AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



ST. MICHAEL- 

 ON-WYRE 



a pedigree in 1 533," and died in 1534, leaving by 

 his wife Anne Shireburne four daughters as co-heirs, 

 viz. Elizabeth, who married 

 James Standish of Duxbury ; 

 Isabel, who married Thomas 

 Radcliffe of Winmarleigh, and 

 left a daughter Anne, after- 

 wards wife of Sir Gilbert 

 Gerard ; Eleanor, who married 

 Henry Rishton of Rishton ; 

 and Grace, who married Hugh 

 Anderton of Euxton. 33 The 

 manor of RawclifTe, however, 

 went with other estates to 

 the heir male, the above- 

 named Nicholas, brother of 

 John. He died about 1555, 



leaving a son Richard, 34 who was succeeded by his 

 brother Henry, 35 with whom the pedigree recorded 

 in 1664 begins. 



BUTLER of Rawcliffe. 

 Azure a che-veron be- 

 t-ween three covered cups 



This family, like most of those in the district, 

 adhered to Roman Catholicism at the Reformation, but 

 appear to have attended the reformed services occa- 

 sionally in order to avoid fines and sequestrations. 36 

 Henry Butler, grandson of the above-named Henry, 37 

 lived through the Civil War period, and lost his son 

 in the king's service ; but, though his estates appear to 

 have been sequestered by the Parliament, it was for 

 ' delinquency ' only. 38 Another Henry, great-grand- 

 son of the foregoing, succeeded to the estates later, 39 

 and had a son Richard, 40 who joined the Jacobites in 

 1 71 5, and was tried and condemned for high treason. 

 He died in prison. 41 His estates were declared 

 forfeit," and the manor of RawclifFe was in 1729 ac- 

 quired by Thomas Roe, an attorney, whose daughter 

 carried it in marriage to John France of Little 

 Eccleston, and it descended in this family for a time. 43 

 Mr. Robert John France Aiston is said to be the 

 present lord of the manor. Courts have been held in 

 recent times. 431 



32 Vhit. (Chet. Soc.), 93. 



33 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, no. 4. 

 The manor is herein called Middle Raw- 

 cliffe. John Boteler's will is given, and 

 it is recorded that he had begun a chantry 

 and service in St. Michael's Church. The 

 ages of the heirs are given : Daughters 

 Elizabeth, twenty-seven ; Isabel, twenty- 

 five ; Eleanor, twenty-two ; and Grace, 

 twenty-one. Brother Nicholas, thirty- 

 three. 



Anne the widow received dower in 

 1534; Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 98*. The 

 daughter Eleanor was engaged to marry 

 Henry son and heir-apparent of Richard 

 Rishton in 1527 ; ibid. fol. 94^. 



For the descent see Pal. of Lane. Plea 

 R. 172, m. ii. 



34 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, no. 4 ; 

 the will of Nicholas Butler is recited, his 

 two sons Richard and Henry being men- 

 tioned, and daughters Elizabeth (wife of 

 John Orrell), Alice and Catherine. There 

 was a remainder to William Butler of 

 Esprick and heirs male. Richard was 

 fifteen years old at his father's death. 

 The manor of Middle Rawcliffe, with 

 windmill, messuages, &c., was held of the 

 Earl of Derby by knight's service. Out 

 Rawcliffe is separately named, but no 

 tenure is recorded. For an inventory of 

 the goods at Rawcliffe see Fishwick, 

 St. Michael's (Chet. Soc.), 147. 



Nicholas Butler in 1538 obtained a 

 dispensation from Archbishop Cranmer 

 to enable him to marry Anne Bradshagh, 

 widow ; Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 94^. His 

 will (ibid. 91^) mentions also a bistard 

 son James and a son-in-law John Butler 

 of Kirkland. 



Richard Butler, the heir, is said to have 

 married Agnes daughter of Sir Richard 

 Hoghton ; Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 98^. 

 The date is wrongly given ; perhaps it 

 should be 31 Hen. VIII. 



35 Richard Butler in 1564 settled Raw- 

 cliffe and Stalmine on himself for life, 

 with remainder to his brother Henry ; 

 Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 98* ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 26, m. 253. In 1571 

 an agreement respecting the Butler manors 

 and lands was made by Gilbert Gerard, 

 Anne his wife, Thomas Standish, Margaret 

 his wife, James Anderton these repre- 

 senting John Butler Richard Butler, 

 Henry Butler and Anne his wife ; ibid, 

 bdle. 33, m. 79 ; Fishwick, op. cit. 150 ; 

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

 and Ches.), ii, 254. 



36 See the note on Kirkby of Upper 

 Rawcliffe ; also Fishwick, op. cit. 1512. 



