WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WINWICK 



recorded in 1664.'^* The landowners contributing 

 to the subsidy about 1556 were William Bretherton, 

 John Maddock, William Serjeant, and Richard Wood." 

 In 1600 the resident freeholders were given as Wil- 

 I liam Green, John Maddock, Philip Mainwaring, 

 George Sorocold, John Tunstall, and Roger Wood.** 

 The landowning contributors to the subsidy of 1628 

 were John Bretherton, the wife of James Eden, Wil- 

 liam Morris, James Maddock, and Thomas Serjeant.'* 

 To the land tax in 1787 the chief contributors were 

 Peter Legh, — Brotherton, William Bankes, and — 

 Blackburne. 



Some of the inhabitants had their estates sequestered 

 by the Commonwealth authorities.''* 



Among various place-names occurring in the charters 

 may be recorded Apshaw, Heald, Kirkacre, and 

 Pipersfield. 



At an early date a borough was 



BOROUGH created, but the charter does not seem 



to have been preserved. The typical 



burgage consisted of a house with its toft, and an acre of 

 land ; a small rent was payable.'^ From 1559 to 183Z 

 it returned two members of Parliament ; the electors, 

 according to a decision in 1797, were the freemen or 

 burgesses, that is any persons * seised of a corporeal estate 

 of freehold in any house, building or lands within the 

 borough of the value of 40J. a year and upwards' ; 

 in the case of a joint tenancy only one person could 

 vote.'^ In practice Newton was a close borough, the 

 members being nominees of the lord of the manor, 



A market and two fairs were in 1301 granted by 

 Edward I to John de Langton ; the market was to be 

 held every Saturday, and the fairs on the eve, day, 

 and morrow of St. John ante Portam Latinam (6 May) 

 and of St. Germain (31 July).'® 



Although in 1066 'the church of the 

 CHURCH manor' was at Wigan, about 6 miles to the 

 north, there may have been also a domes- 

 tic chapel at the royal manor house. In the early 

 part of the reign of Edward I, Robert Banastre, lord 



his son William, twenty-five years of age ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, no. 27. 

 This William is said to have died about 

 1 640 J Visit. 



His son John succeeded. He was over 

 seventy years of age in 1664, and married 

 in 1620 Isabel daughter of Roger Nowell 

 of Read and widow of John Byrom ; 

 Grappenhall Reg. Their son John was 

 baptized at Winwick 30 Jan. 1622-3. 

 At the beginning of the Civil War, John 

 Bretherton, ' to free himself from the as- 

 saults and troubles put upon him by the 

 Earl of Derby and his agents, left Lan- 

 cashire and retired into Wales — then the 

 king*s quarters 5 for which his estate was 

 sequestrated.* He wished to go to Lon- 

 don to protest against this, but was ad- 

 vised to compound, and this he did in 

 1646 at a rental of £^$0. Afterwards the 

 Commonwealth authorities were told that 

 he had greatly undervalued his estate for 

 the composition, and a new sequestration 

 was ordered. He had taken the negative 

 oath and the National covenant ; Royalist 

 Comp. Papers, i, 237-9. ^^ made a 

 settlement of the manor of Hey, and lands 

 in Newton, Westhoughton, and Hindley, 

 in 1654; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 156, m. J42. He was buried 7 Sept. 

 1 67 1, at Winwick, and his eldest son 

 having died in the previous May, the heir 

 was the grandson John, aged eleven in 

 1664. John the grandfather had a son 

 Edward, who resided in Newton, and was 

 buried in 17IX ; the baptisms of several 

 children were recorded in the Winwick 

 registers. 



John Bretherton, the heir, died in 1679 

 and was buried at Winwick, the estate 

 passing to his brother Thomas, aged seven 

 in 1664. Thomas, who seems to have 

 changed the spelling of the surname to 

 Brotherton, was a barrister of Gray's Inn; 

 and in 1693 at Gray's Inn Chapel he 

 married Margaret Gunter of Aldbourne, 

 Wilts. ; Mge. Alleg. Abp, Cant. (Harl. 

 Soc), 259. In a fine concerning Hey in 

 Aug. 1693, Thomas Brotherton, esq. was 

 deforciant, and Thomas Gunter, esq. was 

 plaintiff ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 231, m. 62. Thomas Brotherton was 

 one of the Tory members for Newton, 

 from 1695 till 1701. He died in Lon- 

 don II Jan, 1701— 2, and was buried at 

 Winwick; Pink and Beaven, Pari. Repre, 

 of Lanes. 285 ; Winwick Reg. There is 

 a monument to him in the church. 



His successor was Thomas Brotherton, 



no doubt his son, who died in London, 

 aged sixty, and was buried at Winwick 

 I Sept. 1757. He was vouchee in a 

 recovery of the manor of Hey in 1722 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 514, m. 4. He 

 seems to have had a son Thomas, de- 

 scribed as * of the island of Antigua,' 

 whose son William Browne Brotherton 

 entered Christ Church, Oxford, in 1772, 

 at the age of seventeen ; Foster, Alumni. 

