A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



the Whittinghams may have failed in the legitimate 

 line, or may have been compelled to sell part of their 

 holding, as to the remainder of it becoming tenants 

 of Hoghton. The mesne lordship of the last-named 

 family was sometimes neglected 11 and sometimes 

 regarded as the sole manor. 



The moiety at first retained in demesne appears 

 to have been acquired by one of the numerous off- 

 shoots of the Singleton family. 12 John de Singleton 

 died in or before 1398 holding a moiety of the 

 manor of the duke in chief, and leaving a son and 

 heir Robert, only four years of age. 18 This moiety 

 became subdivided, for in the i6th century it is 

 found that the Singletons of Chingle Hall, offshoots 

 of those of the Tower in Broughton, held of the king 

 as of his duchy the twentieth part of a knight's fee in 

 Whittingham 14 ; the Leylands of Morleys, as heirs of 

 the Singletons of Withgill, the same, their estate 



having apparently been called the manor of 

 MANHOLES 16 ; and the Shireburnes of Stonyhurst, 

 whose estate was known as the manor of COM- 

 FORTH HALL, the fortieth part, 18 having acquired 

 the share of the Clitheroes of Bailey. In all these 

 shares form the eighth part of a knight's fee, corre- 

 sponding with one plough-land of the ancient assess- 

 ment. 



The lordship of the manor was thus early divided 

 into small fractions, held in many cases by non- 

 residents, and it is impossible to say what has become 

 of all of the parts. The original Singleton Manor on 

 a partition of estates between the heirs in 1564 was 

 assigned to the Earl of Derby, 17 and about 1610 was 

 acquired by the Heskeths of Rufford, 18 being held by 

 them for a long time as the manor of NETHER 

 WHITTINGHAM. 19 The Hoghton Manor was 

 sold or mortgaged in i63i. 20 Fines and suit of 



Penwortham ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. 

 Soc.), i, 146. Land* in Whittingham 

 were in 1479 enumerated among the 

 possessions of Henry Hoghton held by 

 knight's service, but nothing was said of 

 any ' manor ' ; Lanes. Rec. Inq. p.m. 

 no. 47, 48. Later, in the inquisition 

 after the death of Alexander Hoghton, 

 his lands in Whittingham and Cornber- 

 halgh were said to be held of the king, 

 but the tenure was unknown ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 66. Later still 

 Sir Richard Hoghton, who died in 1630, 

 was found to have held his ' manors ' of 

 Whittingham and Comberhalgh of the 

 king as of his duchy by the twentieth 

 part of a knight's fee ; ibid, xxvii, no. 13. 

 This is the same as the Banastre tenure 

 of 1323. 



11 Compare the tenures of William 

 and Thomas Whittingham in 1437 and 



w Richard de Freckleton gave land in 

 Comberhalgh to Richard Drury ; Towne- 

 ley MS. DD, no. 1915. Richard son of 

 William Drury claimed 4^ acres in Whit- 

 tingham against Master Robert de Single- 

 ton in 1295 ; De Banco R. no, m. 73 ; 

 in, m. 39d. William son of Robert 

 de Singleton was plaintiff in 1317-18, 

 and Randle de Singleton in 1319; De 

 Banco R. 220, m. 376 d. ; 223, m. 27 ; 

 231, m. 109 d. 



In 1324 a jury decided that Richard de 

 Hoghton was lord of one-sixth of Comber- 

 halgh a distinct hamlet in Whitting- 

 ham and Randle de Singleton of the 

 remainder, various minor tenants being 

 defeated, viz. Maud widow of Thomas 

 de Kendal, Adam de Elswick, Thomas 

 son of Hugh de Goosnargh, and Hugh 

 son of Randle de Goosnargh ; Assize R. 

 425, m. 5 d. ; Add. MS. 32106, no. 340. 

 As a result Richard Drury released all 

 his claim in the sixth part of Comberhalgh 

 to Richard de Hoghton ; ibid. no. 180, 

 319 (fol. 274, &c.). In 1332 Richard 

 Drury made claims against William son of 

 Alexander son of Adam de Elswick and 

 against Sir Richard de Hoghton and 

 Randle de Singleton; Assize R. 1411, 

 m. 12. 



Randle's lordship appears to have been 

 derived, in part at least, from a grant by 

 Joan widow of Thomas Banastre to her 

 brother Randle de Singleton of all her part 

 of Comberhalgh and all her lands in 

 Whittingham at the rent of a pair of 

 gloves ; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 74^. In 

 1324 Randle granted to Adam son of 

 John de Singleton a fourth part of all the 



wood and waste between Brunden and 

 the Crombrook in Comberhalgh for the 

 rent of a pair of spurs ; Add. MS. 

