LEYLAND HUNDRED 



CHORLEY 



William de Worthington received lands in Chorley 

 and elsewhere for themselves and their issue.^ An 

 inquisition after the death of William de Chorley 

 the elder was made in 1397-8 ; it was found that 

 he had made Richard de Chorley his heir.^ Richard 

 son of William de Chorley obtained various mes- 

 suages and lands in 1421.^ The descent is then 

 uncertain for a time.* At a Chorley manor court in 

 1491-2 William Chorley grandson of William (living 

 1 3 79) is named as lately deceased." The next 

 William, probably his son, married Margaret one of 

 the daughters and co-heirs of Roger Walton, lord of 

 Walton-on-the-Hill, and so acquired a higher standing ; 

 he, his wife and his son William were in 1494 

 parties to the division of the Walton estates." 



This son was probably the William Chorley who 

 died in July 1529 holding a mcssu.ige, &c., in 

 Chorley of Lord Mounteagle by a rent of 21/., and 

 other lands at Walton near Liverpool, Walton-le- 

 Dale, Chamock Richard and Newton-in-Makerfield. 

 His son and heir, another William, then twenty-two 

 years old,' recorded a pedigree in 1567* and died 

 in 1586 holding six messuages, &c., in Chorley of 

 Sir Richard Shireburne by the rent of zis. id., and 

 others in the same place of the Earl of Derby by 

 a rent of I <^d.^ The heir was a grandson William, 

 aged nineteen.^" He recorded a pedigree in 1613,11 

 when Richard his son and heir was eighteen years of 

 age. The family adhered in the main to Roman 

 Catholicism,!^ and though William Chorley was not 

 a 'convicted recusant' in 1628 his son Richard 

 appeared among the recusants in that year.^' There 

 is some mystery about the father, for he is supposed 

 to have lived till 1644,1* and yet it was Richard 

 Chorley who paid ^^lo in 1631 as composition for 

 refusing knighthood,!* and in other ways from about 

 1625 acted as head of the family. He espoused the 

 king's side in the Civil War, being characterized by 

 the opposition as a ' seducing Papist,' 1^ and in 1 644 

 took part in the attack and capture of Liverpool by 

 Prince Rupert, i' His estates were sequestered and 



sold for his 'delinquency and recusancy' in 1653.1^ 

 He died in 1655, being succeeded by a son William 

 who died in 1662, leaving the inheritance to a son 

 Richard, only three years old.i" 



It was William Chorley who compiled the Chor/ey 

 Survey referred to in this account of the family. He 

 founded it upon the survey made upon his father's 

 forfeiture in 1653, adding family charters and notes 

 of leases. The record was continued by his successors, 

 entries being made down to 17 10. The areas are 

 recorded by the different poles in use — 8 yds. and 

 7 J yds. The demesne tenements in Chorley were 

 the Hall, Horseheys, Rigby's, and Hall of the Wood 

 (in Healcy) ; other farms, &c., including Trigg Hall, 

 were let out on lease. Names of fields and details of 

 leases specifying rents and boons are set down. A 

 farm in Walton-le-Dale had once had to provide ' a 

 horse and harness for the war and the tenant to ride 

 him.' 



Young Richard Chorley was brought up in the 

 religion and politics of his forefathers. After the 

 Revolution he was arrested as a partisan of James II,^*^ 

 and in the rising of 1 7 1 5 he and his son Charles 

 joined the Jacobites at Preston and were there taken 

 prisoners on 1 3 November. The father was sent 

 towards Loudon, but falling ill on the way was left 

 behind at Wigan and afterwards imprisoned at Liver- 

 pool, where he and his son were tried the following 

 January. The son, who was barely twenty-one, died 

 in prison, but Richard Chorley was executed at 

 Preston 9 February 1715-16.^1 It is said that his 

 wife died of grief on hearing of his fate ^^ ; this 

 is not literally true, but she was buried the following 

 September. 



The estates were, of course, confiscated by the 

 government and were sold to Abraham Crompton, 

 described as a banker of Derby, who rebuilt the house 

 about 1 746,2' 2jjd whose great-grandson, another 

 Abraham Crompton, sold Chorley Hall about 1817 

 to R. T. Parker of Cuerden.-^ The estate has since 

 descended with Cuerden. 



had died, and tliat William the son had 

 become ' the elder ' owing to his having 

 a son or kinsman of the same name. 



