LEYLAND HUNDRED 



LEYLAND 



neux,J Stopford/ Sumner,^ snd Werden.* The in- 

 quisitions supply some further names.*" In addition 

 to Farington and Charnock there were some minor 

 sequestrations in Leyhmd by the Parliament during 

 the Civil War, but for religion only.^ Mawdesley 

 of Leyland recorded a pedigree in 1664.° Three 

 small estates of ' Papists ' were 

 registered in 1717/ The 

 principal contributors to the 

 land tax in 1 783 were the 

 executors of Sir William Far- 

 ington, paying over a fifth 5 

 among the smaller ones were 

 James Barton, the Rev. Mr. 

 Baldwin, and John Park ; in 

 1798 Alexander N. Kershaw 

 (of Heskin) had about the 

 same as these.* 



The parish church has been 

 described above. St. James's, 

 Moss Side, was built in 1855, 

 the south aisle being added in 1872 ; it is in the 

 gift of the Farington trustees, having been built 

 by the family. St. Ambrose's, built in 1885 as a 

 chapel of ease to the parish church, became an in- 

 dependent parish in 1898. The vicar of Leyland 

 presents. 



Barton of SmithilU. 

 Azure a Jesse betivecn 

 three harts^ heads 

 cahosseJ or. 



A day school was founded at Moss Side by Samuel 

 Crook in 1770.° The Balshaw school at Golden 

 Hill was founded in 1782. 



There is a Wesleyan Methodist chapel at Golden 

 Hill, near the village, built in 1 8 14, and another at 

 Midge Hall, built about 1870.'° There are also two 

 Primitive Methodist chapels ; one of them, dating 

 from 1859, represents work begun in a barn about 

 1830," the other was built in 1902. 



The Congregational Church in Hough Lane was 

 erected in 1877, succeeding a small chapel in Town- 

 gate, built in 1843-4." 



After the confiscation of Leyland Hall little is known 

 of the existence of Roman Catholic worship in the 

 township," but the chapel at Euxton Hall was pro- 

 bably used. St. Mary's, near the parish church, was 

 opened in 1855, and is served by the English Bene- 

 dictines, the mission having been begun in 1846.'* 

 Here is preserved a mediaeval chalice, bearing the 

 inscription ' Restore mee to Leyland in Lankeshire.' 

 It is imagined to have belonged to the parish church 

 or one of its chantries, and to have been repurchased 

 or rescued from destruction by Roman Catholics ; 

 on the opening of St. Mary's it was 'restored' 

 accordingly. The inscription, in a late 17th-cen- 

 tury style, probably shows that it then belonged to 

 the chapel in Leyland H.ill.'* 



which had descended to Sir Robert 

 Hesketh in 1^41 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. V, no. 16 ; vii, no. 14. The tenure 

 was unknown. 



William Hesketh died in 1639 holding 

 a messuage of William Farington as of 

 his manor of Leyland. Thomas, the son 

 and heir, was twenty-eight years of age ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, no. 10. 



^ Sir Thomas Molyneux of Sefton 

 died in 1483 holding the Duchy moiety 

 of the manor j Lanes, Inq. p.m. (Chet. 

 Soc), ii, n8. This was a temporary 

 grant, and the Molyneux holding of later 

 times was in lands which had belonged to 

 the Hospitallers ; ibid, iii, 383 ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, no. 59. Their 

 Leyland estate was sold in 1729. 



^ James Mason alias Stopford in 1574 

 purchased two messuages, &c., in Leyland 

 and Clayton from John Waring ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 36, m. 76 ; Ducatus 

 Lane, iii, 112, James Stopford of Ulnes 

 Walton died in 1610 holding a tenement 

 in Leyland of Dame Dorothy Huddleston 

 by 3^. rent ; while William Stopford died 

 in 1 617 holding the same of William 

 Farington ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes and Ches.), i, i6g ; ii, 73. 



* In 1373 Robert de Tonley and Joan 

 (Juliana) his wife (in the latter's right) 

 claimed dower in Leyland and Ulnes 

 Walton against John le Sumner and 

 Agnes his wife; De Banco R. 451, m. 

 242 d.; 453, m. 151 d. William Sumner 

 and Clemency widow of Edmund Sumner 

 in 1480 had a dispute as to dower ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Writs Proton, file 22 Edw. IV, a. 