 32106, no. 671. Ten years later there 

 was a dispute between William son of 

 John de Whittingham and Alice widow 

 of John de Singleton on one side and Sir 

 Richard de Hoghton and Randle de 

 Singleton on the other as to an approve- 

 ment of waste between Brunden and 

 Ashley ; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1854. 

 See the note on Pleasington below. 



In 1246 Adam de Singleton claimed 

 part of an oxgang of land as part of his 

 inheritance from Thomas his father ; 

 Assize R. 404, m. 9. 



The Shireburne abstract book preserved 

 at Leagram Hall throws light on the 

 Singletons of Whittingham. It appears 

 that Alan de Singleton (whose wife 

 was named Alice) had two sons named 

 William, and the younger of them gave 

 lands in Whittingham to Robert and 

 Alan, sons of his brother William. 

 Robert had a son John, who by his wife 

 Alice (a widow in 1319) had a son Adam, 

 whose son Robert had Chingle Hall from 

 his father in 1354. This Robert with 

 Alice his wife had a grant from Sir T. 

 Banastre in 1372. See notes 28, 59. 



Alan the (? elder) brother of the former 

 Robert granted lands in Comberhalgh to 

 his son Henry. Gilbert (of Broughton) 

 and Randle were apparently other sons. 



18 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 69. 

 It was probably the daughter of this John 

 de Singleton (Margaret) who married 

 Robert son and heir of Nicholas de 

 Clitheroe of Bailey in 1403 ; Shireburne 

 Abstract Book. 14 See below. 



16 Something has been said of this 

 family in preceding townships (e.g. in the 

 account of Middleton in Goosnargh), 

 but a clear descent is wanting. 



Henry son of Thomas de Singleton in 

 1361 leased to Robert son of Adam de 

 Singleton his manor of Fermanholes with 

 mills and lands in Whittingham ; Shire- 

 burne Abstract. Henry de Singleton had 

 Fermanholes in 1 3 94, in which year his son 

 William is named as having been indicted 

 for waylaying and killing one of the 

 king's justices ; Cat. Pat. 1391-6, p. 388. 

 William Singleton of Withgill ob- 

 viously the William Singleton of Fer- 

 manholes of another writ complained in 

 1408 that he had been outlawed unjustly ; 

 Add. MS. 32108, no. 1583, 1636. From 

 the pedigree given below it would appear 

 that this estate went to another Singleton 

 family, previously of Chingle Hall. 



208 



Sir William Leyland of Morleys 

 married Anne daughter and heir of Alan 

 Singleton of Withgill; Visit, of 1533 

 (Chet. Soc.), 88. Sir William died in 

 possession in 1547 holding lands in 

 Whittingham and Ashley of the king as 

 of his duchy by the twentieth part of a 

 knight's fee ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 

 ix, no. 43. Similar statements were made 

 in later inquisitions, as in that of his son 

 Thomas in 1564 (ibid, xi, no. 20) and- 

 that of Edward Tyldesley of Morleys in 

 1621 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and dies.), ii, 261. 



Richard Whittingham in 1543 com- 

 plained that Thomas Leyland of With- 

 gill and others had entered 'a great 

 waste ground containing too acres and 

 more, with divers cottages built there,' 

 which had belonged to plaintiff and his 

 ancestors. Thomas Leyland replied that 

 a certain John Singleton his ancestor had 

 inherited the 'manor of Fernarweles," 

 which included the said waste, and he 

 gave the following pedigree : John Single- 

 ton -s. Robert -s. Alan -da. Anne. 

 Plaintiff denied the existence of such a 

 manor ; Duchy of Lane. Dep. 35 

 Hen. VIII, xxxix, W 4. 



Part at least of the Tyldesley estate 

 (Ashley) was in 1681 sold by Edward 

 Tyldesley of Myerscough to Thomas 

 Patten of Preston and Thornley, from 

 whom it has descended to the Earl of 

 Derby ; information of Mr. Windham E. 

 Hale. 



16 Sir Richard Shireburne was found to 

 have held it in 1594, as also Richard 

 his son in 1628 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. xvi, no. 3 ; xxvi, no. 4. 



The manors of Comforth Hall and 

 Whittingham are named among the 

 Shireburne estates in 1579; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 41, m. 199. 



17 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 216, m. 10. 



18 In a fine of that year respecting this 

 and other manors Robert and Richard 

 Hesketh were plaintiffs and Thomas Lord 

 Ellesmere, Alice his wife, Sir Thomas 

 Leigh and Thomas Spencer were defor- 

 ciants ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 74, 

 no. 28. 



19 It occurs in a feoffment by Robert 

 Hesketh of Rufford in 1696 ; ibid. bdle. 

 237, m. 52. Again in a recovery in 

 1748 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 569, m. 8 d. 



80 In a fine of that year respecting the 

 manor of Whittingham only Miles Berry 

 and Samuel Knott were plaintiffs and 

 Sir Gilbert Hoghton deforciant ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 120, no. 17. It 



