A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



daughters and heirs.* 4 The 

 eldest, Alice, married Sir Ro- 

 bert de Shireburne, and the 

 fourth part assigned to her de- 

 scended with the Shireburne 

 estates" till 1632, when it 

 was sold by Richard son of 

 Richard Shireburne and Eliza- 

 beth his wife, to Roger Lever, 36 

 descending in this family till 

 the end of the i8th cen- 

 tury. 17 



The second daughter, Agnes, was twice married, 

 but appears to have had no children ; and in 1336 



SHIREBURNE. Argent 

 a lion rampant -vert. 



as a widow, she settled her 

 share of the manor upon the 

 children of her sister Kathe- 

 rine. 38 



The third daughter, Joan, 

 married Sir Thomas de Ar- 

 derne, and had issue ; but the 

 fourth part, which should have 

 descended to the heirs of this 



family, seems to have been re- F E R R K R s of G roby. 

 covered about 1360 by the GW seven masclei con- 

 heir of the above-named Wil- joined or. 

 Ham de Ferrers, 39 and de- 

 scended in the line of Ferrers of Groby till the 



M Whalley Coucher (Chet. Soc.), iv, 

 1085 ; Whitaker, Whalley, ii, 30. The 

 proof that Margaret de Holland held Bol- 

 ton in her own right is to be found in the 

 descent of it. Some further particulars 

 are given in the account of Chorley ; the 

 title in each case may have been the same. 



85 Robert son of Robert de Shireburne 

 ' put in his claim ' in a settlement of part 

 of the manor in 1331; Final Cone. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 81. This 

 fourth part of the manor occurs regularly 

 in the Shireburne inquisitions. In that 

 after the death of Richard Shireburne in 

 1441 it is stated to have been held of the 

 king as duke in socage, and worth 1001. a 

 year clear ; Lanes. Rec. Inq. p.m. no. 30, 

 31; see also Lanes. Inj. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), 

 ii, 52. In 1506 and 1514 the estate in 

 Chorley and Bolton was said to be held of 

 Thomas Hesketh (and Roger Dalton) in 

 socage by a rent of 51. ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Inq. p.m. iii, no. 92 ; iv, no. 46. In 

 1528 and 1537 the tenure is described 

 as ' of the king as of the honour of West 

 Derby in socage by the rent of one red 

 sparrow-hawk" ; ibid. vi, no. 65; viii, no. 

 33. Later, in 1594 and 1629, the tenure 

 of Bolton is described simply as in socage 

 of the Crown ; ibid, xvi, no. 3 ; xxvi, 

 no. 4. For the descent see the account 

 of Stonyhurst in Aighton. 



86 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 121, 

 m. 44. The estate is described as the 

 manor of Bolton-in-the-Moors, with ten 

 messuages, &c., lands, 191. j\d. rent, and 

 views of frankpledge. Richard Shireburne 

 and Elizabeth his wife were the vendors, 

 and gave a warranty against the heirs of 

 Richard Shireburne, deceased, father of the 

 former. 



*7 Alexander Lever, who was perhaps 

 the son of Robert Lever (trills, Chet. Soc. 

 [new ser.] i, 221, and see p. 220), as a 

 minor made a claim against Roger Wal- 

 mersley in 1 569; Ducatus Lanc.(Rec. Com.), 

 ii, 378. He died on I Jan. 1613-14, hold- 

 ing sixteen messuages, twenty-six cottages, 

 1 6 acres of land, &c., in Bolton of Richard 

 Shireburne, Ralph Assheton, and Jane 

 Ainsworth, widow ; Roger his son and 

 heir was twenty-six years of age ; Lanes. 

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

 282. Alexander Lever had in 1582 pur- 

 chased three messuages, &c., in Bolton from 

 Roger Walmersley (or Walmesley) and 

 Roger his son and heir apparent ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 44, m. 178. He 

 was returned as a freeholder in 1600, 

 being described as ' of Chamber ' ; Misc. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 248. 

 Chamber was in Great Bolton. 



Roger Lever of Chamber paid ^10 in 

 1631 on refusing knighthood ; ibid, i, 216. 



Thomas Lever of Chamber and Alex- 

 ander his son were enrolled at the Preston 



Gild of 1662 ; Preston Guild R. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 148, 191. Other 

 sons were Thomas and John ; the latter 

 was vicar of Bolton from 1673 till his 

 death in 1691, and had several children ; 

 Scholes and Pimblett, Bolton, 276, 277 ; 

 Foster, Alumni Oxon. The will of Tho- 

 mas Lever was proved in 1685. A later 

 Thomas's will was proved in 1705. 



Afterwards a third of the Lever portion 

 came to the Blackburnes of Hale, as will 

 be shown later, and the other two-thirds 

 seems to have descended with the heir 

 male, being held in 1746 by Samuel 

 Lever, clerk, who was a son of John 

 Lever, sometime vicar of Bolton, and died 

 in 1754. He had a son Thomas. See 

 Scholes and Pimblett, Bolton, 325-7 ; 

 Foster, Alumni Oxon. Mr. W. Fergusson 

 Irvine gives the Lever succession as fol- 

 lows : Alexander, d. 1613 s. Roger, d. 

