WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WIGAN 



when a short pedigree was re- 

 corded." In 1584 and I 5 86 

 rights of way were investigated, 

 Thomas Gidlow claiming a 

 footpath from Gidlow Hall 

 westward across Roger Hind- 

 ley's meadows called Longer 

 Hey to the highway between 



Scc.f for the use of Anne Shakerley, 

 widow, for her life. Robert asserted 

 that he was of full age, and not six- 

 teen only, when the former inquisi- 

 tion was taken ; also that the pre- 

 mises in AspuU were held of Thomas 

 Gerard of Ince and not of Lord La 

 Warre. The messuage in Langtree had 

 been the property of one John Perle- 

 barn, whose heirs were Ralph Gidlow, 

 Roger Haydock, and James Aspenall, de- 

 scendants of his daughters Joan, Catherine, 

 and Margaret. Joan had married a Gid- 

 low (obviously the John Gidlow, senior, 

 of a previous paragraph), and her son was 

 Ralph father of John father of the Ralph 

 Gidlow of 1 53 1 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. iii, no. 6. 



On Robert's coming of age Lord La 

 Warre remitted all actions, &c. j GO, 

 no, 1610 J and soon afterwards, in 1541, 

 Robert made a settlement of his lands, the 

 remainder being to Thomas his son and 

 heir ; Kuerden MSS. loc. cit. no. 20. In 

 1552 a further settlement seems to have 

 been made by Robert Gidlow and Ellen 

 his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 14, m. X06 ; and another including the 

 capital messuage called Gidlow, Htndley 

 House, Bank House, &c., three years 

 later, perhaps on the marriage of his son 

 Thomas with Elizabeth daughter of Wil- 

 liam Kenyon of Pilkington ; GG, no. 

 1601, 1609, i6ii. A release was made 

 to Thomas in 1584 by John son of Wil- 

 liam Kenyon ; GG, no. 1606. Two 

 years later Thomas Gidlow was elected 

 coroner ; GG, no. 1608. He died 28 Oct. 

 1606, holding various lands and the Lee 

 in AspuU of Miles Gerard of Ince, by a 

 rent of 14^. and izd, ; also 12 acres and 

 the water-mill of the king, as of the late 

 Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. Thomas 

 his son and heir was aged thirty-three 

 years ; Lanes. Inq* p.m. (Rec, Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 73. 



William Kenyon, who died in 1557, 

 held part of the old Hospitallers' lands in 

 AspuU by the gift of Robert Gidlow ; John 

 his son and heir was sixty years of age in 

 1586 ; Duchy ofLanc. Inq. p.m. xiv,no.27. 



22 Visit, of 16 1 3 (Chet. Soc), 50. The 

 last-named Thomas Gidlow recorded it ; 

 his son and heir, another Thomas, being 

 then twenty years of age. 



The elder Thomas died about 1618-19, 

 but the age of his son Thomas is given as 

 only twenty-two years 5 Kuerden, loc. cit. 

 no. 23. Thomas Gidlow contributed to 

 the subsidy in 1622 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc, 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 1, 162. 



23 Towneley, GG,no. 1613-15. Risley 

 Hey and a stile called the Merrel are 

 mentioned j also a lane called 'a certain 

 lisle lane* which led to Aynscough Lane, 

 going north to AspuU Moor. 



24 John son of Thomas de Halghton, 

 or Houghton, of the Westhoughton family, 

 had two messuages and land in AspuU in 

 1317 ; Final Cone, ii, 25. John son of 

 Thomas de Houghton was defendant in a 

 claim for dower in 1 3 5 1 and 1352; Duchy 

 of Lane. Assize R. I, m. v d. and R. 2, m. 2. 



A Ralph Houghton of Kirklees married 

 Margery daughter of Richard Molyneux 



Aspull Moor and Pennington Green, and so to 

 Wigan.^^ 



The Houghtons of KIRKLEES long continued in 

 possession;^'* Ralph Houghton in 1653 renounced 

 his faith in order to secure his lands.^* The Brad- 

 shaghs, already mentioned,^^ the Lathoms of Wolfill,^' 

 and the Lowes " also held lands here. Later families 

 were the Rigbys *^ and Penningtons.^** 



Gidlow. Azureackeve- 

 ron argent bettueen two leo- 

 pard's beads in chief and a 

 cross formyjitchy in base or. 



of Hawkley j Visit. 

 of 1567 (Chet. 

 Soc), 109. For a 

 plea of 1554-S by 

 Roger Heigham 

 claiming against Ralph Houghton lands 

 called Smyrrels and Gromerscroft in Aspull 

 see Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 184. 



Richard Houghton acquired lands in 

 Aspull, Ince, and Wigan from Christopher 

 Kenyon and Margery his wife in 1572, 

 and made a settlement in 1577 ; Lanes, 

 and Ches. Ree, (Rec, Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.),ii, 255 ; Pal. ofLanc. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 34, m. 138 ; bdle. 39, m. 13. 

 Ralph Houghton was a purchaser in 1593 ; 

 ibid. bdle. 55, m. 200. He was one of 

 the ' comers to church but no communi- 

 cants 'in 1 590 J Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 246. 



Richard Houghton of Kirklees in 1616 

 married Bridget daughter of Adam Mort ; 

 Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), 211. Richard 

 son and heir apparent of Ralph Houghton 

 of Kirklees in AspuU was a trustee for 

 William Heaton in 161 9 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Rec Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 160. 

 The succession of the various Richards 

 and Ralphs is not quite clear ; for Clem- 

 enee Simpson, formerly wife of Ralph 

 Houghton, in 1604-5 claimed an interest 

 in the Great Scraps in AspuU ; she had 

 formerly had a writ of dower against 

 Richard Houghton, uncle to Ralph, 

 Thomas, and Anne Aspull, Christopher 

 and Margaret Kenyon ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Plead. Hil. 2 Jas. I, bdle 221. 



