LEYLAND HUNDRED 



PENWORTHAM 



William Farington, who died in 1456, leaving a son 

 William, fifteen years old.i - 



William Farington in 1474 acknowledged that he 

 held lands of the Abbot of 

 Evesham by the service of 

 14^. yearly.2 He was made 

 a knight in the Scottish ex- 

 pedition of 1482,3 and died 

 in 1501 holding messuages 

 and lands in Farington partly 

 of the abbot and partly of 

 the Earl of Derby, by rents 

 of 5j. id. and id. respectively ; 

 also lands, burgages, &c., in 

 Ulnes Walton, Leyland and 

 Preston. His heir was his son 

 Henry, then thirty years of 

 age.* Henry had been 

 married to Anne Radcliffe of Ordsall, by whom he 

 had three sons — William, Thomas and Robert. He 

 married, as his second wife, Dorothy Okeover, and 

 by her had a son William. A pedigree was recorded 



Farington, Argent 

 a cheveron gules between 

 three leopards* faces 

 sable. 



in 1533.^ He was about the same time one of 

 the commissioners for the suppression of the mona- 

 steries,* and was made a knight at Anne Boleyn's 

 coronation in 1533.' Sir Henry's eldest son 

 William died before him, leaving an only child, 

 Joan ; the second son, Thomas, also left a daughter ; 

 the third son, Robert, had been educated at Cam- 

 bridge * and instituted to the rectory of North 

 Meols (1530-37), his father having purchased the 

 presentation, and then had forsaken the clerical life 

 and married." As he is said to have been in holy 

 orders, this marriage could not have been valid by 

 any law. Sir Henry appears to have been so offended 

 that he settled his hereditary manors on his grand- 

 daughteri" Joan, while the estate of Worden in Ley- 

 land which he had purchased was given to his youngest 

 son William, ancestor of the Faringtons of that place.^^ 

 Sir Henry died about 1 5 50,^^ when Joan succeeded, 

 and the manor descended to her daughter Dorothy 

 Beconsaw, who married Sir Edmund Huddleston of 

 Sawston.'^ Farington appears to have been leased 

 or mortgaged to a cousin, Anthony Huddleston, 



Thomas son of John de Farington, to 

 Nicholas uncle of Henry and to John de 

 Farington the elder ; ibid. p. 130. 



Another deed of the same year by the 

 elder John gave lands in Farington, 

 Longton and Howick to Master 

 William de Farington, rector of * Bekenes- 

 feld,' for Henry de Howick and Alice 

 his wife, with remainders to their 

 daughter Joan (wife of Thomas de 

 Farington) and Margaret (wife of Gilbert 

 de Sutton) ; also for Thomas de Far- 

 ington (son of John) for life, with re- 

 mainder to William son of John de 

 Farington the elder ; Piccope MSS. xiv, 

 56. 



The writ diem cl. extr. after the 

 death of John Farington was issued 

 8 August 1410 ; Dep. Keeper'sRep. xxxvii, 

 App. 172. 



William son and heir of John Far- 

 ington was in 1411-12 called upon to 

 assign dower in Farington, Leyland, 

 Worden, Walton and Clayton to John's 

 widow, Joan, who had married Thomas 

 Chamock the younger ; Add. MS. 32108, 

 no. 1618. 



William Farington made a lease of 

 lands to Nicholas Boteler in 1438 ; 

 Piccope MSS. xiv, 58. 



^ Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), ii, 61. 

 Nothing is said as to the tenure of the 

 lands, which were in Leyland, Farington 

 and Preston. 



It should be noticed that a writ diem 

 cl. extr. after the death of William 

 Farington was issued on 19 March 

 1438—9 5 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 

 38. If this was not an erroneous issue, 

 there must have been two Williams ; 

 see ibid, xxxvii, App. 175-7 (three writs). 



2 Piccope MSS. xiv, 58. In 1478 a 

 general pardon was granted to William 

 son of William Farington ; Add. MS. 

 32108, no. 1423. 



3 Metcalfe, Book of Knights, 7. 



* Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 

 Sy. Feoffments made by him in 1497 

 and 1501 are recited. 



^ Visit. (Chet. Soc), 114. Henry 

 Farington was knight of the shire in 

 1529 ; Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 57. 



^ L. and P. Hen. VllI, xii (i), 716, 

 832. There are other references to Sir 

 Henry in these volumes. 



' Metcalfe, op. cit. 65, 



^ Robert Farington seems at one time 

 to have been an agent or dependant of 

 Thomas Cromwell's ; L. and P. Hen. VIII, 

 vii, 852, 1635 i X, 85. 



