LEYLAND HUNDRED 



ECCLESTON 



end is now removed, only the walls of the staircase 

 remaining, and the plan of the house has been a 

 good deal altered at this point. There is an 

 external doorway in the angle of the staircase 

 turret, but the original opening to the staircase 

 itself from the outside is now blocked up. This is 

 also the case with the other octagonal staircase in the 

 north wing, the only entrance to which is now from 

 the passage at the end of the kitchen. This stair- 

 case retains its original oak treads and newel. The 

 east staircase was apparently the original means of 

 access to the first and upper floors or attic. This 

 latter is occupied by a long gallery in the roof 

 75 ft. long by lo ft. 6 in. wide and 9 ft. high, 

 extending the full length of the house, with recesses 

 on the south side, which have apparently at some 

 later time been partitioned off into separate rooms 

 in the gables. The gallery, which has a fireplace 

 and window at its west end, is now in a dilapidated 

 condition, the plaster having fallen from the stud- 

 ding, leaving the room open to the roof on each 

 side. In the north-east wing are three large rooms, 

 each with a fireplace and a four-light mullioned and 

 transomed stone window, and approached from the 

 northern staircase. 



A grammar school was founded at Heskin in 1 597.^ 



WRIGHTINGTON 



Wrstincton, 1195 ; Wrichtington, 1202; Wric- 

 tinton, 1212 ; Wrytinton, 1256 ; Wrythinton, 1262 ; 

 Wryghtington, Writtyngton, 1284-5 ! Whritynton, 

 Wrythtynton, 1292.^ 



The township has an area of 3,915^ acres,' with 

 a population in 1901 of 1,869 persons. The surface 

 is hilly, rising to over 400 ft. at Harrock on the 

 border of Parbold, and falling thence to the north, 

 north-east and south-east. On the southern border 

 the boundary at Appley Bridge touches the Douglas. 

 The hall, with its large deer park, is to the north of 

 this point. Tunley and Broadhurst lie to the north 

 of the park, and Fairhurst, to the west of Harrock, 

 reaches down to the Douglas. 



A road runs north from Appley Bridge through 

 Appley Moor and the hamlet called Robin Hood to 

 Eccleston ; it is crossed by two roads from Wigan to 

 Parbold. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's 

 Railway from Wigan to Southport crosses the south- 

 eastern corner, having a station called Appley Bridge, 

 while the Leeds and Liverpool Canal crosses the 

 township at the same place between the railway and 

 the Douglas. 



The soil is clay, with subsoil of marl and stone. 

 Wheat and oats are grown. 



At Harrock Hill, Fairhurst and Hill House Lane 

 are pedestals of ancient crosses.''"" At Skull House 

 in Appley is kept a skull which is said to return to 

 its resting-place if displaced.' 



In 1666 there were found 107 hearths chargeable 

 to the tax in the east side of the township and ninety- 

 six in the west side. The largest house was that of 

 Hugh Dicconson with fifteen hearths, the next that 

 of Nicholas Rigby with seven. ^ 



The vills of fTRIGHTINGTON and 

 MJNORS Parbold were probably from its forma- 

 tion members of the barony of Man- 

 chester, and the connexion was recognized down to 

 the 17th century.^ Albert Grelley the elder, who 

 died about 11 62, gave them, together with the adja- 

 cent Dalton in West Derby Hundred, to Orm son 

 of Ailward in marriage with his daughter Emma, to 

 be held by the service of one knight's fee.'^" From 

 Orm descended the family of Kirkby of Kirkby 

 Ireleth,^! of whom Wrightington continued to be 

 held, at least in part. The Kirkbys granted it out, 

 and in 1195, probably by marriage with co-heirs, 

 the group of manors was held in moiety by Robert 

 son of Bernard de Goosnargh and by Roger de Burton 

 and Orm de Ashton, his brother. A division was 

 made in the year mentioned, half of Wrightington 

 being retained by Robert son of Bernard and the 

 other half, with the whole of Parbold, being assigned 

 to the brothers. 1^ The former moiety was soon after- 

 wards divided among three co-heirs,^' represented 

 later by the families of Catterall,!* Butler of 



' Gastrell, Notitia Cesir. (Chet. Soc), 

 373 ; Local Gleanings Lanes, and Ches. ii, 

 105 ; End. Char. Rtp. 



