WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WIGAN 



found that he had held the manor of Ince of Sir 



Thomas Langton in socage by a rent of ^s. ; also 



the manor of AspuU, a burgage In Wigan, and landf 



in Abram and Hindley. Miles 



Gerard his son and heir was 



thirty years of age.'^ Miles 



died in August 1558/^ leaving 



a son William/^ who in turn 



was succeeded by his son, 



another Miles Gerard.*" The 



family adhered to the ancient 



faith, and Miles Gerard in 



1590 was reported to be 'in 



some degree of conformity, yet 



in general note of evil affection 



in religion.' *^ 



Miles Gerard was still liv- 

 ing in 1613, when a pedigree was recorded, show- 

 ing Thomas his son and heir to be twenty-two 



Gerard. Azure a lion 

 rampant ermine croiuned 



years of age." Thomas was a convicted recusant 

 in 1628," and his estates were in 1643 sequestered 

 'for his recusancy and supposed delinquency.' ^^ The 

 documents relating to the matter give a number of 

 interesting particulars as to the mining of cannel 

 and the charges upon the lands ; ^^ they also show 

 that Thomas Gerard, his son, had fought against 

 the Parliament, and had been taken prisoner at 

 Naseby in 1645 ; afterwards he took the National 

 Covenant and compounded for his part of the 

 estate.*^ 



It appears to have been Anne, the daughter and 

 heir of the younger Thomas, who carried the manors 

 of Ince and Aspull to her husband John Gerard, a 

 younger son of Sir William Gerard, third baronet ; 

 and the manors were afterwards sold to Richard 

 Gerard, uncle of John." Richard's son and heir 

 Thomas and his wife, Mary Wright, were in posses- 

 sion in 1683." His son Richard Gerard of Highfield 



his grandfather, and William hla father, 

 and many others of his ancestors were 

 time out of mind peaceably seised.* 



In 144.8 Thomas Gerard son of William 

 Gerard, Roger Gerard, and Cecily wife 

 of William Gerard, were accused of caus- 

 ing the death of Robert Gidlow, but 

 were acquitted ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 

 12, m. 25 } see also R. 11, m. 15, 16. 



In that year a dispensation was granted 

 by Nicholas V for the marriage of Thomas 

 son and heir of William Gerard of Ince, 

 and Elizabeth a daughter of William 

 Norris of Speke, the parties being related 

 in the third degree ; Norris D. (B.M.), 

 no, 643. Ten years later an indenture 

 was made, reciting the fact of this mar- 

 riage, and stating that lands in AspuU and 

 Hindley had been assigned to them ; 

 William Gerard, the father, *had not 

 made and would not make any alienation 

 of the manor of Ince or of any mes- 

 suage, lands, and tenements that were 

 Ellen's that was wife to John Gerard 

 mother to the said William Gerard,' but 

 such as should determine at his death. 

 William's brothers, Robert, John, Hugh, 

 and Richard are named, as also his younger 

 sons, Roger, Edmund, Lawrence, and Seth; 

 ibid. no. 644. 



To Thomas Gerard, the son, a pardon 

 was granted in 1479 ; Townelcy MS. 

 RR, no. 1430, In this year Thomas 

 Gerard of Ince and William his son, with 

 Roger and Seth his brothers, were par- 

 ties to an engagement to keep the peace 

 with Alexander Standish and others ; 

 Standish D. nos, 160, 161. 



In 1490 the marriage of Thomas son 

 and heir apparent of William Gerard, and 

 Maud daughter of Sir Henry Bold, was 

 agreed upon ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 210, 

 nos. 118, 119. 



17 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, no. 27, 

 The burgage in Wigan was held by the 

 rent of a pair of gloves. 



18 Ibid, xi, no. 12 ; he held the manors 

 of Ince and Aspull, with various messu- 

 ages and lands, &c. ; including a wind- 

 mill and a water-mill in Ince, and the 

 same in Aspull ; sixty burgages, &c., in 

 Wigan, and various lands there, held by a 

 rent of 575. id. ; also lands in Pember- 

 ton, Abram, and Hindley. William his 

 son and heir was twenty-three years of 

 age. 



1^ William was a plaintiff against Sir 

 Thomas Gerard in 1549; Ducatus Lane. 

 (Rec. Com.), ii, loi. 



In 1567 a pedigree was recorded ; Visit, 



(Chet. Soc), loi. William Gerard was 

 buried at Wigan, 29 Nov. 1583 j Reg. 



2" A settlement of the manors of As- 

 pull and Ince was made by fine in 1586 ; 

 Miles Gerard and Grace his wife being 

 deforciants ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 48, m. 299 ; there was a later one 

 in 1612; ibid. bdle. 82, m. 51. Several 

 other fines relate to dealings with their 

 properties ; ibid, bdle. 47, m, 57, &c. 



