LEYLAND HUNDRED 



ECCLESTON 



Their grandson Thomas Lord Dacre in 1506 sold 

 his manors of Fishwick and Eccleston to Edmund 

 Dudley, the minister of Henry 

 VII.i After Dudley's execu- 

 tion and forfeiture these 

 manors were with other lands 

 allowed to his heir John, after- 

 wards Duke of Northumber- 

 land.2 



The manor passed through 

 various hands/ and in 1539 

 it was sold to Richard Moly- 

 neux,* whose heir, on acquir- 

 ing the other moiety, became 

 sole lord. 



Bradley Hall was sold to 

 Adam Rigby, rector of Eccleston,^ and came by 

 1836 into the hands of a sister of General John 



FiENNSS. Azure 

 three lions rampant or. 



Rigbye Fletcher.^ The present owner of the estate 

 is said to be Mr. Charles Robert Fletcher Lutwldge.^ 



Of the hall practically nothing remains except 

 a portion of the moat which is yet filled with 

 water. The house, which stands at the south-east 

 end of the village, a mile from the church, is now a 

 modern farmstead, but parts of the farm buildings, 

 which are of stone, apparently belong to an older 

 building. 



The other moiety of the manor, once held by the 

 Waltons of the Gernets and their heirs,^ was sold by 

 the daughter and heir of William de Walton to Henry 

 Earl of Lancaster in 1347,*^ but land in the town- 

 ship was held by the heirs of another branch of the 

 Walton family, and as the manor of TINGREJVE 

 descended in the line of Radcliffe^^ and Barton of 

 Smithills until the 17th century.^^ The moiety of 

 the manor of Eccleston, however, like the earldom 



Eccleston with various lands of the king 

 as of his duchy of Lancaster by knights' 

 service. Thomas his kinsman (grandson) 

 and heir was fourteen years of age (in 

 1502) ; Duchy of Lane Inq. p.m. iii, 

 no. 58. It appears that Joan was living 

 and Thomas a minor in 1506; Duchy 

 of Lane. Misc. Bks. xxi, 4.1 d. 



^ Pal. of Lane. Plea R. loi, m. 12 ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, no. 21. 



2 L. and P. Hen. nil, i, 1965. By 

 this grant, made in 151 1, a third of the 

 manors of Fishwick and Eccleston, for- 

 feited by Edmund Dudley, was allowed 

 to Arthur Plantagenet and Elizabeth his 

 wife, Dudley's widow, the remainder 

 being given to Dudley's trustees (see ibid, 

 no. 1212). John Dudley, the son and 

 heir, was restored in blood soon afterwards 5 

 ibid. no. 2082. For his career see Diet. 

 Nat, Biog, ; also G.E.C. op. cit. vi, 87. 



* Sir Thomas Seymour, Richard 

 Austin and others were in 1530 plaintiffs 

 in a fine concerning the manors of 

 Bradley, Eccleston, and Fishwick, &c., 

 the deforciants being Sir John Dudley and 

 Joan his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. II, m. 113. Eight years later 

 Edward Elrington and Grace his wife 

 purchased the same manors from Thomas 

 Seymour; ibid. bdle. 11, m, i6. 



* Ibid. bdle. 12, m. 15. The sale in- 

 cluded the reversion of the lands held by 

 Mary widow of Sir Thomas Seymour. 

 See also Com. Pleas D. Enr. East 

 3 1 Hen. VIIL 



Sir William Molyneujc, father of 

 Richard, died in 1548 holding a messuage 

 and lands in Eccleston of the heirs of 

 Adam de Walton by a rent of 6d. ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 1. The son, 

 Sir Richard, in virtue of the purchase 

 recorded in the text, counted Eccleston, 

 Heskin and Fishwick among his manors, 

 but the tenure of * the manor of Eccleston 

 and Heskin ' was described as before — of 

 the heirs of Adam de Walton by a 

 rent of 6d. ; the annual value was 

 ^30 19*. z^d. ; ibid, xiii, no. 35. 



* Hugh Dicconson was seised of a 

 messuage and 500 acres of land called 

 Bradley in 1562, and conveyed it to 

 John Rowe as trustee ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Plead. Eliz. li, D i. Hugh Dicconson 

 left a widow Elizabeth and a son and 

 heir Richard, described as of Wraysholme, 

 between whom there were disputes in 

 1584 respecting Bradley, Sec. ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Plea R. 258, m. 13. 



Adam Rigby died in 1627 holding the 

 capital messuage called Bradley Hall, a 



dovecote, &c., with lands in Euxton, Whit- 

 tingham and Goosnargh. Bradley was 

 held of the king as of his duchy of Lan- 

 caster by the hundredth part of a knight's 

 fee. The heir was Adam's nephew 

 Alexander (son of Alexander) Rigby, 

 aged thirty-one ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. xxvii, no. 30. 



The heir, described as * of Middleton 

 Hall ' in Goosnargh, became a baron of 

 the Exchequer in the Commonwealth. 

