A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



occurs as a 

 occurs 



surname. 34 GRE47ES in French Lea 

 I277. 35 The Knights Hospitallers 36 and 

 Cockersand Abbey 37 had land in Lea. Robert son 

 of Robert son of Auger of French Lea gave land 

 there, with his body, to St. Cuthbert of Durham in 

 connexion with Lytham Priory. 38 



One plough-land in 4SHTON was granted by 

 John when Count of Mortain to Arthur de Ashton, 



to be held in free thegnage by the service of IOJ. 

 yearly, and this was confirmed when he became king 

 in II99. 39 It had formed part of the honour of 

 Peverel forfeited about U53- 40 Arthur de Ashton 

 died in 1201, when his son Richard succeeded, 41 but 

 in 1 2 1 2 it was recorded merely that ' the heir of 

 Arthur de Ashton ' held the plough-land by the 

 service named. 42 The inheritance became divided, 43 



Robert son of Geoffrey de Lea in 1 3 34 

 acquired an estate in Great Lea from 

 Richard son of Baldwin ; Final Cone, ii, 

 92. 



34 Adam son of Adam de Sidgreaves 

 gave his son-in-law Gilbert a half- acre on 

 the west side of the out-lane in Sid- 

 greaves, with common of pasture in 

 English Lea ; Add. MS. 32106, no. 45. 

 Robert Spendlow (son of Richard) gave 

 an acre in Sidgreaves to Uctred son of 

 Eda de Sidgreaves at a rent of ^d, sterling ; 

 ibid. no. 401. 



In 1292 Roger son of Roger Spendlow 

 of Sidgreaves was non-suited in a claim 

 for a tenement in the place made against 

 Robert son of Ralph de Sidgreaves and 

 Ellen his wife ; Assize R. 408, m. 76. 



Soon afterwards (1294-5) the last- 

 named Ellen stated that her husband, who 

 had been hanged for felony, had held a 

 messuage and lands in Lea of her patri- 

 mony ; Inq. p.m. 22 Edw. I, no. 86 ; 23 

 Edw. I, no. no. 



85 Margery widow of Alexander son of 

 Warine in 1277 claimed dower against 

 Richard son of John del Greaves in 

 respect of two messuages and 2 oxgangs 

 of land in French Lea ; De Banco R. 21, 

 m. 27 d., 94 d. The hamlet of Greaves 

 was said to be in the vill of French Lea 

 in 1404; Add. MS. 32106, no. 513. 



36 Part or all was in Sidgreaves ; 

 Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 132. Roger son 

 of Levenot of English Lea in making to 

 his son Uctred a grant of the eighth part 

 of an oxgang in English Lea, next to 

 Swingilcar, excepted half an acre given to 

 the Hospitallers ; ibid, iv, L 59. 



John son of Adam de Lea granted to 

 the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem 

 half a 'land ' in Longfield in English Lea 

 and half a land on Old Bruches next Sir 

 John de Lea's land, beginning at the 

 Spitalfield and extending as far as the 

 moor ; Kuerden fol. MS. fol. 234. 



George Atkinson died in 1639 holding 

 a messuage and lands in Lea which had 

 belonged to the Hospitallers. His heir 

 was his sister Anne Hodgson, widow, aged 

 fifty-eight ; Towneley MS. C 8, 1 3 (Chet. 

 Lib.), I. James Harrison died in 1610 

 holding a messuage in English Lea of 

 Richard Shireburne (as of the Hospital of 

 Jerusalem) ; John his son and heir was 

 aged twenty-eight in 1633 ; ibid. 498. 



37 In addition to grants already recited 

 the canons had land in Mill Furlong, 

 with easements of the vill of French Lea, 

 from Richard the Clerk of Lea ; Cocker- 

 tand Chartul. i, 209. 



88 Lytham D. at Durham, 2 a, 2ae, 430 

 Ebor, no. 42-3 ; 4 acres were in Wites- 

 stanes Furlong, &c. 



3 Chart. R. (Rec. Com.), 26. The 

 township is named in 1168-9 as contri- 

 buting to the aid together with Preston ; 

 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 12. Arthur de 

 Ashton gave 20 marks for the confirma- 

 tion of his charter; ibid. 116. Theobald 

 Walter in 12001 appeared against Arthur 

 de Ashton in a plea of half a plough-land 

 and a mill in Ashton ; Corain Rege R. 

 22, in. a. d. 



40 Farrer, op. cit. 5, 36 ; Lanes. Inq. and 

 Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 1 20. 

 It is possible that the second plough-land 

 in Ashton remained in the king's hands 

 after the grant to Arthur de Ashton, and 

 was transferred to the Earl of Ferrers, 

 who is said to have held them in 1216-22; 

 ibid. It was probably divided among the 

 other tenants of Lea and Ashton, and 

 that may account for the increase in the 

 assessment of Lea from one plough-land 

 to two. There was, however, no increase 

 in the rent paid. 



In charters already given Sidgreaves is 

 described as being in English Lea, but in 

 a grant to Cockersand by Richard Spend- 

 low it is said to be in Ashton, the bounds 

 being fully described : From Fulesyke 

 where the Plumpton road crossed it to 

 the boundary to Cottam and Sidgreaves, 

 south to the Savock, &c. ; with appurte- 

 nant easements in Ashton, and the 

 sixteenth part of a fishery in the Ribble ; 

 Cocker sand Chartul. i, 213. 