In 1 599, as lord of the manor, he com- 

 plained that Ralph Houghton and others 

 were withholding suit ; Ducatus Lane* 

 (Rec. Com.), lii, 336, 399. 



21 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 245, quoting 

 S.P, Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4. He and his 

 wife had been accused in 1 5 8 6 of sheltering 

 one Worthington, a persecuted priest ; and 

 his own brother, Alexander Gerard, was 

 another priest in the neighbourhood ; ibid, 

 239, 240. Thomas and Alexander Gerard, 

 aged eighteen and seventeen respectively, 

 entered Brasenose College, Oxf. In 1578 ; 

 Foster, Alumni. In spite of a discrepancy 

 in the dates — it being recorded that 

 Alexander left Rheims for England in 

 1587 — it seems certain that Miles's 

 brothers were the Thomas and Alexander 

 Gerard imprisoned for religion in Wisbech 

 Castle, where Thomas died ; their brother 

 Gilbert, born in 1569, and therefore not 

 recorded in the Visitation pedigree, entered 

 the English College, Rome, in 1587, and 

 became a Jesuit ; Foley, Rec, S,y, vi, 

 175 ; vii, 293, 



In September 1590 Miles Gerard 

 was indicted for fourteen months' absence 

 from church, but for most part of the 

 time he had been ' so extreme sick ' that 

 his life had only been preserved by the 

 use of goat's milk ; before that he said 

 he had been a regular attendant at church ; 

 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv,App. iv, 597. See 

 also Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ii, 252. 



Miles Gerard, a Douay priest, executed 

 at Rochester in 1590 for his priesthood, 

 is supposed to have been of this family ; 

 Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. ii, 

 430-2. He does not occur in the pedi- 

 gree, but Miles seems to have been a 

 favourite Christian name In this branch. 



^ Fisit. of 1613 (Chet. Soc), 25. 

 * Miles Gerard of Ince, esquire, was buried 

 at Wigan, 161 5, in his own chancel, the 

 28th day of September' j Reg. 



Thomas son and heir of Miles Gerard 

 of Ince entered St, Mary Hall, Oxf. in 

 1607, aged seventeen ; he was afterwards 

 of Gray's Inn ; Foster, Alumni Oxon. 



23 Norris D. (B.M.). For a settlement 



103 



in 1 641 see Pal, of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 138, m. 38. He paid ^13 6s. Sd. 

 on refusing knighthood in 1632; Misc. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 222, 



** Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 34; petition of his 

 wife and daughters, 



^^ Ibid, iii, 34-51. Thomas Gerard 

 had a mine of cannel in Aspull, for which 

 he needed a trench throughlands of James 

 Gorsuch, paying him ^^20 for leave. 

 Owing to neglect In the various seques- 

 trations the trench was filled up, and the 

 mine was * totally drowned up ' ; the fault 

 being that of the agents of the seques- 

 trators. He asked for compensation or 

 assistance to put the mine in order. 



The rents of the confiscated two-thirds 

 of the estates amounted in 1653—4 to 

 ^11 1 lys. 6d. I it consisted of the 

 demesne lands at Ince, a mill, tenant"** 

 rents, tithe corn, rents in AspuU, and a 

 cannel mine in Aspull farmed to his son 

 Thomas Gerard ; ibid. 47. 



Ince Hall was the subject of suits be- 

 tween Thomas Gerard and Roger Stoagh- 

 ton in 1663 ; Exch, Depos. (Rec, Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches,), 37, 48, 



In 1667 an inquiry was made touching 

 an annuity granted by Thomas Gerard 

 to John Biddulph ; Lanes, and Ches. Recs. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 348. 



2fi Royalist Comp, Papers, iii, 40-43. It 

 being alleged that the younger Thomas 

 was * a delinquent papist and not to be 

 admitted to composition, notwithstanding 

 his conformity,' his friends moved that he 

 might be allowed to give the committee 

 further satisfaction by taking the oath of 

 abjuration. 



2^ For Richard Gerard see Diet. Nat, 

 Biog. 



The descent which follows Is taken 

 from Piccope's MS. Pedigrees (Chet. Lib.), 

 I, 119, with additions from his abstracts 

 of Roman Catholic deeds enrolled in the 

 Preston House of Correction. There Is 

 also a pedigree in Gregson, Fragments (ed. 

 Harland), 239. John Gerard died in July 

 1672, and was buried at Winwick ; Local 

 Glean. Lanes, and Ches. I, 191. 



28 PaL of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 211, 

 m. 25. Besides the manors the property 

 included messuages and lands and a water 

 grain mill in Ince, Aspull, and Wigan ; 

 also tithes in Ince, For a fine of 1700 

 see bdle. 245, m, 93 ; Thomas Gerard, 

 Sir William Gerard, and William Gerard 

 were the deforciants. Thomas Gerard is 

 usually described as 'of Highfield' in 



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