LEYLAND HUNDRED 



RUFFORD 



marry Mary daughter of Sir George Stanley of Cross 

 Hall in Lathom,' and who died in 1620, being 

 then succeeded by a son Thomas, fifty years of age.' 

 In the inquisitions for Sir Thomas and Robert the 

 manor of Ruftbrd was found to be held by a rent 

 of 5/. 



Thomas is stated to have died in 1646 without 

 issue, and was succeeded by his brother Robert, who, 

 when about eighty years of age, was threatened with 

 sequestration by the Parliamentary authorities in 

 1652, though he protested he had ever been ' a most 

 perfect and firm assistant to the utmost of his ability 

 to the Parliament and their just and honourable 

 undertakings." His son Robert had in 1649 asked 

 leave to compound for his estate, his ' delinquency ' 

 being that he had adhered to the forces raised against 

 the Parliament.* A pedigree was recorded in 1664, 

 showing that the younger Robert's son and heir, 

 Thomas Hesketh, was then seventeen years of age,' 

 having succeeded to RufFord. The hall in i666 had 

 nineteen hearths to be taxed ; it was occupied by John 

 Molyneux.* The manor has since descended regularly 

 in the male line to Sir Thomas George Fermor Hesketh, 

 bart., the present lord, who resides at Easton Neston, 

 Northamptonshire.' The estates have recently been 

 offered for sale and considerable portions have been 

 disposed of 



A court baron used to be held annually in October. 

 RUFFORD OLD HALL is situated on the north 

 side of the village between the highway on the west 

 and the canal on the east. The site was originally 

 far more secluded and sheltered than at present, both 

 the canal and the road being comparatively modern, 

 dating only from the latter part of the 1 8th and 

 beginning of the 19th century.' 



The house is usually stated to have been built 

 round three sides of a quadrangle, the fourth side, 

 facing north, being open ; but the west wing, which 

 contained the family apartments, has completely 

 disappeared and a new east wing was built in the 

 1 7th century. The great hall, however, which 

 forms the south wing, remains substantially as 

 constructed at the end of the 15th or beginning of 

 the 1 6th century, and is an admirable specimen of 

 the timber construction of the period. 



No traces remain of the west wing, which is said 

 to have been burned down,' and its size and extent 

 can only be conjectured. It is likewise uncertain 

 whether the east or kitchen wing was of equal size 

 to the present i yth-century brick building, or was 

 smaller in extent and only occupied the space now 

 covered by the rooms immediately to the east of the 

 great hall, which underwent a very drastic 

 'restoration,' or were practically rebuilt, in 1821. 

 It seems most likely that this latter is the correct 

 reading of the building, which, as originally designed, 

 would be H-shaped in plan. The great chimney 

 in what is now the entrance hall of the 17th-century 

 east wing is sometimes said to be the original kitchen 

 fireplace, but its position in regard to the doors in 

 the screens would hardly seem to support this theory, 

 and externally it bears all the characteristics of the 

 later work. 



The house was probably erected by Thomas 

 Hesketh, who died in 1523, but the only portion of 

 the original building now left is the great hall, a fine 

 apartment 46 ft. 6 in. long by 22 ft. 6 in. wide with 

 open-timbered roof, the side walls, which are of 

 timber on a low stone base, measuring 1 8 ft. to the 

 wall-plate. The high table was at the west end of 



lands he had inherited had come into the 

 hands of the son and one Robert Nelson, 

 who asserted that those deeds were void 

 and showed false deeds j Duchy of Lane. 

 Plead. Eliz. cxxxix, H 14. 



Sir Thomas's will is in Add. MS. 

 32104, no. 1. He gave lands in Mawdes- 

 ley to his second son Thomas 5 in 

 Becconsall to his third son Richard ; in 

 RufFord to his bastard son Hugh Hesketh, 

 who had a son Robert ; and in Croston 

 and Wrightington to another bastard son 

 Thomas. 



Sir Thomas's younger sons Thomas 

 and, Richard are noticed in the Diet. Nat. 

 Biog., the former as a botanist, the latter 

 as executed for inciting Ferdinando Earl 

 of Derby to assert his title to the throne. 

 For Thomas see also Pal. Notebook, v, 7. 

 Livery of Sir Thomas's lands was 

 granted to Robert Hesketh in 1589 ; 

 Duf. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 554. A 

 recovery in the same year is enrolled 

 in Com. Pleas Recov. R. East. 3 1 Eliz. 