^ The facts are stated in pleadings in 



1543 by Anthony Browne of Abbess 

 Roding in Essex and Joan his wife, 

 daughter and heir of William son and 

 late heir-apparent of Sir Henry Farington, 

 who was still living. It appeared that 

 in 1 5 12-13 o^ the marriage of William 

 with Isabel daughter and co-heir of 

 John Clayton of Clayton a rent from a 

 tenement called the Brex (see Leyland) 

 was settled upon them, and had de- 

 scended to Anthony and Joan. This 

 and more important estates were now 

 claimed by Robert Farington, gent., third 

 son of Sir Henry, under forged deeds. 

 It is mentioned that Thomas Farington, 

 the second son, had already died without 

 male issue ; he had married _ Cecily 

 Radcliffe. (For some letters relating to 

 this marriage see Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. 

 xiv, App, iv, 2-4.) 



Sir Henry himself deposed that he had 

 made no estate of any of his manors, &c., 

 whereby they should not descend to his 

 heir-apparent Joan wife of Anthony 

 Browne, but he had given an annuity of 

 j^4 to his son Robert, who also had a 

 pension from North Meols rectory. 

 Thomas Farington also had been at 

 variance with his father, and had en- 

 deavoured to marry his daughter Alice to 

 Sir Robert Hesketh's son, but Sir Henry 

 . had stopped the match. Robert Faring- 

 ton was described as ' of Samlesbury,' 

 and forty years of age. A decree was in 



1544 made in favour of Anthony and 

 Joan Browne. See Duchy of Lane. 

 Plead. Hen. VIII, xili, B 18 ; xiv, 

 F 10 ; Decrees and Orders, Hen. VIII, 

 vii, fol. 327. 



Anthony was Joan's second or third 

 husband. 



^^ Sir Henry Farington was deforciant 

 in a fine of 1543 relating to the manor 

 of Farington, a moiety of the manor of 

 Leyland, messuages, two mills, lands, &c., 

 in Farington, Leyland, Preston and 

 Ulnes Walton ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 12, m. 97. 



^^ See the account of Leyland. 



1^ His will was dated 1 2 December 1 549, 

 and the inventory was taken in 155^ j 



63 



Raines in Stanley P. (Chet. Soc), ii, 

 p. xxiv. 



'^ For the pedigree see the account of 

 Becconsall and Burke's Commoners, ii, 

 585, from which it appears that Sir 

 Edmund Huddleston succeeded his father 

 at Sawston in 1557 and died In 1607—8, 

 leaving a son and heir Henry, who 

 married Dorothy Dormer. 



The heirs of Sir Henry Farington had 

 numerous suits with other members of 

 his family. Soon after his father's death 

 Robert Farington, disregarding the decree 

 of 1544, put forward his claim to the 

 * manor of Farington alias Farington Hall,' 

 and the other estates, so that the tenants 

 were afraid to pay their rents to Anthony 

 Browne and Joan ; this went on though 

 Robert was In the Fleet prison for forgery ; 

 Duchy of Lane Plead. N.D. xxxi, Bio; 

 Eliz. Ixxl, F20. A settlement of the 

 manor, &c, was made by Anthony and 

 Joan in 1558 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 19, m. 7. Soon after this Robert 

 Farington died, but his widow Elizabeth 

 then claimed dower against Anthony 

 Browne and Joan ; Duchy of Lane Plead. 

 N.D. xxxvii, B 26. 



Anthony Browne, born about 1510, 

 became a serjeant-at-law in 1555 and in 

 1558 was made Chief Justice of the 

 Common Pleas, being considered 'of pro- 

 found learning and great eloquence.' He 

 was a zealous Roman Catholic, and being 

 a justice in Essex had arrested several 

 Protestants and sent them to Bishop 

 Bonner for trial. He was on account of 

 religion removed from his position by 

 Elizabeth, but was made a knight in 

 1566, He died the following year, and 

 his wife Joan soon afterwards ; they had 

 no children. See Foss, Judges ; Foxe, 

 Acts and Monuments (ed. Cattley), vi, 722. 



In 1567 and later Edmund Huddleston 

 and Dorothy his wife, having succeeded, 

 were disturbed by the claims of John 

 Farington, alleging a settlement made by 

 Sir Henry Farington in favour of Thomas 

 Farington his son, with remainders to 

 Robert Thomas's son (? brother), to the 

 heirs male of Sir Henry, to John son of 

 William Farington (elder brother of 

 Henry), to Cecily daughter of Henry and 

 wife of Robert Chamock, to the elder 

 daughter of Henry, to Peter Farington, to 

 Richard Farington of the Grange in 



