A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



succeeded, but dying without issue the manor of 

 Ince went by the provisions of his will " to his 

 wife Margaret for life and then to his heir, his 

 cousin Richard Gerard's son William.'" William's 

 heirs were his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth ; but as 

 the latter died unmarried, the whole devolved on 

 the former, the wife of John Walmesley, a relation 

 of the Showley family." They settled at West- 

 wood House in Ince, and the manor has descended 

 regularly to the present lord, Mr. Humphrey Jeffreys 

 Walmesley, of Ince and Hungerford.'-' The Hall 

 of Ince was sold by Richard Gerard in 1 7 1 6 to 

 John Walmesley of Wigan, whose descendant Mr. John 

 Walmesley of Lucknam and Ince is the present 

 owner.'' 



Ince formerly possessed -three halls, each bearing 

 the name of the township ; two of them, very much 

 modernized, still stand. The first of these, now 

 known as above mentioned as Hall of Ince, stands in 

 Warrington Road, near the cemetery, and was restored 

 about ten years ago, the old timber work at the back, 

 which was then visible, being removed, and the wall 

 rebuilt in brick."^ The whole of the exterior of the 

 building, which was formerly timber framed, is now 

 stuccoed and otherwise modernized, but the roofs 

 retain their old stone slates. The building is now 

 divided into three houses. 



Another branch of the Gerard family also resided 

 in Ince from about 1600 ; their house was called the 

 New Hall." 



The house now known as Ince Hall, which is 

 situated off Manchester Road, near Rose Bridge, was 

 originally surrounded by a moat and approached by a 

 fine avenue of elms. It was a good specimen of 

 timber and plaster building erected about the reign 

 of James I, with a picturesque black and white front 

 of five gables.'*^ The entrance hall is described as 

 being spacious and with a richly ornamented plaster 

 ceiling and wainscoted walls. Three other rooms 

 also were stated to have been panelled in oak, and the 

 drawing-room ceiling was ornamented with ' carved 

 work representing birds, shells, fruit, and flowers. 

 There were two chimney-pieces of fine Italian 

 marble. The staircase was of oak and 6 ft. wide, the 

 ceiling much ornamented with stucco. The best bed- 

 rooms were covered with tapestry."*'' In 1 854 

 the house was so seriously damaged by fire as to 

 necessitate a practical rebuilding. The ancient 

 timber fi-ont has therefore given place to a brick 

 elevation of no architectural pretension, and the 

 house is internally wholly modernized. The line of 

 avenue still remains, but the trees have disappeared, 

 and the opening of coal pits in the immediate 

 vicinity about thirty years ago has destroyed any 

 sense of picturesqueness that the rebuilt structure 

 might have possessed.'' 



A family using the local surname came into note in 

 the 1 6th century."^ Thomas Ince, who died in April 

 1573, held a capital messuage and other messuages 

 with lands and wood at Ince of Thomas Langton in 



Aspull. As a 'papist' he registered his 

 estate in 1 717, the value being given as 

 j^345 ijs. j^d. ; Richard Gerard, of High- 

 field, who registered an annuity of ^^i 50 

 out of the manor of Aspull, was no doubt 

 his son J Engl. Cath, Nonjurors^ iz8, 153; 

 he also owned the hall of Southworth ; 

 Piccope, op. cit. Two of his sisters were 

 nuns. 



In 1694 an inquiry was made as to the 

 suspected devotion of the Hall of Ince to 

 religious uses ; Excli. Depot. 84. 



29 Richard Gerard of Highfield died 

 without issue in 1743. In 1721 he was 

 in the remainders to the Brynn estate. 

 By his will dated I Feb. 1734-5, he 

 g-ive the manor of Ince to his wife 

 Margaret, who was daughter of John 

 Baldwin of Wigan, for life, with re- 

 mainder to his right heirs ; his manors 

 of Southworth and Croft to his brother 

 Thomas ; Piccope, op. cit. This Thomas 

 and another brother Caryll were priests ; 

 for the latter see Foley, Rec, S.J. vi, 

 468. 



3^ Richard Gerard, a younger brother of 

 Thomas, was an apothecary in Wigan. 

 He and his son Richard registered as 

 ' papists ' in 1 7 1 7 ; Ei'gL Cath. Non- 

 jurors, 107, 148. They mortgaged a 

 messuage in the Market-place in 1731. 

