SALFORD HUNDRED 



ECCLES 



various other lands ; Thomas Langley his son and heir 

 was then forty years of age." Another son, Ralph, 

 was rector of Prestwich and warden of Manchester. 

 There was a third son, John.^* Thomas had a son John, 

 who succeeded him ^* in the manors and died in 1496, 

 leaving a son and heir Robert about forty years old.^' 

 Dying in 1527, holding the manor of Pendlebury in 

 socage by a rent of i6s. yearly, besides other manors 

 and lands, he was succeeded by his grandson Robert 



son of Thomas Langley, the last of the male line in 

 possession.^* Robert was made a knight in 1547," 

 and died 19 September 1561, leaving four daughters 

 as co-heirs.^^ On the division of the estates, Agecroft 

 and lands in Pendlebury became the portion of Anne,^^ 

 who married William Dauntesey, springing from a 

 Wiltshire family.^® The * manor ' of Pendlebury also 

 was claimed by the Daunteseys for some time,^^ but 

 was afterwards said to be held with Prestwich, descend- 



receWed the Crimbles, Anesley, the Lumns, 



Robert de Langley proved his age in 

 1403. John de Langton stated that 

 Robert was bom at Huntingdon on 6 June 

 1379, and baptized at Eccles by Robert de 

 Monton, Robert de Worsley and Ellen 

 Gawen being sponsors ; he remembered 

 because he was present in the church at 

 the obit of Robert Johnson ; Towneley's 

 MS. DD, no. 1466. 



In 14 1 6 Robert de Langley leased to 

 Piers de Holland for life lands called the 

 Wete Park in Agecroft, which Piers 

 thereupon leased to Robert for eighty 

 years ; Agecroft D. no. 70-1. 



^ Dep. Keeper' s Rep. xxxix, App. 541. 

 Pendlebury was held in socage as i plough- 

 land by a rent of 10s., and the residue of 

 the manor by a rent of 6s. %d. Margaret, 

 the widow of Roger, was still living and 

 in possession of Tetlow, which would 

 revert to Katherine, the widow of Robert. 

 Thomas Langley, the son, was in 141 2 

 contracted to marry Margaret daughter 

 of Sir John Ashton ; Piers and James, 

 brothers of Thomas, are mentioned ; Age- 

 croft D. no. 60. Thomas and Margaret 

 were married in 1419 ; ibid. no. 74. 



21 Thomas and John Langley were living 

 in 1470, when the latter was defendant in 

 an Alkrington case, in which the fine of 

 1313, with pedigree, was recited ; Pal. of 

 Lane Plea R. 37, m. 12 d. ; also R. 55, 

 m. 7, where John Langley is called the son 

 of Robert, 



2* Thomas Langley died 20 Jan. 147 1-2, 

 seised of the manors of Pendlebury and 

 Prestwich, the advowson of Prestwich 

 Church, and of various lands. The tenure 

 of Pendlebury is stated exactly as in the 

 preceding inquisition. John Langley, his 

 son and heir, was forty-two years of age, 

 and had married Maud daught<er of James 

 RadclifFe ; Agecroft D. no. 80, 8i. 



In 1475 John Langley enfeoffed Ralph 

 Langley, warden of Manchester, of all his 

 manors, &c. ; Thomas son of John was 

 one of the attorneys to deliver seisin ; 

 ibid. no. 82. 



38 The inquisition (taken in 2 1 Hen. VII) 

 after the death of John Langley, who is 

 stated to have died in Aug. 1496, is given 

 in a plea of 1511 ; Pal. of Lane. R. xi2, 

 m. 4 ; printed in Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. 

 Soc), ii, 145. Robert the son is said to 

 have been fifty years of age and more at 

 the time of the inquisition. He and his 

 wife Eleanor daughter of William Rad- 

 clifFe of Ordsall, recovered the disputed 

 lands. Robert Langley received a general 

 pardon from Henry VII in i486, and an 

 annuity of 10 marks for services rendered 

 and to be rendered; Agecroft D. no, 88, 



89- 



** The first part of the inquisition is 

 torn off, but Robert Langley's will, dated 

 22 Feb. 1524-5, and proved i Apr. 1528, 

 is printed in JVills (Rec, Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 62. He desired to be buried in 

 the new chapel on the south side of 

 St. Mary's, Prestwich, and left legacies to 



his younger sons Edmund and Lawrence, 

 his grandson and heir Robert, and his 

 sisters ; also money for trentals of masses. 

 The executors were his brother Thomas, 

 late rector of Prestwich, his son William, 

 then rector, and his wife Eleanor. The 

 bequests to Robert included ' all things 

 appertaining unto the chapel, that is to 

 wit, a chalice, a mass book, all vestments 

 for a priest to say mass with, an altare 

 portatile, with other cloths belonging to 

 the altar.' The will of Eleanor widow of 

 Robert Langley, dated 1532, is printed 

 inPiccope's Wills (Chet. Soc), ii, 16— 18. 



Thomas, the father of the heir, had in 

 1504 been contracted to marry Cecily 

 daughter of William Davenport of Bram- 

 hall, and they were married by 1518, 

 when various lands in ' Pendlebury in the 

 vill of Pendleton' and elsewhere were set 

 apart for Cecily ; Agecoft D. no. 94, 98. 



