SALFORD HUNDRED 



ECCLES 



accused of having caused waste in the possessions in 

 his charge ; ''' the guardianship had been transferred 

 to John Stanley.*' Arthur did not long survive, 

 dying in December 141 5, and leaving as heir his son 

 Geoffrey, then about six years of age." Geoffrey 

 appears to have been succeeded by a brother named 

 Robert.'' About 1460 Robert Worsley was in pos- 

 session, he and his son Robert, with other gentlemen 

 and yeomen, being accused of complicity in the death 

 of Robert Derbyshire ; " and at the same time he 

 charged William Massey, Sir Geoffrey Massey, and 

 others, with the death of WilliamWorsley his brother." 

 Robert Worsley the son is probably the Robert Wors- 

 ley who died at the beginning of 1497, leaving a 

 son and heir of the same name, thirty years of age. 

 His possessions are described as the manor of Booths, 

 held of the manor of Worsley ; also messuages, land, 

 and pasture called the Rakes in Heaton Norris, held 

 of the king as Duke of Lancaster. The services were 

 unknown.* 



Robert Worsley recorded a pedigree in 1533; it 



shows that his eldest son Robert had married Alice 

 daughter and co-heir of Hamlet Mascy of Rixton, 

 and had left a son Robert, then married to Alice 

 daughter of Thurstan Tyldesley.*' The grandfather 

 died later in the year, holding lands in Urmston, 

 Hulme, Ashton under Lyne, Rusholme, and Farn- 

 worth ; the manor of Booths was, as in the earlier 

 inquisitions, found to be held of the king by a rent 

 of zs. ; Robert, the grandson and heir, was twenty - 

 one years of age."' He was afterwards made a knight, 

 and acquired the lands of UphoUand Priory;"' but the 

 family did not prosper, and though his son and heir 

 Robert was appointed keeper of the New Fleet prison 

 in Salford, while it was filled with recusants during 

 the persecution which marked the latter half of 

 Elizabeth's reign,'" he sold the family lands, appar- 

 ently piecemeal." Afterwards little is heard of Booths 

 as a manor. It was held by Charnock " and then by 

 Sherington" in the 17th century. The house was 

 in the latter part of the 1 8 th century owned by the 

 Clowes family." It was eventually acquired by the 



*** The first inquiry as to Arthur's 

 sanity was made in Sept. 1413, and the 

 next at Bolton a year later ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. i, 24, 240, 24^. Richard 

 Worsley had had the custody of the lands 

 for two years from the death of Robert ; 

 then John Booth of Barton the elder had 

 had it for eight years — see the grant to 

 him dated 18 Dec. 1403 in Dep. Keeper's 

 Rep. xl, App. 531 — and had caused waste 

 by felling and carrying away eighty oaks, 

 worth 61. %d. each, in a certain wood 

 called Mokens, parcel of the tenements in 

 Worsley ; also forty saplings in the Rakes, 

 and forty more in Winlehurst in Wors- 

 ley ; he had also damaged the hall and 

 chapel at the Rakes and the 'manor 

 place ' of the Booths. 



" The grant to John Stanley was made 

 on 20 Nov. 141 3, shortly after the former 

 inquiry ; Lanes. Inj. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 

 118; but see Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, 

 App. 1 1, for a renewal of the grant to 

 Booth. 



'^ Lanes. Inq. loc. cit. ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 2, m. 24*. Besides the Booths 

 and the Rakes he had held the manor of 

 Worsley, except the site and certain lands, 

 for the life of his wife Elizabeth. There 

 seems to have been a further inquiry in 

 1417 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 14. 



"S In 1432 Robert son of Arthur 

 Worsley and Edmund Worsley granted to 

 feoffees lands in Withington, Heaton 

 Norris, Urmston, Barton, Ashton under 

 Lyne, and Stanistreet in Worsley ; EUes- 

 mere D. no. 26. 



" Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 28, m. 9 d. 

 The other defendants included Hamlet 

 and William Atherton of BickerstafFe. 



'* Ibid. The other defendants were 

 Thomas Tyldesley, Richard Prestall, 

 Nicholas Massey, Gilbert Parr, and John 

 son of William Massey the elder. An- 

 other William Worsley, Dean of St. 

 Paul's, 1479-99, '* supposed to have been 

 of the Booths family ; Diet. Nat. Biog. 



" Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 50. 



«7 Visit, of 1533 (Chet. Soc), 81. 



«9 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, 5 ; a 

 settlement of 1524 is recited. 



•9 See the account of Upholland. 



Thurstan Tyldesley says in his will 

 (1547) : 'Notwithstanding that my son- 

 in-law Sir Robert Worsley knight is 

 married to Margaret Beetham, his wife 

 yet living, yet I remit and pardon to him 



j^7 loj., upon condition that he give 

 yearly unto my daughter Alice his wife 

 j^5 or more for her exhibition during her 

 absence from him, or upon condition that 

 he take his said wife into his company 

 and entreat her as he ought to do ' ; 

 Piccope, fVilh (Chet. Soc.), i, loi. The 

 bigamous union mentioned probably ac- 

 counts for the three illegitimate children 

 in the pedigrees. 



