A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



mended that a church should be built in the town- 

 ship, but nothing was done.*" 



St. Luke's Church was erected for the worship of 

 the Established Church in 1732. By the Winwick 

 Rectory Act of 1 845 it became a parish church, the 

 incumbent being rector ; the Earl of Derby is patron.'" 

 St. Mary's Church was built in l86l ; the benefice 

 is a perpetual curacy in the gift of Mrs. Leach." 



A Methodist chapel is said to have been erected in 

 1788 ;" there are now Primitive and Independent 

 Methodist chapels. 



KENYON 



Kenien, 1212 ; Kenian, 1258 ; Keynan, 1259. 

 Kenylow is at the border of Kenyon and Croft. 



This township has an area of 1,685 ' acres and 

 stretches north-west from the boundary of Newton to 

 the Carr Brook, a distance of 2^ miles. The geologi- 

 cal formation consists mainly of the Bunter series of 

 the New Red Sandstone. To the north-east of Twist 

 Green the Pebble Beds give place to the Upper 

 Mottled Sandstone of this series. The surface of the 

 country is level, with an upper soil of clay, beneath 

 which a stiffer red clay lies. Meadow lands alternate 

 with fields of potatoes and corn, and a fair number of 

 trees are sprinkled about the country. Hedges appear 

 well-grown and trimly kept. The district is deficient 

 in water-courses. The population numbered 329 in 

 1 90 1. 



The principal road is that from Lowton to Cul- 



cheth, a branch of it passing south through Kenyon 

 village. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway of 

 the London and North Western Company crosses the 

 township and has a station at Kenyon Junction, whence 

 a branch goes off to Leigh. The Great Central 

 Company's Manchester and Wigan line also passes 

 through the township. 



Pocket Nook, Diggle Green, and Broseley occupy 

 the north-east corner, Sandy Brow the south-west. 



Bricks are manufactured. 



The bronze tongue of a Roman fibula was found 

 here.' There is a Bronze-age barrow.' 



KENTON was originally part of 

 MJNOR Lowton, but about the end of the reign 

 of Henry III William de Lawton granted 

 to his son Jordan ' the whole vill of Kenyon,' at the 

 rent of id. a. year or a pair of white gloves.* This 

 was confirmed shortly afterwards by Robert, lord of 

 Lowton, son of William.' Jordan de Kenyon lived 

 on until about 1300,' when he was succeeded by his 

 son />dam.' This Adam, who was living in 1330, 

 was followed regularly by a son ' and grandson of 

 the same name. The third Adam de Kenyon came 

 into his inheritance about 1 346, when a number of 

 settlements were made.' Three years later his son 

 John was contracted in marriage to Joan daughter 

 of Gilbert de Southworth," but probably died soon 

 afterwards, as the manor descended with Adam's 

 daughter Amery, who in 1358 was married to 

 Richard son of Thurstan de Holland of Denton." 

 Subsequently it descended," like Denton, Heaton, and 



**o Common'wealth Cb, Surv, (Rec, Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 49. 



■" Raines in Notitia Ceslr. (Chet. Soc), 

 ii, 262. 



'^^ A district was assigned in 1862; 

 LonJ. Gaz. 7 Jan. 1862. 



*^ Baines, Lana. (ed. 1836), iii, 635. 



^ 1,686, including 4 of inland water ; 

 Census Rep. 1901. 



2 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc, x, 250. 



^ Ibid, xxi, 120. 



< Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 145/181, &c., 

 contains a collection of the Holland of 

 Denton family deeds. The charter re- 

 ferred to is on fol. 146^/182^ ; * R. rector 

 of Winwick' was one of the witnesses. 



s Ibid. fol. 147/183. 



^In 1256 Jordan de Kenyon gave half a 

 mark for an assize taken before P. de 

 Percy; Orig. 42 Hen, III, m. 11. He 

 was therefore in possession of Kenyon by 

 that time. Two years later he and 

 Robert de Lawton and Hugh de Hindley 

 were defendants in a suit by Roger de 

 Twiss, who complained that they had de- 

 stroyed his chattels in Kenyon and Cul- 

 cheth ; Cur. Reg. R. 160, m. 6 ; 162, 

 m. 6 d. 



In 1276 Agnes widow of Henry de 

 Hindley claimed common of pasture in 

 Kenyon from Jordan de Kenyon and from 

 William de Sankey and Robert his son, an 

 approvement from the waste having been 

 made ; but the jury found she had suffi- 

 cient ; Assize R. 405, m. 1 d. 



