AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



ST. MICHAEL- 

 ON-WYRE 



From a grant by Richard son of Richard de 

 Tarnacre to Cockersand Abbey it appears that Little 

 Sowerby was also called Aldred Sowerby, for land in 

 it touched the Brock. 101 Walter de Ellel granted 

 land in Aldrith Sowerby to Walter son of Richard 

 le Boteler. 102 



Some of the Commonwealth sequestrations for 

 religion and politics have been recorded above. 

 Dr. Wildbore, vicar of Garstang and then of Lancaster, 

 had land in ' Up Ratcliffe ' and Tarnacre which he 

 gave to his daughter Elizabeth. She married Thomas 

 Challoner, and the estate was sequestered for the 

 husband's 'delinquency.' After his death she married 

 Samuel Barker, who in 1650 petitioned for the 

 removal of the sequestration. 103 Roger Hesketh as a 

 ' Papist ' had had two-thirds of his lands in Tarnacre 

 and Claughton sequestered ; after his death in 1649 

 his son Richard petitioned for the removal of the 

 sequestration or leave to compound. 104 Thomas 

 Wilkinson of Tarnacre was another who had two- 

 thirds of his estate sequestered for his religion. 105 

 Several 'Papists' registered estates in 171 7. 106 



The parish church is situated in this township, 

 and is the only place of worship there. 



A school was in 1708 founded by Richard Cornall 

 in Upper Rawcliffe. 107 



OUT RAWCLIFFE 



Rodeclif, Dom. Bk. ; Routecliue, 1 206 ; Routhe- 

 clif, 1212. 



Middelrotheclyue, 1273 ; Mideste Routheclif, 

 1309. 



Outroutheclif, 1328. 



The surface is undulating, much of it very low, but 

 rising both in the south-east and in the west to 50 ft. 

 above sea level. In the former more elevated patch 

 is Rawcliffe Hall, the village lying a mile to the 

 west. Liscoe is in the extreme south-west and Ashton 

 in the north. The Wyre forms the southern boundary. 

 The area measures 4,593^ acres, 1 and there was a 

 population of 705 in 1901. 



The principal roads run from east to west, one 

 near the river from St. Michael's to Hambleton, and 

 another further north from Garstang to the same place. 

 Cartford Bridge in the south-east gives a passage over 

 the Wyre, and from it a road goes north to Pilling. 



The township has a parish council. 



The soil is clay and moss, with clay subsoil ; wheat, 

 oats and potatoes are grown 



The portions of the township once 

 MANORS known as MIDDLE and OUT RAW- 

 CLIFFE seem originally to have been 

 separate manors, and in 1066 the two Rawcliffes, each 

 assessed as two plough-lands, were part of the Preston 

 lordship of Earl Tostig. 2 A century later they were 

 part of the fee of the Botelers of Weeton, 3 and Hervey 

 father of Hervey Walter gave to Orm son of Magnus, 

 with his daughter Alice, four plough-lands in Rawcliffe, 

 Thistleton and Greenhalgh, tenable by knight's ser- 

 vice. 4 The Rawcliffe here intended seems to be 

 Mid Rawcliffe, which was in 1 249 held by Sir John 

 de Thorn hill of Theobald Walter by the twelfth 

 part of a knight's fee, 5 Out Rawcliffe at the same 

 time being held by tenants at will for the most part. 6 

 In 1346 it was recorded that the Earl of Ormonde 

 held four plough-lands in Out Rawcliffe, 7 and his 

 mesne lordship, as in the case of Weeton, passed to 

 the Earls of Derby. 



