A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Held ' which stood on the high ro.ij close to the 

 south-eastern boundary of the township. 



If'lTTON was a member of the pre 

 MJSOR Conquest manor of Billington and was 

 probably included in the feoffment made 

 by Henr}- de Lacy to Hugh son of Leofwin of 

 sundry manors including ' half Billington ' to be held 

 by the service of half a knight's fee. In 1242-3 it 

 doubtless formed part of the fee of half a knight which 

 Adam de Billington, great-nephew of Hugh son of 

 Leofwin, held in Billington with the members.* Some 

 forty years later Avice lady of Billington daughter 

 and heir of Adam enfeoffed Roger her son of all her 

 land and demesnein the town of Witton with^oxgangs 

 of land to hold by a yearly rent of 1 212'. at the feast 

 of St. Giles ' ; but the lordship descended at her 

 death before 1288 to her eldest son Adam de Billing- 

 ton. Before Easter 1288 Adam de Billington gave 

 the manor to Geofirey de Chadderton, who answered 

 in 1302, at the collection of the aid for marrying 

 the king's eldest daughter, for the eighth part of a 

 knight's fee which he held of the Earl of Lincoln in 

 Witton.* 



At the death of the earl in i 3 1 1 Richard son of 

 Geoffrey de Chadderton was returned as holding a 

 plough-land here by the service of the eighth part of a 

 knight and is. rent at Midsummer ; but in 1323 his 

 brother William had succeeded and in December paid 

 a fine for respite of his suit at the baronial court of 

 Clitheroe, doubtless in respect of this manor.' Willi.im 

 de Chadderton died 10 M.iy 1333, Geoffrey his son 

 being then but a few months old. For twenty ) cars 

 until Michaelmas 1353 Geoffrey was the warJ of 

 Richard de Fiton and Margaret his wife.'' In 1330 

 as the heir of William de Chadderton he was returned 

 as holding of Henr)' Earl of Lancaster in demesne and 

 service a plough-land in Witton where eight plough- 

 lands make a knight's fee.' He died cirly in 1357, 

 leaving an only daughter Margery as his heir, who 

 the same year instituted proceedings against Richard 

 and M.irgaret Fiton for making w.i5tc, sale and 

 destruction of woods and gardens in Witton which 

 they had in custody of her inheritance.'" Marg;r) 



married John de Radcliffe, who died in 1407 sci cd 

 of the manor, which he held in chief by the twentieth 

 part of a knight's fee and is. rent." 



Richard Radcliffe of Ch.idderton, gre.it-grandson of 

 John, lelt issue at his death three daughters, of whom 



Radcliffe of Chad- 

 derton. Argent a bend 

 engrailed sabUy in chief a 

 mullet for difference. 



Standish ofSt.indish. 

 Sable three standing 

 dishes argent. 



Margery, the second, married Ralph Standish of 

 Standish, and carried the manor into that family." 

 In 1680 Edward Standish and Elizabeth his wife 

 passed the manor with a small landed estate and 

 zs. of rent to Thomas Greenfield, from whom it 

 descended to his daughter Martha, the wife of the 

 Rev. John Holme, vicar of Blackburn 1706-1738. 

 The Rev. John Holme, son of the last-named, passed 

 the manor in 1 74 2 to trustees, probably for sale," 

 but no evidence of the further descent of the manor 

 has been found. 



IflTTOS HALL.— In the time of Edward I 

 AJam son of Adam de Billington granted to Adam 

 son of Adam de Haldelcy part of his estate here, and 

 other lands formerly held by Richard son of John de 

 Witton, to hold of Henry de Lacy Earl of Lincoln, 

 paying iJ. yearly for castle ward to the earl and 21. 

 to the gr.intur. Adam de Haldeley held this land at 

 the earl's death in 131 1 for iJ. and suit at the court 

 of Clitheroe." In 1 322 he gave this estate to Adam 

 son of Richard de Radcliffe," rector of Bury (i 33 1-67), 

 and the latter gave it about 1330 to his nephew 

 Adam son of William de Radcliffe, who enfeoffed 



* Lanes. Inj. and Extents (Rcc, Soc. 

