A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



He dwelt at the Over Hall in Samlesbury, was 

 present at the battle of Flodden, and died in I 5 i 7, 

 leaving Thomas his son, aged twenty, as his successor." 

 Thomas Souh.vorth was knighted in Scotland in 

 1523" and served the office of Sheriff of Lanca-tcr 

 in IJ41-2. He married first Ann Stanley, from 

 wliom he was divorced, and secondly in 1 5 1 8 

 Margery daughter of Thom.is Butler of Bewsey, kt., 

 to whom he was related in the third degree." He 

 restored the west wing of the Over Hall in 1532 and 

 rebuilt the south wing in 1545." He died 13 

 January in the foUowing year, his son John being 

 twenty years old.'" From Christopher brother of 

 Sir Thomas descended the Southworths of Wyke 

 Champflower.** 



John Southworth was knighted in Scotland in I 547, 

 a few weeks after his marriage to Mary daughter of 

 Richard Assheton of M iddleton, kt. In 1557 he was 

 active in performing military service in the north with 

 his hundred men, and earned the confidence of his 

 leaders so fully that they added a second hundred men 

 to his command." After the accession of Elizabeth 

 he served the office of sheriff in i 562, but soon after 

 :ame under the notice of the Privy Council as a 

 fervent adherent to the Roman Church, and refiising 

 to subscribe to a f rm of submission to the established 

 religion fell upon evil days. In I 576 he was reported 

 to the Pri\'y Council lor recusancy, and in i 581 was 

 arrested and committed to the .New Fleet in Man- 

 chester, where he lay with a certain amount of liberty 

 to take exercise until 1584, when he was summoned 

 to reside in the Metropolis as being less dangerous 

 there than in the county where he was ' greatly allied 

 and friended.' " In 1 5 86 Thomas, one of his younger 

 sons, was reported as harbouring a seminary priest at 

 the lodge in Samlesbur)' Park, where many of the 

 family, ser\ants and friends resorted to hear mass." 

 In December 1587 Sir John, described as of Salford, 

 gave a bond for payment of ^^400, part of j^i,ioo 

 line due to Lord Burghley and the Chancellor for his 

 recusancy, the balance being pardoned by the queen 

 upon his coming to church." The year following he 

 vested his estates in trustees, and died 3 November 

 1595, leaving Thomas his son as successor to the 

 family estates, then more "t less encumbered as the 

 result of many years of bitter persecution." Thomas 



Southworth married Rosamond daughter of WiKiam 

 Lister of Thornton-in-Craven, esq., and soon after his 

 succession sold some portion of the estates. In 1605 

 he settled the Lower Hall with the demesne land> 

 upon his son John and Jane his wife, a natural 

 daughter of Richard bhircburne of Stonyhurst, kt., 

 but John died during his father's lifetime. Thomas 

 Southworth died 30 November 1616, and was suc- 

 ceeded by his grandson Thomas son of John and 

 Jane Southworth, then aged seventeen years." 



In 16 1 2 Jane Southworth widow of John South- 

 worth and two other women of Samlesbury were the 

 victims of a discreditable plot, apparently devised by 

 Christopher Southworth, a seminary priest known as 

 ' Master Thompson,' partly as it was alleged with 

 the object of promoting the cause of the Roman 

 Church and partly with the intent to punish the 

 women for having become converts to Protestantism. 

 The victims were tried at Lancaster Assizes in 

 August of that year on a charge of witchcraft, the 

 principal witness against them being a child aged four- 

 teen, a granddaughter of one of the victims, by whom 

 they were accused of bewitching her so that her bod}' 

 wasted and consumed. Being examined as to the 

 author of this charge the witness confessed that she 

 had been instigated and instructed to make the charge 

 by ' one Master Thompson, which she takcth to be 

 Master Christopher Southworth.' The prisoners were 

 thcrc!nrc acquitted." 



