LEYLAND HUNDRED 



alteration it is possible that portions of tlie original 

 building were destroyed, and that the middle portion 

 of the principal front, which is alone of any archi- 

 tectural interest, may not be the full extent of the 

 original house. This older portion is a good compo- 

 sition, with centrally placed bay window and pro- 

 jecting porches at each end, going up the full height 

 of both stories. The windows on both floors have 

 transoms, and in the rooms over the porches are 

 placed near to the internal angle and carried right 

 across the front of the first floor. The walls finish 

 with plain stone parapets, except to the bay, where 

 a rounded embattled coping is introduced. The 

 upper part of the parapet, however, has been rebuilt, 

 and may not carry out the original design. The 

 porches have semicircular-headed openings with im- 

 posts and moulded jambs, and occupy the internal 

 angles between the later wings and the hall proper. 

 Whether they mark the full extent of the original 

 front is not evident, there being nothing to show 

 definitely whether the early i gth-century work is a 

 rebuilding or an addition. ^ The present extent 

 of the old front is about 48 ft., and the later wings 

 on either side are each 20 ft. across. They are built 

 in the pseudo-Gothic style of c. 1820-30, with 

 sash windows, and have blue slated hipped roofs 

 behind ornamental parapets. The older roofs are 

 covered with stone slabs. The house has been 

 further extended at the east end by the addition of a 

 gabled wing about 46 ft. in length, erected apparently 



ECCLESTON 



in the middle of the last century, the design being 

 much better than that of the earlier modern work, and 

 makmg a total frontage of about 136 ft. The front 

 of the building faces north, and owing to its 

 sheltered position is very damp. The back is almost 

 wholly modern. The building has been unoccupied, 

 except for a few rooms at the east end, for a number 

 of years, and in parts is in a very neglected and 

 dilapidated condition. The interior is without 

 interest, having been entirely modernized. In front 

 of the house is a good 18th-century fence wall and 

 railing, with tall Renaissance gate and angle piers of 

 good design. 



FJIRHURST seems also to have been the 

 Hospitallers'. Families named 

 Banastre ^ and Nelson owned 

 it ; the latter, who acquired 

 another part of the Hoghton 

 manor,' remained in posses- 

 sion till recent times. A pedi- 

 gree was recorded in 1664.* 

 Fairhurst Hall is a two-story 

 1 8th-century brick building 

 with gritstone dressings, the 

 principal front, which faces 

 south, having projecting end 

 wings and originally a central 

 entrance doorway. This, how- 

 ever, has _ been converted into a window, and the 

 entrance is now at the east end, to the north of 



Nelson of Fairhurst. 

 Or a cross paronce sable 

 o\er all a bendlet gules. 



^ The plan does not materially help in 

 the matter, the building having been so 

 entirely altered, but it would appear most 

 likely that the porches occupy pretty 

 much their original positions, the end 

 wings being rebuildings of others formerly 

 existing. 



^ There seem to have been two 

 Banastre families in the township, for in 

 1332 Richard and Geoffrey appear on the 

 subsidy roll ; Exch. Lay Subs. 50, 51. 



Roger Banastre claimed lands in 

 Wrightington against Richard de Lathom 

 in 1301-2 ; Assize R. 1321, m. 10 ; 418, 

 m. 13. Richard Banastre of Fairhurst 

 attested a charter in 13395 ^^^- MS. 

 32104, no. 1327. John Banastre and 

 Roger son of Richard Banastre were 

 defendants in 1348; De Banco R. 356, 

 m. 583. In 1361 Roger Banastre settled 

 his estate in Wrightington, Parbold and 

 Bispham (a hamlet of Chorley), the 

 remainder being to his son Thomas, 

 whose wife was Alice daughter of John 

 de Heaton ; Add. MS. 32104, no. 1320, 

 Contemporary was Henry son of John 

 Banastre, who gave Robfield to his son 

 John in 1368, and had another son 

 Robert; Kuerden MSS. iii, W 31; 

 Towneley MS. RR, no. 905. In 1383-4 

 Almarica widow of Thomas Banastre 

 of Fairhurst granted land in Bispham 

 to Robert Banastre of Wrightington ; 

 Towneley MS. DD, no. 376. Then 

 in 1392 Edward de Lathom granted 

 lands near Fairhurst to Robert Banastre ; 

 ibid. RR, no. 957. Six years later 

 Robert's feoffees gave lands in Wright- 

 ington and Parbold to Geoffrey Banastre ; 

 ibid. no. 953. As formerly stated, Richard 

 de Stopford married Alice daughter of 

 Robert Banastre. 



