A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Banastre, -Urgent a 

 cross patoncd sable. 



twentieth part of a knight's fee anJ a rent of \\J. 



yearly. Richard Banastre, his son and heir, was 



forty-four years of age.' The 



said Richard, who recorded a 



pedigree in I5i3,' died in 



1548 holding an augmented 



estate ; the Bank was stated 



to be held of the heirs of 



Richard le Boteler in socage ; 



William, his son and heir, 



was forty-eight years old.' 



William B.ina5tre died in 



'555' just after arranging for 



the marriage of his grandson 



Adam and Dorothy daughter 



of Hugh Anderton ; Henry, 



the son and heir of William and father of Adam, was 



thirty years of age. The tenure of the ' manor of 



Brctherton ' was recorded as in 154.8.' 



Henry ' was succeeded by a younger son William, 

 Adam having died without issue, and William by his 

 son Henry," who died in 1617, leaving as heir a son 

 Henry, only a year old. The tenure of the capital 

 messuage called the Bank and lands, windmill, &c., 

 In Bretherton, no 'manor' being named, was recorded 

 as in 1526, viz. of the duchy of Lancaster by the 

 twentieth part of a knight's fee and 4^1/. rent.' 

 Henry Banastre died in London 13 June 1 64 1, and 

 was brought to Croston for burial ' ; his eldest son 

 Henry, aged twenty-eight when the pedigree was 

 recorded in 1664,' was killed in Chc>hire by a 

 Manxman named Colcoth,'" and Bank passed to his 

 brother Christopher, high sheriff in 1669-70." 

 Christopher, who died in 1690, left two daughters 



and co-heirs ; the elder, Anne, married Thomas 

 Fleetwood," the first to attempt the draining of 

 M.irtin Mere, and their daughter and heir, Henrietta 

 M.iria," carried Bank and the moiety of Bretherton 

 to the Leghs of Lyme, from whom it has descended 

 to Lord Lilford," who, as stated above, is now lord 

 of the manor of Bretherton. Courts are held 

 annually. 



Bank Hall is a fine brick mansion of two stories 

 with curved gables and a square tower centrally placed 

 on the south or principal front. The house was erected 

 in 1608, but was restored and considerably enlarged 

 in 1S32-3, when a new wing was added at the west 

 end, a porch built on the north side, the original 

 north-west wing refaced, and the roofs covered with 

 blue slates. The new work was carried out in a 

 style corresponding to that of the original building, 

 but the difference is clearly marked by the colour of 

 the brickwork and the sharpness of the detail. 

 Nearly all the windows were renewed during the 

 restoration and new bay windows were added in the 

 south front, considerably altering its original appear- 

 ance. The tower, which contains the original oak 

 staircase, is the chief architectural feature of the 

 building on the south side, and gives a great 

 deal of distinction and picturesqueness to the 

 house as seen from the garden. It has a clock 

 in the top story facing south, and preserves 

 most of its original features, the staircase windows 

 not having been altered, and terminates in a 

 battlement with angle and intermediate orna- 

 ments, the latter, however, belonging to the 19th- 

 century restoration. The interior is almost wholly 

 modernized, but one of the lower rooms in the 



Banaitre of Bank and his heirs \ no. 

 I 59+. A grant was made to Ellen widow 

 of Hugh Banastre in 1442 with re- 

 mainders to Henry son of Hugh for life, 

 and then to Thurstan son of Hugh } no. 

 1611. 



A later Thurstan son of Hugh and 

 Agnes Banastre in i;i8sold to James 

 Andert n of Euxton all hishereditaiy lands 

 in Bretherton ; Towneley MS. OO, no. 

 1611, &c.; Pal.of Lane. Feet of F.bdle. II, 

 m. 187. Thurst.in Banastre married Isabel 

 Fulford, and after his death at Hadlcigh in 

 Suffolk his widow in 1514 endeavoured to 

 recover, their son Hugh being then ten 

 ) ears ( Id ; Duchy of L^nc. Dep. xxv, 

 B I. Again in 1569 the sen, described 

 as Hugh Banasire of * Lyghe,' Somerset, 

 yeoman — he calls himself * a poor serving 

 man' — made a further attempt; ibiJ. 

 Plead. Utiviii, Bli. 



James Anderton died in 1552 holding 

 lands in Bretherton of William Banastre 

 by the rent of a pair of white gauntlets 

 yearh-, and the estate (including a 

 windmill) descended to his son 

 Hugh, who held it at his death in 

 1566; ibid. Intj. p.m. ii, no. 14; xi, 

 no. 51. 



