BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



BLACKBURN 



money, raised doubtless by a mortgage of estates 

 already encumbered, and that this led to the sub- 

 sequent alienation of the manor.^^ Thomas Langton 

 was made K.B. at the Coronation of James I, and 

 dying at Westminster in 1 604 ^^ was succeeded in the 

 barony of Newton by his kinsman Richard son of 

 Thomas Fleetwood of Colwick. 



Soon after acquiring the manor Messrs. Sweeting 

 and Hobbes appear to have conveyed it to Richard 

 Hoghton with other dependent manors in the 

 hundreds of Blackburn and Leyland,^' and in this 

 family it has descended to the present owner. Sir 

 James De Hoghton, bart. 



Walton Hall was pulled down in 1834. I' had 

 previously undergone alterations which gave it a 

 modern appearance, being a large structure of brick 

 and stone with projecting gabled end wings and classic 

 porch in the centre, in the pediment of which was 

 the Hoghton coat of arms.^* 



Court rolls of the manor have been preserved from 

 1625 to 1766, and rentals, &c., from 1659. 



BJNISTER HALL, also called Darwen Hall, 

 lies in the northern part of the township towards 

 Cuerdale and not far from the northern bank of the 

 River Darwen. The estate probably represents a 

 feoffment to a kinsman by one of the early lords of 

 Walton. Henry Banastre had lands in Cuerdale and 

 Walton in the early part of the reign of Henry III ; 

 Richard his son occurs in 1246 and 1248 and was 

 the father of Henry, the elder, and Geoffrey, con- 

 temporaries of Robert Banastre, their chief lord.*' 

 Henry had sons, Henry the younger and William, 

 both contributors to the subsidy levied in 1332, and 

 Richard, who married Alice daughter of Roger son of 

 Adam de Preston, and was ancestor of the Banastres 

 of Preston.^'' 



Henry Banastre frequently occurs as one of the 

 principal freeholders here from I 3 18 to 1348, and 

 was one of the overseers appointed in 1 343 to prevent 

 the taking of salmon in the close season in the waters 

 of Lune, Wyre, Ribble and Mersey." By his wife 

 Matilda he had issue John his successor, who appealed 

 John son of Henry de Blackburn of Walton in 1 340 



Banastre. Argent a 

 cross patonce sable. 



for the death of Ralph his brother, was pardoned for 

 taking part in the great riot at Liverpool in 1345 on 

 condition of serving in Gas- 

 cony, was appointed one of 

 the keepers of the peace in 

 the county in 1350, and was 

 returned the same year as 

 one of the freeholders in 

 Walton. '2 In 1367 he passed 

 his estates to feoffees, who 

 conveyed them in 1372 to 

 John Banastre, apparently son 

 of the last-named John. As 

 John Banastre, esq., he con- 

 tributed to the poll tax of 

 1377, and was father of 

 Richard Banastre of Altham and probably of John 

 Banastre of Walton, gent., who occurs from 1407 to 

 1432.^^ The descent of the family cannot be 

 traced with certainty during the 15 th century, but 

 about 1460 John Banastre of Derwyne gave puture 

 to the sheriff in respect of this estate.** According 

 to Flower's Visitation Lawrence Banastre of Darwen 

 Hall was the father of George, who contributed to 

 the subsidy of 1523-4 upon lands here, and by 

 Jenet daughter of Lawrence Ainsworth of Pleasing- 

 ton, gent., had Lawrence and other sons.'^ 



Lawrence Banastre of Darwen Hall married Jane 

 daughter of Richard Hoghton, kt., and with his son 

 and heir Richard is named among the out-burgesses at 

 Preston gild in 1542.**^ He died in 1558, leaving 

 Richard his second but eldest surviving son, then aged 

 seventeen [sic) years. Richard married Isabel daughter 

 of Piers Farington of Farington, gent., and attended 

 Preston gild in 1562 as an out-burgess with sons 

 Thomas, Lawrence, George and Henry. As ' Richard 

 Bannister, gent., of Darwin Hall alias Bannister in 

 Walton' he was named as a debtor of ^^15 in the 

 will of his uncle Alexander Hoghton, esq., in 1 5 8 I .*' 

 He died before the date of Preston gild in I 582, at 

 which five of his sons were present, including 

 Thomas the eldest, with his sons Richard and George. 