37 In 1591 William Burgh of Larbreck 

 charged Henry Butler of Middle Rawcliffe 

 with trespassing on his fishery in the 

 Wyre, catching twelve salmon called 

 mortes, worth izs., twenty flukes (20^.) 

 and 100 eels (6s. %d.) ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 268, m. 9. 



The elder Henry Butler died at Middle 

 Rawcliffe on 24 Feb. 1620-1 holding 

 the manor of Middle Rawcliffe and Out 

 Rawcliffe of the Earl of Derby by fealty 

 and 6s. 8</. rent ; also two ferry-boats for 

 the passage of the water of the Wyre in 

 the said manor and a free fishery in the 

 same river, with other manors and lands. 

 Anne his widow died a week after him. 

 William Butler, his son and heir, was sixty 

 years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 

 x.xvi, no. 36. 



The manor of Middle Rawcliffe, &c., 

 was the subject of a settlement in 1632 

 by William Butler, Henry his son, and 

 William son of Henry ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 121, m. I. 



William Butler died in 1639, his son 

 Henry being then fifty-four years of age ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, no. 1 8. 

 Various settlements are recited, from 

 which it appears that William married 

 Elizabeth daughter of Cuthbert Clifton 

 of Westby, and Henry married Dorothy 

 daughter of Henry Stanley (of Bicker- 

 staffe). William had brothers named 

 Nicholas (with son Richard), Thomas 

 and Robert, and younger sons Cuthbert, 

 Nicholas and John. The tenure of 

 Rawcliffe was recorded as before ; there 

 were there sixteen saltcotes. 



38 Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 260-1. Henry 

 Butler's sequestration is just mentioned. 

 His son Richard had left a widow 

 Elizabeth, whose jointure lands had been 

 in part sequestered for her ' popery." She 

 was dead in 1655, when Henry petitioned 

 for the removal of the sequestration, the 

 lands having reverted to him. 



The son named, Captain Richard Butler 

 of RawclifFe, had been taken prisoner at 

 the capture of Liverpool in 1644, and 

 died soon afterwards, apparently while a 

 prisoner at Manchester ; War in Lanes. 

 (Chet. Soc.), 60. The same writer states 

 that ' Butler, the young heir of Raw- 

 cliffe,' was killed at Brindle in the fight of 

 1651. Dugdale, contrary to his custom, 

 does not record these facts in the pedigree 



275 



of 1664; Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 64. Two 

 other members of the family, William 

 and Edward Butler of Rawcliffe and 

 Myerscough, have been noticed in the 

 account of the latter place. 



The pedigree referred to gives : Henry 

 Butler, aged eighty -s. Richard, d.v.p. -s. 

 Richard, aged thirty-two -s. Henry, aged 

 six. Henry Butler the elder died in 1667; 

 Fishwick, op. cit. i 54, where an abstract 

 of his will is given. Richard Butler of 

 Rawcliffe, with Henry and five other sons, 

 were Preston burgesses in 1682 ; Preston 

 Guild R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 182. 



39 Henry Butler was vouchee in a 

 recovery of the manor of Out or Middle 

 Rawcliffe in 1708 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea 

 R. 488, m. 7. 



40 Richard Butler was vouchee in a 

 recovery of the manor in 1714; ibid. 

 501, m. 20. 



41 Gillow, Bill. Diet, of Engl. Cath. i, 

 3645. Catherine the daughter and heir 

 of Richard married Edward Markham 

 and had Thurland Castle. See Lanes, and 

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



', '77- 



It appears that Henry Butler, the father 

 of Richard, was still living in 1720, when 

 he ' put in a claim to the estate for 

 himself and Anne his wife, but as they 

 were both Papists they were incapacitated 

 and their interest declared void ' ; Fish- 

 wick, op. cit. 155. Henry Butler, 

 Catherine his daughter, and Mary the 

 widow of Richard in 1717 registered 

 their estates as ' Papists ' ; Estcourt and 

 Payne, Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 145, 148-9. 



4 * Rawcliffe was sold in 1723 to the 

 Rev. Richard Cromleholme, John Leyland, 

 Cornelius Fox and James Poole for 

 ,11,260 ; Fishwick, op. cit. 156. 



43 Op. cit. 156-7, where the succession 

 is thus given : John France, d. 1774 

 -s. John, d. 1817, having bequeathed to 

 Thomas Wilson, who took the name of 

 France and died in 1828 -s. Thomas 

 Robert Wilson France, d. 1853-3. Robert 

 Wilson France, d. 1858, having be- 

 queathed Rawcliffe to his natural son, 

 Robert John Barton Aiston, who assumed 

 the name of Wilson France. 'In the 

 event of his death without issue, the 

 property, subject to certain contingencies, 

 will [1891] go to Greenwich Hospital.' 



The manor of Out Rawcliffe was held 

 by John France in 1775 ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 393, m. 86. 



43a Fishwick, op. cit. 40. 



