A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



forty-five years of age. 66 He had three sons, but 

 Rossall went to a nephew Richard, 67 son of his 

 brother Francis. This younger Richard had a son 

 Edward Fleetwood, whose daughter Margaret in 

 1733 married Roger Hesketh of North Meols, and 

 carried the estates into that family. 68 Their great- 

 grandson Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, bart. 69 (i 80 1- 

 66), was the founder of the town of Fleetwood. He 

 sold Rossall Hall to the founders of the public school 

 there. 



Also connected with Rossall, as lessees from Dieu- 

 lacres Abbey, was the family of Allen, which had a 

 considerable scattered estate in the district. In 1534 

 the Abbot of Dieulacres granted the grange of Rossall 

 to John Allen and George his son for their lives 70 ; 

 the abbot afterwards in I 5 3 89 gave a seventy years' 

 lease of the rest of the abbey lands, including Rither- 

 ham, a windmill in Norbreck, &c., and this seems to 

 have been confirmed about the same time for fifty 

 years by Nicholas Whitney of Walden, a rent of 

 13 6s. %d. being payable to the king and 10 to 

 Whitney. 71 John Allen's will, dated 1569 and 

 proved 1 5 70, was formerly among the Worthington 

 of Blainscough deeds. His son George had the 

 queen's licence in I 5 74 to go with his wife to the 

 Spa in Germany. He died in August 1579 holding 

 messuages and lands in Poulton, Thornton, Norbreck, 

 Great Bispham, Marton and many other places ; 

 part at least of his Thornton lands was held of the 

 Earl of Derby in socage. 72 John, his son and heir, 

 was fourteen years of age, and Elizabeth, the widow, 

 sister of John Westby of Mowbreck, took charge of 

 the estates. She was a zealous Roman Catholic, 

 and in 1582 was indicted for not going to church. 

 This was the beginning of more serious trouble, 

 for at the end of the following year (1583), 

 Sir Edmund Traffbrd becoming sheriff, it was deter- 

 mined to arrest her, partly perhaps out of hostility to 

 her brother-in-law, Dr. William Allen, partly, too, it 

 is supposed, at the instigation of Edmund Fleetwood, 

 who had had disputes with her. On trial the widow 

 was outlawed and her property confiscated, she then 



retiring to Rheims, where she could enjoy freedom 

 of conscience. 73 John Allen died in 1593 without 

 issue, holding messuages and lands in Thornton and 

 other places as before ; his heir was his sister Mary, 

 who in 1612 was the wife of Thomas Worthington 

 of Blainscough in the parish of Standish. 74 



The glory of a family otherwise obscure, and one 

 of the greatest men the county has produced, is the 

 above-named William Allen, 

 brother of George. 75 He was 

 born about 1532, and edu- 

 cated at Oxford, where he 

 became Fellow of Oriel and 

 principal of St. Mary's Hall ; 

 he was a canon of York in 

 1558. A zealous and resolute 

 adherent of Roman Catholi- 

 cism, 76 he lost his preferments 

 soon after the accession of 

 Elizabeth, but stayed on in 

 Oxford as long as it was safe 

 to do so, flying to Louvain in 

 1561. His health suffering 

 he returned to his family near 

 Poulton, and though sought for 

 by the government he lived in 

 England from 1562 to 1565. 



He returned abroad, was ordained priest, and at Rome 

 in 1567 broached his plan for the foundation of an 

 English college both for general education and the 

 training of learned priests ; the sending of missionary 

 priests to England was an afterthought. The fol- 

 lowing year the seminary at Douay was established, 77 

 several Oxford exiles assisting Allen, who was created 

 D.D. in 1571. The plan succeeded and there were 

 1 20 students in I576. 78 The college, however, 

 owing to popular excitement against the English, had 

 to be removed to Rheims in 1578, staying there till 

 1593. In 1584 Allen published what is considered 

 one of the most valuable of his books the True, 

 Sincere and Modest Defence of English Catholics, in reply 

 to Lord Burghley's apology for the executions of 



CARDINAL ALLEN is 

 said to have borne sable 

 a cross potent quarter 

 pierced or charged ivith 

 four gouttes gules, in chief 

 two lions' heads erased of 

 the second, all -within a 

 bordure engrailed tr- 

 minois. 