 Sec Piccope MS. Pedigrees (Chct. Lib.), 

 ii, p. 105 ; Fishwick, Goosnargh, 141. 



The hall was acquired by Sir T. 

 Sclater 1657-63 and afterwards sold ; 

 Misc. Gen. et Her. i, 384. 



^ Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 477. 

 The Bradley estate is probably that 

 referred to in a fine respecting lands in 

 Eccleston, Euxton and Croston in 1774, 

 William Shaw the elder being plaintiflf 

 and the deforciants being John Fletcher, 

 Mary his wife, Henry Lutwidge, Jane his 

 wife, William Hulton, Lucy his wife, 

 William Dalrymple, Diana his wife, and 

 Elizabeth Molyneux, spinster ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 391, m. 89. 



' For pedigree see Burke's Landed 

 Gentry — Lutwidge of Holm Rook Hall, 

 Cumberland. According to this the 

 above-named Jane wife of Henry Lut- 

 widge was a daughter of Capt. Rigby 

 Molyneux of Preston, high sheriff in 

 1749 (P.R.O. Listy 74), who was a 

 grandson of Sir John Molyneux of 

 Teversal, husband of Lucy daughter of 

 Alexander Rigby. 



® Adam son of Adam de Walton gave 

 to Warine his son half ihe vill of Eccleston 

 as Adam the elder had held it of Benedict 

 Gernet and Adam the son of the heirs of 

 Benedict ; Piccope MSS., iii, p. 3. 



Master Adam de Walton in 1294 

 claimed 6 acres in Eccleston against 

 William de Dacre, The land had been 

 approved from the waste by Benedict 

 Gernet and Warine de Walton, lords in 

 common, and fell to the latter's share on 

 a division. Adam son and heir of Warine 

 demised it to William de Shorneton 

 (? Shurventon) for 6s. a year, and this 

 tenant sold his crops and title to William 

 de Dacre ; Assize R. 1299, m. 14. 



In 1301 the moiety of the manors of 

 Eccleston and Heskin was included in a 

 Walton agreement ; Final Cone, i, 194. 

 By 1320— I it had come into the posses- 

 sion of Thurstan de Northlegh and 

 Margery his wife 5 ibid, ii, 33, 43. See also 

 Assize R. 1404, m. 26 d., 27. Afterwards 

 it was recovered by William de Walton. 



^ Final Cone, ii, 123 ; Duchy of Lane, 

 Misc. Bks. xi, p. 60 d. William de 

 Braeebridge and Maud his wife were the 

 vendors, and the sale Included also the 

 manor of Ulnes Walton and a moiety of 

 Leyland. For further particulars see the 

 account of Ulnes Walton. 



^•^ In 1339 William son of Robert de 

 Radeliffe and Katherine his wife claimed 

 the manors against William de Walton in 

 accordance with the fine of 1301 ; ib d. 

 xii, p, xxiii d. See Curia Regis R. 316, 

 m. 18. William son of Robert de Rad- 

 eliffe in 1359 purchased a messuage and 

 land In Eccleston from Richard de Hale 

 and Alice his wife ; Final Cone, ii, 162. 



Robert de Legh, Maud his wife, 

 William son of Robert de Radeliffe and 

 Maud (? fCatherine) his wife in 1365 

 claimed from John Duke of Lancaster 

 and Blanche his wife the manors of 

 Eccleston, Heskin and Leyland ; De 

 Banco R. 421, m. 225. Probably some 

 agreement was made, in accordance with 

 which the Leghs as well as the Radcliffes 

 long held lands in Eccleston. Peter Legh 

 died in 1540 holding messuages and lands 

 in Eccleston of the king as of his duchy 

 by the sixtieth part of a knight's 

 fee ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. viii, no. 

 10. 



The messuage called the Tynedgreve 

 was in 1393 held by Robert son of John 

 de Eccleston ; Piccope MSS. (Chct. Lib.), 

 iii, p. 3, no. 282. 



^^ For the Radeliffe and Barton families 

 see the account of Halliwell in Dcanc. 



Sir Ralph de Radeliffe, who died in 

 1433, held lands in Eccleston, &e., of the 

 king as duke by knights' service ; they 

 included a tenement in Eccleston called 

 the Tingreave with land appurtenant held 

 of the king by a rent of 6d., which Sir 

 Ralph had settled upon a younger son 

 Edmund ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), 



ii, 35. 



Ralph Radcliffeof Smithills died In 1485 

 holding the manor of Tingreave and lands 

 there of the king as of his duchy of 

 Lancaster by knights' service and the 

 yearly rent of 6d. ; also other messuages, 

 lands, &c., in Eccleston, Croston, Ley- 

 land and Ulnes Walton by knights' ser- 

 vice ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 

 12, 97. In 1549, after the death of 

 Andrew Barton, the tenure of Tingreave 

 was returned as in socage, by a rent of 

 45. yd. ; ibid, ix, no. 27. In later inqui- 

 sitions the rent is given as 4s. %d. ; e.g. 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Ree, Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 207. 



163 



