A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



on 1 8 July 1576, holding the manor, with various 

 messuages and lands, of Henry, Earl of Derby, as lord 

 of Bury, in socage by a rent of ^s. a year. John his 

 son and heir was about twenty-six years of age. 9 John 

 Greenhalgh was buried on 

 21 January 1614-15 ; 10 but 

 his son Thomas had died in 

 1591," leaving an infant son 

 John to succeed his grand- 

 father. The family were in 

 the service of the Earls of 

 Derby," and John Greenhalgh 

 was in 1 640 appointed Gover- 

 nor of the Isle of Man ; ls and 

 holding this office at the time 

 of the Civil War, his estates in 

 Lancashire were seized by the 

 Parliamentary authorities. He 

 died in the island 16 September 1651," and was 



GREENHALGH of Bran- 

 dlesholme. Argent on a 

 tend sable three hunting- 

 bornt stringed of the ftld. 



succeeded by his grandson Thomas, son of Richard 

 Greenhalgh, born in i633. 15 



Thomas Greenhalgh recorded a pedigree in i664, 18 

 and married Elizabeth elder child of Dr. Henry 

 Bridgeman, Dean of Chester and Bishop of Man, by 

 whom he had a large family. 17 He was sheriff of the 

 county in 1 667-8. 18 In his will, dated 1692, John 

 his son is named as the heir, 19 but appears to have died 

 without issue, as Henry, another son, is described as 

 of Brandlesholme in 1728. On his dying intestate, 

 administration was in that year granted to his daugh- 

 ters Fanny and Anne. 10 The manor descended to 

 Elizabeth wife of Samuel Matthews, who in 1732, 

 and again in 1742, made settlements of it.* 1 In 

 1770 Joseph Matthews and Elizabeth Matthews, 

 widow, were two of the vouchees in a recovery of 

 Brandlesholme and the other estates. 1 * About 

 that time it was sold to Richard Powell of Heaton 

 Norris, a merchant. In 1849 Brandlesholme 



Greenhalgh ; Henry son of the said John ; 

 Rayner Greenhalgh and Thurstan his 

 brother ; Robert and Thomas, sons of 

 William Greenhalgh ; Geoffrey son of 

 John Greenhalgh ; Thomas and Ralph, 

 sons of Roger Greenhalgh ; and Robert 

 ton of Thomas Greenhalgh ; Anderton 

 Evidences (Mr. Stonor), no. i. 



Edmund Greenhalgh attested a charter 

 in 1462 ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 164^, 

 no. 1 8. He in 1479, being described as of 

 Brandlesholme, obtained a general pardon ; 

 Add. MS. 32108, no. 1443. He seems 

 to have been charged with a share in the 

 death of Thurstan Kay 5 Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 32, m. 7 d. In 1500 he was re- 

 lieved from attendance on juries ; Towne- 

 ley MS. CC, no. 690. In the same year 

 Thomas Greenhalgh, son and heir appa- 

 rent of Edmund, became bound in ,200 

 to Robert Langley of Agecroft, probably 

 in connexion with the marriage between 

 his son John and Anne Langley recorded 

 in the pedigree ; Agecroft D. 93. 



In 1519 John Greenhalgh, as bailiff 

 of Tottington, made a complaint of 

 various trespasses and offences against the 

 customs of the fee ; Duchy Plead, (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 84 ; see also 

 ii, 1 08. In 1525 he complained that 

 Thomas Buckley, who had a lease of 

 lands from him in Tottington, had made 

 waste therein ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 145, 

 m. 4 d. He was the leader in disturb- 

 ances in Bury Church in 1526; Duchy 

 Plead, i, 151. He died in 1555 or 1556, 

 leaving a son and heir Thomas of lawful 

 age ; Mancb. Ct. Leet Rec. i, 29. John's 

 widow Anne died at the beginning of 

 1567 ; her will contains a number of 

 family bequests, including some to her 

 son Thomas. To John Greenhalgh (prob- 

 ably her grandson) and his wife she left, 

 among other things, a chalice with a 

 paten and all things belonging unto the 

 chapel, which were to descend as heir- 

 looms with Brandlesholme ; Hugh Hard- 

 man (not named in the Visitation Lists) 

 seems to have been the resident priest ; 

 Piccope, frills (Chet. Soc.), ii, 136-8. 



A settlement of the manor of Brandles- 

 holme, with lands in Bury, Moston, New- 

 ton, Collyhurst, Horwich, and Spotland, 

 was made by Thomas Greenhalgh in 

 1556 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 17, 

 m. 137. 



