SALFORD HUNDRED 



BOLTON-LE-MOORS 



them, known as Ward alias 

 Sharpies, appears down to the 

 1 7th century. 17 In the ab- 

 sence of documents no proper 

 account can be given of these 

 families. Sharpies Hall has for 

 some time been the seat of 

 the Rothwell family ; Mr. 

 Richard Rainshaw Rothwell 

 was recently one of the prin- 

 cipal landowners. 18 



One Roger de Sharpies 

 in 1315-16 granted to Sir 



SHARPLKS of Sharpies. 

 Sable three crescents ar- 

 gent, between the points 

 each a mullet of the 

 'ait. 



f 







las 



William de Holland, ancestor of the Denton family, 

 his manor of Sharpies and all his land there, together 

 with his goods, movable and immovable, in the manor 

 and his share of the waste. 19 Sir William at once 

 granted it to Thurstan son of Margaret de Shores- 

 worth for life. 20 Thurstan in 1332 made a feoff- 

 ment of his lands in the hamlet of Sharpies in the 

 vill of Great Bolton and in Harwood ; " and in 1335 

 granted the manor of Sharpies to his mother, together 

 with the homages and services of Jordan son of Adam 

 de Sharpies and others." The Holland family ac- 

 quired other lands in the hamlet or township, 23 and 

 in 1429 Thurstan de Holland made an agreement 



reversion of the land to Roger de Pilking- 

 ton the brother of Adam, is among Lord 

 Wilton's deeds ; see also Harl. MS. 2112, 

 fol. 156/192. 



At the same time William son of Maud 

 de Sharpies claimed a messuage and lands 

 under a grant by Quenilda de Sharpies to 

 Henry de Entwisle and Maud his wife 

 and their issue ; the defendant, Henry son 

 of Alexander de Wood, denied that William 

 was of the blood of Henry and Maud i.e. 

 apparently was the son of Maud, but not 

 of Henry; Assize R. 408, m. 15. A 

 charter for Hayhurst in Sharpies by Alex- 

 ander de Wood to his son Henry is printed 

 in Various Coll. (Hist. MSS. Com.), ii, 13. 



John son of Elias de Tonge was in 1310 

 pardoned for the death of William de 

 Sharpies ; Col. Pat. 1307-13, p. 298. 



John de Sharpies occurs in 1332; 

 Excb. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 37. 



Some further occurrences of the name 

 will be found in the text and notes. 



V A brief pedigree is printed in the 

 Visit, of 1567 (Chet. Soc.). p. 10 ; it 

 covers the i6th century. That printed in 

 Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 269, may be 

 a more correct version of the same. 



In 1351 John de Hulton of Halliwell 

 made provision for the marriage of his son 

 Richard to Margery daughter of Adam 

 the Ward of Sharpies ; Hulton Fed. 5. 

 Adam the Ward of Sharpies occurs again 

 in reference to lands at Gorton and at 

 Turton in 1369 and 1371 ; Coram Rege 

 R. 434, m. 7 ; De Banco R. 444, m. 

 173 d. His descendants were probably 

 the Richard Ward of Sharpies, a defendant 

 in 1443 (Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 5, m. 

 9^) and the Richard Sharpies who paid a 

 rent of is. 6d. to the lord of Manchester 

 in 1473 ; Mamecestre, iii, 494. 



Alexander Sharpies alias Ward died in 

 1588 and was succeeded by his son Richard; 

 Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 29. A settlement 

 of ten messuages and lands in Sharpies 

 and Bolton was made by Alexander in 

 1571 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 33, 

 m. 178. From a pleading of 1597 it 

 appears that he, being seised of the manor 

 of Sharpies, granted half the estate to his 

 grandson Alexander (son of Richard) on 

 his marriage with Anne [Aughton] ; after 

 his death Richard, his heir, entered upon 

 one moiety and Alexander and Anne upon 

 the other. They agreed to exchange, and 

 Alexander in 1593, shortly before his 

 death, mortgaged or sold his part to Ralph 

 Heaton the younger ; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 55, m. 108. The widow after- 

 wards married Hugh Wood, and com- 

 plained that a certain Thomas Heaton 

 had conspired with his father-in-law 

 Thomas Anderton and his brother-in-law 

 Christopher Anderton to deprive her of her 

 jointure and secure the wardship of Roger 



the son and heir of Alexander, who was 

 born about 1589. The conspirators had 

 shut her up in Thomas Anderton's house 

 at Chorley for four days, and by many 

 threats had induced her to sign an agree- 

 ment according to their desires ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Plea. Eliz . cxcv, W. 2. 



Richard Ward alias Sharpies seems to 

 have lived on till 1613, and Roger the 

 grandson acted as a juror in 1619 ; Lanes. 

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

 234; ii, 113,153. Roger Sharpies alias 

 Ward contributed to the subsidy in 1622 ; 

 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 159. 



