A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



reported to the Government in 1717 that Lord 

 Molyneux had given the place to the English 

 Benedictines both as a mission station and an en- 

 dowment. 9 If the report was true proof was 

 wanting, and the manor was retained by the family 

 until the sale in 1729. It was purchased by Sir 

 Henry Hoghton in 1731, and from a later Sir Henry 

 in 1785 by William Shawe of Preston. 11 From him 

 it descended to Thomas Rigby Knowles, who died 

 in 1901, leaving an infant son. The estate is in 

 the hands of trustees. No courts have been held for 

 many years. The hall was parted from the manor, 

 and in 1731 sold to Thomas Astley of Preston, a 

 chief rent of 3*. 8</. being then payable to t^e 



Forester of Myerscough. 1 * It was about 1760 pur- 

 chased by the above-named William Shawe. 



Lists of the free tenants in the I3th and 1 4th 

 centuries have been preserved 13 ; their holdings were 

 no doubt the basis of the freehold estates of later 

 times, but no detailed account of them can be given. 

 Some of the families took the surname of Fishwick, 14 

 and other owners can be traced by the inquisitions 

 and other records. 14 



The principal resident family was that of Eyves. 

 Robert del Eves of Fishwick in 1394 leased to Sir 

 Richard Hoghton his ' manor ' of Fishwick, from 

 which there were due rents of 6 $s. \d. to Dacre 

 and iu. to Langton. 16 In 1617 the hall was leased 



deposed before the Commissioners of For- 

 feited Estates in 1718'; ]. Gillow in 

 Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiii, 159. 



Lanes, and CAes. Rec. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 173-4. The hall 

 was called Physick Hall. There is an 

 allusion to the estate in a letter from 

 Richard Hitchmough ; Payne, Engl. Cath. 

 Rec. 124. 



10 Under the Private Act 2 Geo. II, 

 cap. 9. 



11 Abstract of W. Shawe's title in the 

 possession of the Knowles Trustees. 

 The appointment of a gamekeeper by Sir 

 Henry Hoghton as lord of the manor in 

 1734 was printed in the Preston Guardian, 

 24 Apr. 1875. 



For a pedigree showing the Shawe 

 descent see Fishwick's Preston, 343. 



13 Piccope MSS. (Chet. Lib.), iii, 242. 

 For an account of die Astleys see Fish- 

 wick, op. cit. 308. 



13 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 1789, 

 dated 124751, and showing the aliena- 

 tions made, the rents due and the por- 

 tions of a knight's fee for which service 

 was to be rendered. The land amounted 

 to I oxgang and 5 8 acres and the rents to 

 151. zd., as follows : 



Roger the Clerk of Fishwick, i oxgang 

 of land and 3 acres, paying 6s. 8J., and 

 being ordered to render the service due for 

 the twentieth part of a fee. 



Baldwin de Preston, the moiety of mill 

 and 20 acres of land and wood, 35. zd. 

 and one-fortieth. 



John son of John, 6 acres, 2s. and one- 

 fiftieth. 



Heirs of Roger del Ridding, 22 acres, 

 is. 6d. and one-fiftieth. 



William Watchet, 4 acres ; 6d. 



William son of Richard, 3 acres ; q.d. 



Benedict Gernet gave an assart to 

 Robert his clerk, son of Ralph de Preston, 

 a rent of 6d. being payable ; Kuerden 

 MSS. ii, fol. 227*. 



The above-named Baldwin de Preston 

 died in 1251 holding in Fishwick an 

 assart, called Dustescahe, of 18 acres each 

 worth 4-d. a year, also the moiety of a mill 

 worth 31.5 he rendered 31. zd. to the 

 king. His heir was his son Henry, aged 

 seventeen ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 

 183, 192. 



The tenancies of 1346 (corrected by 



the sheriff's compotus of 1348) were : 



Messuage Acres Rent 



s. d. 



Alan del Moor . . . i 22 70 

 William de Fishwick . i 6 08 

 Adam son of Simon . i 6 20 

 Geoffrey de Hackinsall J 4^ 07^ 

 Beatrice del Ridding . 4 \ 07^ 

 Thomas del Ridding .1 9 13 

 Adam de Bury ... 4 09 

 Lawrence Travers . . 14 25 



The summary in the record states that 

 'they hold 70 acres by being Serjeants of the 

 forests of Lonsdale, Amounderness and 

 [West] Derbyshire, rendering 1 5.5. q.d. and 

 relief ; Survey of 1346 (Chet. Soc.), 

 48. 



Comparing the lists it seems that Alan 

 del Moor represents Roger the Clerk and 

 William son of Richard; William de Fish- 

 wick, William Watchet (2 acres and zd. 

 rent being added) ; Adam son of Simon, 

 John son of John ; Adam de Bury and 

 Lawrence Travers, Baldwin de Preston ; 

 and the other three the heirs of Roger del 

 Ridding. 