66 Dugdale, Vis.it. (Chet. Soc.), in. 



67 Ibid. ; aged eleven in 1664. He gave 

 ,1 o a year each to the churches of Poulton 

 and Bispham, of which he was patron ; 

 Gastrell, Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 

 398, 456. He died at Rossall in 1709 

 and his son Edward in 1737. 



Settlements of the Rossall Grange 

 estate, including the manors of Thornton, 

 Layton, Bispham and Marton, with lands, 

 mills, malting houses, advowsons, &c., 

 were made by Richard Fleetwood and 

 Margaret his wife in 1695 and by Edward 

 Fleetwood in 1733 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdles. 235, m. 75 ; 312, m. 46. 



There were recoveries of the manors 

 of Rossall Grange, &c., in 1736 (Edward 

 Fleetwood and Roger Hesketh, vouchees) 

 and 1759 (Fleetwood Hesketh. vouchee) ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 542, m. 10 ; 591, 

 m. 9. 



68 See the account of North Meols. 



69 He took the surname of Fleetwood 

 in 1831 by royal licence, and was created 

 baronet in 1838. He represented Preston 

 in Parliament from 1832 to 1847. There 

 is a notice of him in Diet. Nat. Biog. 



70 This and other particulars of the 

 family deeds are from an old abstract of 

 the deeds of Worthington of Blainscough 

 in the possession of W. Farrer. 



The father of John Allen was George 

 Allen of Rossall, whose will of 1530 is 

 printed by Fishwick op. cit. 1267. 

 George was perhaps the son of John 

 Allen who occurs at Norbreck in 1490 ; 

 Final Cone, iii, 142. 



Isabel widow of George Allen in 1556 

 purchased lands in Thornton and Holmes 

 from Hugh Thornton and Dulcia his wife ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 17, m. 146. 



71 Whitney, who was servant to Lord 

 Chancellor Audley, had a pension out of 

 Dieulacres ; L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiv (2), 

 p. 73 ; xvi, p. 351. It may be noted that 

 Thomas Fleetwood, afterwards purchaser 

 of Rossall, had at the same time an annuity 

 out of Sheen ; ibid. 



78 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, no. 80. 

 For his will see Fishwick, op. cit. 129. 



73 A long account of the business from 

 Bridgewater's Concertatio is printed by 

 Fishwick op. cit. 13657. The value 

 of the goods, &c., seized by the sheriff at 

 Rossall and Todderstaffe early in 1584 

 was ,926 us. 4*/. Another inquiry 

 reported the value as 589 175. \od. ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Special Com. 256. At 

 the trial in Manchester the foreman of 

 the jury was Edmund Fleetwood. 



From the pedigree of the family (Fish- 

 wick, op. cit. 156) it appears that two of 



236 



Mrs. Allen's daughter* became nuni at 

 Louvain. 



74 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), i, 197-9. 

 The Worthingtons sold their estate in 

 Thornton in 1729 ; Piccope MSS. (Chet. 

 Lib.), iii, 240, from R. 2 of Geo. II at 

 Preston. 



75 This sketch of Cardinal Allen's career 

 is from the Diet. Nat. Biog. and Gillow, 

 Bill. Diet. ofEngl. Catholics, i, 14-24 (with 

 full account of his works). See also the 

 introduction to Allen's Letters (ed. T. F. 

 Knox) ; Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc.), vii. 



76 He was in trouble even in the time 

 of Edward VI ; Fishwick, op. cit. 131, 

 citing Privy Council records. There is 

 a portrait of him in Green, Hist, of Engl. 

 People (illustr. ed.), ii, 817. 



77 The story is given in detail in the 

 introduction to the Douay Diaries, edited 

 by T. F. Knox. 



78 The first priests were sent to England 

 in 1574, and by 1580 over a hundred had 

 been dispatched ; ibid. Ixii. In this year 

 the first Jesuits went. The reply of the 

 English government was an Act making 

 it high treason ' to withdraw any of the 

 queen's subjects from the religion now 

 by her highness's authority established 

 within her highness's dominions to the 

 Romish religion,' and high treason also 



