LEYLAND HUNDRED 



of Lancaster presented to the whole. During the 

 long-continued wars with France, however, the kings 

 were accustomed to seize the temporalities of alien 

 monasteries, and thus it often happened that the 

 rectors of Eccleston were presented by the Crown. ^ 

 At length the forfeiture seems to have been considered 

 absolute, and the king, about 1430, granted the 

 advowson to Sir Thomas Stanley,^ whose successors, 

 the Earls of Derby, continued to present until 1596, 

 when Thomas Lathom of Parbold purchased the 

 patronage from Willi.im, sixth earl.^ The Lathoms 

 held it for about a century,* and it has since been 

 sold several times. The present patron is the rector, 



ECCLESTON 



in succession to his father, William Bretherton of 

 Runshaw. 



The value of the rectory in 1291 was j^i2.' 

 The ninth of sheaves, wool, &c., in 1341 was worth 

 1 3 marks, the diminution of 5 marks being accounted 

 for by the altarage.^ By 1534 the income of the 

 rector had, as was estimated, risen to the clear value 

 ofj^zS iSsJ The Parliamentary surveyors of 1650 

 valued the parsonage house, glebe and mill at £30 a 

 year and the tithes at £140, but out of this the 

 rector paid £$0 to the curate at Douglas Chapel.^ 

 By 1720 the value had risen to j(^26o,^ and it is 

 now given as £835.'" 



The following have been rectors : — 



Instituted Name Patron 



c. 1260 . . . John de Attilgre " Lancaster Priory 



oc. 1292 . . . Mr. Richard ^^ 



16 May 1299 . Mr. William de Lancaster ^^ . . L;incaster Priory 



5 Mar. 1310-11 Mr. Ralph de Tunstall " ... „ 



22 Oct. 1319 . Richard de Wamberge i' . ... „ 



22 July 1320 . Nicholas de Sheppey '° .... „ 



28 May 1 32 1 . John de EUerker^' „ 



27 June 1322 . John Travers ^* „ 



31 Dec. 1334 . Peter Giles" „ 



8 Oct. 1337 . Henry de Haydock^o .... The King . . 



13 Dec. 1369 . William de Hexham ^^ .... ,, . . 



Cause of Vacancy 



res. W. de Lancaster 



res. R. de Wamberge 



res. N. de Sheppey 



res. J. de Ellerker 



d. J. Travers 



d. P. Giles 



d. H. de Haydock 



In X268, when the church was vacant, 

 the Prior of Lancaster claimed the patron- 

 age, of which Benedict Gemet and Edelina 

 Duce endeavoured to deprive him. The 

 prior showed that his predecessor had pre- 

 sented one John de Attilgre, who had 

 been duly instituted and had died in 

 possession. The prior*s claim was there- 

 upon admitted ; Lane. Ch. i, 26. 



^ This will be seen from the list of 

 rectors. 



The royal usurpation was not always 

 submitted to without a struggle, and it 

 is on record that John Thoralby, pre- 

 sented in 1403, was long harassed by 

 appeals, Scq, ; Pal. of Lane. Misc. 1/9, 

 m. 49. 



^ The priory of Lancaster and its 

 possessions were granted by Henry V to 

 his new monastery of Syon (see Pari. 

 R. V, 553), and the Abbess of Syon in 

 the time of Edward IV attempted to re- 

 cover the advowson of Eccleston, but 

 Thomas Lord Stanley proved that his 

 father and he had presented the last two 

 rectors ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 26, m. 16 ; 

 29, m. II ; 32, m. 21 d. ; Dep. Keeper' i 

 fit/), xicxvii, App. 178. A pension of 201. 

 was afterwards paid to the monastery. 



' Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 58, 

 m. 112. 



* In 1704 the advowson was adjudged 

 to William Lathom against Isabel Crispe 

 of Parbold, widow ; Gastrell, Notitia 

 Cestr. (Chet. Soc), ii, 372. 



From a paper in the diocesan registry 

 it appears that James Egerton, LL.B., 

 was presented by William Lathom and 

 Benjamin Edmundson by Isabel Crispe, 

 widow. 



^ Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 249. 

 Nothing is said as to any pension to the 

 priory of Lancaster, but it appears that 

 20J. a year was paid ; Lane. Ch. ii, 446 ; 

 De Banco R. 283, m. 435 d. 



' Inq. Nonarum (Rec. Com.), 40. 

 Eccleston township contributed ^3 9J. ^d., 

 Parbold £\ loi. %d., and Wrightington 

 ^3 '3'- '^■ 



''Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 231. 