 Lanes, and Chc5.), i, 151 ; Testj de 

 b^evill (Rcc. Com.), 397. 



'Add. MS. 32107, no. 18. The 

 charter was attested by Adam dc Blakc- 

 bura, * then seneschal,' i.e. 128^-4. 



• Lanes. In:^. and Extents (Rcc. Soc 

 I.ancs. and Ches.), i, 319. Fur the grant 

 to Geotfrey compare iVhalley C^ucA. 

 (Chet. Soc), iv, 1057. 



Adam de Billington died before Easter, 

 1 2SS, when Adam de Hoddeakc and Joan 

 his wife demanded from Geoffrey dc 

 Chadderton the third part of 4. tofts and 

 the whole of 5 ozgangs of land and a 

 water-mill in Witton, as Joan's dower of 

 the endowment of Adam de Billington, 

 her first husband. Geoffrey pleaded that 

 she had been endowed of 2^ oxgangs and 

 the mill, and that her late husband was 

 never in seisin of the residue j De Banco 

 R. 72, m. 59. 



Shortly before the grant to Geoffrey de 

 Chadderton, the Abbot and convent of 

 Stanlaw had a grant firom Adam son of 

 Adam de Billington of dead wood in his 

 wood of Witton sufficient for fuel for 

 their proctors dwelling at Blackturn and 

 haybote for their own fences from all 

 trees except Jis and willows, with free 



passage through lut the metes *of my 

 tow n of \\'itton ' ; H^halley Couch. III. 



Adam the son died shortly before 

 Michaelmas, 1309, when his widow 

 Alice was suing for dower in Billington 

 and Witton ; De Banco R. 179, m. 

 iS+d, The following year the same 

 Alice and her husband William de 

 Hopwood demanded dower in two mes- 

 suages and lands here of Adam de 

 Haldelegh, and in a messuage and lands 

 of Adam Pillock; ibid, 183, m. 133d. 



' Lanes. Ct. R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 51. 



* In 1354. Queen Isabdla sued Richard 

 Fiton and Margaret his wife for ^^40 

 damages for having ejected her from the 

 custody of six messuages, 120 acres ofland, 

 &c, in Witton which belonged to her 

 until the lawful age of the heir of 

 Wii;iam de Chadderton, who held of her 

 by knight's service, alleging that the 

 custody of Geoffrey son of the said 

 William belonged to her from Monday 

 after the Invention of Holy Cross, 7 

 Edw. Ill, until Michaelmas last (1353) ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 3 (2), m. 8 d. 



" Duchy of Lane Knights' fees, bdle. ■, 

 no. 1 1, fol. 31. 



'" Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5, m. 10. 



264 



In I 346 Geoffrey de Chadderton entered 

 into covenants for the sale of the manor 

 to the Abbot of Whalley for the sum o( 

 ^106 1 31. 4^., but the matter was never 

 concluded ; Towneley MS. DD, no. 2165. 



" Ibid. no. 1454 ; cf. Duchy of Lane 

 Inq. p.m. iii, 2. 



'^ The links in the descent will be 

 found under Chadderton (f^.C.H. Lanes, v) 

 and Standish. 



" Pal. of Lane Feet of F. bdle. 205, 

 m. 32 ; Plea R. 554, m. 11. 



" Towneley MS. DD, no. 2 1 62 ; Lant 1. 

 [nj. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, ana 

 Ches.), ii, 1 2. 



"Towneley MS. DD, no. 2164. 

 There was a clause in the grant reserving 

 to the grantor the right of redemption of 

 the estate on payment of ^80. After 

 Adam's death his nephew Adam ion of 

 Henry de Haldelegh demanded of Adam 

 son of Richard de Radcliffe a messuage, 

 55 acres of land, 10 acres of wood in 

 Witton by a writ of formedon (De Banco 

 R. 251, m. 203), but in 1328 he released 

 to the said Adam, then rector of Bury, 

 his title to messuages and lands here 

 which had belonged to bis grandfather 

 Adam de Haldeley j Towneley MS. DD, 

 no. 2157. 



