A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The last was followed by his brothers Thomas and 

 Robert Cansfield ; the latter, who died in 1784, had 

 sons, Robert Clifton,*' and William who succeeded ; 

 a younger son John, drowned at Southport in 1822," 

 was father of Sir John Gerard, who succeeded his 

 uncle William in 1826, and held the manors of 

 Ashton and Windle for nearly twenty-eight years. 

 His heir was his brother, Robert Tolver, created 

 Baron Gerard of Brynn in 1876. He has been fol- 

 lowed by his son William Cansfield and his grandson 

 Frederick John, second and third lords. The latter, 

 who succeeded to the title and estates in 1902, on 

 the death of his father, came of age in 1 904. 



In 1836 courts leet and baron were held twice a 

 year ; " but they seem to have been discontinued. 



A description of Brynn Hall, as it existed near the 

 end of the 18th century, is given in Baines's Lanca- 

 shire.^ 



The third part of the manor held in 1 2 12 by 

 Henry son of Roger cannot be traced for some time. 

 It became the possession of the 

 Athertons of Atherton,™ who 

 held it down to the middle of 

 the 1 6th century, when it was 

 sold to the Gerards of Brynn " 

 as above stated. 



The only landowner con- 

 tributing to the subsidy in 

 Mary's reign was Sir Thomas 

 Gerard ; °' but the following 

 freeholders were recorded in 

 1600 : Sir Thomas Gerard 

 of Brynn, Thomas Gerard 

 of Garswood, James Ashton, 

 Edward Knowles, James Richardson, William Slyne 

 head, and William Stanley; *' some other names occur.* 



Atherton of Ather- 

 ton. Gules three spar- 

 roiv-haivks argent. 



^ A short notice of him is printed in 

 Pal. Note Bk. iv, 57. 



^7 He was described as of Windle Hall. 

 For an account of the accident see Bland, 

 Ann. of Southport, 79. 



^ Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 639. 



s' Ibid, iii, 637 ; it is by Barritt, the 

 Manchester antiquary. 



^ The earliest record is in 1302, when 

 Hugh de Atherton claimed reasonable 

 estovers in Ashton, with heybote, house- 

 bote, &c., against Alan son of Peter de 

 Burnhull, William de Atherton, and Jor- 

 dan the Woodward. Thus William de 

 Atherton appears to have been then the 

 lord of a third ; Assize R. 41 S, m. 4. 

 Alan de BurnhuU in 1 3 1 3 claimed William 

 and Hugh de Atherton, Hugh Spark, 

 Henry Tootell and others as suitors at 

 his mill ; De Banco R. 1 99, m. 1 34 d. 



Hugh de Atherton was a brother of 

 William's; Culcheth D. nos. 35, 44 (in 

 Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and Gen. Notes, 

 i). Hugh had a son Henry who may be 

 the Henry de Atherton of Aintree in 

 1332 ; his daughter Joan married Robert 

 de Nevill of Hornby, who in 1346 claimed 

 Hugh de Atherton's lands in Ashton and 

 elsewhere ; De Banco R. 345, m. 393 d.; 

 346, m. 349. The claim was no doubt 

 successful as lands were held here by Lord 

 Mounteagle in the time of Henry VIII 

 as of the inheritance of James Harring- 

 ton ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, no. 64, 

 xi, no. 1. They were sold, as already 

 stated, to Sir Thomas Gerard in 1574. 

 The Molyneux lands in Ashton may have 

 been part of the inheritance ; ibid, xiii. 



Various suits are on record involving 

 the principal Atherton family. In 1332 

 Hugh de Atherton claimed common of 

 pasture in Ashton against Henry son of 

 William de Atherton and others ; Hugh 

 de Atherton the younger and Henry his 

 brother were sureties; Assize R. 141 1, 

 m. 12 d. At the same time Hugh de 

 Atherton charged Alexander de Atherton 

 with carrying off his goods ; De Banco R. 

 292, m. 23 id. In 1346 Henry son of 

 William de Atherton made a claim for 

 waste against Alexander de Atherton ; 

 Agnes de Atherton was the lessee ; De 

 Banco R. 348, m. 427 d. She may be 

 the Agnes, widow of Henry de Atherton, 

 who contributed to the subsidy of 1332 ; 

 Excb. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 18. Hugh de Atherton in 1347 

 flucceeded in a claim against Adam son 

 of William de Atherton; Assize R. 1435, 

 m. 41 d. This Adam de Atherton who 

 was a chaplain, was in 1352 and 1353 a 



plaintiff; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2, 

 m. 4 d. ; R, 435, m. 28 d. (where a long 

 list of tenants is given). 



In 1367 Ralph de Langton claimed 

 from Sir William de Atherton a certain 

 rent in Ashton in Makerfield due to the 

 lord of Newton, from a third part of the 

 wood and pasture called Garswood within 

 the demesne of the manor of Newton. 