9 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, no. 10 ; 

 it is recited that the recovery of 1556 was 

 in consideration of a marriage between 

 John son and heir of the said Thomas 



Greenhalgh, and Alice daughter of Robert 

 Holt of Stubley, the remainder being to 

 John and Alice and their heirs. See 

 Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. i, 180, where 

 there is a note of Thomas's will. John 

 Greenhalgh, the heir, did not attend the 

 Manchester court to do his service until 

 1585 ; ibid, i, 184, 235, 253, 



A settlement of the Brandlesholme 

 estate, including three fulling mills, was 

 made in 1591 by John Greenhalgh, Alice 

 his wife, and Thomas the son and heir 

 apparent ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 53, m. 295. 



10 Bury Reg. 



11 He was buried 17 Sept. ; ibid. An 

 inquisition was made in 1599, when it 

 was found that John the father was seised 

 of the manor of Brandlesholme and other 

 estates, and had in 1585 made a settle- 

 ment on the marriage of his son Thomas 

 with Mary daughter of Robert Holt. 

 Thomas died 16 Sept. 1591, leaving a 

 son John, two years of age ; John the 

 father and Alice his wife were in 1599 

 living at Brandlesholme, and Mary the 

 widow of Thomas was living at Middle- 

 ton ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, 

 no. 61. 



13 The seventh earl, in his praise of 

 Captain John Greenhalgh, says : ' His 

 ancestors have formerly dwelt in my 

 house. . . . This certainly might breed 

 a desire in the man that the house where 

 his predecessors have served might still 

 flourish ' ; Stanley Papers (Chet. Soc.), iii 

 (B), 12. 



18 Ibid, n, 12; the earl praises him 

 for his government of the island, stating 

 that he was 'a gentleman well born,' 

 having ' a good estate of his own,' which 

 he had managed well ; also that he had 

 done ' his king and country good service ' 

 and been 'approved valiant." He con- 

 cludes : ' He is such that I thank God for 

 him.' See further accounts by Canon 

 Raines, ibid. pp. cxxxii-cxxxiv, and Assbe- 

 ton's Journ. (Chet. Soc.), 6. He paid 

 25 in 1631 on refusing knighthood ; 

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

 216. 



14 He is traditionally supposed to have 

 fought at Worcester, distinguishing him- 

 self by his bravery ; see Diet. Nat. Stag. 



16 Royalist Corap. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 107-15 (John 

 Greenhalgh), 115-27 (Thomas Green- 

 halgh). Alice Greenhalgh, widow of 

 John, had been the wife of Richard Burgh 

 of Larbreck, and was sister of Thomas 



Chaderton of Lees ; she petitioned for 

 her lands. Nothing is said about her 

 husband having fought at Worcester. The 

 agreement for the marriage of Richard 

 son of John Greenhalgh with Alice 

 daughter of Edward Rawstorne was 

 made in 1631, and is printed at length. 

 Richard died in Jan. 1635-6, being 

 buried at the parish church on the igth. 

 Thomas Greenhalgh, the son and heir, 

 petitioned for a declaration of his title to 

 the manor, his grandfather's name having 

 been included in the third of the Acts of 

 Sale, 1652 ; Peacock, Index of Royalistt 

 (Index Soc.), 41. 



16 Dugdale, Vint. (Chet. Soc.), 124-6. 



W Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 

 267. In 1682 Thomas Greenhalgh of 

 Brandlesholme and his sons John, Henry, 

 Orlando, and Richard, were made bur- 

 gesses at the Preston Gild ; Pres. Guild 

 Rolls (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 1 86. 



Adam Martindale relates that having 

 about 1670 kept 'a day of preaching and 

 prayer' in 'a dark corner' of the parish, 

 Dean Bridgeman being at his son-in-law's 

 house, and hearing of it, caused an arrest 

 to be made. ' I was carried before the 

 reverend Dean, who, knowing me well, said 

 he wondered that I would expose myself 

 to the lash of the law for conventicling, 

 and that under his nose.' However, 

 ' after some other discourse in a loving 

 and familiar way he dismissed me, pre- 

 tending kindness to me for my Lord 

 Delamere's sake.' On a trial the charge 

 was dismissed ; Adam Martindale (Chet. 

 Soc.), 104-5. ' 



Oliver Heywood also has allusions to 

 Thomas Greenhalgh's relations with the 

 Nonconformists ; Diaries, i, 253 ; ii, 223. 



18 P.R.O. Litt, 73. 



Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xvi, fol. 

 389 ; in 1705 Henry and Orlando were 

 the sole surviving executors. Henry 

 Greenhalgh of Brandlesholme acquired 

 Dauntesey Warth in 1704 ; ibid, xxii, 

 453. Thomas Greenhalgh died 15 Jan. 

 1691-2 ; Bury Reg. 



80 Raines MSS. xvi, 391. 



21 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 307, 



m. IS35 3 2 9- "I- 



M Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 612, m. 6; 

 Robert Nuttall, merchant, was the other 

 vouchee. The estate is described as the 

 manor or lordship of Brandlesholme and 

 lands, &c., in Elton, Tottington, Walmers- 

 ley, Kersal, Pendlebury, Preesall, Stal- 

 mine, Hackinsall, and Stainall. 