Thomas Southworth, heir to his grandfather, 

 married Ann daughter and co-heir of Thomas 

 Tyldesley of Orford, kt., and died in 1623, having 

 sold the Lo'A -r Hall to Thomas Walmsley of Dunken- 

 halgh, whose father had acquired the Earl of Derby's 

 moiety of the manor some years earlier. John his 

 eldest son died without issue in 1635 and Thomas 

 his younger son in 1641" unmarried, when the 

 succession to the manor and estates passed to his 

 brother John Southworth, aged fifty-seven at the 

 herald's visitation made in September 1 664." He 

 does not appear to have taken any active part in the 

 political strife of the Commonwealth period, but his 

 estates were sequestrated for his delinquency and in 

 1646 he compounded with the commissioners for 

 sequestration by a fine of £'^^<)-^ He married 

 Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Langton of Low in 



wardship and marriage of Richard son of 

 William HoghtoD and Margaret his wife, 

 sister of the said John Southworth and 

 heir to Alex. Ho^htnn of Hoghton, kt. ; 

 Townelej MS. HH, no. 16-2— v 



« Ibid. no. 16-1; Weber, F.'si/fn, 375; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, 24. B7 

 inquest taken at Penwortham in 1513 it 

 was found that Sir John had incited two 

 of his servants, Robert Langton and Henry 

 Anderton, to slay William Banastre of 

 Lostock ; they executed thtir evil com- 

 mission only too cffectuajly and then fled 

 the kingdom. Attcrwards the friends of 

 the victim and of Sir John awarded 

 damages to Margaret the widow and 

 Thomas Banastre the in ; Towneiey 

 MS. HH, no. 1610— 12, 1648. In 1514 

 he was present at a cockfight at Winwick 

 wfiich resulted in a serious riot ■■, Duchy 

 PleaJ. (Rec Soc Lanes, and Chc5.\ i, 

 61-6. 



** Shaw, Knig'.ts of' EngL ii, 44, where 

 he is described as * Sownorth.' 101521 

 a casket containing mone)-, Scc^ was 

 delivered into his cjstod'.- from which he 



abstracted a * blcder ' containing 1 00 marks 

 in gold. In 1523 the owner sued him 

 for detinue ; Duchy Plead, i, i 26. 



••'Towneley MS. HH, no. 1564; 

 Lich. Epis. Reg. BIyth, xiii, 96. Dispen- 

 sation dated at Rome 7 Kal. Aug. 9 Pope 

 Leo. 



** See the inscription en the Hall ; 

 Croston, Samlesbury^ ^ i . 



*' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, 23. 

 Ellen mother of Sir Thomas died at 

 Southworth 10 Apr. following. 



^ riiir. of Someriet{HATl. Soc. xi), 102. 



^ Shaw, Knights of EigL ii, 61 j 

 Whitaker, IVhalley (ed. 1876), ii, 346. 



*' Abram, Blackburn, TJ-%\ ; Peck, 

 DesitL Curiasa. 



'' Baincs, Lanes, (ed. Croston), i, 240. 



« Kuerden MS. (Chet. Lib.), S 385. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, 3, 

 A very full account of Sir John's acts and 

 sufferings is given in Croston** 5<im/«A'"^' 

 Hall, 53-S4. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 4 

 (Rec. Soc XV,, 4S). Christopher, younger 

 brother of the elder Thomas, was a student 



306 



at Douay in 1579, at college in Rome 

 1581-6, a prisoner in Wisbech Castle in 

 1595 as a priest of the Roman Church, 

 and the alleged instigator of the charge of 

 witchcraft abgvc referred to ; C roston, 

 SamUibury, 84 ; S. P. Dom. Eliz, cxcix, 3. 



** Potts, Discovery of Wttchet (Chet. 

 Soc. old ser. vj), passim ; Croston, op. cit. 

 106-20 i Whitaker, pyhalUy (ed. 1876), 

 ii, H7 n- 



^' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, 12, 

 John died 7 Dec. 163 5, Thomas hii brother 

 being twelve years old. Ann widow of 

 Thomas the father was then the wile of 

 Adam Mort, gent., living at Preston. Sec 

 alio Croston, op. cit. 128-31. 



*7 Viiit. (Chet. Soc. Ixxxviii), 278. 



^ In June 165 1 he pleaded that being 

 tenant tor life he could not raise the whole 

 fine until he ha d passed a fine and recovery 

 of hi» estates, which he did in March 

 1 65 1 and desired to pay. Later in the 

 year he complained that the C(-mmittec 

 refused to dischar?c his «cqueatrati"n 

 because in May 164.2 in a petition to 

 the barons of the Exchequer he wai 



