A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



of Winstanley, with the coal mines and view of frank- 

 pledge, to James Bankes." The purchaser, who 

 belonged to a Wigan family/ died 4 August 161 7, 



4- 



1^ ^ 



WlNSTANLEY. Or tlVO 



bars azure and in chief 

 three crosses formy gules. 



Bankes. Sable a cross 

 or befween four Jleurs de 

 lis argent^ a canton of the 

 second. 



leaving a widow Susannah, and a son and heir Wil- 

 liam, then twenty-four years of age. The manor was 

 held of Sir Richard Fleetwood, baron of Newton, in 

 socage by a rent of 3/. (id. ; the other possessions of 

 James Bankes included the manor of Houghton in 



Winwick, and lands in Winstanley and adjacent town- 

 ships.' William Bankes, the heir, represented Liver- 

 pool in Parliament in 1675 ;' his son, another 

 William, represented Newton in Makerfield in 1660;" 

 the latter's son, also William, represented Wigan in 

 1679." The last William Bankes dying in 1689, 

 the manors passed to his brother Thomas's son and 

 grandson." Thomas had also a daughter Anne, who 

 married Hugh Holme of Upholland in 1732, and 

 their descendants, assuming the name of Bankes," 

 ultimately acquired possession, retaining it until the 

 death of Meyrick Bankes in 1 88 1. His daughter, 

 Mrs. Murray, was left a life interest in the estate, and 

 it was entailed in tail male on her sons. She re- 

 sumed her maiden name and died December 1 907, 

 when her only surviving son George Bankes came 

 into the property." 



Another branch of the Winstanley family" is 

 found at Blackley Hurst, a detached portion of the 

 township. Their lands were sold to Richard or 

 William Blackburne in 1 61 7," and Blackley Hurst 

 was later acquired by the Gerards, owners of the 

 adjacent Birchley. 



408, m. 44 d. ; and in the same year 

 Henry son of Roger de Winstanley and 

 Adam son of William de Winstanley were 

 defendants ; ibid, m. 36 d. 



In 1305 Roger son of Roger de Win- 

 stanley recovered messuages and lands 

 from Richard son of William the Lewed, 

 Alice his wife, and Amota daughter of 

 Alice. Alice, it appeared, was the real 

 defendant ; her title came from a grant 

 by Robert de Huyton and William de 

 Winstanley ; Assize R. 1306, m. 19. In 

 1332 Roger de Winstanley contributed to 

 the subsidy ; Exch. hay Subs. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 26. Roger son of Roger 

 de Winstanley and Isolda his father's 

 widow had disputes in 1352 ; Assize 

 R. 435, m. 29. Particulars of various 

 suits win be found in the account of 

 BiUinge. 



Hugh de Winstanley contributed to 

 the poll tax in 1 3 8 1 ; Exch. Lay Subs. bdlc. 

 130, no. 24. In 1388 he had licence for 

 an oratory for two years ; Lich. Epis. Reg, 

 Scrope, vi, fol. 124. Henry de Winstan- 

 ley and Malin his wife made a grant of 

 land in Houghton in Winwick in 1400-1 } 

 Towneley MS. GG, no. 1007. 



At the end of 1433 James de Winstan- 

 ley the elder granted to trustees all his 

 lands, &c., in Wigan, Winstanley, Pem- 

 berton, and BiUinge ; these in the follow- 

 ing year were regranted to him with 

 remainder to his son James and Agnes his 

 wife ; ibid. no. 2857, 2224. In 1490-1 

 Gilbert Langton (of Lowe in Hindley), as 

 trustee enfeoffed Gilbert Langtree, James 

 Molyneux, rector of Sefton, and Robert 

 Langton, son of the grantor, of his manor 

 of Winstanley and all his lands in Win- 

 stanley, Wigan, Orrell, and BiUinge, then 

 occupied by Agnes mother of Edmund 

 Winstanley, and by Randle and Robert 

 Winstanley. After Edmund's death the 

 manor and lands were to descend to James 

 the son and heir of Edmund, with re- 

 mainder to James's brother Humphrey ; 

 ibid. no. 2537. Edmund Winstanley was 

 tenant of the Cockersand lands in 1501 ; 

 Rentale de Cockersand (Chet. Soc), 5. 

 Richard Crosse of Liverpool in 1493 

 agreed to marry Elizabeth daughter of 

 Edmund Winstanley ; Towneley MS. 

 GG, no, Z250 ; Visit, of 1567 (Chet, 

 Soc), 107. 



Humphrey Winstanley was recorded 

 among the gentry of the hundred in 

 1512. A marriage agreement between 

 him and Evan Haydock in 1505 is in 

 Towneley MS. GG. no. 1534. For the 

 child marriage of Humphrey Winstanley 

 and Alice sister of James Worsley, see 

 F. J. Furnivall's Child Marriages (Early 

 Engl, Text Soc), z. 



