A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



while another branch goes nonh-u.-t to Holme. 

 Wood and Crossens. The Lancashire and V or^ihlre 

 Company's railway from Liverpool to Preston passes 

 throu-h the SQUth-ea,t corner of the township and 

 h-,s a "station by the Douglas. A branch of the Leeds 

 an J Liverpool Canal also goes north, to the east of 

 th-j m;in road. 



The vil'.a^^e, one of the prettiest in South Lanca- 



Olo C'jttcj, Rufford 



sli.re, is much resorted to in the summer by txcur- 

 s.unistj from the neighbouring towns. Man. old 



cottages remain, one with a pxturcsque external 

 stone staircase being dated 1676. Another bears the 



date 1692. , • 1 



The soil is sand, loam and moss ovcrlving sand. 

 The land is occupied as follows : Arable, 1,742 acres ; 

 permanent gr.ifs 772 ; woods and plantations, 257. 

 Whe.it, oats, rye and potatoes are grown. 



A fair is held on 13 May yearly. 



The township is governed by a parish council. 



Roger Dodsworth, the antiquary, who married 

 Holcrolt daughter of Robert Hesketh, was buried 

 in the Hesketh chapel at Ruftbrd in 1654. 



The remains of the village cross were removed in 

 18 I 8.' An ancient canoe was found in 1869.' The 

 village stocks were removed at the same time. 



From a plan of part of the south end of the 

 township in 1763 it appears that a large rounded 

 field called the Great Croft occupied the centre of 

 the village ; a road went round it, joined by 

 numerous others at different points. The Cockpit 

 ■,vas to the cast of it, the church standing further 

 to the east. The Whiteficlds lay to the south of the 

 church. Three fields were named Guild Heys.* 



The manor was a member of the 

 MJXOR Penwortham fee, and Richard Bussel 

 about 1150-60 gave to St. Werburgh's 

 Abbc)', Chester, one plough-land in RUFFORD in 

 alms, which the abbot was holding in 1212.^ 

 Somewhat later one Richard Fitton** held it of the 

 abbot by a rent of 5/., and gave a moiety to his 

 daughter Maud, who married William de Hesketh.' 

 The other moiety went to another dr.ughter, Anabil 

 or Amabel, who married Edmund de Lea, and in 

 12S5 the t\vo daughters and their husbands were in 

 po_scs.ion.' The grant to Richard Fitton may have 

 been for Kfe or a term of years, for in 1292 the 

 Abbot of bt. Wcrburgh's claimed Rufford, described 

 nuv.' as 4 oxgangs of land,^ and in the following 

 year made a fresh agreement with William and Maud 

 de H^.kcth and Edmund and Anabil de Lea, by 

 uhich the annual service was raised to 40/.,^'* at 

 which it continued down to the Dissolution." This 



* Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (igo^l- 

 ' This was probably the market en ^^. 



The pedcital of the churchyard cross still 

 ciists by the church, where a new cross 

 was erected in 1888; l.a-.cs. and Chei. 

 W'ir.'jf. St.-. x\ ;i, I ;, 16. 

 -' Ibid. ^, U4. 



* The plan is reproduced in Trjn. 

 U:s:. S'.c, (new scr.], xiiii, iiS, to 

 illustrate an article on the manor by the 

 late Rev. W. G. Procter. The scale 

 shows *S vards to the po'.c.' 



-* Liir.cs. Jnj. and E.w.tz (Rec. Sec. 

 Lanes, and Che^), i, ;;. The grant was 

 ccnnrmcd by Albert Bussel; Harl. MS. 

 1965, fol. 41. 



* Sec further in the account of Great 

 Harwooi. Richard wis son of John 

 brother of Sir Richard Fitton ot" Pownall 

 in Cheshire He had a son \V;ll:am, who 

 died without issue, when the inheritance 

 \\ as divided between Richard's three 

 cj^zhtcr? — Maui, Anabil and Elizabeth, 

 the Lis: the wife of Roger Neve:: of 

 Read. There are large collections of Hes- 

 keth deeds in C. Towneleys MSS. DD, 

 RR, Add. MS. ^iio^, &c. 5 also notes 

 111 Dods. MSS. ci.ii,fol. 105 ; Ui, fo!. 8, 

 Sec. \'crv few, however, are o:cicr than 

 the I'xh cvnc'.rv, so that the earlier 

 descents arc obsc-;re. There is also a 



collection of 326 deeds (copied from the 

 originals in i8;2) in Piccope's MSS. 

 (Chet. Lib.), iii, i-i \z. 



^ Towncley MS. DD, no. 51. The 

 dee J orders the divisi^-.n of Rufford 

 between Richard's daughters Mjud and 

 Anabil, but their husbands are not named, 

 though the moieties were to descend to 

 the r issue. A rent of \J. was payable 

 to the grantor and his heirs, and 2;. Sd. 

 to the Abbot of St. Werburgh's from 

 Majd's half. The bounds are fully 

 described : From the mere eastwards by 

 a syke to the moss, across this to the 

 head of M-^nkslache and so to Pcplnstrind 

 and the River Douglas ; up this river to 

 Ellerbeck, by this stream up to Oxpool- 

 lache and so to the Wliititrinds ; thence 

 by Sinkfall, Blackpools and Couplace- 

 dykc to the mere. The witnesses include 

 Sir Robert Banastre, Sir Henry dc Lea 

 (d. 12SS;, Sir W;Uiam dc la Mare, Sir 

 R;char:J le Boteler and others, and may 

 be dated abc^t 1260. 



Margery or Margaret, widow ofWilliam 

 Fitton (v. :.o was brother of Maud and 

 Anab'i^, sought dower in the manor of 

 R_;r^'ord in 12S1, and the claim was 

 continued by her as wife of Alexander 

 Hurel ; De Banco R. 4.2, m. 63 d. 5 78, 

 m. 23. She had been dowered by her 



120 



husband in 1274 at the door of the 

 church of B. Mary of Mjnchester. Roger 

 Nowell and Elizabeth his wife also put in 

 a claim to the third part of a tenement 

 in Rufford in 1282 ; ibid. 44, m. 16. 

 In this plea Edmund de Lea is described 

 as * brother of the parson.' 



''Assize R, i27i,m. 12. This is a 

 complaint that Robert dc Latliom an-J 

 others had disseised them of their tene- 

 ment in Rufford. It was argued that 

 Edmund could have nothing in Anabil's 

 tenement until he had had offspring by 

 her ; it was also alleged that the disputed 

 land was in Lathom and not in Rufford. 

 ^ Ibid. 408, m. 56, 72. Against 

 William de Hesketh and Maud his wife 

 the abbot claimed 2 oxgangs of land, 6 

 acres of meadow, Sec, and 6j. rent in 

 Rufford by Croston ; and agamst Edmund 

 de Lea and Anabil his wife a similar 

 tenement, the rent being excepted. He 

 alleged that Hugh, formerly abbot, was in 

 seisin in right of his church in the lime 

 of Richard I. The wood and marsh 

 were held in common. 



"* Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Chci.}, i, I"-. For the agreement the 

 temnts gave the abbot ^10 sterling. 



" Among the Hesketh deeds above re- 

 ferred to are several aLk.ao.^ledgementi 