The vill of Ashton paid lOs. to the 

 Earl of Lancaster in 1297 ; Lanes. Inq. 

 and Extents, i, 289. 



41 Rot. de Oblatis et Fin. (Rec. Com.), 

 115. Richard paid ioo*. as relief ; Farrer, 

 op. cit. 130. 



42 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 50. The 

 'heir' is again unnamed in 1226, when 

 the tenure was called drengage ; ibid. 

 140. The same uncertainty as to the 

 succession is shown in the Pipe Rolls of 

 12056, when the heir of Arthur de 

 Ashton paid los. scutage ; Farrer, op. cit. 

 205. Again in 1210-11, the heir owed 

 iooj. for relief; ibid. 242. 



43 Robert son of Arthur de Ashton 

 gave half an acre in Geoffrey's assart on 

 the east side of the vill of Ashton to the 

 canons of Cockersand ; Chartul. i, 214. 

 The record of the payment of relief cited 

 above (Rot. de Oblatis, 115) states that 

 Richard and William sons of Arthur 

 paid it, but William's name is cancelled. 

 About 1230 Adam son of Waltheof the 

 White of Ashton granted his brother 

 Henry lands in Ashton held of William 

 son of Richard de Ashton, and in Lea 

 held of Sir Henry de Lancaster ; Add. 

 MS. 32106, no. 505. William Breton 

 was then Sheriff of Kent ; Dep. Keeper's 

 Rep. xxxi, App. 297. William and Robert 

 de Ashton were living in 1242 ; Lanes. 

 Inq. and Extents, i, 1 5 1 



The division of the inheritance was 

 probably due to Arthur de Ashton him- 

 self, for he gave his son Robert ' the 

 whole moiety of all his tenement in 

 Ashton with all its appurtenances and 

 with his messuage and garden and the 

 whole moiety of all his demesnes,' the 

 rent being a spur ; Add. MS. 32106, no. 

 381. The seal showed a bird with out- 

 spread wings and had the legend + SIGILL. 

 ARTURI DE ESTUN. To his son Richard 

 he gave all the land on the north side of 

 Savock, from Gamel's bridge to the boun- 

 dary of English Lea, and so round to the 

 road (via) from Plumpton and the street 

 (strata) which came down to the bridge 

 named ; ibid. no. 375. Another charter 



132 



by Arthur to the same Richard was given 

 into the safe keeping of Adam son of Sir 

 William Banastre in 1330; Dods. MSS. 

 Ixx, fol. 1546. 



The descent of the various portions 

 cannot be traced clearly. Adam son of 

 Warine de Lancaster and his wife Alice 

 released to Robert son of Arthur all that 

 Arthur had given his son, except a grant 

 made by Robert to the said Adam ; Add. 

 MS. 32106, no. 378. About the same 

 time Eva de Ashton, widow, released to 

 Robert de Ashton some land ; ibid. no. 

 433. Susan widow of one Robert de 

 Ashton was plaintiff in 1277 ; De Banco 

 R. 21, m. 27 d. 



Mabot, the widowed daughter of Robert 

 de Ashton (then dead), gave her brother 

 Robert all the land in Ashton given in 

 free marriage when she espoused William 

 son of Walter de Penwortham ; Add. 

 MS. 32106, no. 455. A similar grant 

 in 1282 seems to carry the descent a step 

 further ; by it Maud daughter of Robert 

 de Ashton released to her brother William 

 de Ashton a toft and croft formerly be- 

 longing to her uncle Ralph de Ashton ; 

 ibid. no. 511. The same Maud, as 

 widow of Robert de Newton, released to 

 William son of Robert de Ashton all 

 right to land which her father Robert had 

 given on her marriage ; ibid. no. 489. In 

 or about 1298 William son of Robert de 

 Ashton gave to William de Lea, his lord, 

 an acre in Ashton and all his part of the 

 water of the Ribble ; ibid. no. 894. In 

 1301 Henry son of William de Lea gave 

 William son of Robert de Ashton all his 

 lands, &c., in Ashton, reserving homages 

 and services ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 27. 

 Ten years later William son of Robert 

 de Ashton gave Sir Henry de Lea his 

 manor and all his lands in the vill of 

 Ashton; Add. MS. 32106, no. 888. 

 From the names of the attesting wit- 

 nesses this was evidently a grant of special 

 importance. 



Alice daughter of William son of 

 Arthur, a widow, gave to Cockersand 

 Abbey a moiety of her wood in Ashton 

 and the carr of Tulketh ; Dods. MSS. 

 cxlii, fol. 34^. The wardship of the heir 

 of William de Ashton no doubt a later 

 William was in 1291 given by Edmund 

 (Earl of Lancaster) to Thomas le Sureys ; 

 Add. MS. 32106, no. 494. 



Roger de Ashton seems to have in- 

 herited the manor of Ashton, for it 

 descended to Richard son of Roger, who 

 in or about 1298 gave it to Henry son of 

 William de Lea in exchange for land 

 in English Lea and a sum of money. 

 The remainders were to William and 

 Thomas, brothers of Henry ; Add. MS. 

 32106, no. 890. In 1301 the said Henry 

 granted his manor of Ashton to William 

 his father, and William deputed his 

 brother Henry de Lea to receive it 

 accordingly; ibid. no. 897, 587. Another 

 agreement describes the estate transferred 

 by Richard de Ashton to Henry de Lea 

 as two parts and the third of a third part, 

 with the reversion of a third of two parts 

 held in dower by Adam de ' Hoyton ' 