' Ibid, vi, no. ^4. Margery wife of 

 Henry survived him. 



' I'isit. of 1533 (Chet. Sol), 125. 



' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 33 ; 

 therein is recited the settlement on the 

 marriage (1541) ot Hcnrj' son of William 

 son of Richard Banastre with Margaret 

 daughter of Rich; r J Worthington of 

 Blainscough. 



An abstract of the will of Richard 

 R.mas'.re (1548) is printed in //'//A 

 (Chct. Si. t. new ser.), i, 200. 



'Ibid. X, no. 37. About 151;^ ,1 

 servant of Henry Banastre complained 

 that Sir Thomas Hesketh denied him 

 right of fishery on Martin Mere ; Ducalus 

 Liinc. (Rec. Com.), i, 297. 



^ He recorded a pedigree in 1567 ; 

 I'isif. (Chet. Sec), 67. A settlement 

 was made in 1565 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 27, m. 70. 



' Sec pedigree in Fhit.of 1613 (Chet. 

 Soc), 23. A grant of the manors of 

 n.mk Hall, Cuerden, ic, to Thomas 

 Marbury is in Pat. 6 Jas. I, pt. xxi. Tiie 

 Preslon Guild R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Chcs.) gives some particulars of the 

 family. 



' L^r.a. Inj. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Che-.), ii, 76. Christopher Banastre 

 (brother of Henrj-), described as 'of 

 Croiton,' in 1631 paid ,^10 as compo- 

 sition on refusing knighthood ; Miic. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 214. 



"^ Croston Reg. The inquisition re- 

 cords that he held the Bank of the king 

 by 4j</. rent, also messuages, &c., and a 

 v\indmill in Bretherton, with other lands 

 in a dozen neighbouring townships. 

 Henry, the son and heir, was six years 

 old; his mother Elizabeth was living at 

 Worden, and his grandmother Ellen 

 Ireland, widow, at Wigan ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. xxix, no, 15. 



It is stated that the manor of Bretherton 

 was forfeited by Nicholas Rlgby and 

 sold in 1653; Cat. Cam. f,r Comp. iv, 

 3100. 



'■' Dugdale's J-lslt. (Chet. Soc), 23. 



'■' Tov.neiey MS. OO, no. 1639 (end). 

 Henry Banastre was buried at Croston 

 II April 1665 ; Parish Reg. 



" P.RO. £....., 73. Chri-.tofhrr 



106 



Banastre in 1683 made settlement of 

 the moiety of the manor of Bretherton, 

 &c. ; I'al. of Lane. Feet of F. bdlc. 211, 

 m. 46. 



'* See pedigree in Baines' Lams. (ed. 

 Croston), iv, 18. The marriage took 

 place at Penwortham 1 9 November 1683. 

 The younger daughter of Christopher 

 (Elizabeth) married Robert Parker, an- 

 cestor of Parker of Cuerden. 



'^ In other pedigrees called Elizabeth. 



'• Henrietta Maria Fleetwood (born 

 1684) married Thomas Legh, second son 

 of Richard Legh of Lyme, and they lived 

 at Bank ; the husband was member for 

 Newton in Makerfield from 1698 to 

 1 7 10; Pink and Beaven, Pari. Repre. of 

 Lanes. 286-7. He died before 1723, 

 and his eldest son Fleetwood Legh, 

 leaving two daughters (s.p.) at his death 

 in 1726, was succeeded by his brother 

 Peter Legh, who in 1744 inherited the 

 Lym; and Newton estates on the death 

 of his uncle, Peter Legh of Lyme. The 

 younger Peter's heirs were his daughters 

 Henrietta Maria and Elizabeth ; the 

 elder married (1763) Robert Vernon 

 Atherton Gwillym-Atherton of Atherton, 

 from whom Lord Lilford descends ; while 

 the younger, who died about 1816, and 

 whose heir had the Bank Hall estate, 

 married Anthony James Keck of Stough- 

 ton Grange, Leic, member for Newton 

 1768-80 (ibid. 289), and their son 

 George Anthony Legh Keck inherited 

 Bank. SeeEarwaker, £airC^-j/i//-e, ii, 306. 

 Alter his death without issue in i860 it 

 passed by bequest to a cousin, the Hon. 

 Henry Littleton Powys, who took the sur- 

 name of Keck, and then to his nephew, 

 the late Lord Lilfi.rJ, father of the present 



