SALFORD HUNDRED 



MIDDLETON 



1457." The elder son died before his father, leaving 

 a daughter and heir Margery, who was in 1439 con- 

 tracted to marry Ralph Ashton, a younger son of Sir 

 John Ashton of Ashton-under-Lyne. 34 



The descent of the manor is somewhat uncertain. 15 

 By a number of agreements made in 1457 a great 

 part of the estate was settled upon heirs of ' Richard 

 Barton, of Middleton, the elder, esquire,' 36 the 

 grandfather of Margery. Richard's widow Alice had 

 lands granted to her as dower early in 1466." By 

 1480 the greater part of the Middleton estate was 

 held by Sir Ralph Ashton and Margery his wife ; but 

 Alice Barton widow of Richard, Margery Barton 

 widow of John, and Richard and Ralph Barton, held 

 various messuages and lands 'of the inheritance of 

 Margery.' 38 Three years later it was recorded that 

 Sir Ralph Ashton held the manor of Middleton in 

 right of his wife, by one knight's fee, rendering yearly 

 1 3-r. \d. and for ward of Lancaster Castle IO/. M 



Sir Ralph Ashton, brought up at court and made 

 a knight before 1464 and a banneret by Richard 



Duke of Gloucester at Hutton 

 field in Scotland, 1 48 2, 40 held 

 various public offices 41 and was 

 by Richard III appointed Vice- 

 Constable of England. 42 In 

 his native place he acquired an 

 evil reputation, the custom of 

 * riding the Black Lad' at Ash- 

 ton commemorating (according 

 to the general opinion) the 

 popular detestation of his con- 

 duct. 43 Early in 1484 he made 

 a lease to Richard his son for 



twenty years of the manor of Middleton, 44 and prob- 

 ably died shortly afterwards. 44 In 1487 Richard 

 Ashton, his son and heir, obtained a general pardon 

 from Henry VII. 46 He was made a knight in 1497," 

 and held the manor of Middleton by the service of 

 a knight's fee, until his death, 28 April 1507 ; the 

 clear value at that time was estimated at 109 6s. 8</. 48 

 Richard Ashton, his son and heir, then about 



ASHTON of Middleton. 

 Urgent on a molet sable 

 an annulet or. 



Margaret daughter of Sir John Byron, or, 

 should she die, then Ellen, another daugh- 

 ter; Dods. MSS.lviii,fol. i66i; Harl.MS. 

 2112, fol. 113^/150^. In 1421 John del 

 Booth, the elder, and other feoffees demised 

 to John son of Richard de Barton of Mid- 

 dleton and Margaret his wife certain tene- 

 ments in Ainsworth ; Dods. MSS. Iviii, fol. 

 1646. 



83 In 1425 Robert de Pilkington and 

 William his brother released to Richard 

 <le Barton of Middleton all their right in 

 his lands; ibid, cxlii, fol. 131. Richard 

 had sworn on the gospels that he 

 would give to Richard son of Robert de 

 Pilkington seisin for life of lands called 

 the Rhodes in Middleton ; ibid. fol. 131^. 

 There are several deeds relating to this 

 grant in Towneley MS. GG, no. 1692, 

 1778-9, 1837-8, 1844-5. 



In 1431 he was found to hold a knight's 

 fee in Middleton ; Feud. Aids, iii, 96. 

 He was in 1444 exempted from serving on 

 juries, &c. ; Dtp. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 538. 



84 Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 132, 133 ; the 

 agreement was made between Richard 

 Barton and Sir Thomas Ashton, brother 

 of Ralph. Richard was to settle 100 a 

 year out of his lands on Margery in fee. 

 She is described as 'cousin and heir ap- 

 parent ' of Richard, and was under four- 

 teen years of age. Alice the wife of 

 Richard is mentioned ; ibid. fol. 133. 



85 See an essay by Mr. John Dean in 

 Lanes, and Chet. Antiq. Soc. xvi, 102-33. 

 There may have been two Richards in 

 *uccession, which would explain the un- 

 certainty as to the patronage of the church 

 in 1462, when a Richard Barton pre- 

 sented. This uncertainty, however, may 

 have been due to a claim put forward for 

 the Crown. In an extent of 1445-6 it 

 is recorded that ' Richard Barton holds 

 the manor of Middleton by the service of 

 one knight's fee ; the relief therefor being 

 iooj. He was in ward' ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Knights' Fees, bdle. 2, no. 20. The tenant 

 at this time at first sight appears to have 

 been Richard the son of Richard, and a 

 minor, but the final clause no doubt refers 

 to the minority of the elder Richard. 

 There is on record, moreover, a descrip- 

 tion of the monument of Richard de Bar- 

 ton and Alice his wife. The inscription 

 has been incorrectly read, stating that 

 Richard died in 1451 ; Trans. Hist. Soc. 

 {new ser.), vi, 258. His widow Alice 

 was still alive in 1480. 



