A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Of Henry practically nothing is known. 12 He 

 was ancestor of three successive Williams, the first 

 of whom 13 in 1318 obtained a charter of free 

 warren in his manors of Clifton and Westby. 14 

 He died in I323. 15 His grandson, another Sir 

 William, 16 showed himself a lawless and violent man 

 in a dispute in 1337 with the Abbot of Vale Royal. 

 On arbitration he was ordered to acknowledge his 

 guilt and ask for pardon, submitting himself to the 

 abbot's will, to pay 20 marks and compensate for loss. 

 Those who had assisted him were to bring a large 

 candle, which was to be carried round the church of 



Kirkham on Palm Sunday and offered to St. Michael. 17 

 He appears in another light in 1349, obtaining from 

 the Archbishop of York licence for his oratories at 

 Clifton, Westby and Lund. 18 



Sir William was about 1370 succeeded by his son 

 Sir Robert, 18 who died in 1401 holding the manors 

 of Clifton, Salwick and Moorhouses, also the manor 

 of Westby and various lands of the king in socage by 

 the service of 40^. yearly. The heir was his nephew 

 Thomas son of Sir Nicholas de Clifton, then twelve 

 years of age. 20 The manors descended regularly to 

 Cuthbert Clifton, 21 who died 14 August 1512, leaving 



60 marks of silver to Robert de Hampton 

 and Margery his wife for a release of her 

 dower of one-third of the manors of 

 Clifton, Westby and Plumpton, with 

 which Richard de Clifton (formerly her 

 husband) had dowered her at the church 

 door when he married her, with the 

 assent and good-will of William his 

 father ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 130. It appears that Margery 

 was daughter and co-heir of Sir William 

 de Samlesbury. Before 1278 she had 

 married a third husband, Richard Deuias ; 

 Assize R. 1277, m< 3 2 *- 



18 In 1282 Henry de Clifton and 

 Margery his wife released their right to a 

 moiety of the manor of Thurnham ; 

 Final Cone, i, 158. Margery widow of 

 Henry de Clifton was in 1289 the wife 

 of Robert de Holland, and was claiming 

 dower in a messuage and 4 oxgangs of 

 land in Plumpton against Thomas de 

 Clifton; De Banco R. 80, m. 125 d. 

 Thomas was living ten years later ; ibid. 

 138, m. 99. 



u William son of Henry de Clifton 

 in 1298 allowed turbary in Salwick or 

 Moorhouses to William son of Henry 

 de Lea, jusi as his ancestors had enjoyed 

 it ; Dods. MSS. Ixx, fol. 160. In the 

 following year he (as Sir William) approved 

 30 acres in Clifton Marsh with the leave 

 of William de Lea ; ibid. 



William de Clifton was defendant in a 

 claim put forward by Edmund Earl of 

 Lancaster in 1291 ; Assize R. 1294, 

 m. 1 1 d. He proved his right ; Plac. de 

 Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 380. In 1297 

 he rendered the old 401. thegnage rent ; 

 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 289. In 1306 

 he andj Aline his wife, through Eustace 

 de Cottesbach, made a settlement of the 

 manors of Clifton and Westby, the re- 

 mainders being in succession to William, 

 Thomais and Henry, sons of William de 

 Clifton : Final Cone, i, 207. 



William son of William de Clifton 

 established his right to the manor of 

 Salwick in 1313 14 against William de 

 Clifton and Aline his wife ; Assize R. 

 424, m. ft. Sir William de Clifton occurs 

 in a bonldin 1317-18 ; Kuerden MSS. iv, 



CM. 



14 Chart. R. n Edw. II, m. 5, no. 18. 



15 His two manors, Clifton and Westby, 

 were held of the king in socage by suit 

 at the ce unty from six weeks to six weeks 

 and at the wapentake from three weeks 

 to three/ weeks, and by the rent of 401. 

 The cap *\il messuage of Clifton was worth 

 2*.; 4 ' gangs were in demesne, each 

 oxgang retaining 18 acres of arable land, 

 worth iAr.an acre ; also 8 acres of meadow, 

 each worth is. 6d. ; a fishery in the 

 Ribble worth 6s. %d. a year, a water-mill 

 131. 4</.j a horse-mill the same, and a 

 windmill z6s. 8</. Tenants at will held 

 12 oxgangs, valued as above, 24 acres of 

 meadow/ and twelve cottages. In a 



hamlet called the Moor were eight cot- 

 tages and 80 acres of arable land, worth 

 441. in all, and in another hamlet called 

 the Scales were six cottages and 60 acres 

 of arable land, worth in all 331. His 

 heir was his son William, aged twenty- 

 eight ; Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. II, no. 32. 



William de Clifton in 1324 held the 

 manors of Clifton, Westby and Barton 

 by the ancient tenure of 40*., &c. ; Dods. 

 MSS. cxxxi, fol. 39^. 



