BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



the last stone facing the front being carved with the 

 sacred monogram : 



ANNO DOMI 1591 ELIS REGI ROB ART ALSTVN 2$ 

 REG NO ANNI ETATIS NOSTRE RIC ALSTVN 1VNIOR 5 



A CREACIONE MVNDI 5553 A CONQVES 

 TO ANGLIE 524 DEVM TIME REGEM HONOR 



Over the door on the return of the west wing 

 facing east is a stone inscribed 



RESPICE FIN EM ET NVNQV 

 AM PECCABIS PROXIMVM AMA 



and to the left of this over a small built-up 

 window another stone with the name of ' Richarde 

 Alstun 53.' On the main south front are other 

 inscribed stones, one with the sacred monogram 

 between two crosses, another with the fragment 

 RIC AVLSTV, and a third ALSTVN HATH INHERITED 



HERE IB 1 8 YER. 



In the bedroom in the east wing an inscribed 

 stone reads : 



DEVM TIME 



REGEM HONOR 



PROXIMVM AMA 



HOC FAC ET VIVE 



IN ETERNVM 



and a stone in the dairy has * Fear God and love the 

 right.' 



The west wall retains its old rough stone walling 

 unrestored and has a small square built-up window 

 with the sacred monogram between two crosses on the 

 head. Another window has also some ornament in 



CHIPPING 



the head, and the chimney, which is a good one of 

 two shafts, has two gargoyles in the angles. 



Richard Alston of Chipping died in 1607 holding 

 a messuage and lands there of the king in socage. 

 Richard his son and heir was forty years of age. 43 



HELME, now Elmridge, gave a surname to a family 

 which spread into neighbouring townships. 44 William 

 Helme died in 1597 holding a messuage, &c., of 

 Richard Hoghton by a rent of \d. and leaving a 

 son Richard, aged twenty-two. 45 Richard died in 

 1638 holding of Lord Strange; his son and heir 

 William was thirty years of age. 46 Leonard Helme 

 died in 1601, but the tenure of his Chipping 

 property is not recorded. 47 Another William Helme 

 died in 1612, leaving a son James, thirty-nine years 

 old ; he also held of Richard Hoghton as of his 

 manor of Chipping. 48 James died in 1622, leaving 

 a son William, aged twenty in 1633, by which time 

 Lord Strange had succeeded Hoghton. 49 



CORE was divided. At one time it seems to 

 have been held by an illegitimate branch of the 

 Knolls. 50 In later times the most important family 

 was that of Parkinson. 51 From them sprang Richard 

 Parkinson, Canon of Manchester and Principal of 

 St. Bees College, who was born at Woodgates in 



I797- 52 



One of the most notable estates, on account of the 

 tenure, was that of the Leylands of Morleys in 

 Astley, 53 who held ' of the heirs of William son of 

 William son of Maurice ' by a rent of i Sd'. 533 



The following were freeholders in 1600 : Richard 

 Austen (Alston), Richard Bolton, Henry Mawdesley 

 and Thomas Thornley. 54 The Subsidy Rolls afford 

 further information ; thus in 1524 Roger Shireburne 



48 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), i, 108-9. 



Captain Robert Alston, apparently a 

 Parliamentarian, occurs in 1650; Royalist 

 Camp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 ii, 264. 



' The Alstons remained owners until 

 1702, when it passed to the Eccles family; 

 in 1819 Richard Eccles of Wigan sold it 

 to Thomas Cardwell, whose descendants 

 now (1893) possess it'; T. C. Smith, 

 Chipping, 234, where many particulars as 

 to the Alston family are given. 



44 Ralph de Helme occurs in 1332; 

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

 Ches.), 80. 



Lawrence de Helme and Isabel his wife 

 in 1377 obtained from William del Wood 

 and Margery his wife a messuage and lands 

 in Chipping ; Final Cone, iii, 2. 



A settlement of two messuages, cottages, 

 land and wood in Chipping and Helme 

 was made in 1553 ; the remainders were 

 to Joan then wife of William Lorimer and 

 then after her death to Lawrence Helme 

 and his issue by Joan then his wife ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 36. 