86 These agreements, between Ralph 

 Ashton and Margery his wife on the one 

 side and Richard Barton the elder on the 

 other, make provision for Richard Barton 

 the younger, Thomas, William, and Ralph, 

 four sons of Richard Barton the elder, giv- 

 ing each a life interest in certain messuages 

 and lands in Middleton, with remainder to 

 * the right heirs of the said Richard Barton 

 the elder'; Final Cone, iii, 119-20. 

 ' Richard Barton the elder ' must be the 

 grandfather of Margery, the fines securing 

 the reversion of the lands to her as the 

 'right heir," and the fine of 1480, quoted 

 later, helps to show that this is the true 

 meaning. 



*' Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 133 ; an in- 

 denture reciting that Sir Ralph Ashton 

 and Margery his wife had assigned to 

 Alice widow of Richard Barton certain 

 rents in Lancashire for her dower in 

 Fryton and other rents for her dower in 

 Middleton. 



About the same time Sir Ralph and 

 Margery, as heir of Richard Barton, were 

 claiming the custody of the manor of 

 Great Lever ; Pal. of Lane. Writs Pro- 

 ton. 6 Edw. IV. 



88 Final Cone, iii, 138. Sir Ralph Ash- 

 ton and Margery held twenty-seven mes- 

 suages, 1,000 acres of lands, &c. in 

 Middleton ; while Alice Barton held eight 

 messuages, 300 acres of land, &c. ; Mar- 

 garet Barton eleven messuages, 200 acres 

 of land, &c. ; Richard Barton two mes- 

 suages, 100 acres of land, &c.; and Ralph 

 Barton six messuages, 40 acres of land, 

 &c. all of the inheritance of Margery and 

 reverting to her. 



89 Feodary of 1483 ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Misc. Vols. 1 30. 



40 Metcalfe, Bk. of Knights, 6. 



41 See the account in Diet. Nat. Biog. 

 and the numerous references to him in 

 the Calendars of the Patent Rolls of 

 Edward IV and Richard III. Reserva- 

 tions of grants to him were made in 

 several acts of resumption ; Rolls of Parl. 

 v, 528, 608 ; vi, 97, 234. He seems to 

 have been concerned with Yorkshire 

 principally. His celebrity makes it the 

 more remarkable that the date and cir- 

 cumstances of his death are unknown. 



A Ralph Ashton of Middleton, perhaps 

 a son, was pardoned in 1479 ; Towneley 

 MS. RR, no. 1442. 



42 The patent is printed in Whitaker, 

 Wballey, ii, 151. It gave, in particular, 



l6 5 



authority to examine and proceed against 

 persons suspected of high treason. 



About the same time Richard III is 

 said to have made a grant to Sir Ralph of 

 the manor of Middleton ; Aikin, Mancb. 

 242. 



In 1480 Sir Ralph Ashton of Fryton 

 and Margery his wife granted land in 

 Birtle and Middleton, &c. to his son 

 Richard and Isabel his wife, daughter of 

 JohnTalbotof Salebury ; Kuerden fol. MS. 

 39, no. 648 ; also 38, no. 635 ; Towne- 

 ley, MS. HH, no. 2061. 



48 See the account of Ashton-under- 

 Lyne. 



44 Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 132*5 it in- 

 cluded the reversion of all the lands in 

 Middleton after the death of Dame Mar- 

 garet Harcourt, widow, Richard Barton, 

 and Ralph Barton, which sometime were 

 the lands of Richard Barton, father of the 

 said Richard. Dame Margaret Harcourt 

 was the widow of John Barton, who 

 married Sir William Atherton (Kuerden 

 III, A 13, n. 32), and then Sir Robert 

 Harcourt, K.G.; their monument remains 

 in Stanton Harcourt Church ; Collins, 

 Peerage (ed. 1779), v, 267. 



45 In a plea of 1509 is cited an inquisi- 

 tion of 20 Hen. VII made after the death 

 of Sir Ralph Ashton of Middleton, in 

 which he is stated to have died on to April, 

 Richard hit son and heir being twenty- 

 four years of age ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 

 no, m. 8. The year of his death is not 

 mentioned, but from the age of his son as 

 given it must have been about 1485, as 

 the son was a father in 1482. Sir Ralph 

 was living in 1485, as appears by the 

 Calendar of Patent Rolls of that year. 



46 Dtp. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 541. 



4 7 In Scotland, by Lord Strange ; Met- 

 calfe, Knights, 31. 



48 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 24 ; 

 there is recited a feoffment of two mes- 

 suages, 200 acres of land, &c. parcel of 

 the manor, to his son Richard and Anne 

 his wife. 



His brass, showing the figures of him- 

 self, his wife Isabel, and their family of 

 seven sons and six daughters, is given in 

 Mr. Dean's paper above mentioned, and 

 in Thornely's Lanes. Brasses, 73. It may 

 be identified by the description in Trans. 

 Hist. Soc. vi, 258-9. There is another 

 brass commemorating his daughter Alice 

 and her three husbands ; Thornely, op. cit. 

 203. 



