A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



who died in 1560, held the capital messuage with 

 eighteen others, a water-mill, four fulling-mills, 

 300 acres arable land, &c., in Ashworth, of Richard 

 Assheton of Middleton, by a rent of 3/. \d. His 

 eldest son and heir, Robert, was sixteen years of age. 14 

 His second son, William, is the most famous member 

 of the family. He was born about 1545, and sent 

 up to Oxford, where he graduated, afterwards becom- 

 ing Master of Arts of Cambridge also. 16 Dissatisfied 

 with the Church of England he went to Douay 

 in 1574, where he studied theology, and was or- 

 dained. 17 Being sent to Rome he entered the Society 

 of Jesus in 1578, and three years later was sent on 

 the English mission. He was then employed by the 

 imprisoned Queen of Scots on an embassy to her son, 



King James. He was arrested at Leith in 1583 and 

 put to the torture, Queen Elizabeth urging this in 

 the hope of obtaining knowledge of suspected plots 

 in England ; nothing, however, was obtained from 

 him. He was liberated in the following year and sent 

 abroad. He died at Barcelona in 1599." 



Robert Holt lived on until i6z4. 1Sa He procured 

 the ancient rent of 3/. ^d. to be commuted to a pair 

 of gloves. He had a son Robert, who died before 

 his father, leaving a son and heir Richard, 19 who 

 came of age in 1618, when a settlement of part of 

 the Ashworth estate was made by Robert and Richard 

 Holt ; the latter had married Mary, a sister of 

 Theophilus Ashton, and afterwards the wife of John 

 Greenhalgh, and died in 1620, leaving an infant son 



in the hamlet of Ashworth ; and they 

 were regranted to Robert with remainders 

 to Hugh and William his brothers ; Raines, 

 op. cit. 261. Robert in 1398 granted to 

 Maud his mother certain lands in Middle- 

 ton and Bury ; ibid. Richard the Abbot 

 attested a charter in 1343 ; ibid. 257. 

 His lands were the subject of another 

 feoffment in 1398, perhaps after the death 

 of Robert de Holt ; ibid. 262. 



In 1401 Maud the widow was sum- 

 moned to answer Henry de Greenhalgh 

 and Alice his wife concerning the ward- 

 ship of Hugh son and heir of Robert 

 son of Hugh de Holt. It was asserted 

 that Robert had held two messuages and 

 lands in Middleton of Richard de Barton 

 in socage by the service of 31. $d. yearly ; 

 and Alice claimed as next of kin, being 

 Hugh's grandmother, her daughter (Alice) 

 by a former husband, Thomas de Barlow, 

 having been Robert's wife. Maud suc- 

 cessfully upheld her title by the above- 

 cited grant of her son in 1398 ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Plea R. i, m. 24^. 



In 1405 the feoffees granted to Hugh 

 son of Hugh de Holt and William his 

 brother an annual rent after the death 

 of Maud widow of Hugh de Holt and 

 of John de Holt, chaplain, from the lands 

 which had belonged to Robert son of 

 Richard de Ashworth. Hugh son of 

 Robert de Holt was the heir ; Raines, 

 op. cit. 263, 264. 



Hugh the heir was at that time prob- 

 ably very young. In 1419 Margaret dc 

 Shaw, wife of Richard de Urmston, re- 

 leased all actions against him ; ibid. 266. 

 In 1435 he made a feoffment of all his 

 lands, of which he was refeoffed in 1467 ; 

 ibid. 266. Hugh Holt of Ashworth was 

 fined in 1448 ; his sons Thurstan and 

 William are mentioned about the same 

 time ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. n, m. 42 ; 

 12,29/1. Hugh seems to have been out- 

 lawed, and in 1449 the escheator sold his 

 goods to Richard Barton ; Raines, op. cit. 

 268. He contracted his daughter Isabel 

 in 1455 to marry Oliver Parker; and 

 twelve years later his son and heir apparent, 

 Richard, was married to Margaret daughter 

 of James Chetham of Nuthurst ; ibid. 267, 



272. About the same time the old dis- 

 pute as to the 31. \.d. rent was referred to 

 arbitration, and no doubt settled ; Clowes 

 D. Just ten years later still Oliver son 

 of Richard son of Hugh Holt was con- 

 tracted in marriage with Constance daugh- 

 ter of James son of Ralph Holt of Gristle- 

 hurst ; Richard was probably dead ; Raines, 



273. In 1478 Hugh was refeoffed of all 

 his lands, with remainders to Oliver son of 

 Richard Holt, to William and Jordan 

 brothers of Richard, and to Adam Holt ; 

 ibid. 268. 



