LEYLAND HUNDRED 



CHORLEY 





F K R R E R s, Earl of 

 Derby. yairy or and 

 gules. 



of land in Chorley from Herbert de Lawton and 



Mabel his wife, agreeing to pay a rent of \ti. to the 



heirs of Mabel, and by the 



other 4 oxgangs of land from 



William Bussel and Alice his 



wife, the like rent of \d. being 



payable to Alice's heirs.^ 



Chorley is named in the grant 



of free warren to William de 



Ferrers in 1251.^ In 1257 



a rent of los. was paid to the 



lord of Croston on account 



of the service due from this 



manor.' By the new lord's 



son, Robert de Ferrers, 



Chorley was about 1260 



granted to his brother William, together with Bolton- 



le-Moors.* Thus after William's de.ith in 1287 it 



was found that he had held the manor of Chorley, 



of the inheritance of William de la Mare, by the 



service of zos. a year.^ There were at that time 



ninety burgages and a number of free tenancies,^ the 



rents amounting to i js. ^d. and two pairs of spurs. 



In addition 80 acres were held by tenants at will, 



and were worth z6s. Sd. yearly ; the water-mill was 



worth 10/., and pleas and perquisites of the court 



averaged 2/. 



William's heir was his son William, who in I 297 

 gave Chorley and Bolton and all his lands, &c., 

 between Ribble and Mersey to Richard de Loth- 

 burgh, who was to pay I mark rent after the lapse of 

 eleven years. ^ The new owner or mortgagee appears 

 to have transferred his right to Henry de Lacy Earl 

 of Lincoln, and he gave both manors to Robert de 

 Hepwall and Margaret his wife in consideration of 

 Robert's praiseworthy service.* From the subsequent 

 history it would appear that the manors were really 

 for Margaret or were later acquired by her. She 

 was sister of Robert de Holland, and thrice married. 

 By her first husband. Sir John de Blackburn of 

 Wiswell, she had three daughters ; by her second, 

 the above-named Robert de Hepwall, who died in 



I 304., she had a son John, who probably died young ' ; 

 her third husband was the Adam Banastre executed 

 in 1 3 1 5 ; by Hepwall or Banastre she had another 

 daughter. ^^ 



Henry de Ferrers, as son and heir of William, in 

 1329 put forward a claim to the manors of Chorley 

 and Bolton, except 60 acres of land, &c., in the 

 former, against Robert son of Robert de Hepwall and 

 Margaret widow of Adam Banastre, each apparently 

 holding a moiety ^^ ; and at the same time the Prior 

 of the Hospitallers claimed 6 acres from Margaret 

 Banastre. 12 Margaret probably died about that time, 

 for in the following year Henry de Ferrers pursued 

 his claim against her heirs.'' These were her four 

 daughters, Alice, Agnes, Joan and Katherine, the 

 manors being held in 1330 by John de Harrington 

 the younger with Katherine his wife, Robert de 

 Shireburne with Alice his wife, Robert de Horncliff 

 with Agnes his wife," and Thomas de Arderne son 

 of Joan." 



The Ferrers claim fell into the background for a 

 time, but in 1344 the lords of Croston, Sir John 

 Fleming and Sir William de Lea, as superior lords of 

 Chorley, put forward their claim to the old service of 

 zos. a year as due from Alice widow of Sir Robert 

 de Shireburne, Agnes widow of Sir Henry de Lea, 

 Sir John de Harrington and Katherine his wife, and 

 Sir Thomas de Arderne, each holding a fourth part. 

 In defence these alleged that there were two other 

 tenants in Chorley who should have been summoned, 

 viz. Robert de Holland and the Prior of St. John of 

 Jerusalem.'^ 



Then in July 1354 Sir William de Ferrers of 

 Groby, son of Henry, put forward his hereditary 

 claim to Chorley and Bolton against Alice widow of 

 Sir Robert de Shireburne, Sir John de Harrington of 

 Farleton and Katherine his wife for two fourth parts, 

 and against Sir Thomas de Arderne for the other 

 moiety.''' His claim was prosecuted for several years, 

 and there are many references to it in the rolls.'* 

 At last, probably by some agreement or compromise, 

 he regained the Arderne moiety,'^ and died in 1 3 71 



^ Final Ccnc. (Rcc. Soc, Lanes, md 

 Ches.), i, 112, 115. 



- Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 375. 



^ Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Chcs.), i, 207. The account 

 was for a half-year only. 



* De Banco R. 285, m. 144. This 

 grant may have been in fulfilment of their 

 father's intention. 



* Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 271. 



* The tenants were : Nicholas le 

 Boteler (Knowley), Maud wife of Hugh 

 son of Andrew, Roger le Wayte, Henry 

 son of Herbert, Hugh son of Henry, 

 Adam de Botham, Adam son of Henry 

 the Smith, Robert son of Robert, Adam 

 del Acres, Robert del Longridding, 

 William and Henry de Burgh, Adam de 

 Duxbury, Stephen del Eves and Hugh de 

 Worthington. 



' Kuerden MSS. iv, C 11. Richard 

 de * Loghteburgh,' as lord of the manor, 

 was defendant to claims in 1301 and 

 1302 5 Assize R. 419, m. 11 ; 418, m. 4. 



8 Kuerden MSS. iv, C 10. Robert de 

 Hepwall and Margaret his wife occur as 

 plaintiffs in 1302 ; De Banco R. 144, m. 

 294. Robert was seneschal of Clitheroe. 

 The surname is also spelt Hephale, now 

 Hepple. 



' She was probably a second wife, for 



Robert's heir was a son Robert [Cal. 

 Gen, ii, 655), who was holding divers 

 manors in Leyland Hundred, including 

 Chorley, in 1324; Dods. MSS. cxxxi, 

 fol. 44. 



^^ For these statements see Whalley 

 Coucher (Chet. Soc), iv, 1085, 857 ; 

 Final Cone, ii, 81. The paternity of the 

 daughter Katherine does not appear clearly 

 in the records, but from a Heath Char- 

 nock pleading she appears to have been a 

 Banastre ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i, 

 m. 3 d. " De Banco R. 279, m. 61 d. 



12 Ibid. m. 180 d. 



"Ibid. 282, m. 112 (the manor, ex- 

 cept 100 acres of wood) ^ 285, m. 144. 

 Robert de Hepwall then disappears from 

 the Lancashire story. In 1331 he gave 

 his manors of Hepple, &c., to Robjrt de 

 Ogle and Joan his wife ; Cal. Pat. 1330-4, 

 p. 112. 



" Robert de HornelifF and Agnes his 

 wife in 1331 made a settlement of their 

 share of the inheritance, Robert son of 

 Robert de Shireburne putting in his claim ; 

 Final Cone, ii, 80. Agnes, as will be seen 

 from the text, had earlier been married to 

 Sir Henry de Lea, executed like Adam 

 Banastre in 1315. 



" He must have acquired the share of 

 Agnes, for in 1353 he held a moiety 



instead of a fourth part. For the Arderne 

 family see further ia the account of 

 Lower Dai wen. 



^^ Assize R. T435,m. 45 ; the plaintiffs 

 were grandsons and heirs of William de la 

 Mare, and one of them, Sir William de 

 Lea, had been a minor at his mother's 

 death and in ward to Margaret Nevill (of 

 Hornby), of whom the manor was held. 



^^ Duchy of Lane. Assize R, 3, m. 

 ■viij.1. 



^^ At Michaelmas 1354. he continued 

 his claim to a moiety of the manor of 

 Chorley and a fourth part of Bolton 

 against Henry de Haydock, clerk, William 

 de Farington the cider, Roger de Faring- 

 ton and Margaret Banastre ; ibid, m. 6, 

 The claim was prosecuted the following 

 year, when the defence was that William 

 de Yarrowdale and others not named in 

 the writ held parts of that moiety of 

 Chorley ; for the remainder the defen- 

 dants called Alice de Shireburne, sister 

 and co-heir of Agnes de Lea, and Sir 

 Thomas de Arderne, the other co-heir, to 

 warrant them; ibid. 4, m. 4 d., 15 d. 

 See also ibid. 6, m. 4, 6 ; De Banco R. 

 408, m. 79 d,, &c. 



1^ Sir Thomas de Arderne held lands in 

 Chorley as late as 1360 j Dep^ Keeper' i 

 Rep* xxxii, App. 347, 



