LEYLAND HUNDRED 



a history of the county on an ambitious scale, and 

 whose collections have been of great service to later 

 historians. He was born about 1622,' educated at 

 Leyland and St. Mary Hall, 

 Oxford ; removing to Cam- 

 bridge, he graduated from 

 Emmanuel College in 1646. 

 Oxford having then surren- 

 dered to the Parliament, he 

 returned thither ; M.A. 1647. 

 He studied medicine, but de- 

 ferred taking his degree till 

 the Restoration,' not liking 

 some of the political tests 

 applied. His History of the 

 county was planned in con-- 

 junction with Christopher 

 Towneley, and he had the 

 use of the latter's collections. It w.is not, however, 

 till after twenty years' labour that Dr. Kucrden in 

 1688 issued his proposals for the publication of the 

 Brigatitla Lancastriemis RcstauraiiJ, to be issued in five 

 folio volumes. Nothing came of it, and Kuerden died 

 about 1700.' 



Kl-KRDEN. Vcr hctui 



si'tistt'r or atiii tiznre a 

 griffon srrrc.ini coti'ifci- 

 i'AjngL\L 



LEYLAND 



Of the other landowners the most Important resi- 

 dents appear to have been the Woodcocks, and in 

 1564 the landowners contributing to the subsidy 

 were John Kucrden and William Woodcock.* The 

 family can be traced to the early part of the 13th 

 centur}', when, as stated above, Henry de Kucrden 

 made several grants to thcm.'^ 



Thomas Woodcock died at Cuerdcn in 1603 

 holding *the capital messuage called Lostock ' in 

 Cuerdcn — no doubt the house later called Woodcock 

 Hall — with lands in Cucrden, Walton-le-Dalc, &c. 

 This 'Lostock' had belonged to the Hospitallers^; 

 Lostock Hall, to the north, w^as in Walton-le-Dalc, 

 and held in i 576 by Thomas Fleetwood. According 

 to Kucrden Woodcock Hall on Cucrden Green w^as 

 at one time known as Crow Trees/ The above- 

 named Thomas left a son and heir John, aged nine- 

 teen.^ Another of the same name, born about 1603, 

 13 of more note — the Ven. John Woodcock. He 

 became a student at St. Omer's and afterwards in 1629 

 proceeded to the English College Ir Rome.^ Next 

 year he joined the English Franciscans at Douay and 

 was sent to England for a time. On a later mission 

 he was arrested soon after his arrival in Lancashire 



Dicconson gave lands to William Clift ; 

 the names include Wcllbutts, Croft at the 

 Town, and Fcmcroft ; ibid. fol. 64. In 

 1410 the same John granted lands in the 

 Bottoms and Longfield to William son of 

 Ralph Clayton j ibid. fol. 6^h. In 1416, 

 as John Wilkinson of Cuerden, he made 

 a settlement of his lands, the remainder 

 being to his son Thomas, who had married 

 Eleanor daughter of John Harwood ; 

 ibid. fol. 6S, 71, 73. John Wilkinson 

 and Thomas his son in 1420 made a grant 

 of the Mickic Croft? ; ibid. fol. 68. 



Thomas Jackson Wilkinson of Cucrden 

 in conjunction with John Harwood of 

 Hoghton made a grant of land to John 

 Werdcn in 1434 ; ibid. fol. 78/'. His son 

 Gilbert appears to have succeeded in 

 1454, when Richard son and heir of John 

 Harwood gave to Gilbert son of Thomas 

 Jackson various lands in Cucrden formerly 

 entrusted by Thomas to the said John and 

 to Geoffrey son of Thomas 9 ibid. fol. 74''. 

 In the same year there was granted a 

 divorce between Gilbert Tomlinson Jack- 

 son and his wife Elizabeth Whallcy, on 

 the latter's petition ; ibid. fol. 80. 



It was probably the same Gilbert Jack- 

 son who in 1509 gave to feoffees land 

 called Werdenheys, abutting on Richard 

 Charnock's land called Huntersty and on 

 the Stony lane, for the use of Joan wife of 

 Richard Jackson son and heir-apparent of 

 Gilbert j ibid. fol. 96. In 1 5 1 6 Gilbert Jack- 

 son and Richard his son and heir granted 

 land in the Townfield to John Jackson, 

 another son of Gilbert's ; ibid. fol. 

 99^. 



Richard Jackson granted Little Werden- 

 hey to his brother John in 1528, and in 

 the following year made his will, desiring 

 to be buried in the churchyard of Leyland 

 near his father and mother, and making 

 bequests to his relatives, to priests for 

 masses, and to such as should go on 

 pilgrimage for him to our Lady of Burgh 

 and St. Anne, and to the Rood at Chester ; 

 ibid. fol. 94-5. Richard did not die at 

 that time, for in 1537 he as Richard 

 Kuerden and his brother John agreed 

 upon the marriage of the latter's son 

 Gilbert with Grace daughter of Richard 

 Eyves ; ibid. fol. looi. From other deeds 

 it appears that Jackson and Kuerden were 



used indifferently as the surname. Richard 

 died about the end of 1553, for early in 

 the next year his widow Janet and his 

 brother John (called of Walton-lc-Dale) 

 came to an agreement as to the dowry ; 

 ibid. fol. 104. 