Oliver Holt occurs again in 1517 and 

 1520; ibid. 269. In 1518 he made a 

 feoffment of all his manors, messuages, 

 &c., called ' le Ashworth ' ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 123, m. 3d. In 1522 he with 

 other feoffees gave land in Ashworth for 

 Grace the daughter of Ralph Rishton, who 

 was to marry Robert the son and heir 

 apparent of Oliver, with remainder to 

 Richard the brother of Robert ; Raines, 

 269, 270. Robert Holt in 1533 married 

 Joan sister of Robert Langley of Agecroft ; 

 Agecroft D. 106, 107. In the depositions 

 in a dispute as to the bounds of the waste 

 between Robert Holt and tenants of the 

 Earl of Derby in Bury are many particu- 

 lars as to the place-names. Penkesden 

 Brook, part of the boundary, was in dis- 

 pute, it being asserted by the witnesses for 

 Holt that Cheesden Brook ceased to be so 

 called at the Lumn (Lumn Bridge, at the 

 north end of Ashworth), and was then 

 called Penkesden Brook until it fell into 

 Naden Brook ; while on the other side it 

 was said that Penkesden was a small 

 brook flowing into the Cheesden ; Duchy 

 Pleadings (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 

 52-60. The present arbitrary boundary 

 line, running north and south on the east 

 side of Cheesden Brook, probably repre- 

 sents a compromise made on the occa- 

 sion. 



15 He died on 22 Jan. 1559-60. Joan 

 his wife survived him ; sons Robert and 

 William are named, and daughters Cecily, 

 Dorothy, and Elizabeth ; also the brother 

 Richard. Feoffments made in 1559 are 

 recited in the inquisition in Raines, op. 

 cit. 275. His will is printed in Piccope, 

 Wills (Chet. Soc.), i, 52-4. 



Richard Ashton of Middleton in 1566 

 stated that Robert Holt of Ashworth, 

 holding of him by knight's service, had 

 died leaving a son and heir, Robert Holt, 

 whose wardship belonged to him ; but one 

 Roger Gartside, having obtained the deeds 

 and evidences, had forcibly carried the 

 heir away and made him marry one of his 

 daughters ; Duchy of Lane. Plead, xlviii, 

 A. 4 . 



16 He was of Brasenose College, Oxford, 

 B.A. 1566 ; fellow of Oriel 1568 ; M.A. 

 1572; Foster, Alumni; also Cooper, Athenae 

 Cantab, ii, 283, 551. Raines quotes his 

 own statement (from the Bowes Corre- 

 spondence, Surtees Soc.), that he was born 

 at Ashworth. 



V Douay Diaries, 6, 25. 



18 See Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Gillow, Bibl. 

 Diet, of Engl. Catholics, iii, 361-5 ; Foley, 

 Records S. J. vii, 368, 1231-46. For a 

 time after his expulsion from Scotland he 

 was rector of the English College at Rome ; 

 then for ten years he resided in Belgium, 

 distributing the King of Spain's alms to 



I 7 8 



the English exiles for religion. In the 

 bitter dissensions which at that time arose 

 among the adherents of the old religion 

 he was a strong partisan of the ' Spanish ' 

 faction, and roused so much bitterness 

 that he was sent to Spain, where he died. 

 He appears to have been an upright and 

 able man, but austere even to harshness 

 in his dealings with others. Many re- 

 ferences to him will be found in the 

 Calendars of State Papers of the time. 

 His account of ' how the Catholic religion 

 had been continued in England during 

 thirty-eight years of persecution, and how 

 it might still be preserved," is printed in 

 the Dcuay Diaries and in Foley. 



I8a In 1574 there was a fine of Ash- 

 worth, &c., Robert Holt being deforciant ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 36, m. 42. 

 Some of the deeds are in Raines MSS. xi, 

 278, 279. 



Robert Holt some time before 1565 

 married Agnes daughter of Roger Gart- 

 side ; she had an estate in Saddleworth, 

 which was to descend to her heirs ; Lanes. 

 Inq. iii, 440 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 27, no. 1 66 ; Torks. Fines (Yorks. Arch, and 

 Top. Assoc.), ii, 26. The wife of Mr. 

 Robert Holt ' was buried at Middleton 2 

 Nov. 1594 ; and he seems to have married 

 a second wife named Clemence, buried at 

 the same place 9 June, 1609 ; Regs. 



19 Robert Holt, son of Robert, married 

 Mary daughter of Sir Richard Assheton 

 at Middleton in 1594 ; their son Richard 

 was baptized at the same church on 28 

 March 1597; and the wife was buried 

 there 25 Aug. 1600. Robert married as 

 his second wife Dorothy, by whom he had 

 a son William, born in 1606. Robert was 

 buried on 2 Jan. 1608-9 ; Middleton 

 registers. Immediately afterwards the 

 wardship of Richard the heir was granted 

 to his grandfather Robert ; Raines, xi, 282. 



The will of Robert Holt the son, 

 dated 1608, is given in Raines MSS. vi, 

 266. Richard was his son and heir. He 

 died ' holding the pure religion now estab- 

 lished in the Church of England,' as he 

 had held it 'from the time of his discre- 

 tion.' The apostle spoons of his grand- 

 father Gartside were to be heirlooms. 

 Coal mines at Nat Bank are mentioned. 



In 1614 Richard was contracted in mar- 

 riage to Mary daughter of Robert Ducken- 

 field ; Raines MSS. xi, 294 ; Earwaker, 

 East Cheshire, ii, 20. The 'wife of Mr. 

 Richard Holt of Ashworth ' was buried 

 at Middleton 19 May 1618 ; and the 

 marriage with Mary sister of Theophilus 

 Ashton of Clegg, mentioned in the in- 

 quisition of 1624, took place on 29 Oct. 

 1618 ; Fishwick, Roc hdale Registers, ii, 156. 

 By the former marriage there was a son 

 Robert, who lived a few months only. 