The possessions of the family in 

 1528 included the manors of Prest- 

 wich (with the advowson of the church), 

 Pendlebury, and Alkrington, messuages 

 and lands in Tetlow, Cheetham, Cromp- 

 ton, Oldham, Middleton, Broughton, 

 and Salford. The date of death is 

 given as * the Friday before the feast of 

 St. Peter last,' i.e. probably June 1527. 

 Robert the grandson was of full age and 

 married to Cecily daughter of Edmund 

 Trafford ; he had younger brothers, Wil- 

 liam and Ralph ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. vi, no. 7. Dower was assigned to 

 the widow on 6 Mar. 1527-8. Lands 

 producing j^io lys, 2d. a year were 

 granted, including Anesley, the deer park, 

 and Little Oxhey in Agecroft j Agecroft D, 

 no. 105. 



For pedigree sec Visit, oi 1533 (Chet. 

 Soc), 70. 



25 Metcalfe, 5^. of Knights^ 94. 



Leland writes : ' Coming from Man- 

 chester towards Morleys, Sir William 

 Leyland's house, I passed by enclosed 

 ground partly pasturable, partly fruitful of 

 corn, leaving on the left hand a mile and 

 more of a fair place of Mr, Langford's 

 [i/c] called Agecroft ; and there is a 

 bridge very high and great of timber, on 

 Irwell ' ; Itin, v, 94. 



In 1540 Sir Alexander Radcliffe, deputy 

 bailiff of the Wapentake of Salford, gave 

 a receipt for 37J. 4^/. to Robert Langley, 

 for his chief rents in Prestwich, Pendle- 

 bury, Tetlow, and Alkrington ; Age- 

 croft D. no. 114. The rents are stated 

 differently at different times ; in the in- 

 quisition last cited they amounted to 34s. 



Sir Robert Langley in 1559 procured 

 a general pardon ; ibid. no. 123. 



26 Duchy of Lane, Inq. p.m. xi, 16; 

 mostly illegible. The manor of Pendle- 

 bury was held of the queen as of the 

 Duchy of Lancaster in socage, by a rent 

 of i6j. ; the tenure of * the manor of Age- 

 croft * is not separately recorded. His 

 daughters and heirs were Dorothy, aged 

 thirty, wife of James Ashton ; Margaret, 

 twenty-four, wife of John Reddish ; Anne, 

 twenty-five, and ICatherinc, eight years. 



399 



Sir Robert's brief will is printed in 

 fVills (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 1 90. 

 The executors were his wife Dame Cecily, 

 and his 'cousin* Edmund Trafford. 



Seisin of a fourth part each was given 

 to Anne, Margaret, and Dorothy, in 1563, 

 and to Katherine, then wife of Thoma» 

 Legh, in 1568 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, 

 App. 556. _ 



Dame Cecily, who afterwards married 

 Edward Holland of Denton, died in or 

 before 1572, when in accordance with her 

 nuncupative will William Dauntesey gave 

 certain of her goods to Francis Wolryche 

 of the Inner Temple, in trust for his 

 son John Dauntesey ; Agecroft D. no. 



139- 



27 Three days before his death Sir 

 Robert had given to trustees for his 

 daughter Anne the * capital messuage or 

 mansion house of Agecroft with its appur- 

 tenances in the vill of Pendlebury, and 

 also all the closes, lands, &c, in the vill 

 aforesaid, commonly called Pendlebury 

 demesnes, and known by the several names 

 of the Old Agecroft, the Lower Copies, 

 the Over Copies, the Park, the Great 

 Ryefield, the Little Ryefield. the Sour- 

 butts, the Lumns, the Warth, the Crim- 

 bles, Aynesley, the Oxhey, and the Little 

 Oxhey* ; also the water-mill in Prest- 

 wich, and a meadow called the Springs, 

 Sec. ; also common of pasture and turbary 

 on Swinton Moor ; Agecroft D. no. 1 30. 

 These lands were given to Anne in June 

 1562; ibid, no, 134. She had married 

 William Dauntesey by 1571 5 Ducatus 

 Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 390, Two of Sir 

 Robert's daughters, Dorothy and Kathe- 

 rine, died childless, but the lands assigned 

 to them appear to have remained in their 

 husband's families. 



^ Dauntsey is near Malmesbury. 

 From deeds at Agecroft it appears that 

 John Dauntesey died in or before 1506, 

 when the wardship of Richard, his son 

 and heir, was granted by the king to 

 Philip Baynard. John had two brothers, 

 Ambrose of West Lavington, and William, 

 citizen and mercer of London ; thelatter's 

 estate appears to have descended to his 

 nephew Richard, This nephew, who was 

 usher to Queen Katherine Howard and 

 then to Queen Mary, married, apparently 

 as his second wife, Mary widow of — Wol- 

 rych, and is afterwards described as *of 

 Dudmaston, Salop.' He died in 1556 

 and left a son and heir William, who 

 came of age in 1563. The estates in- 

 cluded the manor of Compton Bassett in 

 Wiltshire, and various lands in Wiltshire, 

 Middlesex, and Essex. William had a 

 younger brother Robert. There is a 

 pedigree in Booker's Prestwichy 228, 229. 



29 The manor of Pendlebury is not 

 named in the inquisitions, but was the 

 subject of fines in 1613 and 1625, the de- 

 forciants in the former being William 

 Dauntesey and Anne his wife, and in 

 the latter William Dauntesey ; Pal, of 

 Lane, Feet of F. bdlc &3, m. 46 ; 107, 

 m, 14. 



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