A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Bridgewater Trustees, the Earl of Ellesmere being the 

 present owner.'^ 



JVj^RDLET, the possession of Jordan de Worsley 

 in the first half of the 14th century, has been men- 

 tioned above. Jordan held part of Wardley of the 

 Hospitallers by a rent of %d, ;" he hnd other 

 lands in Wardley and Worsley, held of the lord 

 of Worsley.^® He left an only daughter Mar- 

 garet as his heir ; she was a minor and in ward to 

 Richard de Worsley. In November 1330 a number 

 of the neighbours carried her off from Richard*s 

 house and married her to Thurstan son of Richard 

 de Tyldesley." She was still living in 1 401, when 

 in conjunction with her son Thomas she made a 

 settlement with the Masseys regarding her estate in 



Worsley/* This descended to another Thomas 

 Tyldesley, who died in 1495/* leaving as his heir 

 a son Thurstan. By his first wife Thurstan, who 

 died in 1554,^ had a son Thomas," succeeded two 

 years later by his son Thurstan," who died in 1 582, 

 having between 1562 and 1568 sold Wardley and 

 other lands in Worsley to William and Gilbert 

 Sherington.^ This family did not hold them long, 

 selling to Roger Downes, who was living at 

 Wardley in 1609." He had various public em- 

 ployments®* and was twice married. The eldest 

 son by the first marriage having died before his 

 father,®® the heir at the latter's death in 1638 was 

 found to be Francis Downes, eldest son by the second 

 wife.^^ Francis also seems to have died without 



daughter of John Tipping of Manchester ' ; 

 Raines in Gastrell's Not'itia, n, 51. In a 

 recovery of the manor of Booths in 1799, 

 Samuel Clowes the elder and Samuel 

 Clowes the younger were vouchees ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Aug. Assizes, 39 Geo. Ill, R. 6. 



"i* Samuel Clowes in 1810 sold the 

 manor of Booths and the estate there to 

 Robert Haldane Bradshaw of Worsley, 

 the first superintendent under the Duke 

 of Bridgewater's will. He contracted to 

 sell his properties in the neighbourhood 

 to the first Earl of Ellesmere, and his 

 executors carried the contract out in 

 1836.. The trustees of the Earls of Elles- 

 mere held the estate till 1900, when it 

 was sold to the Bridgewater Trustees ; in 

 1903 it was transferred, with the other 

 properties, to the Earl of Ellesmere. 



7* The prior of the Hospitallers called 

 upon Gilbert de Barton to warrant him in 

 1246; Assize R. 404, m. 13. Wardley 

 (Wordelegh.) is named among the Hos- 

 pitallers' lands in 1292 ; Plac, de Quo War, 

 (Rec. Com.), 375. In 1329 the prior 

 alleged that Richard de Worsley (4 acres), 

 Jordan de * Worleye ' (20 acres), and 

 Ellen daughter of Adam de Worleye (2 

 acres) had withheld their due services ; 

 De Banco R. 279, m. i8od; 280, m, 

 294 d. 



About 1540 the Hospitallers' tenants 

 were Thurstan Tyldesley, who paid %d. 

 rent, and Richard Holland (of Denton), 

 who had Little Wardley and paid ^d. ; 

 Kuerden MSS. v, foL 84. 



76 A grant has been quoted in a previous 

 note ; see also Final Cone, i, 190, 202, 

 for lands in Worsley and Hindley. In 

 1301 Richard son of Roger de Worsley 

 demanded common of pasture in 300 

 acres of wood and 100 acres of moor 

 which Henry lord of Worsley had ap- 

 proved from the waste ; Jordan brother 

 of Henry was the tenant. It was shown 

 that plaintiff had sufRcient pasture, and 

 the verdict was against him ; Assize R. 

 321, m. 8. 



'7 Assize R. 430, m. 16 ; in one place 

 Thurstan is called * son of Henry de Tyl- 

 desley' ; Henry was the father of Richard. 

 Thurstan occurs in 1357 ; Final Cone, ii, 

 151. He had a licence for an oratory at 

 Wardley in 1361 ; Lich. Epis. Reg. v, 

 fol. 6. 



7^ Final Cones, iii, 62 ; Dep. Keeper's 

 Rep. xxxiii, App. 2. Wills of Thomas 

 Tyldesley of Eccles and of St. Giles, 

 Cripplegate, 1410, are in P.C.C. 



The succession from this point is not 

 clear, Hugh dc Tyldesley held Wardley 

 o£ the Hospitallers in 1420 ; Ellesmere 

 D* no, 184. James de Tyldesley of 

 Worsley occurs in 1444 ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Pics R. 6, m. li; Thomas Tyldesley, 



senior, about twenty years later ; ibid. R. 

 28, m. 9d, Adam son of Thomas Tyl- 

 desley in 1457 bequeathed money to the 

 church of Deane and the chapel of Ellen- 

 brook ; Towneley MS. HH, no. 972, 

 In 1471 Hugh Tyldesley, perhaps of 

 Wardley, contracted his son and heir 

 Thomas to marry Ellen daughter of 

 Richard Bruehe ; Ellesmere D. no. 263, 



79HarI. MS, 21 12, fol. 146. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, 44. 

