AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



KIRKHAM 



Kighley in I59I. 53 John Kighley died in 16 1 6 hold- 

 ing it of the king by the fortieth part of a knight's fee 

 and leaving an infant son Hugh as heir. 64 This family, 

 who were Roman Catholics, 85 remained in possession 

 till 1726 ; from Charles Gibson, who then purchased, 

 the estate descended to his great-great-grandson Charles 

 Gibson, who died in l832. S6 The estate was then 

 sold to William Blackledge, who was succeeded by his 

 son John. 



The 4SHES was held by a family bearing the local 

 name, Threlfall, who held lands of the Bartons of 

 barton, who in turn appear to have held this portion 

 of their estate of Ralph Catterall by rendering a pound 

 of cummin yearly. 47 There is little known of the 

 early history of the Threlfalls. 58 Edmund Threlfall 

 of the Ashes died in 1617, leaving a son John, aged 

 twelve.* 9 He was a Roman Catholic, and had suffered 

 the sequestration of two-thirds of his estate for re- 

 ligion. 60 The son John died young, 61 and it was 

 another son, Cuthbert Threlfall, whose estate at the 

 Ashes was sequestered for ' delinquency ' under the 

 Commonwealth and forfeited in 165 3. 61 Cuthbert's 

 son Edmund was a Jacobite, and was killed by a 

 party of soldiers sent to arrest him in 16^0.^ He 

 was succeeded by his brother Cuthbert, 64 who as a 

 * Papist ' registered his estate in 1 7 1 7." A brother 



John was in possession soon afterwards, and later in 

 the century the Ashes was sold, and has since changed 

 hands several times. 66 Ashes stands in a secluded 

 situation some distance from the highway on rising 

 ground north-east of Inglewhite ; but apart from the 

 doorway, which has a curious winged figure in a 

 triangular frame carved over the square stone head, 67 

 is of little interest, being almost wholly modernized. 

 Traces of a moat are still to be seen, and in one of 

 the walls, which is from 4 ft. to 6 ft. thick, are 

 cavities locally known as ' hiding places.' M The 

 house is of two stories and faces south-west. 



The HILL was in 1600 the residence of a family 

 named Beesley. 69 Francis Beesley was fined for re- 

 cusancy between 1591 and l6o7. 70 His brother 

 George, ordained at Rheims in 1587, was sent on the 

 English mission in the following year, that of the 

 Armada. He was captured after about two years, 

 and though tortured to make him reveal the names of 

 his hosts he would tell nothing, and was at last 

 executed for his priesthood in Fleet Street, London, 

 1591." From the Beesleys 71 the estate went to 

 the Blackburnes, a branch of the Stockenbridge family, 

 who were in possession in 1754. 73 WHITE HILL 

 was the seat of a branch of the Heskeths, also a 

 Roman Catholic family. 74 In consequence of their 



53 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 53, 

 m. 133. Gervase was the son of Thomas 

 Strickland. The previous year the same 

 vendors had given a messuage, &c., to 

 Robert Kighley ; ibid. bdle. 52, m. 37. 



84 Lanes, Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 31-3. John seems to 

 have been half-brother of James and 

 Robert Kighley ; Fishwick, op. cit. 156, 

 where there is some account of the 

 family. It is stated that ' the local tradi- 

 tion is that the last Kighley of White 

 Lea, having joined the rebellion of 1715, 

 was obliged to quit the country to save 

 his neck.' 



85 A small chapel attached to the house 

 was pulled down about 1830 ; ibid. 159. 



56 Ibid. ; the descent is thus given : 

 Charles Gibson, d. 1759 -s. John, d. 1786 

 -8. Charles, d. 1823 -s. Charles (of 

 Quernmore), d. 1832. 



47 For the Barton holding see the 

 account of Kidsnape. 



68 Richard son of Thomas de Threlfall 

 has been mentioned in 1316. Somewhat 

 earlier (1311) a John de Threlfall was 

 husband of Alice daughter and co-heir of 

 Richard son of William de Greenhills ; 

 De Banco R. 187, m. 105. Among 

 witnesses to charters a John de Threlfall 

 occurs in 1327 and another in 1392. 

 In 1442 Robert Barton was claiming 

 money due from John Threlfall of Goos- 

 nargh ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 4, m. 2. 

 In the time of Edward IV John son of 

 Edward (? Edmund) Threlfall recovered a 

 tenement in Goosnargh against John 

 son of John Threlfall; ibid. 55, m. 12. 

 Eleanor widow of John son of John 

 Threlfall recovered dower in Goosnargh 

 and Ribchester in 1488 against John son 

 of Edmund Threlfall ; Pal. of Lane. Writs 

 Proton. 3 Hen. VII. 



Edmund Threlfall in 1568 purchased 

 an acre in Threlfall and Goosnargh from 

 Robert Midgehall ; ibid. Feet of F. bdle. 

