WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WIGAN 



age. The tenure is stated ' as in free socage, by a 

 rent of three pepper-corns ' in the inquisition after 

 the death (1595) of Robert Langton, who was 

 succeeded by his son Philip, then aged twenty-six.^' 

 Robert Langton of the Lowe, a justice of the peace 

 but of 'mean living,' was in 1590 reported to be 

 * well affected in religion ' ; he had spoiled his estate 

 and used ' bad company.' " At the same time 

 Edward Langton of Hindley, one of the ' gentlemen 

 of the better sort,' and perhaps a brother of Robert, 

 was a 'recusant and thereof indicted.' ^^ The head 

 of the family, however, soon reverted to the ancient 

 religion,^^ and Abraham Langton, son and heir of 

 Philip, in 1628, as a convicted recusant, paid double 

 to the subsidy.^* 



This Abraham Langton, as a ' papist delinquent,' 

 had his estates sold for treason by the Parliament in 

 1652 ;'^ but appears to have recovered at least a 

 portion of them. He was living, sixty-six years of 

 age, in 1664, when he recorded a pedigree at the 

 Visitation.*** His son Philip, then aged thirty-six, 

 succeeded him, and was tried in 1694 for participa- 



tion in the Lancashire Plot.^® Very shortly after- 

 wards he was succeeded by his son Edward Langton," 

 who as a 'papist' registered his estate in 1717.*^ 

 Edward died without issue in 1733, leaving his pro- 

 perty to Catherine his wife for life and to nephews 

 and nieces named Pugh. Wil- 

 liam Pugh had Hindley, and 

 his nephew and heir, Edward 

 Philip Pugh of Coetmor in 

 Carnarvonshire, sold the manor 

 of Hindley and the Lowe 

 Hall estate to the Duke of 

 Bridgewater, the Earl of 

 Ellesmere being the present 

 owner.*^ 



The Culcheth moiety of 

 the manor descended to Tho- 

 mas Culcheth, who died about 

 1744 ; by his will it passed 

 to the TrafFords of Croston.^" 



Among the other early families of the place may 

 be named Nlghtegale,^' Barker," and Harper.*' 



Egerton, Earl of 

 Ellesmere. Argent a 

 lion rampant gules be- 

 t^oeen three pkeons sable. 



21 DucKy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, no. 

 12. Philip Langton and Mary his wife 

 were deforciants of tenements in Hindley 

 in 1597 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F, bdle. 

 58, m, 324. ; and of the manor and 

 estate in 1612-13 ; ibid. bdle. 81, m. 52. 



22 Gibson, Lyd'tate Hall, 244, quoting 

 S.P. Dom, Eliz. ccxxxv, 4, 



23 Gibson, op. cit. 246. 



2Sa In 1607 lands of Philip Langton, 

 recusant, were farmed out to Sir Arthur 

 Aston ; Pat. 5 Jas. I, pt. 22, 25 July. 



He died at Lowe 22 Jan. 1625-6 ; the 

 manor was held of Sir Richard Fleet- 

 wood and the heir was Abraham Langton 

 son of Philip, then aged twenty-nine 

 years and more ; Local Glean. Lanes, and 

 C/ies. ii, 2. The heir's christian name 

 was derived from his mother's surname, 

 she being one of the coheirs of Thomas 

 Abram or Abraham of Abram. 



2* Norris D. (B.M.). Elizabeth his 

 wife occurs in the Recusant Roll of 1641 ; 

 Tram, Hist. Soc. (new sen), xiv, 239. 

 Abraham Langton in 1631 paid ^10 as a 

 composition on declining knighthood ; 

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

 213. 



25 Index of Royalists (Index Soc), 43. 

 He afterwards petitioned to be allowed 

 to compound ; and on the petition of 

 ' divers well-afFccted persons,* his tenants, 

 he was informed that it was *just and 

 reasonable* to request him to allow his 

 tenants liberty of pre-emption or a 

 renewal of their leases at the ancient 

 rents. Later, in Dec. 1653, Major John 

 Wildman, who had contracted to purchase, 

 received an order to take possession ; 

 Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), iv, 56-9. 



35a Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 174. 



26 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 

 303, &c.; on p. 362 is an account of his 

 arrest at Wepre in Flintshire, wA.ere he 

 was attending the burial of his sister-in- 

 law ; he had married a daughter of Ed- 

 ward Pennant of Bagillt. In Jan. 

 1688-9 ^^ broke an innkeeper's head 

 with his cane, for proposing the health of 

 the Earl of Derby — a sufficient indication 

 of his politics ; see the amusing anecdote 

 on p. 214. He had been indicted for re- 

 cusancy in 1678 ; ibid. 109. 



27 In Aug. 1687 a fine was made 

 concerning the manor of Hindley, seventy 



messuages, a water-mill, dovecote, gardens, 

 lands, wood, furze and heath, turbary, 

 moor and moss and 8oj. rent in Hind- 

 ley and Westleigh j the deforciants were 

 Philip Langton and Elizabeth his wife, 

 Edward Langton son and heir of Philip 

 and Katherine his wife, and George 

 Langton ; George Pennant was one of 

 the plaintiffs ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 219, m. 64. 



