WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



Alice. The union was not permanent, for in 1536 

 Alice sought a divorce on the ground that her pre- 

 vious husband, Thomas Stanley, was still living, and 

 her plea being successful, her son Thomas Risley was 

 declared illegitimate, and the manor of Risley and 

 other estates were in 1543 

 adjudged to be the right of 

 John, the younger brother of 

 Richard." 



John Risley and his de- 

 scendants held the manor from 

 this time." His son John" 

 had ' conformed ' to the estab- 

 lished religion before 1590, 

 and was then reported to be 

 'soundly affected' in the mat- 

 ter.'* The family do not 

 appear to have taken any 

 prominent part in public af- 

 fairs, °' and Captain John Risley, who died in 1702, 

 without issue,'* was succeeded by his uncle Thomas, 

 and he by his sister Elizabeth, wife of Hamlet 

 Woods of Risley. She died in 1736 ; the manor 

 was acquired by the Blackburnes and descended with 

 Orford and Hale until about 1850, when it was 

 sold to Richard Watson Marshall Dewhurst, at whose 

 death it was sold to — Ainscough. 



RisLKY of Risley. Ar- 

 gent three antique drink- 

 ing-horns tvith legs azure. 



WINWICK 



An agreement for inclosing and dividing the com- 

 mons and waste grounds in Culcheth was made in 

 1749 and confirmed next year by a private Act 

 of Parliament." The lords of the manors were 

 Richard Stanley of Culcheth, Sir Thomas Standish of 

 Peasfurlong, John Blackburne of Risley, and James 

 Tyldesley of Holcroft.*' 



The estate of HURST, sometimes called a manor, 

 was for a long period held by a branch of the Hol- 

 croft family." Geoffrey Holcroft in 1577 made a 

 settlement of his ' manor ' called Hurst and lands in 

 Culcheth."" He died in or before 1591, holding 

 Hurst and other lands of John Culcheth by a rent of 

 2s. His son and heir was Geoffrey."" A settlement 

 of the ' manor ' was made by Geoffrey Holcroft in 

 1613.™ Thomas Holcroft son of Geoffrey died 

 31 March 1637, holding the Hurst, a water-mill, and 

 lands in Culcheth of John Culcheth ; also lands in 

 Bedford, Pennington, and Kenyon ; Geoffrey his son 

 and heir was twenty-three years of age."" 



KINGNJLL or Kinknall was another quasi-mano- 

 rial estate, which in the 1 6th and 1 7th centuries was 

 the seat of an Urmston family. William Urmston 

 died in 1600, holding the capital messuage and lands 

 of John Culcheth by the hundredth part of a knight's 

 fee. Richard his son and heir was ten years old.'" 



Some minor families occur in early times, deriving 



pute between him and John Ashton as to 

 the lands in Fenketh had been settled in 

 1513 by an agreement to pay the free 

 rent of i zd., all arrears being released ; 

 Hale D. 



91 Hale D.; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), 

 ii, 67. The dispossessed Thomas may be 

 the Thomas Risley who in 1566 claimed 

 lands in Culcheth by grant of Richard 

 Risley ; Ducatus (Rec. Com.), ii, 331. 



^ He made a feoffment of his estates 

 in 1556, expressing a wish that his son 

 and heir John should marry Magdalen 

 daughter of John Grimsditch ; Hale D. 



9* John, the son and heir of John 

 Risley, was in possession of the manor in 

 1567, when he had a dispute with 

 Richard Byrom and Margaret his wife, 

 widow of John Risley ; Ducatus (Rec. 

 Com.), ii, 351; iii, 47. In 1588 he 

 charged John Culcheth and Gilbert 

 Unsworth with encroachments on the 

 waste grounds called Southwood, West- 

 wood, Twiss Green, Shaw Moss, Riggs 

 and Fowley ; ibid, iii, 513. 



He died 24 April 1616, his son and 

 heir Richard being then forty years of 

 age. Besides Risley Hall he had lands 

 and burgages in Culcheth, Warrington, 

 Penketh, Lowton, Kenyon, and Croft ; 

 also an acre in the Twiss or Lockers 

 meadow in Bruch. In 1593 he had 

 settled his lands with remainders to his 

 eldest son Richard and heirs by Anne his 

 wife, and to his younger sons Henry and 

 George, and then to his brother Richard. 

 From the Inq. p.m. among the Hale D. 



^* Lydiate Hall, 245 ; quoting S.P.Dom. 

 Eliz. ccxxxv, 4. 



'* A pedigree was recorded in 1665 at 

 Dugdale's Fisitatim (Chet. Soc. p. 246). 

 There is a full one by Mr. J. P. Rylands, 

 in Misc. Gen, and Herald, (new sen), ii, 

 273. 



