A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



was succeeded hy his son Thomas,' who had a 

 moiety of the manor of A>hton-under-Lyne in right 

 of his mother. Thomas Hoghton it was who about 

 156+ erected Hoghton Tower.' About the same 

 time he entertained William Allen, afterwards car- 

 dinal, who was visiting Lancashire in order to animate 

 Roman Catholics in their resistance to the new 

 ecclesiastical law^, and he became a rerolute opponent 

 of Protestantism. Consequently at the beginning of 

 the Elizabethan persecution in Lancashire he was 

 required to conform, and finding that he could not do 

 so with a good conscience he fled to the Continent, 

 taking refuge in Antwerp. On his failing to make 

 peace with the queen, his estates were seized,^ and he 

 died in exile at Liege in 1 5 So. His body was 

 afterwards buried at Douay, he having been a liberal 

 benefactor to the English seminar)- there.* At 

 Hoghton he was succeeded by his brother Alexander,* 

 who was followed by a half-brother Thomas,*^ killed 

 in a family feud at Lea in November 1589.' 



Thomas's son Richard, twenty years of age,^ was 

 given as wnrd to Sir Gilbert Gerard, whose daughter 

 he married, and he conformed to the Church of 

 England. He was made a knight in 1600 and a 

 baronet in 161 1 at the first creation.® He was 

 sheriff of the county in 1599,'° and afterwards knight 

 of the shire." He entertained James 1 at Hoghton 

 Tower in 161 7 on the king's return from Scotland," 

 and died in 1630,'^ being succeeded by his son Sir 

 Gilbert,*' a zealous Royalist in the Civil War.'* At 

 the end of November 1642 he fired his beacon on 

 the top of Hoghton Tower, and thus assembled all 

 *the papists and mallgnants of the Fylde and in Ley- 

 land Hundred ' ; he led them to an attack on Black- 

 burn, which seems to have been as useless as it was 

 timid.'" He fortified Preston, and on the storming 

 of the town in 1643 escaped to Wigan." His estates 

 were sequestered by the Parlianv?nt, but he died in or 

 before 1646,'* and as his son and heir Sir Richard 

 had taken the Parliament's side they were restored.'* 



In April 1 ^ ^ ^ Sir Richard acquired lariLi s, 

 Ac, in Hoghton and Lea from Sir Thomas 

 Hc^ktih and Anne his wife ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet ol F. bdlc. I ^, m. 24. 



' Fur licence to enter see D^p, Keeper's 

 Ref>. xxxix, App. 51^+. 



^ Sec Lanes, and Ckes. .'J-n.-j. Nateiy i, 

 201-3 1 Diujius Ljnc. (Rcc. Ci-m.), i-, 

 266, 28-. 



■ Duchy of Lane. Special Ci'm. 2 1 2 ; 

 the luncy was made 26 April 1572. 



* The above particulars arc taken 

 ff'/m J. Gillow's account in the IIj\Jj.k 

 Pj/>eri^ 10-17, where is reprinted a (sup- 

 pi >se J contemporar)') ball jd called * The 

 Klfssed Conscience,' recording the feel- 

 ings ot Thomas Hoghton in his exile. 

 Th.s ballad was first printed from the 

 recital of an old fiJJlcr about 1810. 

 Like others of P. Whittle's publications 

 it is ofdoubt.ul authenticity. It is note- 

 worthy that it atiributes Thomas's failure 

 to find an accommodation with the cjueen 

 to bribery by his brothers, who desired 

 him to be kept out of the way. The 

 only faithful one, it declares, was Richard 

 Hoghton of Park Hall in Charnock, one 

 of the illegitimate issue of Sir Richard. 

 This brother in I5"6 -btaincd the ijwcen's 

 licence to go abroad to see his brother 

 and ad\i8e him * to return unto thif our 

 realm and to submit himself unto us and 

 our laws according to the duty u\ a good 

 subject.' The visit had probably a further 

 object — to provide for the exile's suste- 

 nance. A facsimile of the permit with 

 notes by Mr. Gillow will be found in 

 Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc), iii. 



He left ;^ioo with Cardinal Allen to 

 be employed temporarily for the use of 

 students at Douay, but 'with this inten- 

 tion, to employ the same sum wholiv, 

 when God shall have mercy on our 

 countr>* and restore the same to Catholic 

 faith and senlce, upon a pair of organs, 

 one table, and certain singing bouks :n 

 the parish church of Preston.' 



He had a son Thomas, not named in 

 the pedigree recorded in 1 :;6- (Chet. Soc, 

 2;), and therefore probably illegitimate. 

 Th;s son studied at Douay, was ordained 

 priest about i>So, and sent on the Lanca- 

 shire mission. He was at once seized 

 and thrown into Salford Gaol, where he 

 remained for some years, probably dying 

 there, as nothing more is know a of him ; 

 Gillow, Bi'l. Diet. ofEng!. Ca:k. ii;, 325 ; 

 Knox, Douai Dij-if:^ i i-. 



\i.i heir was hli daughter J^nc, who 



married James st'n and heir of Roger 

 Bradihaw of Haigh ; I'iiir, loc. cit. She 

 was twenty-silt years of age in i^So, at 

 which time the tenure of Hoghton was 

 again described as by tlie fourth part of a 

 knight's fee ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 

 xi\, no. 26. Alexander brother of Thomas 

 was then living at Lea. 