 He held Wardley Hall, with messuages, 

 water-mill, and lands, of the king and 

 queen (in right of the prior of the Hos- 

 pitallers), in socage by a rent of %d. ; the 

 annual value was 20 marks. He also 

 held lands in Tyldesley of the lord of 

 Warrington ; in Swinton, Little Hough- 

 ton, Westlackes, Kidpool (Kitepool), 

 Westwood, and Moorland in Worsley of 

 the queen in chief by the tenth part of a 

 knight's fee and a rent of 35J. and other 

 lands in Amounderness, Thomas his 

 son and heir was forty-three years of 

 age. 



The will of Thurstan Tyldesley, with 

 inventories of his goods at Wardley and 

 Myerscough, is printed in full in Piccope's 

 Willsy 1, 97-114. He mentions his son 

 Thomas and grandson Thurstan ; also a 

 brother Richard, who had been a monk 

 at the Shene Charterhouse, Referring to 

 his long service under the Earl of Derby 

 and his father he declared that, so far as 

 he knew, there was * nothing comen into 

 his hands or possession of the lands, rents, 

 fines or ingressions, rewards, or other 

 things but such as he had truly paid for 

 and put in his book of accounts, without 

 fraud or coven and without corrupt con- 

 science or advantage to himself.' 



For the pedigree see yisit. of 1567 

 (Chet. Soc), 44. 



^^ Duchy of Lane. Inq, p.m. x, 27 ; 

 the lands are described as in the last- 

 quoted inquisition. Thurstan the son 

 and heir was twenty-four years of age. 



^^ A settlement was made in 1558, the 

 remainders being to Hugh, Richard, 

 George, Thomas, Gilbert, and James, 

 brothers of Thurstan ; then to Edward 

 Tyldesley, and to Ralph Barton ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 19, m. 61. 



88 In 1566 William and Gilbert Sher- 

 ington purchased from Thurstan Tyldesley 

 six messuages, a water-mill, dovecote, and 

 lands ; ibid. bdle. 28, m. 278 ; and three 

 years later Gilbert Sherington purchased 

 twelve messuages, &c., in Worsley and 

 Swinton from Thurstan and Hugh Tyl- 

 desley ; ibid, bdle, 31, m, 124, 



The Sheringtons, lawyers and money- 

 lenders, appear to have been much dis- 

 liked by their Worsley neighbours ; refer- 

 ence to the Ducatus will show that they 



384 



had many quarrels and disputes in conse- 

 quence of their acquisitions. In 1568 

 Gilbert Sherington, of Gray's Inn, stated 

 that Thurstan Tyldesley had about six 

 years before sold Wardley to William 

 Sherington, brother of Gilbert ; and after- 

 wards he sold his lands in Swinton and 

 Worsley to Gilbert. Edward Norris, 

 Edward Tyldesley, and Thomas Tyldesley, 

 brother-in-law, uncle, and son of Thur- 

 stan, had with others assembled at Mor- 

 leys, thence going to Wardley and taking 

 possession ; and Gilbert was unable to 

 recover ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. Ixxvii, 

 S. 8. Two years later Robert Worsley 

 of Booths, Christopher Anderton of Los- 

 tock, and Gilbert Sherington of Gray's 

 Inn, complained that Thurstan Tyldesley 

 and Hugh his brother had forged a deed 

 of feoffment to the use of Thurstan, and 

 disturbed the quiet possession of Wardley 

 and other lands ; ibid. Ixxxir, W. 10. 



Gilbert Sherington died at Wardley 

 z; Aug. I J97, holding the capital mes- 

 suage called Wardley Hall and lands there 

 by the tenure already stated, also monastic 

 lands in Swinton, &c. ; his heirs were the 

 daughters of his elder brother William, 

 viz., Susan wife of James Bankes of Win- 

 stanley, Hester wife of John Andrewcs 

 of Cambridge, and Sarah wife of Denis 

 Hartridge of Macking, all over twenty-four 

 years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 

 xvii, 86. 



^ Lanes. Inq . f.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 172; he was the son of 

 Roger Downes, supposed to have been of 

 the family of Downes of Shrigley in 

 Cheshire, who married Elizabeth sister 

 and co-heir of Ralph Worsley of Pember- 

 ton, and had the Worsley estate in that 

 township. He recorded a pedigree in 

 1613 ; Viiit. (Chet. Soc), 133. 



^ He represented Wigan in Parliament 

 in 1601 and 1621 ; Pink and Beaven, 

 Parl.Rtpre. of Lanes. 223-4. I" 1625 he 

 was appointed vice-chamberlain of Che- 

 shire ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. lo2. 

 It was perhaps his father who was feodary 

 of the county in 1603-4 ; Lanes. Inq. 

 p.m. i, 2, 29. 



8'* He was living in 1613, 



'7 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, 54. 

 This shows that Roger Downes had in 

 1620 married as his third wife Mary 

 widow of Adam Eccleston. The hall of 

 Wardley and lands in Worsley and Swin- 

 ton were held of the Earl of Derby in 

 right of the dissolved hospital of St. John; 

 lands in Monton were held of the king. 

 Lands in Barton and Farnworth, and the 

 Worsley estates in Pemberton, &c., also 

 appear in the inquisition. Francis the 

 son and heir was thirty years of age. 

 He had represented Wigan in the two 



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