 The son, who died in 1743, married Isa- 

 bella, another daughter of John Baldwin 

 of Wigan ; and their son William, de- 

 scribed as an apothecary in 1744, was the 

 heir to Ince. Aspull is not mentioned, 

 having probably been sold. In 1751—2 

 William Gerard was deforciant of the 

 manor in a fine, which included lands in 

 Ince, Abram, HIndley, Newton in Maker- 

 field, and Wigan j also *one chapel open 

 to the north side and adjoining the parish 

 church of Wigan ' ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdle. 346, m. 108. 



'1 In 1773 John Walmesley and Mary 

 his wife, Elizabeth Gerard, spinster, 



William Moss and Margaret his wife, 

 and Richard Baron and Anne his wife 

 were the deforciants in a fine re- 

 garding this manor ; ibid. bdle. 389, m. 



^2 The descent is thus given in Burke, 

 Landed Gentry — John Walmesley, d.1780; 

 son, Richard, d. 1790 ; son, Charles, d, 

 1833 5 son, William Gerard, d. 1868 ; 

 son, William Gerard, d, 1877 ; brother, 

 Humphrey Jeffreys, born 1846. 



^3 Information given by the present 

 owner, who also inherited the house in 

 Hallgate, Wigan, in which the Young 

 Pretender slept in November 1745. For 

 the pedigree of the family see Burke, 

 Landed Gentry, Walmesley of Hall of 

 Ince, 



88a ^ view of the Hall, as it was a cen- 

 tury ago, is given in Gregson, Fragments 

 (ed. Harland), 236. 



^ One Thomas Anderton had lands 

 in Ince in 1529, as recorded in a later 

 note ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, u, 

 14, 30. One of his daughters and co- 

 heirs married Thomas Gerard, and a 

 division was sought in 1546; Pal. of 

 Lane. Writs, file 30. Ralph Gerard and 

 Grace his wife Bold lands here in 1548 ; 

 James Gerard was a purchaser j Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 13, m. 133, 136. 

 See also Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, 

 no. 19 J a James Gerard was buried at 

 Wigan 21 Sept. 1590. This James may 

 have been the father of Miles Gerard, 

 who in 1600 was one of the freeholders in 

 Ince ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 239. The same name, as * of New 

 Hall ' appears among the landowners 

 contributing to the subsidy of 1628 ; 

 Norris D. (B. M.). He was buried at 

 Wigan in 1640, and in 1654 Charles 

 son of James Gerard, of the New Hall, 

 was buried, as appears by the Wigan 

 registers. 



For some * delinquency ' James Gerard's 



104 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



estate was sequestrated about the end of 

 1651 by the Parliamentary authorities; 

 as ' son and heir of Miles Gerard, late of 

 Ince,' he was admitted to Gray's Inn, 

 1646 J Royalist Comp. Papers, iii, 21 j iv, 

 34- 



In 1 67 1, on a complaint by Henry 

 Backer and his wife Jane against Ellen 

 Gerard, depositions were taken as to the 

 marriage of John Davies of Manby 

 in Cheshire, with Alice eldest daughter 

 of Miles Gerard, late of Peel Ditch in 

 Ince, and moneys agreed to be paid to 

 Jane and Margaret, daughters of Miles ; 

 and touching a sum of ^400 lent to 

 Thomas Gerard of Ince ; Exch. Depos. 

 49- 



^^ The house is the subject of one 

 of Roby's Traditions of Lancashire, where 

 a view of it in its original state is 

 given. 



'■"> Manchester City News, N. and Q. 

 iv, 7(1881). 



"' There is a tradition that the Young 

 Pretender slept here when he was in 

 this part of Lancashire, and that there 

 was a skirmish in the hall during his stay 

 in which two men were killed. 



''* They may have descended from the 

 Henry son of "Thomas de Ince, of 1292, 

 who had a son Thomas ; Assize R. 419, 

 m. 12 ; De Banco R. 198, m. 136 d. 

 Richard son of Henry de Ince contributed 

 to the subsidy in 1332 ; Exch. Lay Subs. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 6. The 

 Thomas of 13S1 may also have belonged 

 to it ; a release by Thomas son of Robert 

 de Ince, dated 1379, is in Townelcy MS. 

 GG, no. 2439. Robert son of William de 

 Ince, occurs in 1398 ; Crosse D. {Trans. 

 Hist. Soc), no. 86. Henry de Ince occurs 

 in 1415 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 

 107. Thomas son of Henry de Ince was 

 party to a bond in 1428 ; GG, no. 2655. 

 Henry Ince of luce was one of the gentry 

 of the hundred in 1 5 1 2. 