« Pal. of Lane Feet of F. bdle. 59, 

 m. 348. The remainder of the holding 

 included forty messuages, five water- 

 mills, two dovecotes, 300 acres of land, 

 100 acres of meadow, common of pasture 

 for all cattle, and various houses and 

 lands. 



Edmund Winstanley is mentioned in 

 the Visit, of 1567, pp. 24, 107. He was 

 steward of the rector of Wigan in 1575 ; 

 Wigan Ch. 145. There is a deed of his 

 in Towneley MS. GG, no. 2635. 



"' A pedigree was recorded in 1664 

 (Dugdale, Visit. [Chet. Soc], 26), and 

 there are later pedigrees in Gregson's 

 Fragments (ed. Harland), 232 ; Burke, 

 Commoners^ iv, 213 ; Baines, Lanes, (ed, 

 Croston), iv, 306. 



In 1588 William Bankes purchased a 

 house and lands in Wigan and Ince from 

 Miles Gerard and Grace his wife 5 Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 50, m. 171. Five 

 years later James Bankes made a pur- 

 chase in AspuU and Wigan, and in 1597 

 he and Susan his wife made a sale or 

 mortgage, Francis Sherington being the 

 plaintiff in the fine; ibid, bdles, 55, m. 

 127 5 58, m. 220. 



^ Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 97-9. 



' Pink and Beaven, Lanes. Pari, Repre- 

 sentation, 191. He was then 91 years 

 of age. William Bankes in 1631 paid 

 j£i2 on refusing knighthood ; Misc. (Rec, 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 213. 



^'' Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 281. 



^ Ibid. 229 i he was a Whig. Some 

 of his letters are printed in Hist. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 128, &c. 



'' Thomas's son Robert was sheriflF in 

 1742 5 his grandson William (son of Wil- 

 liam) in 1784; P.R.O. List of Sheriffi, 

 74. WiUiam Bankes died in 1800, with- 

 out issue, and the estates passed to his 

 cousin, the Rev. Thomas Holme of Up- 

 holland, whose mother's monument in 



UphoUand Church states that she died 

 2 June 1799, aged 93 ; Wigan Ch, 747. 

 Thomas Holme was incumbent of Up- 

 hoUand from 1758 to 1767; ibid. 749, 

 Several of the family have been benefac- 

 tors to the poor, 



IS Meyrick son of Thomas Holme 

 took the surname of Bankes in 1804 ; he 

 was sheriff in 1805 ; P.R.O. List, 74. 



1^ A view of the hall, about 1816, is 

 given in Gregson, Fragments (ed. Har- 

 land), 231. 



^* An undated fragment of a pedigree 

 in Piccope's MS. Pedigrees (Chet. Lib.), ii, 

 fol. 18, gives the succession ; James — 3s. 

 Ottiwell — s. James, * said to be an alms 

 knight at Windsor.' 



A Humphrey Winstanley about 1560 

 married Jane, a daughter of William 

 Heaton, and had disputes with the An- 

 dertons and Heatons ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. 

 Com.), ii, 236 ; iii, 12, 13. 



" Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 90, no. 

 41 ; bdle. 91, no. 27 ; in the former 

 James Sorocold was plaintiff, and in the 

 latter Richard Blackburnewas joined with 

 him. James Winstanley and Margaret 

 his wife were deforciants ; the property is 

 described as the manors of Winstanley 

 and BiUinge, with various lands, &c., in 

 these townships and in Ashton. 



William Blackburne in 1631 paid £\o 

 on refusing knighthood ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes. and Ches.), i, 213. 



The Blackburnes, a Protestant family, 

 near relations of those of Newton, Orford, 

 and Hale, long continued in possession. 

 They had an estate — Crow Lane — in 

 the parish of Winwick, and a burial place 

 there, for in the registers are records of 

 the burials of Thomas Blackburne of 

 Blackley Hurst, 9 Feb. 1664-5 j John, 

 18 Dec. 1666, see Roger Lowe's Diary ; 

 WiUiam son of John (of BiUinge), 14 

 July 1 71 9; WiUiam, 21 Dec 1724; 

 Anne wife of John, i May 1745 ; and 

 John, 2 Apr. 1766, aged 89 ; then Black- 

 burne son of Mr. Gildart of Blackley 

 Hurst, aged 2, 23 Dec. 1767 ; John 

 Gildart of BiUinge, 13 Feb. 1771-2 ; and 

 Jane Creighton, of Blackley Hurst, aged 

 86, 20 Jan. 1795, Sophia daughter and 

 sole heir of John Gildart of Blackley 

 Hurst married Major Richard Jones, a 

 son of the fourth Viscount Ranelagh ; 



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