The family continued more than a cen- 

 tury after this. Alexander the son of the 

 last-named Roger died in 1677 ; he was 

 probably the Alexander Sharpies of Bol- 

 ton presented to the Bishop of Chester as 

 a 'papist' in 1671. He was followed, it 

 would appear, by another Roger, and then 

 by a John Sharpies, who died in 1736, 

 aged fifty-six. He left two daughters, 

 Anne wife of Roger Brandwood of Wayoh, 

 and Mary wife of the Rev. Samuel Law- 

 son. In 1749 a partition was effected, 

 by which Sharpies Hall came to the latter 

 family. John Lawson the son and heir 

 succeeded, and by his will in 1793 gave 

 Sharpies to his son John Sharpies Law- 

 son. The heir mortgaged it to Richard 

 Rothwell, rector of Sefton, in 1797, and 

 in 1815 sold it to James Rothwell of 

 Much Hoole for 6,250 ; Bolton Hist. 

 Gleanings ii, 128, 187-9 (frn* Piccope 

 MSS. xiv, 43-4). 



18 There is a pedigree in H. T. Crof- 

 ton's Newton (Chet. Soc.), ii, 224. See 

 further in the account of Much Hoole. 



19 Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 145/181; there 

 are three charters, and Adam de Sharpies 

 attested one of them. John son of Roger 

 de Sharpies at the same time released all 

 his right ; ibid. fol. 156/192. 



The Pendlebury family had had an 

 estate in Sharpies, which was acquired by 

 Sir William de Holland and his son Thur- 

 stan. William son of Roger de Pendle- 

 bury granted to John de Prestwich, rector 

 of Whitwell, all the lands in Sharpies 

 coming to him on the death of Maud 

 daughter of his brother Ellis de Pendle- 

 bury ; ibid. fol. 145^/181^. Lettice, 

 another daughter of Ellis, released to the 

 same John de Prestwich in 1301 all her 

 interest in the lands in Sharpies and 

 Great Bolton granted by her uncle Wil- 

 liam son of Roger de Pendlebury ; ibid. 

 i6ob/i()6b. Beatrice, a third daughter, 

 in 1331 released all her right in Sharpies 

 in the vills of Great Bolton and Harwood 

 to Thurstan son of Margaret de Shores- 

 worth ; ibid. fol. 145^/181^. In the 

 meantime, apparently in 1307, John de 

 Prestwich had granted to Sir William de 

 Holland all his lands in Sharpies, with 

 rents, homages, wards, reliefs, &c. ; ibid. 



26l 



fol. 145/181. Roger de Bindloss of Sharpies 

 at the same time released to Sir William 

 all his claim to the lands, rents, &c., in- 

 cluding the homage and service of Alex- 

 ander de Turton ; ibid. fol. 145^/181^, 

 158/194. 



Another ancient estate also seems to 

 have come into the Hollands' possession 

 perhaps that of the Alexander de Turton 

 named above. Ellis son of Gamel the 

 White (Albi) of Turton granted all his 

 land in Sharpies and the Boothstead to 

 his son Alexander ; and in 1307 Margery 

 the widow of Ellis son of Gamel released 

 to the same Alexander her right in Sharpies 

 in the vill of Bolton ; Harl. MS. 2112, 

 fol. 158/194, 159/195. 



20 Ibid. fol. 145/181. 



31 Ibid, (i) A grant by Thurstan son 

 of Sir William de Holland to William de 

 Halliwell ; (2) Re-grant by William son 

 of Richard de Halliwell to Thurstan. 



Thurstan [de Holland] son of Margaret 

 de Shoresworth, holding two-thirds of a 

 tenement in Harwood, Joan widow of 

 John de Belowe of Sharpies, holding one- 

 third, and others were defendants to a 

 claim made by William de Halliwell in 

 1325 ; Assize R. 426, m. 6. The claim 

 was renewed in 1331, when Thurstan's 

 mother was called Margaret del Booth ; 

 Assize R. 1404, m. 19. The claim was for 

 common of pasture in 300 acres of moor 

 and pasture in Harwood and Great Bol- 

 ton. 



w Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 145/181. The 

 original charter is among Lord Wilton's 

 deeds ; the under-tenants, in addition to 

 Jordan de Sharpies, were William de Hal- 

 liwell, Alexander de Turton, and Henry 

 del Wood. 



28 Some of these have been mentioned 

 in a previous note. Thurstan de Hol- 

 land, the son of Sir William, in 1328 

 procured from John son of Robert de 

 Sharpies all his title in the heritage of 

 Jordan de Sharpies ; ibid. fol. 1456/1 8 1. 

 At the same time he obtained Hughurst 

 in Sharpies in the vill of Harwood from 

 Robert son of John de Sharpies ; ibid, 

 fol. 1576/1936 ; while from Roger son of 

 Henry del Wood he regained 8 acres in 

 Sharpies granted by Sir William de Hol- 

 land to the said Henry ; ibid. fol. 146/182. 

 Thomas son of Alexander de Turton in 

 1 341 granted to Thurstan all his lands in 

 Sharpies in the vill of Bolton-on-the- 

 Moors ; ibid. fol. 1456/1816. In the 

 following year Thurstan acquired lands 

 in Bolton formerly belonging to Mabel 

 daughter of Adam de Sharpies ; ibid. fol. 

 149/185 ; also from Maud widow of 

 Adam son of Adam de Sharpies, a half- 

 burgage in Bolton; ibid. fol. 1576/1936. 

 This half-burgage was in 1350 confirmed 

 to Thurstan by Richard son of Adam and 

 Maud de Sharpies; ibid. fol. 152/188. 