' Harl. M3. 2112, fol. ■jihjizob ; 

 the remainders were to William de 

 Chorley, John de Chorley, William de 

 Chorley the younger, Agnes wife of 

 Henry de Ugnall, Sir Nicholas de Har- 

 rington, and the right heirs of William 

 de Chorley the clder.i 



Richard son of William de Chorley the 

 elder was In 1395-6 appointed to the 

 charge of lands, &c., which had come into 

 the duke's hands by outlawry ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Chan. Misc. bdle. i, file 12. 



2 Lana. Inj. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 68. 



Another William de Chorley the elder 

 occurs in 1401 with Richard and William 

 de Chorley ; Harl. MS. 21 12, fol. 79/121. 



* Ibid. fol. 79i/i2ii; the grantor 

 was Richard son of Adam son of Ellis de 

 Chorley. 



* Robert Chorley, who left a daughter 

 Ellen, was perhaps in possession in 1448 j 

 ibid. fol. 80/122. William de Chorley 

 appears in 1457, and in or before 1459 

 married Isabel, who had lands at Lower 

 Whitley in Cheshire ; ibid. This may be 

 the William grandson of William named 

 in the text. In 1465 Roger son and 

 heir of Thomas Brockholes of Claughton 

 was contracted to marry Ellen daughter 



of William Chorley ; Townelcy MS. 

 C 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), B 206, &c. 

 s Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 80/122. 



* Chorley Suvu. 37. 



' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 17, 



* V'mt. of 1567 (Chet. Soc), 72. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Inq.p.m, xiv, no. 58. 

 ^^ Ibid, He was son of William son 

 of the William who died in 1586. 



" Vhit. of 1 61 3 (Chet. Soc), 121. 



'2 Gillow, Bihl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. i, 

 484. 



" Misc. (Rec, Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 171, 184. 



" A William Chorley of Chorley, 

 gent., was buried there 20 Jan. 1643-4 ; 

 note of Mr. J. Wilson. 



" Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 214. Richard Chorley in 1618 married 

 Margaret Ditchfield at Farnworth in 

 Widnes, and his son William was baptized 

 there the following year ; Parish Reg. 



>« Ci-vilWar Tracts (Chet. Soc), 21. 



" Picton, Liverpool Munic. Rec. i, 147. 



" Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 39-42 ; Cal. Com. 

 for Comp. iv, 2578 ; Index of Royalists, ^.z. 

 Richard's wife Margaret petitioned for a 

 fifth of the estate for herself and her 

 children. Bridget his sister also petitioned 

 for the annuity of ,^20 which Richard 

 had granted her in 1626 and which had 



been paid until 1 646, when two-thirds was 

 deducted for her recusancy. An order was 

 made directing payment of one-third only. 

 Bridget Chorley, widow, in 1650 

 prayed for a third part other estate, under 

 sequestration for recusancy only; 'she 

 had never acted anything prejudicial to 

 the parliament or commonwealth of 

 England.' The third was allowed ac- 

 cordingly. 



"> Dugdale, J-isit. (Chet. Soc), 81. 

 2" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 

 3'4- 



21 Rebellion of 1715 (Chet. Soc), loi, 

 200. The Presbyterian Robert Patten 

 in his contemporary account calls Richard 

 Chorley ' a Papist, a gentleman of singular 

 piety and parts.' A description of his 

 snuff-box, with a false lid bearing a por- 

 trait of the Pretender, is given in Tram. 

 Hist. Soc. xii, 226. In the Chorley Free 

 Library is a Bible (Authorized Version) 

 presented to Richard Chorley, Catherine 

 his wife, and their children by Josiah 

 Chorley, minister of the Gospel, in 1700 ; 

 Wilson, Chorleys of Chorley, 77. 



2' Verses by L. E. L. are reprinted in 

 Pal. Note Book, i, 121. 



'' Information of Mr. J. Stanton. 

 ** Baines, iana. (ed. 1870), ii, 126. 

 John Crompton was living at Chorley 

 Hall in 1737-43. 