 Thomas married Alice daughter of Peter Stanley 



■" A survey of part of the Walton lands 

 of Thomas Langton was made in 1596 } 

 Duchy of Lane. Special Com. 548. 



** An inscription copied by Dodsworth, 

 formerly in Wigan Church, since removed 

 to Duxbury Hall, describes him as ' a 

 gentleman that many times tugged vfith 

 extremities and made warre with the worst 

 of misfortunes ' ; Abram, Blackburn, 710. 



*' Although nominally the manor 

 passed at this time to Richard Hoghton, 

 the actual owner for many years was the 

 mortgagee. In 1624 Sir Gilbert Hoghton 

 petitioned the House of Lords to require 

 Sir William Cockayne to show his account 

 of receipts from the manor and, being 

 satisfied of his claims, to re-convey it to 

 Sir Gilbert ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. iii, 

 App. 30. 



An alienation of the manor m 1633 

 by Sir Gilbert Hoghton, bart., Thomas 

 Standish of Duxbury and Edward 

 Wrightington of Wrightington to Philip 

 Earl of Chesterfield and John Byron, 

 K.B., afterwards Lord Byron, who re- 

 leased his right to the earl in 1646, 

 was no doubt connected with the marriage 

 of Sir Gilbert'! eldest son Richard to 

 Sarah daughter of the Earl of Chesterfield ; 

 Hojhton D. 996. 



^ Abram, Hist, of Blackburn, 723. 

 There is an engraved view of the hall 

 after G. Pickering, as it stood shortly 

 before its removal, in Balnes' Lanes, (ed. 

 1836), iii, 348. A lead statue of King 

 William III was taken to Hoghton 

 Tower, where it now stands in the 

 upper courtyard. Another building called 

 Walton Hall was subsequently erected a 

 short distance north-west of its site. 



« Cuerdale D. Kuerden MSS. (Coll. of 

 Arms), iv, K. ; Hoghton D. 1362, 1440. 

 In 1278 Robert Banastre took proceedings 

 against Henry Banastreof Walton, Henry 

 son of Ralph le Blound, Geoffrey Banastre 

 and Henry Laghmon to compel them to 

 do suit at his mill of Walton ; De Banco 

 R. 23, m. 5 ; 28, m. 41. 



*" ExcA. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 78 ; Hoghton D. William 

 son of Henry Banastre of Walton and 

 Henry son of Richard Banastre of Preston 

 were among those appealed by Adam son 

 of Hugh de Clitheroc in 1 3 1 3 for the death 

 of Roger his brother ; Cal.Pat. 1313-17, 

 p. 53. Henry Banastre of Preston was 

 pardoned in 13 18 as an adherent of Earl 

 Thomas ; ibid. 1317-21, p. 233. 



51 Hoghton D. ; Cal. Pat. 1343-5, 

 p. 172. 



293 



^2 Coram Rege R. 321, Rex m. 14 d. ; 



Cal. Pat, 1343-5. P- 530; 134-8-50, 

 p. 533 ; Rentals and Surv. R. 377, m. 4. 

 John Banastre of Walton, gent., was out- 

 lawed in 1447 for felony and treason 

 committed at Newton in 1439 ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Chan. Misc. bdle. i, file 8, m. 15, 

 In a petition for a grant of his goods and 

 chattels he is described as of Church ; 

 ibid. m. 17. 



^^ Hoghton D. In 1389 John Walton 

 of Farington was pardoned for having 

 broken out of prison at Winchester, where 

 he was confined upon suspicion of abduct- 

 ing a damsel of the queen's bedchamber 

 whilst staying with Robert de Veer ; Cal. 

 Pat. 1388-92, p. 20. John Banastre, 

 yeoman of the household to Edward III, 

 had a grant of an annuity of 1005. in 

 1376 which was confirmed in 1378 and 

 I399pbid. 1377-81, p. 153; 1399-1401, 



P- 73- 



s* MS. at Huntroyde. 



55 Fisit. (Chet. Soc. Ixxxi), 35 ; Subs. 

 R. Lanes, bdle. 130, no. 82, 



56a Preston Guild R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 19. 



56 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, 58 ; 

 Fisit. of 1567, p. 35; Guild R, 28; 

 Abram, Blackburn^ 727, 



