A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The soil IS chiefly a black, heavy loam overlying 

 clay ; elsewhere it Is light, and in some parts sandy 

 loam. There are now 2,394 acres of arable land, 

 648 acres of permanent grass and 30 acres of woods 

 and plantations.' Wheat, oats and potatoes are 

 grown. Beyond the cultivated land to the north are 

 Hesketh sands, stretching to the stream of the Ribble, 

 the thread of which forms the boundary of parish 

 and hundred. It was formerly a seaside resort.' 



The principal road is that coming north from 

 Tarleton, which at Hesketh Bank turns sharply to 

 the west, going to the hamlet called Hundred End 

 and then to Southport. The line of the West 

 Lancashire Railway, opened in 1S7S, and now owned 

 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company, runs 

 through the southern part of the parish with a station 

 at the east end called Hesketh Bank and another at 

 the west called Hundred End. 



There is a parish council. Water is supplied by 

 the Preston Waterworks. 



The joint township was a member of 

 MANORS the fee or barony of Warrington, and as 

 one plough-land was given by Pain de 

 Vilers to the Knights Hospitallers in alms.' It 

 remained in their possession ' till the Suppression in 

 the time of Henry \'III, the immediate holders being 

 the families of Beconsaw and Banastre of Bank, each 

 having a moiety and paying a rent of 5;.' A^ in the 

 case of other manors held in alms, little is known of 

 its history. 



The Beconsaw family held their moiety until the 

 1 6th century.' Edward Beconsaw recorded a pedigree 

 in I 5 3 3,' and died on 19 April 

 1535, holding the manor of 

 Becconsall and lands there of 

 Sir Thomas Weston, Prior of 

 St. John of Jerusalem in Eng- 

 land, in socage by a rent of 

 5/., the clear annual value 

 being X'°- ^^ ^^'^ lands 

 also in Lydiate, Aughton, 

 Aspinwall in Scarisbrick and 

 Much Hoole. His heir was 

 his son Henry, nineteen years 

 of age.* Henry left a daughter, 

 Dorothy, whereupon the 

 manor and lands were claimed 

 by Adam Beconsaw, brother of Henry, as heir male. 

 After some disputing a settlement was made, chiefly 

 m his favour,' but he did not enjoy possession long, 

 dying in December 1544, and leaving it to a son 

 George, two years old." In 1551, George having 

 died, the manor of Becconsall and lands there and in 

 Hesketh, Much Hoole and Aughton were settled 

 upon Richard Beconsaw, with remainders to his wife 

 Joan for life, and then to the issue of Richard, or in 

 default to Richard Ashton of Croston." The claim 

 by Richard seems to have been unjust, for this 

 moiety of the manor went to Dorothy, and was sold 

 to Sir Thomas Hesketh of Rufford," who thus gained 



BicoNSAW. Sable a 

 croii formy argenl^ in the 

 sinister quarter an 

 escallop of the second. 



as 3,662 2cres (including 8 of inland 

 water), with 79 acres of tidal water and 

 1,130 of foreshore. The difference, 

 over 1,^00 acres, is due to the inclosures 

 recorded above. 



' Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



' * In the summer season Hesketh used 

 to be a place of considerable resort for 

 bathing and marine recreations, and the 

 visitors were plentifully supplied with 

 salmon and flounders taken near the 

 mouth of the rivers. The grazing of 

 sheep also was carried on to a great 

 extent on the marshes. All this, how- 

 ever, has been changed by the new 

 embjnkniriu ' of the Ribble Na\igation j 

 Barnes, Lanci. (cd. 1870), ii, 133. 



' Lanes, Inj. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 6. The gift, there- 

 fore, belongs to the earlier part of the 

 1 2th cenlur)-. 



As in the case of other Vilers manors 

 in Leyland, Hesketh was claimed or held 

 by Robert de Hephalc in 1324; Dods. 

 MSS. cxxxi, fol. +4. 



* It is named in the list of the Hospi- 

 tallers' lands in I 292 ; Plac. de Quo Warr. 

 (Rec. Com.), 375. 



* About I 540 the holders were Richard 

 Banastre for one moiety and Henry 

 Beconsaw for the other ; Kuerden MSS. 

 V, fol. 8;'. 



* William son of John de Beconsaw 

 occurs in 1246 ; Assize R. 404, m. 3 d. 

 One Henry de Pool in 1292 confirmed 

 to Robert son of Richard de Hesketh 

 land in Hesketh adjoining that held by 

 William son of William de Hesketh for 

 a rent of zd. ; Towneley MS. C 8, 13, 

 P5-. The grantor may be the Henry 

 de Beconsaw of 1300; Lanes. Inj. and 

 Extents, i, 305. Thomas de Beconsaw 

 attested a Croston charter in 1310 ; 

 Add. .MS. 32104, no. 66. 