 William Sumner had land in Leyland 

 in 1577 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 



39. ■"■ 44- 



Christopher Sumner died in 1620 

 holding lands in Leyland (including 

 Prior's acre, &c.) of William Farington 

 by a rent of 2s. zd. His heirs were three 

 daughters, Anne Heald, Jane and Ellen ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 220. William Sumner's lands 

 were held (161 5) of Henry Huddleston 



by a rent of 41. T^d. ; his heir was his son 

 William ; ibid, ii, 219. James Sumner, 

 who died in 1636, held of William 

 Farington ; his heir was a son John, 

 forty-eight years old ; Towneley MS. C 8, 

 13 (Chet. Lib.), 1069. 



There were Sumners at Nook, in the 

 south-west of Leyland. 



* Roger Banastre of Leyland in 1374 

 claimed land against Thomas, Roger and 

 John, sons of Robert de Werden ; De 

 Banco R. 456, m. 262 d. 



Thomas Osbaldeston and Elizabeth his 

 wife in 1580 purchased a messuage, &c., 

 from William Langley and Alice his wife, 

 and two yiars later sold the same to 

 Thomas Werden ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdles. 42, m. 57 ; 44, m. yS. The 

 Werdens formerly owned Golden Hill. 

 Some of them were recusants In 1628 j 

 Mise. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 180. 

 The head of the family seems, however, 

 to have migrated into Cheshire before 

 this time ; Ches. Funeral Cert. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 183. John Werden 

 (d. 1646) and his son General Robert 

 Werden were active Royalists in the Civil 

 War and had their estates sequestered ; 

 Cal. Com. for Comp. ii, 1 1 54-6, ^', 3268. 

 Robert had a son John, secretary to the 

 Duke of York in 1672, when he was 

 made a baronet, the dignity expiring with 

 the death of his son John in 1758. See 

 G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, iv, ;;. Tliey 

 are described as *of Cholmeaton (Chol- 

 mondeston), Cheshire, and Leyland.' 

 See Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), ii, 328 ; 

 iii, 367. 



<a William Holland of Clifton died 

 in 1 521 holding messuages and lands in 

 Leyland of Henry Farington by a rent of 

 6</. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m, v, no. 49. 

 They descended to Eleanor Slade, daughter 

 of Thomas Holland, who died in 1613 

 holding them by the same rent ; Lanes. 

 Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. L.incs. and Ches.), 

 i, 284. 



Peter Blackhurst died In 1631 holding 

 a messuage, &c., of William Farington ; 



17 



Thomas, the son and heir, was forty-five 

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

 XXX, no. 9. 



Thomas Rawlinson, who died in 1633, 

 held of William Farington by a rent of 

 2J, dd. ; his heir was his brother John, 

 fifty years of age ; ibid, xxviii, no. 58. 



Robert Serjant died in 1633, also 

 holding of William Farington, by a rent 

 of 2J, 3^/. J the heir was his son Humphrey, 

 aged twenty-two ; ibid, xxvlii, no. 17. 



Thomas Euxton died in 1638 holding 

 a messuage, &c., of William Farington 

 by suit of court and a rent of 2.od. ; he 

 left a son and heir William, a year old ; 

 ibid, xxx, no, 8. 



The following notes are from Towneley 

 MS. C 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), the lands being 

 held of William Farington : 



John Hilton, died 1625 ; son and heir 

 Evan, aged thirty-eight; p. 499. 



Thomas Cowper, died 1636 ; son 

 and heir William, aged twenty-two ; 

 p. 241. 



Lawrence Farington, died 1638 ; son 

 and heir Thomas, aged thirty-three ; 

 p. 424. 



^ John Hilton, Thomas Starkie and 

 Margaret Werden, all recusants ; Royalht 

 Comp. Papers, ill, 229 ; Cal, Com.for Comp. 

 '', 3187; iv, 3169. 



^ Dugdale, P^isif, (Chet. Soc), 196. 



^ Estcourt and Payne, Engi Cat/i. Non- 

 Jurors, 118, 130, 152. The names were 

 Richard Lancaster, Janet Guest, widow, 

 and Richard Whitehead. 



s Land tax returns at Preston. 



^ Endoived Char. Rep. (Leyland). 



^^ Hewitson, Our Country Churches, 



170* 173- 



i» Ibid. 174. 



'2 Nightingale, Lanes, Nonconf, Ii, 

 28. 



1^ For list of recuGants in 1628, see 

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

 180. 



^^ Hewitson, op. cit. 166-9. 



^* Lanes, ind Ches, Anti'j. Notes, i, 

 77- 