Theobald Walter in 1266-7 granted to his 'cousin' 

 Sir Richard le Boteler all the land of Out Rawcliffe 

 together with an oxgang in Staynall, for which he was 

 to render the farm the men of the place had been 

 accustomed to pay. 8 At the same time he ordered 

 these men to render their services to the said Richard, 9 

 whom they were to consider as their lord. The 

 rents seem to have amounted to j a year, for this 

 was the sum remitted or commuted to a pair of gloves 

 or id. by Theobald Walter, butler of Ireland, when 

 William le Boteler, the son and heir of Richard, 

 married Joan de Syfrewast. 10 Richard had also acquired 

 Mid Rawcliffe from Richard de Thornhill n and John 

 Debaud, 12 and thus held the whole, though by different 

 tenures. From this time until 1716 his family re- 

 tained possession, and there are practically no records 

 of any other tenants. The manors seem to have been 

 regarded as one, called indifferently either Middle or 

 Out Rawcliffe ; but sometimes these were named 

 separately. The Botelers also held manors and lands 

 in Hoole, Whittle-le- Woods, Freckleton, Goosnargh 

 and other places. 



Sir Richard le Boteler, brother of Sir William le 

 Boteler of Warrington, 13 was living in 1 273, 14 but must 

 have died not long afterwards, leaving a widow 



101 Cockersand Chartul. i, 244. Styrop 

 and the Sourlands are other field-names 

 in the charter. 



101 Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 1006. 



108 Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 1719. 



104 Ibid, iii, 195-8. Some field-names 

 are mentioned Breckfield, Little Brick- 

 hill, &c. 



105 Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 3178. 



106 In addition to those already given 

 was the small estate of Richard Richardson 

 of Garstang in the tithes of Tarnacre on 

 the south-east side of the Wyre ; Estcourt 

 and Payne, op. cit. 142. 



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

 li, 451 ; End. Char. Rep. 



1 The Census Rep. of 1901 gives 4,501 

 acres, including 13 of inland water. 

 There are also 45 acres of tidal water 

 and 147 of foreshore. 



2 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 288*. 



3 In 1205-6 Rawcliffe' s I2t. of tallage 

 follows next after Weeton ; Farrer, Lanes. 

 Pipe R. 202. 



4 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 37, 115, 145. 



4 Ibid. 174. Of the two plough-lands 

 2 oxgangs were held in demesne, and the 

 other tenancies are thus recorded : Roger 

 son of Roger, 2 oxgangs at 51. rent ; 

 Jordan son of Roger, i, at 21. 6d. ; UctreH 

 the Smith, i, at zs. 6d. ; Sir Otto de 

 Rowall, 5, by knight's service ; Richard 

 de la Hay the same. 



6 Ibid. 172-3. Of these two plough- 

 lands 1 5 oxgangs were worth Io6j. ^d. 

 yearly, and the remaining one was held 

 by the service of performing suit to the 

 county and wapentake courts. The mill 

 was worth i6s. a year, the moor 6s. 8</., 

 and the marsh izd. 



7 Survey of 1346 (Chet. Soc.), 54 ; for 

 castle ward 5*. was payable. 



8 Dods. MSS. xxxiii, fol. 29 ; liii, fol. 99. 



9 Ibid, xxxiii, fol. 29^ ; this charter 

 supplies the date. 



10 Ibid. fol. 30. Should William and 

 Joan have no issue the rent was to revert 

 to the grantor or his heirs. 



273 



11 Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 85 ; a grant of 

 all Thornhill's land, made about 1253, 

 Sir Robert de Lathom being sheriff and 

 attesting. Richard de Thornhill directed 

 his tenants in future to answer to Richard 

 le Boteler as to their lord ; ibid. 



Richard de Thornhill granted 2 oxgangs 

 of land and a half in Middle Rawcliffe to 

 Richard de Thornton in free marriage 

 with his ' cousin ' Olive ; ibid. 



In 1308-9 William son of Nicholas 

 Boteler made a claim respecting a tene- 

 ment in Midst Rawcliffe against John de 

 Thornhill and others, but did not prose- 

 cute it ; Assize R. 423, m. 2 d. 5. 



li Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 99 ; a direction 

 to the tenants to render services to 

 Richard le Boteler. 



13 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, 

 93 ; Beamont, Annals of the Lords oj 

 Harrington, i, 60, 79. 



14 In 1273 the sheriff was ordered to 

 fix a boundary between the lands of 

 Richard le Boteler in Middle Rawcliffe 

 and those of the Abbot of Cockersand in 



35 