A settlement (-f the Hoghton estates 

 made by Thomas Hoghton in 1 560 gives 

 the following remainders : To his brothers 

 Alexander, Thomas the younger and 

 Rowland ; to Leonard, Richard the elder, 

 Richard the younger, Gilbert, Arthur and 

 George, bastard sons of Sir Richard Hogh- 

 ton ; to a certain Edward Hoghton of 

 Charnock, and to a certain Arthur Hoghton 

 of Kirkham ; PaL of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 22, m, 142. For others sec ibid, bdlc, 

 40, m. 210 ; 42, m. 36 ; Add. MS. 

 32 106, fol, 131 (i >6^), and no. 8-6, 990. 



■' For Alexander's marriage see U0J5. 

 MS. cxiii, folio :;o. His will, dated and 

 proved in i?8i, expressed his wiah to be 

 buried in Preston Church near his father 

 and his former wife Dorothy. His then 

 wife Elizabeth he made executrix. His 

 'instruments belonging to music and all 

 manner of play clothes' are named. 

 Piccope, //'iV/j (Chet. Soc), ii, 237-41. 



^ Thomas the younger is said to have 

 been Iwrn when the life of his elder 

 brother Thomas was despaired of; hence 

 his name. A settlement of lands in 

 Hoghton, &c., was in 1585 made by 

 Thomas Hujrhton and Anne his wife; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 47, m. 182. 



' Dii:hy of Lane Inq. p.m. xv, no. 39, 

 in which are recited several indentures, 

 fines, (Sjc, relating to the estates. The 

 tenure of Hoghton is recorded as of the 

 queen by the third part of a knight's fee. 

 See further in the account ot Lea in 

 Preston, and Add. MS. 32106, no. 1032. 

 The custody of the younger children was 

 granted to Anne the widow ; ibid. no. 1039. 



'^ Licence to enter was granted in 

 1^90; Dep. Keeper^! Rep. xxxix, App. 

 554. A settlement was made in 1595 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. ^57, m. 1 78. 

 G.E.C. Complete Bjr'jnctjTe^ {, lo, 

 the eighth on the list. The name at that 

 hme was usually spelt Houghton or 

 Haughton. 



Sir Richard Hoghton in July 1628 

 directed his bailiffs to make known to all 

 his tenants that his daughter ICatherinc 

 had just been married, * whereby there is 

 now Juc unto me (he writes) within cne 



40 



month after her said marriage two years* 

 rent particularly of every one of them, as 

 by covenants in their several leases may 

 appear'; Add MS. 32106, no. 1041. 



'" P.R.O. Lisr, 75. 



" Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 69 ; from 

 1601 to 161 1. A pedigree was recorded 

 in 161 3 ; yiiir, (Cliet. Soc), 51. 



"The king's \lslt took place 1^-18 

 August, when two knights were made 

 there ; on the zotli lie was at Lathom ; 

 Metcalfe, op. cit. 171. Tlic visit may 

 have been an over-burdensome honour. 

 Sir Richard at the end of his life was for 

 some years imprisoned for debt in the 

 Fleet, the manor of Chipping, &c., being 

 sold to satisfy the creditors ; Pleas of 

 Crown, Lane. bdle. 328. 



'•' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, no, 

 13. The manor of Hoghton was said to 

 be held by the service of the fourth part 

 of a knight's fee. Gilbert, the son and 

 heir, was thirty-nine j'ears of age. 



Settlements of Hoghton and other 

 manors. Sec, had been made in 161 5 and 

 1616 by Sir Richard Hoghton and Sir 

 Gilbert his son j Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 86, no. i ; 89, no. 41. 



" He had been made a knight in 1604 ; 

 Metcalfe, op. cit. 1 54. He represented 

 the county in 1621, 1626, and the Short 

 Parliament of 1640 ; Pink and Beaven, 

 op. cit. 69-71. He was sheriff in 1643 ; 

 P.R.O. Lht, 7;. 



'» Civil IVar Tracts (Chet. Soc), 20, 

 &c. In October 1642 he was removed by 

 the Parliament from the commission of 

 the peace ; ibid. 60. 



"' Ibid. 65, 123 i War in Land. (Chet. 

 Soc), 21. 



" Civil War Tract, 66, 68 (where Sir 

 Gilbert is described, erroneously it sjcnis, 

 as 'a convicted Papist'), 75. 



'^ Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 292, in a petition 

 by Dame Margaret Hoghton widow of 

 Sir Gilbert. In the same volume will be 

 found records of the sequestrations of 

 estates of other members of the family, 

 including Dame Jane widow of Sir 

 Richard father of Sir Gilbert. 



For Dame Margaret's dower see Add. 

 MS. 32ir^6, no. 987. She was an 

 earnest Puritan; 'her house seemed to 

 me as a college for religion," said Isaac 

 Ambrose in her funeral sermon in |6^8 ; 

 Lanes, and Ctlrs. .imtf. Ai/f j, ii, i 26-9. 



"Sir Richard in 1653-4 petitioned 

 respecting certain parts withheld from 