 1645 bro.Thomas, d.i679 s. Thomas, 

 d. 1704 (leaving a daughter and heir, Anne) 

 nephew Thomas (s. of Rev. John Lever), 

 d. c. 1707 bro. Rev. Samuel, d. 1754 8. 

 Thomas. Some later particulars are con- 

 tained on the Lever tombstones in the 

 churchyard ; James Lever of Hindley, the 

 latest, having been interred there on 

 I Sept. 1811, aged forty-two. 



88 In 1331 Robert de Horncliffe and 

 Agnes his wife seem to have settled the 

 fourth part of the Bolton and other 

 manors on the heirs of the husband ; 

 Final Cone, ii, 80. In 1336, however, 

 Agnes, as widow of Robert, granted the 

 succession of her part of Great Bolton to 

 Robert son of John son of John de Har- 

 rington, with remainder to Adam brother 

 of Robert, and then to the right heirs of 

 Agnes ; ibid, ii, 101. 



89 Henry de Ferrers, grandson of Wil- 

 liam, in 1329, claimed the manors of 

 Bolton and Chorley, with exceptions, 

 against Robert son of Robert de Heppe- 

 hale, and Margaret, late wife of Adam 

 Banastre (i.e. Margaret de Holland) ; De 

 Banco R. 279, m. 6 1 d. In the follow- 

 ing year he made his claim against John 

 de Harrington the younger and [Catherine 

 his wife, Robert de Shireburne and Alice 

 his wife, Robert de HornclirF and Agnes 

 his wife, and Thomas de Arderne ; ibid. 

 R. 282, m. 112. The latter claim he 

 prosecuted the following year, setting out 

 his descent as son of William son of Wil- 

 liam de Ferrers, to whom the manors had 

 been given in the time of Henry III by 

 Robert de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, brother 

 of William ; ibid. R. 285, m. 144. 



The claim seems to have been revived 

 again in July 1354 by Henry's son Sir 

 William de Ferrers, who set forth his 

 claim to the manors of Bolton and Chor- 

 ley against Alice, widow of Sir Robert de 

 Shireburne, Sir John de Harrington of 



246 



Farleton and {Catherine his wife, Robert 

 son of John de Harrington of Farleton, 

 and Sir Thomas de Arderne, each holding 

 a fourth part of the manor of Bolton ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 3, m. %a. At 

 Michaelmas he claimed the Arderne part 

 against certain persons, including Mar- 

 garet Banastre, who were probably trus- 

 tees ; ibid. m. 6. Alice de Shireburne, 

 sister and one of the heirs of Agnes de 

 Lea, and Sir Thomas de Arderne, the 

 other heir, were called to warrant ; Alice 

 de Shireburne, for her own share of the 

 manor, called Sir William de Plumpton 

 to warrant her ; ibid. R. 4, m. 4 d. 28. 

 Agnes de Lea was so called from her first 

 husband, Sir Henry de Lea. Robert de 

 Harrington and Sir Thomas de Arderne 

 had the king's protection, and the trial of 

 their cases had therefore to be deferred ; 

 ibid. m. 1 5 d. The claims were renewed 

 in subsequent years (R. 5, m. 18 ; R. 6, 

 m. 5, 6), and in 1358 Robert and Thomas 

 sons of Sir John de Harrington, each 

 holding a fourth part, were summoned ; 

 Assize R. 438, m. 3. In 1359 Sir 

 Thomas de Arderne claimed the fourth 

 part of the manor against the same trus- 

 tees ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 7, m. 5 ; 

 and Sir William de Ferrers continued his 

 suits. 



Some settlement with Arderne was 

 afterwards arrived at, for in 1362 Sir Wil- ' 

 liam's claim was against Nicholas son of 

 John de Harrington for a moiety of Bol-' 

 ton, and against Sir Richard de Shireburn 1 

 for a fourth part ; De Banco R. 408, m. 

 79 d. Five years later there was a claim 

 against John de Swinford and Elizabeth 

 his wife, holding a third of two-thirds ol 

 the fourth part of the manor ; ibid. R. 

 428, m. 226; while in 1370 a furthei 

 attempt was made to recover the moiety 

 held by Nicholas de Harrington ; ibid. R! 

 439, m. 92. Sir William died on 8 Jan.; 

 1370-1, holding a third of the fourth! 

 part and a third of the remaining two( 

 thirds of that part of the manor ol 

 Bolton, worth zos. zd. a year, all being* 

 held of the Duke of Lancaster by knight'! 

 service as of the manor of West Derby^ 

 and by suit at the county and wapentaka 

 courts, and also at the Penwortham court;, 

 the remaining portion of this part oj; 

 Bolton was held for life by John de 

 Arderne and Joan his wife, by the grant, 

 of Sir William ; Inq. p.m. 45 Edw. III. 

 (2nd nos.), no. 22. Soon afterwards Mar 1 ', 

 garet, the widow, claimed dower in the|. 

 holding of John de Arderne in Chorley- 

 and Bolton ; De Banco R. 460, m. 129 . 

 There are allusions to the Ferrers holding- 

 in the Close R. of I Ric. II, m. 24 d.:. 

 19 Ric. II, m. 26. (' 



In the inquisitions (1388) after the'; 

 death of Sir William's son and heir, Sir 