A 'Mr. Ralph Houghton of Kirklees' 

 was buried at Wigan 12 Aug. 1643. 



26 ' By some omission or mistake ' his es- 

 tate was in 1653 ordered to be sequestered ; 

 he had never ' acted against the State,' 

 had subscribed the engagement, but was 

 also required to take the oath of abjura- 

 tion. He was conformable, but being in- 

 firm asked for more time ; and afterwards 

 took the oath. The sequestration was dis- 

 charged in 1654; Royalist Comp. Papers 

 (Rec Soc Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 293 ; 

 Cal. of Com, for Compounding, iv, 3124. 



2^ In 1343 John de Ince, John son of 

 Henry de Tyldesley, and Robert son of 

 Robert de Hindley were charged with 

 having overthrown the house of William 

 son of Adam de Bradshagh at AspuU, and 

 shot at him; Assize R. 430, m. 18 d.2od.26. 



In 1473 Henry Bradshagh held a mes- 

 suage of the lord of Manchester, by rent 

 of zd. and zd. for ward of the castle ; 

 Mamecestre, 480. The name of William 

 Bradshagh of AspuU occurs in a list of the 

 local gentry compiled about 1512. Wil- 

 liam Bradshagh contributed to the subsidy 

 of 1541, *for j^2o in goods* ; Misc. (Rec 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 1, 143. For his 

 will see Lanes, and Ches. Wills (Rec, Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 187. 



James Bradshagh in 1568 was deforciant 

 of fourteen messuages in Aspull, Wigan, 

 Hindley, and other places j Humphrey 

 Bradshagh was one of the plaintiffs ; Pal. 

 of Lane Feet of F. bdle. 30, m. 75. Roger 

 Bradshagh was a purchaser or feoffee in 

 1583 ; ibid. bdle. 45, m. i22. He was 

 reported as * soundly affected in religion ' 

 in 1590 ; Gibson, Lydiate Hall^ 246, 



121 



Margaret Bradshagh, daughter of Roger 

 Hindley, was in 1598 found to have held 

 lands in Aspull called the Several or Inland 

 of Miles Gerard by the hundredth part 

 of a knight's fee ; and other lands of 

 Roger Hindley. Elizabeth Bradshagh, her 

 daughter and heir, was only a year old ; 

 Duchy of Lane Inq. p.m. xvii, no. 43. 



Roger Bradshagh was a freeholder in 

 1600; Misc. (Rec. Soc), i, 247. The 

 same or a later Roger contributed to the 

 subsidy of 1622 as a landowner ; ibid. 

 162. He died 17 June 1625, holding three 

 messuages and cottages and lands in Aspull 

 of Edward Mosley, as of the manor of 

 Manchester, by the tenth part of the eighth 

 part of a knight's fee ; also other mes- 

 suages and lands in Hindley ; WlUiam and 

 John were his sons by his first wife, liv- 

 ing in 1619, and Edward by his second 

 wife Ellen ; Duchy of Lane Inq. p.m. 

 xxvi, no. 52. 



There is a short pedigree of these Brad- 

 shaghs in Dugdale, Visit. 54. 



About the end of the 17th century 

 Nathaniel Molyneux had lands in the Hall 

 of Bradshaw in Aspull, Westhoughton, Sec. 



^^ The Atherton family may have de- 

 rived their holding here as also in Hindley 

 from a grant by Adam de Hindley, In each 

 township it seems to have 'descended to 

 the Lathoms of Wolfall. The evidence, 

 however, is defective. 



In 1420 Thomas de Atherton and 

 Margery his wife were deforciants of 

 eight messuages in Aspull, &c. ; Pal, of 

 Lane Feet of F. bdle. 5, m. 16. In 

 1473 Thomas Lathom of Knowsley held 

 of the lord of Manchester a messuage in 

 Aspull, in right of his wife, daughter and 

 heir of Henry Atherton of Prescot, by the 

 rent of 3;/. with 3-^. for ward of the cas- 

 tle ; Mamecestre, 481 . 



The Lathoms, as the inquisitions show, 

 held the lands here till the end of the i6th 

 century, when Thomas Lathom and 

 Frances his wife disposed of them ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Feet of F. bile. 36, m. 158, 250. 



28 Robert Law or Lowe in 1473 held a 

 messuage of the lord of Manchester, by a 

 rent of -^d. and ^d. for castle ward ; 

 Mamecestre, 481. 



2^ Alexander Rigby of Middleton In 

 Goosnargh, who died In 1621, held land in 

 Aspull of Thomas Gerard by a rent of 

 105. 8i/.; Lanes, Inq. p.m. (Ree Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), iji, 456, 458, His son, Jo- 

 seph Rigby 'of Aspull,' Parliamentarian 

 officer, to whom it had been bequeathed, 

 is named in the pedigree in Dugdale, 

 Visit. 245 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. Joseph 

 and Alexander Rigby were clerks of the 

 peace under the Commonwealth ; Pal, 

 Note Bk. iv, 144-5. The father, Major 

 Joseph Rigby was, however, accused of 

 'impeding profits,' by trying by threats to 

 secure the lands of 'papists and delin- 

 quents ' for himself under value ; Cal. of 

 Com. for Compounding 1, 37 1. The son, 

 Alexander, was said to have joined Lord 

 Derby in 165 1 ; Cal. Com. Ad'uancing 

 Money, Iii, 1455. 



S" In addition to those already named 

 Robert Pennington, Robert Gorton, Roger 

 Ryeroft, and John Ainscough were free- 



16 



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