 This rent had been granted in 1331 by 

 Henry son of William de Atherton, and 

 father of the defendant. The latter said 

 that William his grandfather had held the 

 third part, and so settled it that Henry, 

 when the charter was made, had nothing 

 except fee tail only ; De Banco R, 438, 



A later Sir William de Atherton died 

 in 1414 seised, among other estates, of a 

 third part of the manor of Ashton, held 

 of Henry de Langton by fealty and the 

 service of 2 marks a year ; its clear 

 value was 40 marks ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Chet. Soc.), i, 107. The increase of the 

 rent from los. to 26j. %d. may be ac- 

 counted for by the statements in the pre- 

 ceding case. 



The manor is named in 1443 in a set- 

 tlement by William son of Sir William 

 Atherton on marrymg Isabel daughter of 

 Richard Balderston ; Towneley MS, C, 8, 

 5 (Chet, Lib.), Hen, VI, no. 43, Isabel 

 was a widow in 1479 ; ibid, Edw, IV, 

 no, 14, 



John Atherton of Atherton, who died 

 In 1488, made various provisions for his 

 illegitimate children from his manor of 

 Garswood and lands in Ashton ; at the 

 inquisition taken in 1507 it was stated 

 that the manor was held by fealty only, 

 and the lands by a rent of 261, 8*^, ; Duchy 

 of Lane, Inq, p,m, iii, no, 39, For the 

 settlements alluded to see also Dods. MSS. 

 Iviii, fol. 1 64^, no. 9 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea 

 R. 33, m. 7, 7 d,, where it is stated that 

 Thomas Harrington of Hornby, Thomas 

 Totehill, and John Standish had paid 

 rents to Sir William Atherton, A similar 

 statement as to the tenure of the manor 

 of Garswood and the lands in Ashton is 

 made in the inquisition taken in 1518 

 after the death of George Atherton, son 

 of John ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. t, 

 no, 12. 



Thomas Hesketh of Rufford, who died 

 in 1523, held lands of John Atherton, 

 son of George, by fealty and a rent of 

 zod.; ibid, v, no. 16. Peter Gerard of 

 Aughton, who died in 1528, held lands 

 in Ashton of the same John Atherton 

 in socage by the rent of 131.; ibid, vi, 

 no. 58. 



146 



*' In 1562 Sir John Atherton and 

 Margaret his wife sold the manor of Gars- 

 wood and messuages, lands, windmill, and 

 rents in Ashton to Sir Thomas Gerard ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 24, m. 89 ; 

 also Plea R. 211, m. 5, reciting a feoff- 

 ment and recovery. 



In 1554 Sir John Gerard — an error for 

 Sir John Atherton or Sir Thomas Gerard 

 — declared that he was the owner of * the 

 manor or chief mease place called Gars- 

 wood in Ashton in Makerfteld, and cer- 

 tain lands, meadows, and tenements, with 

 the windmill in the town of Ashton.' 

 This was in reply to a complaint by Jane 

 Taylor, widow of Thomas Taylor, who 

 had in 1539 obtained a lease from John 

 Atherton, then lord of Garswood, of cer- 

 tain tenements there, from which she had 

 been in part ejected by John Gerard and 

 his sons John and Thomas ; Duchy Plead, 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 165 ; 

 compare Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 

 249, 272, 282, 289, This John Gerard 

 and his wife Anne, and his son John and 

 wife Ellen, occur in a Gerard fine of 1599; 

 Pal, of Lane, Feet of F, bdle. 53, m, 304. 



«2 Mascy of Rixton D. 



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

 i, 239, 240, 243. 



John Ashton in 1561 purchased the 

 lands of Lionel Gerard of Aughton and 

 Miles his son and heir ; Pal. of Lane, 

 Feet of F. bdle 23, m. 104, James 

 Ashton purchased a messuage and lands 

 from Thomas Gerard in 1594; ibid, 

 bdle. 56, m. 126. In the same year a 

 child of ' Mr. John Ashton of Ashton ' 

 was baptized at Winwick. 



William Slynchead purchased a mes- 

 suage, ic, from Henry Lathom in 1579 ; 

 ibid, bdle, 41, m. 38. 



In a settlement of land in Ashton 

 made by Sir Thomas Gerard in 1586, is 

 a lease of it to Richard Stanley for the 

 life of his brother William's second son 

 Thomas Stanley, at a rent of 301. j ibid, 

 bdle. 48, m. 262. 



James Downall of Ashton occurs in 

 1549 ; Ducatus (Rec. Com,), ii, 99. 



" Ralph Hasleden died in 1636 hold- 

 ing a messuage, &c., of Sir Richard Fleet- 

 wood as of his manor of Makerfield, and 

 leaving a son and heir Thomas, fifty years 

 of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, 

 no. 67. 



David son of Lawrence Pendlebury 

 died in 1640 holding a messuage, &c,, 

 of Sir William Gerard as of his manor of 

 Ashton by suit of court and a rent of 141/, ; 

 Robert, his son and heir, was twenty- 

 three years of age ; ibid, xxix, no. 72. 



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