28 Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 123. The 

 value of the estate was ^^69 is. zd. For 

 a mortgage by him see Local Glean. Lanes, 

 and Ches. i, 272. Edward Langton of 

 Lowe in 1728 granted to John Rigby of 

 Hindley a messuage and land there ; B.M. 

 Add. Chart. 17733. 



29 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1870), ii, 191 ; 

 from information 'supplied by Mr. 

 William Langton.* In Piccope's MS. 

 Pedigrees in the Chet. Lib. (ii, 234) it is 

 stated that Edward Langton's sister Eliza- 

 beth married — Pugh; their son William is 

 described as * of Lowe, jeweller.' Their 

 other children were Philip Pugh of 

 Pemerhyn or Penwryn, Carnarvonshire 

 (whose son Edward was the vendor), 

 Joaeph,WinIfred, Anne, and Frances. The 

 references are to Piccope MSS. (Chet. 

 Lib.), iii, 178, 234, 254, 258, 270, from 

 the Roman Catholic D. enrolled at Pres- 

 ton. 



In Aug. 1758, by fine, Edward 

 Philip Pugh and Mary his wife remitted 

 to William Carghey messuages and lands 

 in Hindley ; the manor is not named ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F, bdle. 361, m. 

 132. 



20 Cal. Exch. of Pleas, Lanes. C. 301, 

 where the will of Thomas Culcheth is 

 given. In 1771 Humphrey and John 

 Trafford were vouchees of the manor of 

 Croston and various other lordships, in- 

 eluding a fourth part of the manor of 

 Hindley, with the hall known as Hind- 

 ley Hall or Strangeways Hall ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Plea R. 613, m. 10; also at 

 Aug. Assizes, 1797, R. 11. 



In 1364 Gilbert de Culcheth, a minor, 

 by his guardian John de Blackburn, de- 

 manded against Cecily, widow of Gilbert 

 de Culcheth the elder, messuages and 

 land in Hindley which the elder Gilbert 

 gave to Gilbert his son and Joan his wife, 

 and which should now descend to the 

 plaintiff as son and heir. Cecily claimed 



109 



the manor of Hindley and all its demesne 

 lands for life by a charter from her late 

 husband and a quitclaim from his son, 

 plaintiff's father; dated 1354; De Banco 

 R. 418, m. 227. 



John Culcheth, who died at the begin- 

 ning of the reign of Charles I, held ' the 

 manor of Hindley ' ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. xxix, no. 6j. For a decree as to 

 Strangeways Hall at this time see Lanes, 

 and Ches. Recs. ii, 244. 



8^ A number of suits are on record 

 brought in 1292 by John Nightegale and 

 Alice his wife against Hugh de Hindley, 

 Adam son of Hugh de Hindley, Robert 

 son of Adam de Hindley, and others. 

 Alice was the widow of Adam de Ic 

 Woodhouses. John had a son Henry. 

 The surname is spelt in many ways — 

 Nutegal, Nithingale, Nichtegale, Nithe- 

 gale, and Nightingale ; Assize R. 408, 

 m. 12, 7d. 59 d. 58 d. 57. 



In 1330 Robert del Coran and Eva his 

 wife, Jordan de Rixton and Agnes his 

 wife, and Amota daughter of Robert de 

 Ashton, claimed land in Hindley from 

 William the Fisher by inheritance. It 

 appeared that Roger son of Whinilda 

 married Leukia daughter of Richard the 

 Boor, seised in the time of Edward I, 

 and left a daughter Agnes as heir ; Agnes 

 had three daughters — Eva and Agnes 

 plaintiffs, and Emma, formerly wife of 

 Robert de Ashton, represented by her 

 daughter Amota ; De Banco R. 275, m. 

 7 ; 278, m. 31 d. ; 281, m. 78 d. 



^2 Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ii, 144. 

 Alice daughter of Robert Dieconson of 

 Hindley married Hugh the Barker in 

 1401 ; her property descended. In the reign 

 of Henry VIII, to William Barker, who 

 was succeeded by five daughters, Agnes, 

 Margery, Ellen, Cecily, and Elizabeth, 

 married respectively to John Hulme, 

 James Harrison, Richard Astley, Henry 

 Waterworth, and William Ainsworth. 



8^ In Towneley MS. OO, are preserved 

 a number of deeds regarding the lands of 

 Adam the Harper of Hindley and his 

 descendants. Adam's son William acquired 

 lands about 1299, and was living in 1 3 3 1 ; 

 nos. 1465, 1470, 1449. His son John 

 made a feoffment in 1334 ; no. 1466; and 

 his sons John and Thomas sold their 

 lands in 1364 to Adam son of Richard 

 son of John de Hindley ; no. 1443, 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



