A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



sharer in 1454 was William Latus. 36 A certain 

 Elizabeth about 1468 made a settlement of part of 

 the manor in conjunction with her husband Henry 

 Holme. 37 In 1484 5 a partition was sought between 

 William Kirkby, Richard Latus and Robert Clifton 

 as co-heirs of Sir Robert Urswick. 38 



Of thesjs families the Kirkbys were resident. They 

 appear to have inherited a moiety of the manor, and 

 possibly acquired the whole. Going back a little, it 

 appears that in 1454-5 J^ n Kirkby and Clemence 

 his wife had lands in Moorbreck. 39 In 1459 John 

 Kirkby complained that Nicholas and John Boteler 

 of Rawcliffe were obstructing the flow of water to 

 his mill in Upper Rawcliffe. 40 William the son and 

 heir of John Kirkby was about 1458 contracted to 

 marry Isabel daughter of John Pudsey. 41 In 1475, 

 perhaps after the actual marriage, John Kirkby 

 granted his part of the manor to his son and heir 

 William. 42 William and Isabel had a moiety of 

 the manor in 1486-7, as well as lands in Goos- 

 nargh, Haighton and Kendal. 43 John the son and 

 heir of William Kirkby was in 1485-6 contracted to 

 marry Elizabeth daughter of Henry Banastre of 

 Bank. 44 He was living in I5OI, 45 but it is unlikely 

 that he outlived his father, for in 1507 Isabel was 

 widow of William, 46 and about the same time 

 received dower from William son and heir of John 

 Kirkby. 47 



William Kirkby the younger was in 1506-7 con- 

 tracted to marry Elizabeth daughter of William 

 Thornburgh. 48 He was living in 1549, at which 

 time he was involved in disputes concerning the 

 chantry lands. 49 His son George died in 1558 

 holding the manor of Upper Rawcliffe and Tarnacre 

 of the queen and John Rigmaiden as of the lordship 

 of Wyresdale in socage by 6d. rent ; also various 

 lands there and in nearly twenty other townships. 

 The heir was a brother William, thirty years of 

 age. 60 William Kirkby made a settlement of the 

 manor in 15 64 s1 and recorded a pedigree at the 

 visitation of 1567. 62 In 1588 inquiry was made as 

 to the weirs on the Wyre, including one of William 

 Kirkby's which had lately been pulled down, appa- 



KIRKBY of Upper 

 Rawcliffe. Argent two 

 bars gules on a canton of 

 tht last a cross moline or. 



rently because it was too high for the salmon to 

 pass. 83 He and Isabel his wife in 1591 agreed that 

 their son William should marry Joan daughter of 

 Thomas Fleetwood of Col- 

 wich. 64 William Kirkby died 

 in December 1596 holding 

 the manor of Upper Raw- 

 cliffe, with messuages and 

 lands there and in Tarnacre 

 and Little Sowerby, a water- 

 mill, and a fishery in the 

 Wyre, of the queen as of her 

 honour of Lancaster by the 

 twelfth part of a knight's fee. 

 William his son and heir was 

 fifteen years of age. 65 



The religious position of 

 the neighbourhood in 1595 is 



shown clearly enough by someone zealous 'for the 

 furtherance of Christ His glorious gospel,' in the 

 Protestant sense, who wrote to the authorities to 

 urge attention to it. In the parishes of Garstang 

 and St. Michael's, he said, there were ' as many 

 farmers notorious recusants ' as would make two 

 grand juries. He therefore advised the prosecution 

 of those known to be rich, naming among gentle- 

 women Isabel wife of William Kirkby of Rawcliffe, 

 Anne wife of Henry Butler of the same, and 

 Elizabeth wife of William son of Henry. The 

 husbands of these attended church perhaps not so 

 much as monthly and the churchwardens should 

 warn them to conform once a month. If they 

 would not do so the gentlewomen and their husbands 

 should be confined ' during their obstinacy ' to the 

 houses of Protestant gentlemen, so that they could 

 neither 'frequent shriving, massing, nor relieve 

 papish priests or seditious seminaries, to the peril of 

 their souls, great danger of their husbands, and utter 

 spoil of their husbands' simple seduced tenants and 

 neighbours.' 86 



From this time the Kirkbys declined in import- 

 ance. 57 William Kirkby was said to be of full age in 

 1602 68 ; in that year he and his son Thomas were 



86 In 1454 John Kirkby received 401. 

 and William Latus zos. from Thomas 

 Urswick in satisfaction of profits he had 

 taken of lands in Kendal, formerly Sir 

 Robert Urswick's and then belonging to 

 John and William and their co-heirs ; 

 Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 102. The 

 proportions indicate a moiety for Kirkby, 

 and half of the other moiety for Latus. 



3J Final Cone, iii, 132 ; they had a 

 sixth part of the manor, i.e. the third of 

 a moiety. It was to be held by Elizabeth 

 for life and then to revert to Robert 

 [? Clifton] and his heirs. 



38 Pal. of Lane. Writs Proton. 



39 Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 996. Clemence 

 was living in 1488-9 ; ibid. fol. 101. 



40 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 21, m. 25. 



41 Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 101 ; a grant 

 to Isabel of lands in Bolton and other 

 places, with remainder to William son 

 and heir of John Kirkby. 



Ibid. fol. 10 1 b. * 3 Ibid. fol. 101. 



44 Ibid. fol. 100, loob ; lands in 

 Thistleton, Goosnargh, Wray, Over 

 Kellet, Cantsfield and Tatham were 

 assigned to her for life. 



45 Ibrd. fol. loot. Ibid. fol. 100. 

 47 Ibid. fol. 99 (? misdated 23 Hen. 



VIII for VII). Isabel was to have 



20 marks a year, half the heriots in 

 Waberthwaite, Keltontree and Kendal, 

 and should enjoy the demesne lands of 

 Upper Rawcliffe with the mill and fish- 

 ing until the following Martinmas ; 

 also the tithe corn of the demesne, paying 

 30*. for it. She was excommunicated at 

 Kirkham in 1510; ibid. 



48 Ibid. fol. 98. 



49 Fishwick, St. Michael on Wyre 

 (Chet. Soc.), 59. William son of 

 William Kirkby was engaged in further 

 contests in 1579 ; ibid. 6 1. 



50 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, no. 8 ; 

 Towneley MS. 'Lanes. Tenures' (in 

 possession of W. Farrer). The socage 

 tenure is noticeable, as agreeing with the 

 statement of a charter cited above. 



Ellen widow of George Kirkby was in 

 1567 the wife of Edward Horsfall ; Dods. 

 MSS. cxlix, fol. too ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 29, m. no. 



61 Ibid. bdle. 26, m. 199. 



M Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 41 ; George 

 Kirkby is not named in it. 



53 Duchy of Lane. Special Com. 426. 

 It was deposed that William Kirkby had 

 an ancient mill called Cross Mill and a 

 weir for the same on the Wyre. It 

 stood over the other side of the water 



270 



from ' one white house called Cross 

 House.' The foundation being washed 

 out by the river, the mill fell, and was 

 erected on a new site close by. At spring 

 tides the sea water reached nearly a mile 

 further up the river. The water called 

 Sowerby or Yowcles ran into the Brock. 



The jury in their verdict noticed all 

 the weirs ; the mill weir at Dolphin- 

 holme was the highest up the Wyre. 

 Corles Mill, Cleveley Mill, a mill weir 

 near Goberthwaite Bridge and others are 

 named. 54 Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 88. 



85 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, no. 1 6. 

 The change of tenure was perhaps the 

 result of a search in the records, being 

 the same as that recorded in 1242 for 

 Lambert de Multon. 



Isabel the widow was in 1598 the 

 wife of Gabriel Croft ; Dods. MSS. loc. 

 cit. 



* 6 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 

 584-5. 



William Kirkby of Rawcliffe and Isabel 

 his wife had been summoned before the 

 ecclesiastical commission in 1583, but 

 had conformed ; English Martyrs (Cath. 

 Rec. Soc.), i, 70. 



87 Fishwick, op. cit 163-5. 



* 8 Dods. MSS. loc. cit. 



