LEYLAND HUNDRED 



ECCLESTON 



Banastre' and Lancaster.' The Fleetwoods of 

 Heskin are said to be the original stock of a wide- 

 spreading family, including those of Penwortham 

 and Rossall.' Sir William Fleetwood, an eminent 

 lawyer, who died in 1594, was an illegitimate 

 offshoot.* A few other names occur ^e.g. Thomas 

 Haworth and — Waterworth were freeholders in 

 1 600.' In the time of the Commonwe.ilth Thomas 

 Howorth compounded for his sequestered esLite," 

 and the following recusants petitioned to be allowed 

 to contract for theirs : Anne Banastre widow, 

 David Baron and Thomas Prescott.' Several 

 'Papists' registered estates in 17 17.* 



Thurstan Mawdesley had a messuage in Heskin in 

 1594., and other members of the family also had an 

 interest.' The Mawdesley estates were in 1739-44 

 purchased by Alexander Kershaw. 



Alexander Kershaw, who acquired other lands in 

 Ulnes Walton and elsewhere, sprang from a Roch- 

 dale family," and, amassing a large fortune, settled 

 at Heskin. He never married, but had a number of 

 illegitimate children, three of whom he chose as his 

 heirs by his will of 1786 — Edmund Newman 

 (Kershaw), John Cooper and James Kershaw, and 



their lawful male issue successively, then to the 

 testator's right heirs. He died in 1788, and 

 Edmund Newman (Kershaw) succeeded, and on his 

 death without lawful issue John Cooper followed, 

 and when he died in 1833, also without lawful 

 issue, there was a dispute as to the succession. After 

 a trial in 1837 'he estates were adjudged to be the 

 right of the heirs of Mary Stott," sister of Alexander, 

 to be held in moieties by (i) Lewis Chadwick 

 Hargrave, grandson, and (2) Letitia Maria Ahmuty 

 and her sister Catherine Constantia (Ahmuty) wife of 

 James Charles Michell, great-granddaughters. About 

 1856 the estates were divided. The Mawdesley 

 and Ulnes Walton portions were given to Hargrave, 

 the Heskin and Eccleston lands to the Rev. William 

 Michell, and lands in Leyland, &c., to Miss 

 Ahmuty, who bequeathed them to Mr. Michell and 

 his sister, so that this moiety was reunited. The 

 whole has since been sold in parcels, Heskin Hall 

 having been purchased about 1885 by the late Henry 

 Rawcliffe of Gillibrand Hall, Chorley. 



HESKIN OLD HALL stood on the extreme 

 north-west of the township, but was pulled down 

 at the beginning of the last century. The new 



lease of 1414 to Richard Rutter was for 

 the lives of himself his wife Joan and his 

 sons Nicholas and Robert ; Townclcy 

 MS. CC, no. 464. 



William Rutter was plaintiff in 1445 ; 

 Pal. of Lane Plea R. 7, m. -jb. 



' Anthony Banastre of Heskin occurs 

 in 1447 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 10, m. 

 2t. Ralph Banastre died in 15 18 hold- 

 ing lands in Heskin of Arthur Plan- 

 tagenet by the rent of id, \ Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. v, no. 29. 



^ Nicholas Lancaster purchased land 

 in Heskin and Wrightington in 1579-81 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 41, m. 63 ; 

 43, m. 53. 



Richard (son of John) Lancaster, who 

 died in Oct. 1632 holding lands in 

 Wrightington, CoppuU and Heskin, left 

 as heir his sister Ellen wife of John 

 Crooke ; Duchy of Lane Inq. p.m. xxvii, 

 no. 27. Another Richard Lancaster died 

 in the ensuing February, having settled 

 his land in Heskin, held of Sir Richard 

 Molyneux, on his younger son Richard, 

 though Robert, the elder son, was living ; 

 ibid, xxviii, no, 44. 



^ William Fleetwood of Heskin had 

 three sons : (i) John had Thomas of 

 Colwick, father of Sir Richard Fleetwood, 

 bart. (see Newton in Makerfield), and 

 Richard of Penwortham ; (2) Thomas of 

 the Vache had Sir William of Cranford, 

 Middlesex, ancestor of the Fleetwoods of 

 Aldwinkle, &c., and Edmund of Rossall ; 

 (3) Robert had a natural son Sir William, 

 noticed below. 



* William Fleetwood is said to have 

 been born at Heskin. He was of the 

 Middle Temple, M.P. for Lancaster 1559 

 to 1567, recorder of London 1569, queen's 

 Serjeant 1592. 'He was a learned man 

 and a good antiquary,' says Anthony a 

 Wood, *but of a marvellous merry and 

 pleasant conceit,' and published some 

 legal works. He was distinguished for 

 his severity in executing the laws against 

 vagrants and Catholics, the latter regard- 

 ing him as 'one of the ehiefest perse- 

 cutors of those days' ; Misc. (Cath. Rec. 