Henr)- son of Adam de Beconsaw in 

 131S claimed the moiety of the manor 



of Becconsall against Cecily daughter of 

 Ellen de Worsley ; De Banco R. 22;, 

 m. 4o^d. Against Henry de Beconsaw 

 in 1326 the prior of the Hospitallers 

 claimed a messuage and plough-land in 

 Becconsall, called * a moiety of the 

 manor' in later suits; ibid. 264, m. 

 1 1 4 d. ; 2 70, m. 7 2 d. ; 2 79, m. 1 80 d. J 

 293, m. 322. 



There was, as appears above, a Hesketh 

 family also in the township, ancestors 

 probably of the Heskcths of Rufford. 

 Stephen de Hesketh occurs in 1301 

 {Lanes. Irf. and Extents, i, 310) ; and in 

 1349 Wil; am ton of Stephen de Hesketh 

 granted all his messuages and lands in 

 the vill of Becconsall and Hesketh to 

 Henry de Beconsaw ; and William son 

 of William de Hesketh confirmed to 

 Henry three selions of his land in the 

 Bankfield and a house with curtilage in 

 the vill at a rent of ^d. ; Towneley MS. 

 HE, Edw. HI, no. 14, 15. 



Henry dc Beconsaw appears as plain- 

 tiff in 1356-7 ; Duchy of Lane. Assize 

 R. 5» r"' 20 ; 6, m. 9. It was, no doubt, 

 this Henry who by the agency of Adam 

 vicar of Leyland made a settlement of 

 his manor and lands in Becconsall and 

 elsewhere, which is cited in pleadings of 

 154^-1! where the pedigree is traced as 

 follows : Henry -s. Adam -s. Robert -s. 

 Henry — s. George -s. Edward -s. Henry 

 -d. Dorothy ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 140. 



Adam de Beconsaw occurs as a witness 

 to deeds in 1380-3 ; Add. MS. 32104, 

 no. 7;, 1643. He is probably the Adam 

 murdered at Rufford in 1399; see the 

 account of Rufford. Henry de Beconsaw 

 appears immediately afterwards, com- 

 plaining, perhaps in connexion with 

 Adam's death, of maiming, Sec, by 

 Nicholas son of Thomas dc Hesketh of 

 Rufford, Gilbert his brothsr, and others ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Chan. Mis:. 1/8, m. 12. 



I 12 



The preceding pedigree is imperfect, 

 omitting the Henry last-named, who is 

 duly inserted as son of Adam and father 

 of Robert in another pleading of the 

 time ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 173, m. 8 d, 

 Henry Beconsaw is said to have married 

 Elizabeth daughter of Ralph de Standiah 

 (d. c. 1 41 8), by whom he had a son 

 Robert living in 1450 ; MS. Pedigree 

 book in possession of W. Farrer. Robert 

 Beconsaw was a surety in 1429 ; Pal, of 

 Lane. Plea R. 2, m. 27. Henry Becon- 

 saw attested deeds as late as 1488 ; Add. 

 MS. 32104, no. 1399. George appears 

 ten or eleven years later ; ibid. no. 1564, 

 22. John Beconsaw in 1504 granted to 

 feoffees, including Robert Beconsaw, 

 clerk, all his lands in Lancashire ; Add. 

 MS. 32107, no. 1297. 



^ Visit. (Chet. Soc), 129; his sons 

 were Henry, Adam and Robert, and 

 there were three daughters. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. viii, no. 

 30. This recites a settlement made in 

 1 515 in favour of his wife Elizabeth 

 daughter of Henry Banastre of Bank, 

 and a further settlement in 1533, to 

 enable his feoffees (of whom Adam 

 Beconsaw LL.D. was one) to fulfil his 

 wilL Emma widow of Henry Beconsaw 

 and Margaret widow of George Beconsaw 

 were living. 



^ Duchy Plead, ii, 140-6. . Henry died 

 in March 1538, and h's daughter was born 

 afterwards, Joan the widow being guar- 

 dian. Adam was to have ail the lands 

 entailed on the heirs male. 



'" Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 36. 

 There were two wmdmiUs at Becconsall 

 and Hesketh. 



" Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 14, 

 m. 184, 229. 



"In 1555 Sir Thomas Hesketh of 

 Rufford purchased from Anthony Browne, 

 Chief Justice (see Foss's Judges), and 

 Joan his wife various lands, Ice, \a 



