A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The Knolls of Wolfhouse appear to have been a 

 branch of those of Thornley, and in the inquisition 

 of 1628 respecting the estate the manor of Chipping 

 and the capital messuage called < Wolf house in Shire- 

 burne,' with various other messuages, water-mill and 

 lands in Chipping, were stated to be held of the lord 

 of Thornley by the service of a greyhound, a ' coter,' 

 and 3/. rent. 15 One Adam son of Richard de Knoll 

 had half an oxgang of land in Chipping in 1280, 

 when it was claimed by Ralph de Catterall, 16 and 

 the surname appears frequently. 17 Wolfhouse de- 



scended to John Knoll, 18 whose daughter Isabel 

 married Roger Shireburne, a younger son of Robert 

 Shireburne of Stonyhurst ; and in 1493 the estate 

 seems to have been secured by Roger. 19 Roger 

 Shireburne, who built the Wolfhouse chapel in 

 Chipping Church, 20 died in 1543, his son and heir 

 Robert being then fifty-three years old. 21 The family 

 remained Roman Catholics at the Reformation, 22 and 

 during the Civil War the estate was sequestered by 

 the Parliament. 23 Wolfhouse descended to Alexander 

 Shireburne, who in 1678 mortgaged or sold it to 



others ; and in 1649 Elizabeth Walmesley, 

 widow, held a court baron ; T. C. Smith, 

 Chipping, 24, 23. 



16 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxv, 

 no. 51, after the death of Robert Shire- 

 burne, gent. 



16 De Banco R. 32, m. 24 ; 36, m. 71. 

 By an inquiry in 1274 it was found that 

 one Roger Haslinghead, hanged for felony, 

 had held of Adam de Knoll a messuage 

 and half an oxgang of land in Chipping, 

 which had been in the king's hands for a 

 year and a day ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, 

 i, 241. Seisin was accordingly restored 

 to Adam ; Cat. Close, 1272-9, p. 90. 



Adam son of Richard de Knoll held a 

 tenement in 1292 which was unsuccess- 

 fully claimed by Bernard de Hacking ; 

 Assize R. 408, m. 42. Adam seems to 

 have been living in 1305 ; Assize R. 419, 

 m. 4 ; 420, m. 8. Alice widow of Adam 

 de Knoll claimed dower in a messuage, 

 &c., against Master Richard de Hoghton 

 and Agnes de Scophamin 1308 ; while in 

 1312 Richard son of Adam de Knoll 

 claimed land against Alice widow of 

 Adam ; De Banco R. 173, m. 185 ; 195, 

 m. 219 d. 



It is said that Robert son of Richard de 

 Chipping made a grant of land to Richard 

 son of Lewis de Knoll, to whom Roger de 

 Whitaker made another gift ; also that 

 Henry de Thelwall gave land near the 

 Kirk brigg to Richard de Knoll ; T. C. 

 Smith, Chipping, 7, 8 (quoting the Derby 

 MSS.). 



17 John de Knoll, Richard le Surreys 

 and others were in 1292 stated to have 

 thrown down a dyke to the injury of the 

 free tenement of William de Whitting- 

 ham, clerk ; Assize R. 408, m. 61 d. 

 John de Knoll, Adam his brother and 

 Richard son of John were in 1308-9 

 among the defendants to a claim for a 

 messuage, &c., made by John son of 

 Thomas son of Christiana de Chipping, in 

 virtue of a grant from his father, who was 

 still living ; Assize R. 423, m. I. This 

 John appears to be the ancestor of the 

 Knolls of Thornley, according to the 

 pedigree in Smith, Chipping, 33. 



John son of Richard de Pleasington 

 appeared in 1355 by his custodee against 

 Richard son of Richard de Knoll, Ellis de 

 Whitlydale, and John son of Richard de 

 Knoll, who held a tenement in Chipping 

 claimed by him ; Duchy of Lane. Assize 

 R. 4, m. 6 d. It was alleged that Robert 

 de Pleasington, grandfather of plaintiff, 

 had given the tenement to his son Richard 

 in the time of Edward II ; for the de- 

 fence it was stated that part had belonged 

 to Alice wife of Robert and grandmother 

 of plaintiff, and that she had given them 

 to Richard son of Adam de Knoll and to 

 the said Richard son of Richard ; ibid. 

 5, m. 27. A grant by Robert de 

 Pleasington to Richard son of Adam de 

 Knoll in 1313 is in P.R.O. ; Anct. D. 

 A 7462. Richard de Knoll of Helme- 



field was plaintiff in 1357; Duchy of 

 Lane. Assize R. 6, m. i. 



18 The above-named Richard son of 

 Adam de Knoll or Knolls (Knowles) had 

 by his wife Cecily sons named Thomas 

 and Richard. From a pleading of 1329 

 it appears that one Richard son of 

 Christiana (perhaps the Christiana de 

 Chipping of the note preceding) granted 

 a messuage and land to Roger de Wed- 

 acre, free for ten years, but subject to a 

 rent afterwards. As Roger refused to 

 pay this rent, the property was demised to 

 Richard de Knoll and his sons, where- 

 upon Roger claimed ; Assize R. 427, 

 m. i. 