 Soc), ii, 191, where an instance of his 

 cruelty is recorded. He acquired an 

 estate at Great Missenden, Bucks., where 



his descendants were seated for some 

 generations. See Wood's Athenae ,• Diet. 

 Nat. Biog. ; Funeral Cert. (Chet. Soc.), 28. 

 His short outline of the Duchy history is 

 printed in Baines' Lanes, (ed. 1868), i, 55. 



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

 i, 245. 



Thurstan Waterworth died in 1593 

 holding a messuage, &c., in Heskin, and 

 leaving a son and heir Andrew, one year 

 old J Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, no. 

 26. Another Thurstan died in 1640 

 holding a messuage and lands including 

 Heskin Green and Harwood Hey, and 

 leaving a son and heir Andrew, fifteen 

 years old ; ibid, xxx, no. 24. Part was 

 held of Lord Molyneux by knights' ser- 

 vice, Thurstan Waterworth, yeoman, as 

 a ' Papist,' registered his freehold house 

 in 1717 ; Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. 

 Non-jurors^ no. 



Edward Robinson died in i6o8 holding 

 land of the king by the three-hundredth 

 part, of a knight's fee; Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Rec, Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 1 14. 

 John Haydock of CoppuU (1622) and 

 Richard Smith (1632) also held of the 

 king by knights' service ; the heir of the 

 latter was a son Robert, forty-two years 

 of age ; ibid, iii, 3 14 ; Towneley MS. C 8, 

 13 (CheL Lib.), p. 1085. 



Richard Waring died at Heskin in 

 1 619 holding land there of Sir Richard 

 Molyneux by knights' service, and leaving 

 as heir his son George, over sixty years 

 of age 5 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc), il, 

 1 30, Roger Sankey of Burscough ( 1 6 1 3) 

 held his land in Heskin of the same lord 

 In socage, and the same statement was 

 made after the death of his son Richard 

 in 1634; ibid. I, 277; Towneley MS. 

 C 8, 13, p. 1076. See below, p. 177 n, 



* Cal. Com. for Comp. iii, 1951, 



' Ibid, iv, 3175. 



^ Thomas Miller, yeoman, Thomas 

 Mawdesley, Matthew Cragg of Camerton, 

 Cumberland, and Richard Martin ; En^. 

 Cath. Non-jurors., 108-10, 129. 



' Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 36, 

 m. 63 ; 43, m. 53. See also the account 

 of Mawdesley. 



'"Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), 111,478, 

 404. A more elaborate account of the 



167 



family, with a full abstract of the will of 

 Alexander Kershaw, will be found In 

 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. NoteSy iij 132-40. 



An Act was passed In 1834(4 Will. IV) 

 to authorize the investment of moneys 

 accumulated under the trusts of the will 

 of Edmund Newman Kershaw of Heskin 

 Hall. There are named South Tunley 

 in Wrightington, Lydiate in Eccleston, 

 Newhouse in Heskin and fields in Ulnes 

 Walton, 



The details in the text are taken 

 chiefly from the printed report of the 

 trial in 1837 — Gibson v. Hargranjc, sup- 

 plemented by information from the Rev. 

 Prebendary Michell, to whom a moiety 

 of the Kershaw estates descended, and 

 who has a number of ancient Mawdesley 

 deeds. The report contains pedigrees 

 and abstracts of wills and other documents. 

 From these It appears that Edmund 

 Kershaw of Higher Town House (d. 1689) 

 married Sibyl daughter of Alexander 

 Kershaw of Ealees in Hundersfield (see 

 FIshwick, Roehdalt, p. 443), by whom he 

 had several children, including Abel, Mary 

 (wife of James Bamford) and Elizabeth 

 (wife of Abraham Gibson). Abel had 

 Issue Alexander Kershaw of Heskin 

 (1696 to 1788) and Mary. 



The plaintiffs at the trial were the 

 representatives of Bamford and Gibson, 

 each claiming a moiety, and they alleged 

 that Mary, sister of the testator, was 

 never married to a certain Ralph Stott, 

 with whom she lived from about 1713 

 till her death in 1767. The story ran 

 that as on the day fixed for her marriage 

 with someone else she was riding to 

 church with Ralph Stott, pillionwise, the 

 pair ran off together Instead and were 

 then made man and wife, the expectant 

 bridegroom being left disappointed. No 

 proof of the marriage was forthcoming 

 at the date of the trial, but evidence was 

 produced from the parish registers, court 

 rolls, &c,, that they had always been 

 regarded as married and the jury without 

 hesitation took this view. 



" Ralph and Mary Stott had a number 

 of children, of whom Catherine married 

 John Anderson and Anne married John 

 Hargrave. The Andersons had (besides 



