SALFORD HUNDRED 



MANCHESTER 



his lands ; but one son, Robert, who appears to have 

 been the eldest, afterwards surrendered all his rights 

 to his brother Richard," and it was this Richard who 

 had a grant of the king's moiety of Failsworth. 

 Richard de Byron's name occurs as early as 1 203 ;*' 

 several grants by and to him are known." 



The next known"' in possession of Clayton was John 

 de Byron, later a knight, who appears all through the 

 latter part of the 13 th century." He was son of 

 Richard,*' probably a second bearer of the name. 

 Sir John married Joan, with whom he had lands 



in the parish of Rochdale."' He acquired also 

 the estate of Royton." He and his wife Joan 

 were still living in 1298." He had a son John." 

 Sir John de Byron died before Easter, 131 8," and 

 his widow Alice afterwards married John de Strick- 

 land." Sir Richard, son of Sir John, succeeded ; in 

 1308 he had obtained a grant of free warren for his 

 demesne lands of Clayton, Butterworth, Royton, and 

 other manors ; " by his wife Agnes he had sons, James 

 and John,'* and he died about 1 347. Sir James, the 

 succeeding lord of Clayton, who died about five years 



Robert the elder), in 1213 claimed dower 

 against Gilbert de Notton ; Curia Regis 

 R. 59, m. 3. There was perhaps some 

 dispute as to the bounds of their moieties 

 of Failsworth. 



Geoffrey de Byron and his descendants 

 appear in connexion with Eccles during 

 the 13th century. In a deed of not much 

 later than izoo there appear among the 

 witnesses Robert de Bur' and Geoffrey his 

 brother ; Hulme D. no. x. 



Another branch of the family a little 

 later had an interest in Melling and other 

 manors in West Derby Hundred. 



22 The Byron Chartulary, usually called 

 the 'Black Book of Clayton,' was com- 

 piled about 1450, and seems to be the 

 MS. now in the Bodleian Library, Raw- 

 linson B. 460. A transcript of it, re- 

 arranged by Christopher Towneley in 

 1665, in the possession of W. Farrer, is 

 that quoted in the following notes. The 

 charters preserved in it relate mostly to 

 Butterworth and other lands in Rochdale. 



Robert de Byron released to Richard 

 his brother his whole right and claim in 

 Clayton, Failsworth, and Droylsden, 

 Richard paying 30 marks; Byron Chartul. 

 no. 3/1 1. He further released to Richard 

 ' the whole vill of Droylsden, to wit, that 

 which I hold of him and the homage and 

 service of Jordan Ruffus,' in return for 22 

 marks ; ibid. no. 24/4. The said Jordan 

 Ruffiis (le Rous) granted to Richard de 

 Byron the site of a mill ; ibid. no. 25/5. 



A Robert de Byron occurs a little later 

 in Ashton charters ; possibly he was the 

 brother of Richard. 



^ Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 167. 



»• William de Notton, Alward de 

 Awnley, and William de Wemeth demised 

 to Richard de Byron their claim to a 

 parcel of waste near the Redebrook, and 

 another ; in future there should be free 

 common up Harestoneshurst syke to the 

 higher part of Bradley, and up Bradley 

 syke between Wrigley and Bradley to 

 Mossbrook ; also in the higher moiety of 

 Bradley ; Byron Chartul. no. 22/29. The 

 date is earlier than 1 220 ; among the 

 witnesses were Robert and Geoifrey de 

 Byron. The land was apparently near 

 the north-east corner of Failsworth. 



A supplementary grant, by Thomas son 

 of Orm de Ashton, of the moiety of the 

 land between Red Brook and Stony Brook, 

 and the bounds of Wemeth and the Med- 

 lock, provided that part should lie in com- 

 mon between the men of Ashton and 

 Richard and his men of Failsworth and 

 Clayton ; ibid. no. 7/19. 



About 1220 Richard had some dispute 

 with Thomas de Ashton respecting waste 

 and 'destruction of land ; Curia Regis R. 

 72, m. 21. 



Richard de Byron had the king's pro- 

 tection on going abroad in 1230 with the 

 Earl of Chester ; Ca/.Paf. 1225-32, p. 360. 



To Robert Grelley Richard de Byron 

 surrendered his common pasture right in 



the manor of Manchester, securing for 

 himself and the men of Clayton common 

 of pasture with the men of Ardwick with- 

 in bounds which seem to include whole 

 or parts of Ardwick and Bradford, thus : 

 From the ford of Medlock by Saltersgate 

 to the head of the hedge of Clayton which 

 is set upon Saltersgate, by the hedge, 

 ditch, and brook to Cornbrook, by Corn- 

 brook to the hedge of Ardwick, by this to 

 the bounds of Beswick and Bradford to 

 Saltersgate ; but Robert Grelley and his 

 heirs had the right to inclose, &c., within 

 these bounds ; De TrafFord D. no, i. 

 Saltersgate, Mr. Crofton thinks, is the 

 present Mill Street, Bradford. 



*•* Alice de Byron, mother of Roger, 

 had granted Royton to her son before 

 1246 ; Assize R. 404, m. 10 d. 



^ He was a juror in 1282 ; Lanes. Inq. 

 and Extents, i, 244. He was described as 

 knight in 1270 ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 216. 