 30, m. 47. It was no doubt the same 

 Edmund who in 1570 claimed (by descent) 

 land beside the Chewe in Goosnargh ; 

 Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 402. 



89 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), ii, 91 ; 

 hii land in Threlfall, &c., was held of 



Richard Shuttleworth and Barton Fleet- 

 wood his wife by the rent of a glove see 

 the Barton inquest in note 97*. His 

 wife (Juliana Hesketh) survived him. 



60 In 1607 ; Cal. S. P. Dom. 1603-10, 



P- 383. 



61 John Threlfall died in 1625 holding 

 his messuage, &c., in Threlfall of Richard 

 Shuttleworth of Barton, and leaving as 

 heir his brother William, aged seventeen 5 

 Towneley MS. C 8, 1 3 (Chet. Lib.), 1182. 



William Threlfall, using the aliases of 

 Parkinson or Hoghton, entered the 

 English College at Rome in 1627, being 

 twenty years of age. He is identified as 

 the son of Edmund by his mother's name, 

 Hesketh. He stated that ' he was born 

 in the parish of Goosnargh near Preston, 

 where he was chiefly brought up until 

 seventeen years of age ; he lived after- 

 wards at Burton [? Barton] in the same 

 county. He made his early studies and 

 his humanities at St. Omer's College. His 

 friends on his- father's side were chiefly of 

 the lower class, but those on his mother's 

 were of good family. He had two 

 brothers and two sisters, and many rela- 

 tions, nearly all of whom were Catholics 

 as he himself always was.' He died of 

 consumption in 1628 ; Foley, Rec. S. J. 

 vi, 313. 



63 Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 3094. Nothing 

 is said about recusancy but for that his 

 mother Juliana's part of the estate stood 

 sequestered ; ibid. The estate was ordered 

 for sale ; Index of Royalists (Index Soc.), 



44- 



63 If any part of the story of the 

 1 Lancashire Plot ' is to be believed 

 Edmund Threlfall took an active part ; 

 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 293. 

 He was buried 24 Aug. 1690 ; ibid. 315. 



64 He is frequently mentioned in the 

 Tyldesley Diary, 22, 107, &c. He was a 

 Jacobite also. 



65 Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. Non- 

 jurors, 144. He was then 'of Bils- 

 borrow.' 



68 Fishwick, op. cit. 167; 'Ashes 

 became part of the possessions of the 

 Parkinsons of Clitheroe, and in or about 

 1830 it was conveyed to the Rev. James 



195 



Radcliffe of Kirkham and Whitechapel 

 and subsequently to its present [1871] 

 owner, William Shawe of Preston, esq. 

 In the same place are given some par- 

 ticulars of another Threlfall family, of 

 Barton. Another one occurs at Clifton. 



67 The doorhead is illustrated ibid. 164. 



68 Preston Guard. 22 Feb. 1908. 



69 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 232 ; George Beesley of Hill. 



ro Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. i, 

 170. 



71 Ibid. ; Challoner, Miss. Priests, 

 no. 88 ; Douay Diaries, 238, Sec. ; Pollen, 

 Acts of Martyrs, 291, &c. The cause of 

 his beatification was allowed to be intro- 

 duced at Rome in 1886. Another brother 

 was a missionary priest in England. 



72 Francis Beesley died in 1609 holding 

 two messuages, &c., of Sir Richard 

 Hoghton. His heir was his son George, 

 twenty-three years old ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 138. 



73 In a deed of 1723 is mention of 

 James Blackburne of the Hill, son and 

 heir of James ; his mother Bridget was 

 living; Piccope MSS. (Chet. Lib.), iii, 

 220, from R. 8 of Geo. I at Preston. 

 Another deed gives the pedigree thus : 

 Robert Blackburne -s. John -s. James -s. 

 James (1723) j ibid. 224. The last- 

 named James [a priest] died at Lisbon 

 about 1754 without issue ; his co-heirs 

 were two aunts, Grace Blackburne and 

 her sister Elizabeth, wife of George St-dg- 

 wick ; ibid. 286, from R. 31 of Geo. II 

 at Preston. Thomas Starkie of Preston 

 seems from this to have purchased the 

 estate in 1757. See Gillow, op. cit. iii, 

 260. 



It may be noted that Adam son of Adam 

 de Blackburn gave land in Gnosnargh to 

 his son Henry (Add. MS. 32104, no. 

 1170), and that John and Robert, sons 

 of Henry de Blackburn, occur in 1360 ; 

 Dtp. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 342. 



74 Fishwick, Goosnargh, 159. A pedi- 

 gree is given, from which it appears that 

 Cuthbert Hesketh of White Hill was a 

 son of Gabriel Hesketh of Aughton 

 therefore probably descendant of the 

 Bartholomew Hesketh named under 