 Robert Hesketh served as knight of the 

 shire in 1597 (Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 

 68), and as sheriff in 1599-1600 and 

 1607-8 ; P.R.O. List, 73. He was a 

 justice of the peace in 1600 ; Misc. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanrs. and Ches.), i, 244. A settle- 

 ment of the manors, &c., was made by 

 him in 1602 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle, 64, no. 7. 



1 Add. MS. 32104, no. 141 1. 

 ^ Lanes. Inq.p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), iii, 351-8. Settlements made in 

 1620 are recited. Robert's wife Jane, 

 who bore him a son before marriage, 

 afterwards married Sir Richard Hoghton, 

 and had the manors of Harwood, Tottles- 



worth, Mawdeslcyand Wrightington, with 

 various lands, assigned as dower. Licence 

 for the marriage of Robert Hesketh and 

 Jane Haresnape was granted 6 June 

 1617 5 Marriage Act book, Chester, ii. 

 Robert's will is printed in Trills (Chet. 

 Soc. new ser.), ii, 21-4. 



A pedigree was recorded in 1613; 

 Visit. (Chet. Soc), 128. 



Thomas Hesketh was sheriff in 1629- 

 30 ; P.R.O. List, 73. He paid ^^50 

 in 1631 on declining knighthood ; Misc. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 222. 



^ Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 209. Katherine 

 widow of Thomas Hesketh (elder brother 

 of Robert), being a recusant, asked leave 

 in 1653 to compound for the sequestered 

 two-thirds of her estate, a yearly rent- 

 charge of ,^40 out of the manor of 

 Rufford ; ibid, iii, 194. 



There was living in 1635 another 

 Thomas Hesketh of Rufford, of grossly 

 immoral life (see Cal. 5. P. Dom. 1635-6, 

 p. 475), who may be the Thomas who in 

 1655 claimed an estate in Wrightington, 

 Shevington, &c., as nephew and heir of 

 Thomas Hesketh, esq. (i.e. the elder 

 brother of Robert), the rents having been 

 paid to the elder Thomas's sister Jane, 

 then lately dead ; Royalist Comp. Papers, 

 iii, 211. 



* Ibid, iii, 204-6. The younger Robert 

 inherited an estate in Clitheroc after the 

 death of his uncle George In or before 

 1651 5 and it was found that neither 

 Robert nor George had been reported for 

 delinquency, recusancy or like offence. 



' Dugdale's Visit. (Chet. Soc,), 135, 



* Subs. R. Lanes, bdle, 250, no. g ; 



123 



eighty hearths in all were returned in the 

 township. 



^ The following outline of the descent 

 will suffice in this place : 



Thomas, d. c. 1689 -s. Robert, d. ^. 

 1 697 -bro. Thomas, d.c. 1721 -s. Thomas, 

 M.P. for Preston, 1722-7; d. 1735 -s. 

 Thomas, sheriff, 1754-5 ; first bart. 1761; 

 d. 1778 -bro. Robert (who took the sur- 

 name of Juxon for himself only), second 

 bart., d. 1796 -5. Thomas, d. 1781 -s. 

 Thomas Dalrymple, third bart. ; sheriff 

 1801-2; d. 1842 -s. Thomas Henry, 

 fourth bart., d. 1843 -s. Thomas George, 

 fifth bart., who assumed the surname 

 Fermor before Hesketh, and represented 

 Preston in Parliament as a Conservative 

 from 1862 till his death in 1872 -s. 

 Thomas Henry, sixth bart. ; d. 1J96 

 -bro. Thomas George, seventh bart., b. 

 1849. 



Settlements of the manors of Rufford, 

 Hesketh, Martholme, Sec, are indicated 

 as follows ; — 1696, Robert Hesketh in 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 237, m. 52 ; 

 1703, Thomas Hesketh, Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 477, m. 6 ; 1723, Thomas 

 Hesketh, ibid. 5ii,m. 5 ; 1748, Thomas 

 Hesketh, ibid. 569, m. 8 d. ; 1798, Sir 

 T. D. Hesketh, ibid. Lent Assizes, 38 

 Geo. IH, R. 7. 



In 1737 a Private Act was passed (10 

 Geo. II, cap. 6) to enable the trustees of 

 Thomas Hesketh, deceased, to pay his 

 debts during his son's minority and other- 

 wise to carry out their trust. 



^ ' The highway was diverted and the 

 New Park enclosed in 1812'; Tram. 

 Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xxlii, 98. 



^ The date is not given. 