For a dispute between Alice Helme, 

 widow (and others), and Thomas Helrne 

 see Ducatus Lane, ii, 227. 



45 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 150. 



With regard to the rent of $.d. it may 

 be noted that one Geoffrey de Whitting- 

 ham in 1297 held a plat of the waste in 

 Chippingdale for which he received that 

 sum ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 283. 



44 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, no. 76. 



47 Ibid, xviii, no. 20. 



48 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), i, 213. 

 He had other lands in Thornley, Wheatley 

 and Lea. 



49 Towneley MS. C 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), 

 507. 



50 John Mauldeson of ' Coure,' a minor, 

 in 1358 claimed a messuage and land 

 against Richard and Adam, sons of Thomas 

 de Knoll, as being son and heir of John 

 son of Richard de Knoll. It was alleged 

 that his father (John son of Richard) was 

 born before espousals ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 6, m. i. 



In 1360 John son of Maud de Coure 

 had livery of a messuage and lands seised 

 into the duke's hands by reason of the 

 felony of John (son of Richard) de Knoll ; 

 Dtp. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 347. 



Richard Cover alias Coer, yeoman, is 

 named in 1448 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 1 1, 

 m. 42. sl T. C. Smith, Chipping, 247. 



A dispute as to lands in Chipping be- 

 tween Whitaker and Parkinson is referred 

 to in Lanes, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 246. 



In 1653 Ralph and Richard Parkinson 

 of Chipping petitioned to compound for 

 land sequestered by the Parliament for 

 the delinquency of their eldest brother 

 Thomas Parkinson of Infield in Claughton; 

 Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 3106. 



52 See the account of Manchester Church 

 and the 1880 edition of his Old Church 

 Clock. He died in 1858. 



53 An estate in Chipping, Thornley, 

 &c., was given to feoffees by William 

 Leyland and Anne his wife in 1 509 ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 1 1, m. 249, 248. 

 Part of the estate was held for life by 

 Eleanor Holland, widow, and part by 

 Robert Thimelby and Margery his wife. 



Sir William Leyland died in 1 547, but 

 the tenure of his Chipping lands is not 

 recorded ; in the case of Thomas Leyland, 



31 



his son, it is given as in the text and like- 

 wise after the death of Edward Tyldesley ; 

 Duchy of Lane. 7nq. p.m. xi, no. 20 ; 

 xiv, no. 10. In 1621, however, the tenure 

 was described as of Sir Richard Hoghton 

 as of his manor of Chipping in socage ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), ii, 269. In 

 1606-7 a g ran t of lands in Chipping, 

 Wheatley and Thornley was made to 

 Edward Tyldesley of Astley ; Pat. 4 

 Jas. I, pt. xxx. 



It should be added that according to an 

 old pedigree (Harl. MS. 1408, fol. 159) 

 William Leyland married Anne daughter 

 and heir of Alan Singleton, who was the 

 descendant of the heiress of Adam de 

 Bury, whose estate in the parish is noticed 

 under Thornley. The wardship and mar- 

 riage of Anne daughter and heir of Alan 

 'Singleton were in 1503 granted to James 

 Medcalfe ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 



543- 



5Sa Nothing is known of the origin of the 

 tenure. William son of Maurice occurs 

 in the Pipe Roll of 1 2 1 31 5, when he owed 

 401. out of 60*. due apparently for some 

 encroachment on the forest or other offence 

 against the forest laws ; Farrer, Lanes. 

 Pipe R. 251. He also attested a charter 

 by Roger de Whitacre, who gave lands in 

 Chipping to Reginald ; Dods. MSS. xci, 

 fol. 1 6 1. The bounds in this case are of 

 interest : Along the lache which falls into 

 Summerford as far as the moor and then 

 on the west side to the road to the mill 

 between Chipping and Wheatley, down 

 the road to the Loud, and along this river 

 to Summerford. 



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

 235-6. Some references to the Mawdesley 

 family will be found in Ducatus Lane. 



