AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



enrolled at Preston Guild. 59 They were or became 

 recusants, as the above quotation indicates, and in 

 1632 Thomas Kirkby of Rawcliffe compounded by an 

 annual payment of 5 for the two-thirds of his 

 estate which was liable to sequestration for his 

 religion. 60 In the Civil War he was a Royalist, and 

 his estate, after being sequestered by the Parliament, 

 was in 1652 ordered for sale. 61 Three of his sons 

 were stated to have been killed in the service of 

 Charles I. 62 He was dead in 1655, when Edward 

 Tyldesley of Myerscough petitioned to be allowed to 

 contract for the estate. 63 After that a family named 

 Whitehead 64 long held the manor, but there is 

 nothing to record of them. 68 The manor is now 

 stated to be held by the Earl of Derby. 



A considerable portion appears to have been sold 

 before 1655 to George Westby, 66 a son of Thomas 

 Westby of Mowbreck, who built White Hall, 67 in 

 later times regarded as the manor-house. He also 

 was a recusant and a Royalist, and suffered the 

 sequestration and confiscation of his lands by the 

 Parliament. 68 He regained them through the agency 

 of friends. A pedigree recorded in 1 664 shows that 

 he had sons Thomas (aged ten) and John. 69 In 1717 

 John Westby of Upper Rawcliffe, son of John and 

 nephew of Thomas Westby, registered his estate as 

 a ' Papist.' 70 He was accidentally killed in a mill in 

 1728 and left a son Thomas as heir. This branch 

 of the family succeeded to part of the Mowbreck 

 estate, but all has been sold in the last half-century. 

 White Hall was in 1857 sold to Stevenson, whose 

 son, J. C. Stevenson of Leamington, was the owner 

 in 1891. 



WHITE HALL, now a farm-house, stands close to 

 the River Wyre, facing south, but is without archi- 

 tectural interest, having been almost entirely rebuilt 



ST. MICHAEL- 

 ON-WYRE 



and modernized about 1857; most of the old 

 timbers were, however, again used. The building 

 dated substantially from the beginning of the 1 7th 

 century, the older house of the Kirkbys having 

 entirely disappeared, but had been for a long time in 

 a state of decay. The present structure is covered 

 with rough-cast and whitewashed, the roofe covered 

 with blue slates and all the windows are new. There 

 is an old open fireplace in the kitchen now walled 

 up. The west wing is three stories in height with 

 an unequal gable to the front, but the house generally 

 is of two stories, with a projecting gabled two-story 

 porch. The east wing appears to have been pulled 

 down about i87o. 70a 



Other portions of the Urswick estate cannot be 

 traced. One-fourth probably descended to Clifton 

 of Kidsnape, but William Clifton in 1517 held only 

 ' messuages and lands ' in Upper Rawcliffe of the 

 king and Thomas Rigmaiden as of their manor of 

 Nether Wyresdale by a rent of 6d. n His widow 

 Margaret claimed dower in the fourth part of the 

 manor.' 73 



Rawcliffe gave a name to some of the earlier 

 tenants, who with others were benefactors of Cocker- 

 sand Abbey. 73 Warine de Cornay, one of them, in 

 1246 claimed certain land from the Abbot of 

 Cockersand. 74 



T4RN4CRE or Trenacre also was used as a 

 surname. The same abbey received land from 

 William de Tarnacre, with his body, and from Alice 

 his widow and Alan his son. 78 About 1270 the 

 abbot and canons agreed with Thomas son of Adam 

 de Inskip as to an exchange of land, 76 and other 

 Inskips appear later in the township. 77 Alan son of 

 William de Tarnacre and others gave land to Lytham 

 Priory 78 and to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. 79 



* 9 Pretton Guild R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Che.), 54. They were also enrolled 

 in 1622 ; ibid. 78. 



60 Tram. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xxiv, 178. 

 About the same time he paid 10 for 

 having refuted knighthood ; Misc. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 221. 



61 Index of Royalists (Index Soc.), 41. 

 " Castlemain, Cath. Apology, as quoted 



by Challoner. Their names are given as 

 William, Thomas and Edward in Gillow, 

 Bill. Diet. ofEngl. Cath. iv, 53. 



63 Royalitt Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), iv, 46. 



64 To a fine of 1656 respecting the 

 manor of Upper Rawcliffe the following 

 were parties : Plaintiffs Richard White- 

 head and James Taylor ; Deforciants 

 Edward Tyldesley, William Kirkby, 

 Edward Kirkby, George Westby, Ralph 

 Longworth, Richard Bannister, Dorothy 

 his wife and James Curwen ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 159, m. 93. 