Richard Risley in 1631 paid j^io on 

 refusing knighthood ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.}, i, 213. 



'' His monument (a brass) was formerly 

 in Winwick Church, and being found 

 among the Risley deeds was restored to 



the church by the late Colonel Ireland 

 Blackburne about i88o ; see Beamont, 

 P^iniuick, 123. The funeral sermon by 

 Zachary Taylor is extant ; Local Glean. 

 Lanes, and Ches. i, 130. He was educated 

 at Christ's College, Cambridge. By his 

 will he left ;^2oo to build almshouses for 

 the poor of Risley. 



'7 23 Geo. II, cap. 32. Wigshaw was 

 owned, like Risley, by John Blackburne 

 of Orford. 



The commons were Fowley and Twiss 

 Green (otherwise Higher and Lower 

 Twist). Power was reserved to the 

 owner of Culcheth Hall to turn the 

 brook on Twiss Green to the moat of the 

 hall at his pleasure, as had been the 

 custom. 



38 Richard Stanley had been adjudged a 

 lunatic ; his sister and heir apparent, 

 Meliora, wife of William Dicconson, had 

 charge of his estate, and John Chadwick 

 of his person. 



" For a full account of the family see 

 Mr. Rylands' work already cited. 



John de Holcroft attested a Culcheth 

 deed in 1355 ; no. 58. 



Katherine widow of John de Holcroft 

 in 140 1 claimed dower in the manor of 

 Hurst against Ralph de Holcroft ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Plea R. i, m. 26i. 



Ralph de Holcroft occurs in 1443 and 

 later ; ibid. R. 5, m. 2!). 



In a plea roll of the time of Edw. IV, 

 Bartholomew son of Ralph Holcroft, and 

 John his brother, were charged with hav- 

 ing damaged the corn of John Sweetlove; 

 ibid. R. 21, m. 24. 



In 1498 Henry Holcroft claimed from 

 Bartholomew Holcroft a fourth part of 

 the manor of Culcheth, except three mes- 

 suages, &c., by inheritance, alleging the 

 following pedigree : Adam de Holcroft -s. 

 Hugh -8. Ralph -s. John -s, Henry (plain- 

 tiff). The defendant called to warrant 

 him George son and heir of John Ather- 

 ton, a minor ; ibid. R. 85, m. i d. If 

 this descent be correct the Adam de Hol- 

 croft named cannot be the common 

 ancestor of the Holcrofts. 



Bartholomew Holcroft in 1506 ac- 

 knowledged that he held his lands of the 

 lord of Warrington by knight's service 

 and did homage and fealty at Bewsey ; 

 Misc. (Rec. Soc, Lanes, and Ches.), i, 18, 

 In 1509 he paid 135. ^.d. as relief; ibid. 

 22. Ralph Holcroft his son and heir 

 paid the same relief in 1513 on succeed- 

 ing ; but, dying before he did homage, 

 was followed by his brother Richard, who 

 in Dec. 1 5 14 paid 135. 4^/. as relief, and 

 did homage soon afterwards ; ibid. 28, 30. 



"0 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 39, 

 m. 10. 



101 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, no. 18, 

 With this Geoffrey begins the pedigree 

 recorded in 1664; Dugdale, Visitation 

 (Chet. Soc), 145. 



l»2 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 83, 

 m. 27. 



103 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxix, no. 

 4 ; the accounts of his executors are 

 printed in Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Notes, 

 ii, 87. 



In 1654-5 Geoffrey Holcroft and 

 Elizabeth his wife made a settlement of 

 the manor of Hurst and their other lands; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 155, m. 

 137. This Elizabeth was daughter of 

 William Spakeman or Speakman, whose 

 family held lands in Culcheth and neigh- 

 bouring townships ; see Lanes, and Ches. 

 Hist, and Gen. Notes, ii, 33, where two 

 inquisitions are printed. 



Geoffrey Holcroft was succeeded by a 

 son and grandson, both named Thomas. 



Hurst seems afterwards to have become 

 the property of the Crooks of Abram, 

 for in 1760 it was the subject of a settle- 

 ment between the heirs of that family ; 

 Sir Samuel Duckinfield was plaintiff in 

 the fine, and Isaac Worthington and Eliza- 

 beth his wife, James Andrews and Susan 

 his wife, James Darbishire and Anne his 

 wife, were deforciants ; Pal, of Lane 

 Feet of F. bdle. 364, m, 130, 



!"< Duchy of Lane, Inq. p.m. xviii, no. 

 18. John Urmston of Kinknall is mca- 

 ti(?ned in 1624; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. 

 Soc, Lanes, and Ches,), iii, 433. 



163 



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