In 1326 Adam de Bury granted mes- 

 suages, &c., in Preston, Fishwick and 

 Ashton to Peter de Risley and Maud his 

 wife, with remainders to Maud's sisters 

 and to Richard the brother of Adam ; 

 Final Cone, ii, 63. William de Beconsaw 

 in 1372 purchased a messuage and land 

 in Preston and Fishwick from Robert son 

 of Robert son of Richard de Bury ; ibid, 

 ii, 184. 



Christiana del Ridding gave land in the 

 Ridding to her son Adam ; Kuerden MSS. 

 ii, fol. zz6b. In the time of Richard II 

 and Henry IV these lands were sold to 

 the Waltons of Preston ; ibid. From one 

 of the deeds it appears that Ridding Field 

 was near Fishwick Brook. 



14 A charter of 1279 shows that Adam 

 Woderowe and his wife Amabel (daughter 

 of Roger de Fishwick) pledged land in 

 Fishwick field in return for 151. lent 

 them in their need by Roger son of Roger 

 son of Alan de Fishwick ; Add. MS. 

 32106, no. 398. Alexander Woderowe 

 of Preston gave land of his mother's 

 in Fishwick to Adam Lussell, clerk ; 

 Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 227^. 



Simon de Fishwick was in 1284 non- 

 suited in a claim against Benedict Gernet 

 concerning land in Fishwick ; Assize R. 

 1268, m. 12 d. Adam son of Simon de 

 Fishwick in 1314-15 gave lands in Fish- 

 wick and Brockholes to his son Simon, 

 who had married Maud daughter of 

 Thomas son of David de Kirkham ; 

 Towneley MS. DD, no. 714. The same 

 Adam in 131112 gave land in Westfield, 

 next the demesne, to Robert son of Auger; 

 Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. zz6b. In 1319-20 

 Adam son of Robert son of Auger de 

 Fishwick gave land in the Westfield, lying 

 between lands of the lord of Fishwick, to 

 Richard son of Dobin and Cecily his wife ; 

 ibid. fol. zzjb. This land seems after- 

 wards (c. 1400) to have been the property 

 of John Lussell of Preston ; ibid. 



By a charter dated ' 5 Edw.' Roger 

 son of Roger son of John de Fishwick 

 granted a messuage and land in the vill of 

 Fishwick to Richard son of Roger de 

 Fishwick ; Add. MS. 32106, no. 95 (fol. 



116 



257). William son of Richard de Fish- 

 wick was a witness. 



Maud widow of Roger son of Roger 

 son of John de Fishwick in 1312-13 gave 

 Richard son of Roger de Fishwick all the 

 land she held in dower ; Kuerden, loc. 

 cit. Roger son of John de Fishwick was 

 a witness. 



An Adam Fishwick was tenant of the 

 hall about 1550. After his death a claim 

 to it was put forward (1565) by Gregory 

 Fishwick, the holders being another Adam 

 Fishwick and Thurstan Southworth. The 

 depositions are printed by Fishwick, op. 

 cit. 299-306. Robert Fishwick claimed 

 land in 1551 ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), 

 ii, 112. 



15 Settlements of land in Fishwick were 

 made by Thomas Nixon and Joan his 

 wife in 1406 and 1410 ; the remainder 

 was to Sir James Harrington (apparently 

 the owner), who granted turbary on 

 Balderston Moss during the nonage of the 

 heir of William Balderston ; Add. MS. 

 32106, no. 967, 91 (fol. 256). Thomas 

 Nixon made a further purchase in 1416 ; 

 Final Cone, iii, 73. 



A later Sir James Harrington died in 

 1497 holding lands in Fishwick by ser- 

 vices unknown ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. iii, no. 40. They passed (by pur- 

 chase or inheritance) to his son-in-law Sir 

 Thomas Ashton of Ashton-under-Lyne, 

 who died in 1514 ; ibid, iv, no. 80. His 

 heir, Thomas Hoghton, held them in 

 1580 by services unknown, but in 1630 

 the lands in Fishwick were considered an 

 appurtenance of the manor of Lea ; ibid. 

 xiv, no. 26 ; xxvii, no. 13. 



Sir Richard Hoghton was concerned in 

 a plea regarding a messuage, &c., in Fish- 

 wick in 1 544 ; Ducatus Lane, ii, 77. He 

 complained that Robert Ainsworth and 

 others had broken his close ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Writs Proton. 36 Hen. VIII. 



William Walton of Preston died in 

 1559 holding 6 acres in Fishwick of Sir 

 Richard Molyneux in socage, by fealty 

 and suit of court ; ibid, xi, no. 27. 

 Richard Walton in 1569 held 1 6 acres of 

 the queen ; ibid, xiii, no. 26. In later 

 inquisitions the tenure is not stated. 



John Singleton in 1530 held lands in 

 Fishwick of the heir of Lord Dacre ; 

 ibid, vi, no. 32. A like statement is 

 made in other inquisitions of the 

 family. 



Thomas Clayton in 1591 held land of 

 Sir Richard Molyneux ; ibid, xv, no. 3. 



The tenure of Richard Walmsley's 

 lands here in 1609 was unknown ; Lanes. 

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

 149. 



16 Add. MS. 32106, no. 90 (fol. 255). 

 Eyves perhaps Ees was a place in the 

 township ; Ducatus Lane, i, 238. 