In 1287 Jordan de Kenyon came to an 

 agreement with Gilbert de Southworth 

 respecting the bounds of the waste between 

 Kenyon and Croft; Harl. MS. 2112, 

 fol. 158^/194^. In 1292 he was plaintiff 

 in several cases (Assize R. 408, m. 42, 

 26 d. 36), and defendant in 1295 ; Assize 

 R. 1306, m. 15. 



To Richard his son and his heirs he 

 granted a piece of land in Kenyon, 

 together with another piece formerly held 



by another son, Hugh, and the rent of 

 Robert de Woodhouse ; Harl. MS. 2112, 

 fol. 158^/194^ and fol. 160/196. John 

 de Mosley, rector of Winwick, was 

 one of the witnesses, so that the grant 

 was before 1306. This Richard, men- 

 tioned with his father in the plea of 1295, 

 was probably the father of the Jordan son 

 of Richard de Kenyon of later deeds^ 

 1324 and 1347 ; ibid. fol. 157A/1934, 

 155/191 ; also Assize R. 425, m. 4. 



Hugh and Roger sons of Jordan de 

 Kenyon occur among witnesses to 

 charters about 1300 ;Towneley MS. GG, 

 no. 998, 1 1 19. 



7 Adam de Kenyon received a grant of 

 land in Lowton in the time of his father 

 Jordan; Harl. MS. 2112, foL 151/187. 

 He married Godith daughter of Richard 

 son of Stephen de Lawton ; Culcheth D. 

 {Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and Gen. Notes, i), 

 no. 3, 1 5. Her father had a grant of lands 

 in Lowton from Robert Banastre ; Harl. 

 MS. 21 12, fol. 147/183. Adam occurs in 

 various ways down to 1330, when as lord 

 of Kenyon he granted a rent-charge of 

 ^40 sterling to Adam the son of his son 

 Adam and heirs by Maud daughter of 

 Robert de Hesketh ; ibid. fol. 155/191. 

 Jordan his son is named in the deed and 

 in Assize R. 1435, m. 47. His daughter 

 Godith married Richard de Abram in 

 1324; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 159/195; 

 151/187. 



8 In 1344 Gilbert de Culcheth senior 

 received from Adam de Kenyon senior, 

 Adam son and heir of Adam de Kenyon 

 senior, Jordan de Kenyon, and others, 

 j^io in part payment of ^100 ; ibid. fol. 

 '53/'^9- A similar receipt in 1346 names 

 only one Adam de Kenyon ; ibid. fol. 

 1514/187*. 



' Margery widow of Adam de Kenyon 

 in 1346 gave to Adam her son two-thirds 

 of the manor of Kenyon ; ibid. fol. 

 151/187. In the following year Adam de 



154 



Kenyon granted to trustees the manor of 

 Kenyon with wards, reliefs, and escheats ; 

 also the reversion of the lands held by hia 

 mother Margaret in dower, and by Jordan 

 de Kenyon for life ; ibid. fol. 155/191, 



Margaret widow of Adam de Kenyon 

 was in 1356 summoned to answer the 

 younger Adam concerning waste he 

 alleged she had caused or allowed in her 

 dower lands in Kenyon and Lowton. She 

 had pulled down a hall and sold the 

 timber to the value of 1001., two chambers 

 each worth 401., <&c.; had made pits and 

 taken marl and clay, and sold it to the 

 value of 60J,; had cut down eight oaks in 

 the wood, each worth half a mark, and 

 apple trees and pear trees in the gardens 

 worth 2s. each. Margaret denied the 

 accusation, and said that a grange and ox- 

 house had fallen down through old age, 

 and she had taken an oak 'for repairs ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5, m, 7 d. 



In 1347 also John, Jordan, and Hugh, 

 sons of Adam de Kenyon senior, recovered 

 their annuities from Adam de Kenyon, 

 Maud his wife, and their son John ; 

 Assize R. 1435, m. 14, i4d, 16. The 

 first of these claimants, John, was a 

 priest, and in the pleas just cited is called 

 'son and heir' of the elder Adam (m. 

 14) ; he was afterwards trustee for his 

 brother ; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. i5oi/i86A. 

 Jordan de Kenyon and his wife Amery, 

 Hugh de Kenyon and his wife Alice, are 

 mentioned in 1353 ; Assize R. 435, m. 

 18 d ; zo. 



l» Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 155/191. 



" Ibid. fol. 1474/183A, 151/187. 



1^ Richard de Holland died in 1402 

 seised of the manor of Kenyon as of the 

 right of Amery his wife ; it was held of 

 the lord of Makerfield by knight's service 

 and a rent of 45.; Thurstan his son and 

 heir was over thirty years of age ; Towne- 

 ley MS. DD, no. 1461. In later inquisi 

 tions the tenure is described as socage. 



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