 W. B. Brotherton succeeded to the manor 

 of Hey, but was dead in 1828, when the 

 Charity inquiry was held, Thomas Wil- 

 liam Brotherton, perhaps the father, was 

 in possession in 1803 ; and W, B. Bro- 

 therton and his wife and Thomas William 

 Browne Brotherton were vouchees in 

 1812 ; Pal. of Lane. Lent Assizes 1803, 

 R. 19; Lent Assizes 1812, R. 11. The 

 estate was sold about 1820 to the Leghs. 



One of the Brothertons gave ^^50 to 

 the poor. 



81a Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 56. 



82 Mascy of Rixton D. 



The Chorley family also held some 

 property about this time. They had it 

 before 1371 ; Final Cone, ii, 182, Two 

 charters of 1389 and 141 2 may be seen in 

 Harl. MS. 21 12, foL 44, 50. The estate 

 was described as a messuage and an acre 

 of land, held of the lord of Newton by the 

 rent of a peppercorn ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Inq. p.m. vi, no. 17 ; xiv, no. 58. 



Ralph Eccleston of Eccleston, who died 

 in 1522, held * the manors of Lowton and 

 Newton ' of Thomas Langton in socage by 

 the rent of 351. ; Duchy of Lane, Inq. 

 p.m. T, no. 46. The Eccleston lands were 

 sold to Sir Peter Legh and others about 

 forty years later ; Pal. of Lane, Feet of 

 F. bdle. 27, m. 118, 133. 



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

 240-3. Roger Wood, 'yeoman,* died 10 

 Aug. 1608, holding house and land of 

 the king as Duke of Lancaster, by knight's 

 service ; Richard Wood, gentleman, his 

 son and heir, was forty years of age ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soe. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 131. 



84 Norris D. (B.M.). 



James Eden died 26 Oct. 1625 (?), 

 leaving a son and heir Gilbert, aged seven- 

 teen years ; hia land was held of the king 

 as of the manor of East Greenwich ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, no. 80, 



Ralph Morris purchased land in New- 

 ton of Geoffrey Osbaldeston in 1594; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 56, m. 151. 

 He died 10 Mar. 1607-8, holding his 



135 



lands of Richard Fleetwood in socage by 

 5^. %d. rent ; William Morris, his son and 

 heir, was aged thirty-seven and more ; 

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

 Ches.), i, 119. 



James Maddock had a messuage in 

 Newton in 1588 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdle. 50, m. 42. John Maddock, who 

 died in 1617, held two messuages, &c., of 

 Sir Richard Fleetwood ; James the son 

 and heir was forty-seven years of age 5 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, no. 75. 



8» Besides John Bretherton, Charles 

 Baxter and James Collier had their pro- 

 perty sequestrated for participation in * the 

 former war,' the latter pleading his * sub- 

 servience ' to the Earl of Derby ; Royalist 

 Comp. Papers, i, 55 ; ii, 72. Henry Ge- 

 rard, an infant of three years, was penalized 

 for the recusancy of his mother ; it was 

 explained that he was ' being brought up 

 in the Protestant religion' ; ibid, iii, 19, 

 20. For his further history see the ac- 

 count of Bamfurlong in Abram, 



86 John son of William de Abram 

 granted to William son of Richard de 

 Blackburne a burgage and an acre of land 

 appertaining to the said burgage, rendering 

 2.d. to the lord of Newton ; Raines, 

 loc. cit. 115, Matthew de Haydock 

 granted to Amery daughter of Thurstan 

 de Walton and to Margaret his wife two 

 burgages, with the acres, tofts, and mes- 

 suages belonging to them, which he had 

 had from Robert the reeve at a rent of 31., 

 to the grantor; ibid. 117. Felicia de 

 Newton, daughter of Robert de Kenyon, 

 granted Matthew de Haydock a burgage 

 with I acre belonging to it; ibid. 119. 

 There are numerous other grants to the 

 same effect, but the services due to the 

 chief lord are not described. 



The borough has no arms, but uses a 

 seal bearing the crest of Leigh, 



87 Pink and Beayen,Parl.Repre. of Lanes. 

 273, 274. The lord of the manor or one 

 of his family was usually a member. All 

 were Tories. 



William Shippen, one of the members 

 from 171 5 till his death in 1743, was the 

 recognized leader of the Jacobite party in 

 the House, and 'was esteemed a great 

 patriot.' He was sent to the Tower in 

 1 71 7, It appears, however, that Walpole 

 found means to utilize him ; Pink and 

 Beaven, op. cit. 287 ; Gregson, Fragments 

 (ed. Harland), 286 ; Baines, Lanes. Dir, 



1825, ii, 433- 



88 Chart. R. 94, 29 Edw. I, m. 1 2, 45 n. 



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