Deer were kept at Booths in 1547 \ 

 Ducby Plead. (Rec. Com.), iii, 2. 



Sir Robert Worsley in 1563 made a 

 settlement of the manors of Booths and 

 Upholland and his estates there ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 25, m. 21. 



About 1570 quarrels broke out between 

 Sir Robert and his son Robert, and by the 

 arbitration of Gilbert Sherington of Gray's 

 Inn it was agreed that the son should 

 occupy certain lands called the New Ridd, 

 Mokens Wood, Sec, in Booths Park ; the 

 son to pay the father a rent of ^^14 6s. %d. 

 in Ellenbrook Chapel. The father after- 

 wards asserted that the agreement had not 

 been kept ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz. 

 xcvi, W. 9. 



Sir Robert was buried at Eccles in Dec. 

 158; ; Reg. 



70 Peck, Desiderata curiosa, bk. iii, no. 

 52, &c. 



71 In 1582 Robert Worsley sold 120 

 acres in the Booths and Worsley to 

 Robert Hindley ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdle. 44, m. 4 ; and in 1587 he and 

 Thomas his son and heir apparent sold 

 various messuages and lands in Stanistreet 

 in Worsley to Francis Sherington ; ibid, 

 bdle. 49, m. 51. In the following year 

 Robert Worsley was deforciant in a fine 

 relating to a messuage, mill, dovecote, 

 300 acres of land, &c., in the Booths and 

 Worsley, the plaintiffs being Robert 

 Hindley and John Ashton ; ibid. bdle. 50, 

 m. 3. For the later history of the family 

 see Foster, Yorks. Pedigrees (North Riding), 

 and the baronetages.' The manors of 

 Coulston, Holthorp, and Hovingham in 

 the county of York were in Sir Robert 

 Worsley's possession in 1563, when he 

 made a settlement ; Piccope, quoting 

 Dods. MSS. cxlvi, fol. 59. 



A letter in favour of Robert Worsley, 

 the son of Sir Robert, is printed in Lanes. 

 and Ches. Antiq. Notes, i, 1 8. 



Some arrangement for the benefit of 

 the younger children of Robert Worsley 



seems to have been made in 1596, whea 

 a fine concerning messuages and lands in 

 Stanistreet, Worsley, and Bedford was 

 made, John Egerton and George Leyces- 

 ter being plaintiffs, and William Gerard, 

 John Willard, and John de Cardenas de- 

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

 59, m. 90. 



In Aug. 1648 Thomas Worsley of 

 Hovingham prayed for relief against 

 Thomas Charnock, heir and executor of 

 Robert Charnock, respecting the manor 

 of Booths, which had been mortgaged and 

 sold by petitioner's father j Hht, MSS, 

 Com. Rep. vii, App. 41. 



'2 Robert Charnock of the Booths was 

 a freeholder in 1600; Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 246. He appears 

 also in 161 3 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 23Z. Thomas 

 Charnock had lands in Worsley in 162Z ; 

 Misc. ut aup. i, 152. 



73a An account of the Sheringtons of 

 Wardley and then of Booths is given in 

 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Notes, i, 31, 

 Gilbert Sherington of Wardley died in 

 1597 (see under Wardley below) and was 

 succeeded by his brother Francis, who 

 died three yea:** later. Francis Shering- 

 ton, of Wardley 1606, and Booths 1636 

 and later — perhaps there were two of the 

 same name — followed ; from papers in 

 the Clowes deeds it seems he died between 

 1677 and 1681, 



Francis Sherington took part in the 

 defence of Lathom House in 1645 5 Royal- 

 ist Comp* Papers^ i, 265. He, called a 

 'delinquent,' owned Booths in 1648 ; 

 Cal. Com^ for Ad'uance of Money, li, 965. 

 He had to pay a fine of ^^373 ; two-thirds 

 of his estate had been sequestered for his 

 recusancy ; Cal. Com. for Compounding, ii, 

 1191. In 1660 his son John was heir 

 apparent, Gilbert Sherington, aaother 

 son, aged eighteen in 1670, was fellow of 

 Brasenose College, Oxford, and died there 

 in 1683 ; Foster, Alumni, Francis Sher- 

 ington of Eccles occurs in 1688 ; Hist, 

 MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 195. A 

 John Sherington was living at Claughton 

 in 1734 ; Fishwick, Garstang (Chet. Soc), 

 126. 



78 *The manor and hall of Booths 

 were settled by act of Parliament about 

 1789, in exchange for other lands, upon 

 the younger children of Samuel Clowes 

 of Manchester and his wife Martha, 



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