 Richard Whitehead acquired other lands ; 

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

 and Ches.), i, 33. 



65 See the accounts of Claughton and 

 Forton and the pedigree in Fishwick, 

 Garstang (Chet. Soc.), ii, 254. 



Thomas Whitehead was vouchee in a 

 recovery of the manors of Rawcliffe and 

 Tarnacre in 1724 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea 

 R. 521, m. 4d. Richard Whitehead was 

 lord of the manor of Upper Rawcliffe and 

 Tarnacre in 1794; Preston Guard. Loc. 

 Notes, no. 1 129. 



66 See the fine above cited. 



67 Fishwick, op. cit. 165-7, fr m 

 which the later descent has been taken. 



68 Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 3138, where 

 his residence is called ' Ratcliffe Hall'; 

 Index of Royalists, 44. 



69 Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 332. 



70 Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. 

 Nonjurors, 128. 



76a Fishwick, St. Michaets -on- Wyre, 

 167. Baines mentions a 'gateway half 

 pulled down,' a secret place formerly used 

 as a chapel and a priest's hole. The gate- 

 way had disappeared when Fishwick 

 wrote in 1891. 'On pulling down the 

 old house a secret room was discovered. 

 The chapel was in what is now a bed- 

 room on the third story ' ; ibid. 



71 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, no. 21. 

 7i Pal. of Lane. Sessional Papers, bdle. 4. 

 n Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc.), i, 



178-83. The benefactors were William 

 son of Alan de Rawcliffe, William son of 

 Alan de Tarnacre (perhaps the same 

 person), William son of Simon de Raw- 

 cliffe, Warine de Cornay, Thomas son of 

 Robert de Rice, Adam and William sons 

 of Richard. One of the gifts was of half an 

 oxgang of land, of which Richard son of 

 William de Ireland was tenant at i ^d. rent. 



Among the place-names are North- 

 breck, Old Goredale, Kirkflat, War- 

 oxgang, Tunstead, Swineland, Dunandes- 

 pool on the Wyre and Serlescalespool. 



T * Assize R. 404, m. 4 d. ; he did not 

 prosecute. 



75 Cockersand Chartul, i, 247-51. Other 

 benefactors were William son of Alan de 

 Wath and Richard de Tarnacre. The 

 place-names include Kirkcroft, Priestpot 

 and Cleanfield. 



76 Ibid. 251-2. The canons gave an acre 



271 



in Kilncroftfield for an assart adjoining 

 their land and that of Roger de Wedacre. 



77 In 1288 Agnes daughter of Adam 

 de Inskip complained that Richard son of 

 Adam de Inskip had disseised her of half 

 an oxgang of land ; Assize R. 1277, m. 

 31. Agnes daughter of Richard de Inskip 

 was plaintiff in 1301 ; ibid. 1321, m. 8 d. 

 William son of Adam son of Richard de 

 Inskip claimed 8 acres of land in 1351 ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i, m. 5 d. 



78 Alan gave the monks of Durham 

 2 acres on the east of Morbreck and all 

 his land called Culnstyde (Kilnstead), 

 with easements in Rawcliffe and Tarn- 

 acre ; Lytham D. at Durham, 2a, 2ae, 4ae, 

 Ebor. no. 52. He gave Lytham also an 

 oxgang of land in Rawcliffe, formerly that 

 of Richard son of Alan, in pure alms ; 

 ibid. no. 54. 



Warine de Cornay gave the monks an 

 acre and a perch in Rawcliffe ; Lathbutt, 

 Netherfield and the mill are mentioned 5 

 ibid. no. 53. 



Among the same charters is one from 

 William son of Alan de Romecliue 

 ( ? Rouecliue) to his brother Richard, 

 granting 2 oxgangs of land formerly held 

 by Gamel and Walter son of Hartholf, 

 at a rent of 40^. As ' gersum ' 40*. was 

 given. The fishery and demesne were 

 excepted, and in exchange for that part 

 of the appurtenances lying in Holebrook 

 Richard was to have two esselgones (selions) 

 in Northfurlong ; ibid. no. 55. 



79 Lands of the Hospitallers in Rawcliffe, 

 Tarnacre and Sowerby are mentioned in 

 1292 ; Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 

 375- 



