THE ASSHETON FAMILY. 285 



property in Grisburne, Eimington, Horton, and about 

 twenty other townships. He died June 9th, 1697, 

 and Thomas Lister, the recipient of this testamentary 

 benefit, placed in the year 1706 in the church of Gis- 

 burne a monument to his memory, "to express his 

 gratitude to the said Sir John Assheton, his kind 

 and generous benefactor." This was the time when, 

 according to Dr. Whitaker, " the Lister family removed, 

 after the death of Sir John Assheton, to the Lower Hall 

 of Grisburne, the demesnes of which have since been 

 enclosed for deer ; it has thus acquired the name of Gris- 

 burne Park." This seems to have been pretty clearly the 

 time when some of the wild cattle were transferred from 

 Whalley Abbey to Grisburne Park. It clearly could not 

 have been earlier, for prior to that Grisburne Park did 

 not exist. And the historical and traditional evidence 

 of this being the date of the removal of the wild cattle 

 from the park of Whalley to that of Grisburne quite 

 agree ; for while Dr. Whitaker came to the conclusion 

 that it was " highly probable " they had passed through 

 " the hands of the Asshetons," the tradition of the old 

 people of Whalley was, a few years since, as reported by 

 his son, the present vicar of that place, that " when the 

 Asshetons ceased to live at Whalley the herd was 

 divided, and some went to the Listers at Grisburne, but 

 the tradition as to what became of the others was lost." 

 Of course the latter went to the Asshetons of Middleton, 

 who inherited the place. The very want of circum- 

 stantiality of the tradition in this respect the more 

 proves its truth, and the historical evidence that Gris- 

 burne Park could not have sooner received its moiety 

 still further establishes it. We may, I think, safely 

 conclude, that after the death, in 1697, of Sir John 