From a confused statement drawn up 

 about 1550 (Add. MS. 32106, no. 1086) 

 it appears that Richard de Knolls, son of 

 William (sic) and father of Lawrence, 

 gave Lawrence a moiety of his lordship 

 of the town of Chipping in 1329, the 

 other moiety descending to Lawrence at 

 Richard's death in or before 1 348. In 

 the same year John de Knolls, also son of 

 Richard, made a feoffment of his lands, 

 water-mill, &c., and Emma his widow in 

 1373, holding in dower, also granted 

 to feoffees, who afterwards gave to Roger 

 de Knolls. A release was made to 

 Lawrence Knolls in 1446-7. 'John 

 Knowles was the son of Christopher 

 Knowles and father of Isabel Knowles ; 

 which Isabel married Roger Shireburne, 

 and they had issue Robert Shireburne, 

 which Robert had issue Roger, now 

 defendant.' 



Lawrence son of Richard de Knoll 

 appears in 1344-7 ; Assize R. 1435, m. 9, 

 15, 37. Lawrence in 1348 proved his 

 right to a messuage, <fcc., in Chipping held 

 by Ralph de Knoll and by Thomas son of 

 John de Knoll and Richard and John sons 

 of Thomas ; Assize R. 1444, m. 8. 



One Adam de Knoll was in 1360 

 charged with an assault on Thomas son 

 of Roger de Knoll at Thornley ; Assize 

 R. 451, m. 21. 



A John son of Richard de Knoll ap- 

 pears to have forfeited his lands for felony, 

 as they remained in the king's hands from 

 1382 to 1409 (Lanes. Inq. p.m. Chet. 

 Soc. i, 72) ; but Thomas son of Roger 

 de Knoll alleged that he had purchased 

 some or all of the lands in Chippingdale 

 after the king's pardon had been obtained ; 

 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 3555 xl, 

 525. 



From inquiry made in 1425 it appears 

 that certain lands of Thomas son of 

 Roger son of Lawrence de Knoll had 

 been given to his wife Katherine, who 

 afterwards married Geoffrey de Warburton 

 of Newcroft in Flixton, the reversion 

 being to Lawrence son of Thomas ; Lanes. 

 Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 9-11 ; i, 73. 



Richard and Edmund sons of Lawrence 

 Knoll are mentioned in 1448 ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Plea R. n, m. 31. Margaret 

 widow of Richard Knoll claimed dower 



28 



in 1473 > P a l- f Lane. Writs Proton. 

 13 Edw. IV. 



19 Final Cone, iii, 143. 



20 T. C. Smith, Chipping, 73 (from 

 Derby MSS.). 



al Ibid. 227, from the Inq. p.m. among 

 the Derby MSS. His estate included 

 closes called the Knott, Whitacre and 

 Birchenlee. The mill and lands in Chip- 

 ping were held of the Earl of Derby (as 

 of his manor of Thornley) in socaje. 

 Roger the son and heir of Robert seems 

 to have been married as early as 1523 to 

 Margaret daughter of John Bradley. 



Sir Richard Shireburne of Stonyhurst 

 and Roger Shireburne of ' Millhouse ' in 

 1554 agreed that the latter should not 

 alienate his estate, and that in default of 

 male issue by Grace, then Roger's wife, it 

 should go successively to Hugh and 

 Henry, Roger's brothers ; Add. MS. 

 32106, no. 1085. In 1569 there appears 

 to have been an exchange of lands, &c., 

 in Chipping between Roger Shireburne 

 and Thomas Hoghton ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 31, m. 171, 184. 



From the pedigree printed in Dugdale's 

 Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 265, it appears that 

 the succession was as follows : Roger 

 -s. Robert -s. Roger -s. Robert. The 

 last-named died in 1627 holding the 

 ' manor ' as stated in the text, and leaving 

 as heir his brother Henry, aged twenty- 

 two ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxv, no. 

 51. An agreement between Henry and 

 Isabel, Robert's widow, was made about 

 the same time ; Add. MS. 32106, no. 

 1095. From the same pedigree it appears 

 that another brother John succeeded and 

 sold Wolfhouse to his uncle, John Shire- 

 burne, who had a son Robert and grand- 

 son Edward, who seems to have died 

 young. 



From a fine of 1638, however, it seems 

 that the younger John Shireburne trans- 

 ferred his manor of Chipping, with water- 

 mill, dovecote, various messuages and 

 lands, to Richard. Shireburne of Stony- 

 hurst, perhaps as trustee ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 133, no. 27. 



Robert Shireburne (father of Edward) 

 was succeeded by his brother Alexander, 

 the vendor. Various details of the 

 descent will be found in Smith, op. cit. 

 and Sherborn, Fam. of She r born, 59-66. 



For the Shireburnes of Knott, a branch 

 of the Wolfhouse family, see ibid. 114-16. 



22 In 1607 the two-thirds part of Roger 

 Shireburne's estate sequestered for recu- 

 sancy was granted out by the Crown ; Pat. 

 5 Jas. I, pt. i. 



28 In the composition papers it is stated 

 that the above-named Isabel widow of 

 Robert afterwards married Thomas Helme 

 of Goosnargh, and that Robert's lands 

 were sold to a William Parker. Parker's 

 estate was sequestered for ' delinquency,' 

 and the widow was allowed the ,15 a 

 year she claimed in 1651 ; Cal, Com. for 

 Comp. iv, 2782. 