In 1568 John Kuerden of Cuerden 

 made an exchange of lands with John 

 Jackson of Walton-le-Dale and Gilbert 

 his son -y the names given are : Tiinstead, 

 Farthingbutt, Longtonhey ; ibid. fol. 1 1 2. 

 Five years later John Kucrden gave pieces 

 of land in the Bentbutts and the Mcnehcy 

 to Gilbert Jackson j ibid. fol. 118. A 

 deed of feoffment made in 1584 by Gilbert 

 Jackson records the names of his sons and 

 other relatives ; the heir-apparent was his 

 son Richard j ibid. fol. 107 5 see also fol. 

 iiib. In 1599 an agreement was made 

 between Richard Jackson of Cuerden and 

 Margaret widow of Gilbert Jackson as to 

 her lands; ibid. fol. 117. According to 

 the pedigree recorded in 1664 Richard, 

 who died in 163 1, was father of Gilbert 

 (d. 1662), the father of the antiquary. 



The only inquisition known is that of 

 Richard Jackson, who died 24 April 1631 

 holding a messuage and lands in Cuerden 

 of Lord Molyneux and Sir Richard Fleet- 

 wood, as of their manor of Cucrden ; 

 Towneley MS. C 8, 1 3 (Chet. Lib.), 699.;. 

 Gilbert, the son and heir, was thirty-nine 

 years of age. 



^ A Richard son of Gilbert Jackson 

 was baptized at Leyland 7 March 1622-3. 



^ See Add. MS. 32109, fol. 127. 



^ Baincs, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii. 461, 

 from an account drawn up by Kuerden 

 himself and copied in the Palmer MSS. 

 (Chet. Lib.). There arc notices of him 

 also in Wood's Athenae and the Diet, yof. 

 Biog. (Jackson). For the date of hia 

 death see Preston Guardian Sketcliesy no. 

 366. Eight volumes of Kuerden's MSS. 

 are in the College of Arms, two in the 

 Chetham Library, and one among the 

 Harleian MSS. in the British Museum. 

 For the prospectus of the work and other 

 notes on Dr. Kuerden see Loc. Glean. 

 Lanes, and Chcs. i, 131, &c. 



'' Subs. R. 131, no. 210. 



•^ Many references to them will be 

 found in the collections of Cuerden deeds 

 already noticed. Adam son of William 



27 



de Ulbas of Leyland In i ^06 confirmed 

 to Robert son of Roger Woodcock lands 

 in Cuerden; Add. MS. 32109, fol. 26. 

 In 1 342 Richard Woodcock exchanged 

 lands with Ellis son of John de Kuerden ; 

 ibid. fol. 39*. In 13!;2 Adam son of 

 William Woodcock claimed a messuage 

 and land against William son of Thomas 

 Faldworthlngs ; Duchy of Lane. Assize 

 R. ^, m. (;. At the same time Adam 

 son of William del Knoll made a claim 

 against Richard Woodcock, who called 

 John son and heir of Robert Woodcock 

 to warrant him; ibid. m. 5 d. ; 3, m. 

 5 d. There is a brief pedigree in A. E. P. 

 Grnv, Woodcoek Family^ of Cuerden, 

 .fee. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvili, 

 no. 26 ; there was a rent of ^d. payable 

 to the Crown. For pedigree see Abram's 

 Blackburn, 75 3- 



'^ Described by Kucrden as * the 

 ancient inheritance of Mr. John Wood- 

 cock and his family for four or five 

 hundred years' ; Balnes, Lanes, (cd. 1870), 

 ii, 145. 



Alice daughter and co-heir of Thomas 

 Woodcock is stated to have married 

 William Winstnnley in 1762 ; sec Burke, 

 Landed Gentry (Winstanley of Chaiglcy). 



^ John Woodcock of Cuerden and his 

 sons Thomas, Francis and William were 

 at the Preston Guild of 1622 ; Guild R. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 92. John 

 Woodcock of Cucrden and John Wood- 

 cock of Cucrden Green appear in 1642, 

 and Thomas Woodcock of the latter place 

 in 1662 ; ibid. 119, 151;. 



^ On admission he stated that he was 

 son of Thomas and Dorothy Woodcock 

 and had been brought up at Clayton till 

 he was nineteen years old. *Hi5 father 

 was a heretic or schismatic ; his mother 

 a pious Catholic. He studied for one year 

 at St. Omer's, after having been a heretic 

 or schismatic until nearly twenty yeara 

 of age, when he was converted to the 

 Catholic faith, and suffered much for 

 a long time from a cruel fiither on that 

 account. He went to his grandfather, a 

 Catholic gentleman, viz. Mr. Anderton 

 of Clayton' ; Foley, Rec. S. J, vl, 322. 

 At Rome he 'afforded a remarkable ex- 

 ample of the mildest disposition.' 