16 In 1 346 Isabel widow of William 

 de Clifton had a dispute with William 

 son of William as to dower. The fine of 

 1306 was referred to. William and Alice 

 (Aline) were dead ; also William the son 

 therein named, whose widow had entered 

 into four messuages, 4 oxgangs of land, 

 &c., parcel of the manor of Westby, 

 contrary to the fine, as was alleged by 

 the third William. Isabel alleged that 

 William the grandfather (son of Henry) 

 had given two-thirds of them to John de 

 Venables, with the reversion of the other 

 third (held by Katherine de Singleton as 

 dower), and they had been then given to 

 her on her marriage with William (the 

 father of defendant). An allegation that 

 the senior William was of unsound mind 

 at the time was rejected by the jury ; De 

 Banco R. 348, m. 73 ; 350, m. 122. 

 Katherine de Singleton was probably the 

 second wife of the first William. 



17 Fishwick, Kirkham (Chet. Soc.), 

 34-5, quoting Harl. MS. 2064, fol. 14^. 

 Sir William wished to purchase the tithes 

 of Clifton and Westby for 20 marks, 

 which the abbot refused. He drove away 

 the tithe collectors, and the abbot's tithes 

 were left in the fields to waste ; he even 

 entered the church and assailed the priests 

 and clerks, and in contempt of the 

 rectorial rights had had his child baptized 

 elsewhere than in the parish church. 

 Further, with the approval of a number 

 of associates, he had had the abbot's 

 clerk beaten in the Preston streets. 



William de Clifton appears in 1346 

 as holding two plough-lands in Westby, 

 two in Fieldplumpton (Great and Little), 

 three in Salwick and Clifton and two in 

 Barton, in socage, paying 401. yearly at 

 the four terms, giving relief at death, and 

 doing suit to the county and wapentake 5 

 Survey of 1 346 (Chet. Soc.), 46. 



In 1348 Sir William complained that 

 Edmund de Dacre had entered his free 

 warren at Clifton and hunted therein 

 without his licence, carrying off game ; 

 De Banco R. 355, m. 19. Sir William 

 and Margaret his wife were in 1359 

 engaged in suits with Adam de Hoghton ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 7, m. 7. 



18 Note by Canon Raines citing Epi. 

 Reg. Zouche. 



19 In 1375 Robert de Clifton made a 

 feoffment of his manors of Clifton and 

 Salwick, receiving them back the next 

 year ; Close, 49 Edw. Ill, m. 46 ; 50 



l62 



Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 3. In 1385 Sir Robert 

 was alleged to have carried off wreck of 

 the sea at Freckleton ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Chet. Soc.), i, 22. 



In the following year he went to Ireland 

 on the king's service ; Cal. Pat. 1385-9, 

 p. 214. 



In 1390 he made acknowledgement of 

 a debt before William de Walton, then 

 mayor of Preston ; Pal. of Lane. Chan. 

 Misc. 1/9, m. 134. 



20 Towneley MS. DD, no. 1453. 



The date of the inquest is given as 1 8 

 Mar. i Hen. IV ; it should probably be 



2 Hen. IV, as Thursday in the first 

 (? second) week of Lent could not be 



3 Mar. the day of death in 1400. 



Sir Nicholas de Clifton was made keeper 

 of Bolsover Castle in 1396 ; Cal. Pat. 

 1391-6, p. 662. 



The pedigree given in the inquisitions 

 of 1512 and 1514 (hereafter cited) is as 

 follows : William de Clifton -s. Sir 

 William -s. Nicholas -s. Robert -s. 

 Thomas -s. Richard -s. James -s. Robert 

 -s. Cuthbert (who died in 1512). The 

 Robert son of Nicholas appears to be an 

 error, but there is no independent proof 

 of several of the steps. 



Richard Clifton and John Clifton, each 

 described as ' esquire,' were in 1445 

 accused by Henry Fleetwood of waylaying 

 him with intent to kill him at Kirkham ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 8, m. 2. Richard 

 obtained licence for his oratories at Clifton 

 and Westby in 1444 ; Raines MSS. (Chet. 

 Lib.), xxii, 373. He was in possession 

 in 1445-6, holding Westby, Fieldplump- 

 ton, Salwick and Clifton by the ancient 

 service ; the relief was 405. ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Knights' Fees bdle. 2, no. 20. He 

 seems to have been succeeded by his 

 son James between 1479 and 1482 ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 118. 

 The writ of diem cl. extr. after the death 

 of James Clifton was issued 20 Feb. 

 1495-6 ; Towneley MS. CC (Chet. Lib.), 

 no. 639. For James's possessions see 

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

 and Ches.), i, 29. 



81 In 1498-9 Alice widow of James 

 Clifton in conjunction with Cuthbert, 

 next of kin and heir of James, granted to 

 Henry Clifton son of James a moss called 

 Westgrims in Clifton for his life ; Kuerden 

 MSS. iv, C 21. Cuthbert Clifton in 1504 

 gave land in Whittingham (purchased by 

 his grandfather James) in exchange for a 

 burgage in Kirkham ; Towneley MS. 

 DD, no. 1884. Alice, the widow 

 named, was one of the daughters of 

 Robert Lawrence of Scotforth ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Plea R. 163, m. 20. 



A rental of the estates compiled in 

 1509 has been preserved by Towneley 

 (OO). It gives the names of the tenants 

 and the various rents due from each ; thus 

 Thomas Ryley in Clifton paid 191. icW., 

 two days' 'shearing' or ^d., two days' 