^ Richard son and heir of John, son 

 and heir of Richard de Byron, in 1335 

 claimed the manor of Kirkby near Liver- 

 pool i Maud was the name of the grand- 

 father's wife ; De Banco R. 303, m. 205. 



^ Joan was the daughter of Baldwin le 

 Tyas (Teutonicus) and widow of Sir 

 Robert de Hoyland ; Byron Chartul. no. 

 71/152, 13/70, 72/153. Sir Robert died 

 at the beginning of the reign of Edward I. 



^ This was in or before 1260 ; Final 

 Cone, i, 132. About the same time John 

 de Byron attested a feoffment by Thomas 

 Grelley ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), 

 xvii, 54. 



'' A number of grants of land to Sir 

 John de Byron and Joan his wife are 

 contained in the chartulary ; those that 

 are dated lie between 1288 and 1298. 

 An undated one (no.34/9) concerns Droyls- 

 den — Robert son of Robert de Manchester 

 releasing to Sir John and Joan all right in 

 his father's land in that vill. 



The executors of Robert Grelley were 

 non-suited in a claim of debt against John 

 de Byron in 1292 ; Assize R. 408, m. 

 iSd. 



^ Sir John de Byron and John his son 

 were witnesses to a Farnworth charter 

 in 1292; Lord EUesmere's D. no. 142. 

 Ellen widow of James Banastre in 1291 

 stated that she held lands in Hindley of 

 the inheritance of Alesia wife of John 

 son of John Byron, which Alesia (grand- 

 daughter of Robert Banastre) was under 

 age ; De Banco R. 91, m. 157. (See the 

 account of the Banastre family.) 



'iJn 13 1 1 Adam de Oldham granted 

 his waste in Oldham and Wemeth to Sir 

 John de Byron, lord of Clayton ; Byron 

 Chartul. no. 1/33. John de Byron and 

 Alice his wife, by charter dated at Clay- 

 ton, 1 3 1 2, gave to Sir Richard de Byron, 

 kt., and Agnes his wife, their manor 

 of Farlington, a rent of 70 marks being 

 due to Sir John de Farlington ; the re- 

 mainder was to the right heirs of Sir 



281 



Richard ; ibid. no. 3/162. The manor of 

 Farlington had been acquired by Sir John 

 de Byron and Joan his wife in 1295 ; ibid, 

 no. 33/163. 



In 1 321 (but there is an error in the 

 date) Adam de Oldham gave all his right 

 in the waste of Oldham and Werneth (as 

 in 1 311) to Sir John de Byron, lord of 

 Clayton; ibid. no. 12/33; ^^^ shortly 

 afterwards Richard son of Adam de Old- 

 ham released to Sir Richard son of the 

 late Sir John de Byron all his right in the 

 said waste ; ibid. no. 10/27. 



^2 At the date named in the text Alice, 

 widow of John de Byron, claimed dower 

 against Richard de Byron, in Withington, 

 Clayton, Butterworth, and Royton. Rich- 

 ard declared that Alice was detaining a 

 number of his charters, and that as to the 

 manor of Butterworth the deceased had 

 nothing except for the term of his life by 

 the law of England ; De Banco R. 222, 

 m. 229. The charters said to have been 

 detained related to the lands of one James 

 de Byron, whose kinsman and heir the 

 said Richard was ; which lands lay in 

 Walesby,Croxton, Sec. That the deceased 

 John de Byron held Butterworth by the 

 law of England shows that Alice was his 

 second wife and that his iirst wife had 

 been the heiress, viz. Joan. 



Richard de Byron and John son of 

 Robert de Byron were in 1319 executors 

 of the will of John de Byron ; De Banco 

 R. 231, m. 141. 



In 1321 (and later) Alice, then wife of 

 John de Strickland, was claiming dower 

 against Richard de Byron ; ibid, R. 240, 

 m. 192 ; 276, m. 159. 



^ Collins, Peerage (ed. 1779), vii, 124 ; 

 the date is given as 1308, which is un- 

 likely. There is no record of it in the 

 Patent Rolls. 



^ In 1 3 10 Thomas de Goldsbrough, 

 archdeacon of Durham, probably a trustee, 

 granted to Sir Richard de Byron, Agnes 

 his wife, and James their son, his manor 

 of Armeston in Northants; Byron Chartul. 

 no. 2/103. 



Sir Richard acquired various lands in 

 Oldham, Rochdale, &c. from 1319 on- 

 wards ; ibid. no. 7/228 ; no. 8/30 ; no. 2/2o<^., 

 In 1333 he gave the manor of Hudders- 

 field to his son John, with right of re-entry 

 should John be promoted to an ecclesias- 

 tical benefice worth 100 marks or more ; 

 ibid. no. 5/137. 



In 1 342 he, as Richard son of Sir John 

 de Byron, granted his manors of Cadenay, 

 Husum, and Waleaby, to his sous Sir 

 James and John ; ibid. no. 12/45. 



Sir Richard de Byron had a settlement 

 made in 1338 in favour of himself and his 

 wife Elizabeth ; Alice widow of his father 

 Sir John was then living ; ibid. no. 7/42, 



Grants to Sir Richard are recorded down 

 to 1347; ibid. no. 11/36; no. 19/188, 

 &c. Other references are Coram Rege R. 

 Mich. 8 Edw. Ill, m. 162 ; L.T.R. Mem. 

 R. 117. 



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