sir 

 John denied that this rent was due from 

 him ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 5, m. i6b. In 

 1483 it was returned that Sir Thomas 

 Pilkington paid 8*. yearly for Bury and 

 los. for ward of Lancaster Castle ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Misc. 130. 



88 Pat. 4 Hen. VII, 23 Feb. In the 

 inquisition after the death of Thomas, the 

 second earl, in 1521, it was found that he 

 had held the manor of Bury and tene- 

 ments there of the king, as of his duchy of 

 Lancaster by the service of one knight's 

 fee and by the rent of 8*. ; it was worth 

 30 clear per annum. Sir Henry Halsall 

 was appointed steward of Bury and Pil- 

 kington in 1509, with an annuity of 10; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, no. 68. 



At that time (1519-20) there were four 

 constables of Bury, appearing at the court 

 of Tottington. The bailiff of the latter 

 manor complained that he had not been 

 allowed to distrain within the lordship of 

 Bury for several amercements, and that 

 stray sheep seized within Tottington had 

 been driven off by servants of the Earl of 

 Derby. The earl had liberty of waif and 

 stray within Bury, and after the sheep 