^ Land waa claimed in ' Wrethington,' 

 but the defendant replied that there was 

 no vill in the county so named 5 the 

 tenements were in ' Wrythtynton ' ; 

 Assize R. 408, m. 37 d. 



' The Census Rep. of 1 90 1 gives 

 3,917 acres, including 29 of inland 

 water. 



*"^ Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xvii, 17, 

 18. 



^ For this and other interesting places 

 in the township see an essay by Mr. W. 

 F. Price in Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), 

 XV, 208, &c. 



^ Subs. R. Lanes, bdle. 250, no. 9. 

 Other houses were those of Thomas 

 Nelson, William Crook, Oliver Halliwell, 

 six hearths each ; John Halliwell, five ; 

 John Halliwell of Hill, five ; and Thomas 

 Wilson, four. 



^ It is so recognized in inquisitions 

 quoted later. Some dues or services 

 were received from it by the lord of 

 Manchester, as appears by Mosley fines of 

 1653 and 1680 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 151, m. 152 ; 204, m. 66. At the 

 same time the constables of Wrightington 

 and Parbold were summoned to attend 



the Manchester court ; Court Leet Rec. 

 iv, 148, cfec. 



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

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 55 ; in 121 2 * the 

 heirs of that Orm held ' the land. 



1^ Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 405. 



^^ Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), iii, 172. From a Dwerryhouse 

 deed, quoted below, it appears that Roger 

 de Ashton, perhaps the father of the 

 Roger and Orm of this fine, gave land in 

 Wrightington to the Hospitallers. 



Somewhat later, in 1202, Margaret 

 widow of Richard de Lancaster made an 

 agreement as to her dower with Robert 

 son of Bernard (de Goosnargh), Orm son 

 of Roger and his brother Roger ; ibid, i, 

 18. 



From the former fine it will be seen 

 that Wrightington was assessed as two 

 plough-lands and Parbold as one. Hence 

 in 1302 Thomas Grelley contributed 

 to the aid for three plough-lands in 

 Wrightington and Parbold, whereof ten 

 made a knight's fee ; Inq. and Extents, i, 

 315, It is thus seen that in the case of 

 Wrightington, Parbold and Dalton four 

 plough-lands had been granted out as one 

 knight's fee, though the superior lord 

 rendered only the service of four-tenths 

 of a fee. 



169 



Hence it is the less surprising to find 

 it recorded that Robert de Lathom in 

 1242 held the fourth part of a knight in 

 Parbold and three-fourths in Wrighting- 

 ton of the fee of Manchester ; Inq. and 

 Extents, i, 1 54. The * three-fourths ' 

 may be an error or may include Dalton, 

 for in 1320 Robert de Lathom and John 

 de Kirkby were stated to hold half a fee 

 in Wrightington — the old service ; and 

 again in 1473 Richard Kirkby and his 

 partners held the half fee by a rent of 3J., 

 paying also 55, for castle ward ; Maniecestre 

 (Chet. Soc), ii, 288 ; iii, 479. 



" In 1282, after the death of Robert 

 Grelley, it was returned that Wrighting- 

 ton, Parbold and Dalton were held of him 

 for the fee of one knight by Robert de 

 Lathom, Adam de Hoghton, William le 

 Boteler, Ralph de Catterall and Geoffrey 

 de Wrightington ; Inq. and Extents, i, 

 248. 



'* Richard de Catterall of Goosnargh 

 about 1244 held land in Wrightington 

 worth 145. of Thomas Grelley ; ibid, i, 

 160. Later inquisitions record Richard's 

 holding as either 4 or 2§ oxgangs — i.e. a 

 quarter or a sixth part of the manor — 

 held of John de Kirkby by knights' 

 service; ibid, i, 2H, 212. Richard son 

 of Swain (de Catterall), with the 



22 