 The glebe lands were valued at 305. a 

 year ; tithes, ^23 i6j. %d. ; oblations, 

 Easter roll, &c., ^%. The outgoings 

 were a rent resolute of 141. %d. for the 

 lands, ^l to Syon Abbey, £:i to the 

 bailiff, and i6i. to the Archdeacon of 

 Chester. 



® Commoww. Ch. Stir'v. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 115. 



^ Gastrell, op. cit. ii, 371. The 

 churchwardens served one for' Eccleston 

 and Heskin, reckoned as one moiety of 

 the parish, and the other for Wrighting- 

 ton and Parbold, the other moiety. 



>» Manch. Dkc. Dir. 



^' Lane. Ch. i, 26 j he was dead in 

 1268. 



'- He claimed a debt of ^^6 loj. against 

 the Prior of Burscough ; Assize R. 408, 

 m. 15 d. 



" Lich. Epis. Reg. i, fol. lb. In the 

 following November he had leave to 

 attend the schools for a year (Ibid. fol. 4*), 

 and at the succeeding Trinity ordination 

 (1300) was made deacon j ibid. fol. 92^. 

 In Oct. 1298 the bishop granted the 

 custody of the church to a William de 

 Caton until the next ordination ; ibid. 

 foL I. 



William de Lancaster was afterwards 

 rector of Croston. 



'* Ibid. fol. 59 ; he was then an acolyte, 

 and in 1 3 14 had leave to study for a 

 year ; ibid. fol. 61. He became rector 

 of Croston in 1318. A list of the rectors 

 of Eccleston from Tunstall to Mascy is 

 in Exch. Q. R. Eccl. Doc. 1/37 (4/28). 



" Lich. Epis. Reg. i, fol. 864 ; he was 

 a priest. The church had been vacant 

 for nearly a year. He was rector of 

 Croston from 1334 till his death in 1344. 



'^ Ibid. fol. 87 ; a priest. He ex- 

 changed with his successor for RoUeston. 



1' Ibid. fol. 88 ; a subdeacon. He was 

 presented to Broughton Astley in 1322, 

 having exchanged with John Travers ; 

 ibid, iii, fol. 3, 3^. 



Ellerker seems afterwards to have been 



canon of York and Dublin and Arch- 

 deacon of Cleveland ; Le Neve, Fast't^ iii, 

 176, 146. 



*^ Lich. Epis. Reg. ii, fol. 98 ; a priest, 

 A month previously the bishop directed 

 the Archdeacon of Chester to inquire as 

 to the vacancy, *John called Travers' 

 having been presented ; ibid. fol. 4. 



The new rector was a royal official, 

 being at one time constable of Bordeaux. 

 He died in debt to the king, and as late 

 as 1346 debts due to him as rector 

 were claimed in satisfaction ; Memo. R. 

 (L.T.R.), III, m. 133 d. He occurs 

 frequently in CaL Pat. 



^'■* Lich. Epis. Reg. Ii, fol. 1 10 ; a priest. 



^'* Ibid. fol. Ill/'; an acolyte. The 

 king presented, the temporalities of the 

 Abbot of Sees being in his hands ; see 

 also Cal. Pat, 1334-8, p. 522. 



In 1342 Henry de Haydock had a 

 dispute with the lords of the manor — 

 Margaret widow of Randle de Dacre, 

 William de Walton, John de Croft and 

 Emma his wife — about certain trees 

 which he had cut down for the repair of 

 the chancel ; De Banco R. 332, m. 261. 

 Two years later he procured licence for 

 the alienation of a number of small plots 

 of land in mortmain; Cal, Pat. 1343-5, 

 p. 306. 



Henry had a brother Edmund and a 

 sister Margery (wife of Nicholas de Hol- 

 den of Simonstone) ; Add. MS. 32104, 

 no. 876. In 1361 the bishop granted 

 Henry de Haydock licence for an oratory 

 within his rectory ; Lich. Epis. Reg. v, 

 fol. 4i. 



*^ Ibid, iv, foL 86 ; tonsured only. 

 The year given is taken from the Ex- 

 chequer list above referred to ; that in 

 the bishop's register is 1371, but must be 

 an error, as William de Hexham, rector 

 of Eccleston, was ordained subdeacon in 

 Oct. 1371 and priest the following year ; 

 ibid. V, fol. loii, lozb. The king pre- 

 sented on account of the war with France, 



In 1 37 1 the pope rehabilitated William 

 de Hexham, clerk of the diocese of York, 