Robert de Bamford in 1393 granted to 

 Ellis Banastre a stream of water in 

 Wrightington, beginning at the head of 

 Grimscar following a ditch to Dethe- 



field head, so to Newearth head and the 

 pasture of Meanwood ; Add. MS. 32104, 

 no. 1357. Gilbert son of Ellis Banastre 

 in 1426 became bound to abide the 

 result of an arbitration in disputes with 

 Richard de Stopford ; ibid. no. 1356. 

 The feoffees in 1496 granted Agnes 

 daughter of Award Singleton for life 

 various lands in Wrightington, the re- 

 mainder being to Richard son and heir 

 of Gilbert Banastre ; Dods. MSS. cliii, 

 fol. 73. William son and heir of Richard 

 Banastre died in or before 1534-5 seised 

 of a messuage, to which Richard his son 

 and heir sought admission at the court of 

 St. John of Jerusalem ; Kuerden MSS. 

 iii, W31. Richard Banastre was in 

 1524 to marry Ellen daughter of John 

 Crane of Bispham ; ibid. 



In 1 547 the following fragment of the 

 pedigree was given : Gilbert Banastre of 

 Fairhurst -s. and h. Richard -s. and h. 

 Gilbert ; Pal. of Lane. Writs Proton. 

 Lent I Edw. VI. 



The estate of Banastre of Fairhurst 

 seems to have descended to Richard 

 Banastre, who about 1536-40 mortgaged 

 and sold it to Richard Nelson ; Pat. of 

 Lane. Plea R. 163, m. 12 ; 170, m. 15 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 13, m. 265, 

 272. See al&o Ducatus Lane, i, 179, 291. 



8 Kuerden (loc. sup. cit.) states that 

 Rigby had a twelfth and Nelson a twelfth 

 part of the manor. In a deed of 1586 

 Roger Kirkby, Richard Lathom, Thomas 

 Catterall, William Stopford, Nicholas 

 Rigby and Thomas Nelson, as lords of the 

 manor, made an agreement with John 

 Wrightington as to the wastes ; ibid. W 29. 



Thomas Nelson of Lathom in 1565 

 complained that Richard (son of Robert) 

 Stopford and others had brolcen down the 

 hedges of land he had inherited from his 

 father Richard in * a great waste called 

 Meanwood' ; the defence was that it 

 was common land, which plaintiff had 



inclosed ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz. 

 Ixiv, N 1. In 1578 his son Richard 

 Nelson complained that Thomas Lathom 

 of Parbold had taken possession of part 

 of the Meanwood. The disputed boun- 

 daries are thus described : Between 

 Linley dough and Hawks brook in 

 breadth and length, the one head abutting 

 upon Hoghton riding {alias Hoghton lees) 

 and the Rymor's riding (alias Rymor's 

 lees) towards the west, and the other 

 head towards the east to the fields of 

 Wrightington and Parbold ; ibid, cviii, 

 N 2. The defence was that the land 

 was in Parbold. 



The family adhered to Roman Catholi- 

 cism, for, though Maxie Nelson had In 

 1628 avoided conviction, his mother and 

 wife were fined as recusants ; Misc. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 170, 187. Maxie 

 is said to have been slain at the battle of 

 Marston Moor in 1644, being then a 

 captain of foot in the king's army {Visit,), 

 and the estates of his son Thomas were 

 sequestered and ordered to be sold for 

 treason by the Parliament in 1652-3 ; 

 Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), iv, 212 ; Index of Royalists 

 (Index Soc), 43. It appears that he 

 had a capital messuage in Wrightington, 

 a water grist-mill, parcels of meadow, 

 arable and pasture lands in the same 

 township and in Parbold, Bispham and 

 Mawdesley ; also in Alston, Dalton and 

 Croston, There was a sum of 2lj, pay- 

 able as quit-rents to various lords of 

 manors. The fine was ;^699. 



Several of the Nelsons of Fairhurst 

 became Benedictine monks ; Trans. Hist. 

 Soc. (new ser.), xiii, 136—7. 



' Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), 216. 

 Maximilian Nelson, aged eight at the 

 visitation, registered his estate in 1717 

 as a * Papist,' the value being ;^ioo 1 8j. ; 

 Engl. Cath. Non-jurors, H2. He had 

 a son Maximilian, and an only sister 



