BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



remainder to Adam his son, who had married Alice 

 daughter of William de Holland, and further re- 

 mainders in default to Robert 

 brother of Adam and Gilbert 

 son of Robert de Holden."' 



Adam de Holden occurs in 

 various ways down to 1341. 

 In 1334 he gave his lands in 

 Duckworth to his son Robert, 

 who had married Margaret 

 daughter of Robert de Cun- 

 lifFe, with remainders to 

 Richard, Henry, John, 

 Nicholas and other sons.'* 

 Adam's son Robert de Holden 

 succeeded," and was himself 



followed about 1387 by his son Adam.'* To Adam 

 Holden in 141 2 the feoffees regranted the manor of 

 Holden, with lands in Haslingden, Oswaldtwistle, 

 &c., with remainder to his son Christopher." Of 

 this son little is known " ; he made a feoffment of 

 his lands in 1440," and had been succeeded by his 

 son Ralph in 1446.'° Ralph Holden in 1464 gave 

 lands in Duckworth to his son Henry, who married 

 Margery daughter of Thomas Hasington,'' and in 



Holden of Holden. 

 Argent an escutcheon 

 between six eaglets gules. 



1482 settled lands on Agnes daughter of Gilbert 

 Langton, who was to marry Henry's son Thomas." 



Gilbert the son of Thomas comes into view in 

 1 508," and is mentioned in various ways later." 

 His will, dated 28 December 1549, names Ralph his 

 eldest son, and gives a third part of his goods to his 

 son Adam and daughters Lettice and Alice, but 

 ' Christopher my son shall have no child's part because 

 I have spent so much upon him already, but 40/. to 

 bring him into the country.' To Thomas Holden 

 his grandson he gave an in-calf cow. The executors 

 were his wife Grace and his son Thomas Holden, 

 priest." The will of Grace Holden the widow was 

 made and proved in 1552; it also contained a 

 bequest to the grandson Thomas, viz. two of her best 

 ewes and lambs.'" 



Ralph Holden succeeded his father. He married 

 Elizabeth Elston," and at his death in 1 57 1 was 

 found to hold various messuages, Sec, in Haslingden of 

 Francis Gartside in socage by a rent of 20a'. ; also 

 lands in Duckworth, Oswaldtwistle and Eccleshill. 

 His heir, according to the jury, was a grandson 

 Thomas son of Gilbert Holden, aged seventeen '' ; 

 but by a settlement made in 1566 Ralph was suc- 

 ceeded by a son Robert, who is called Robert Elston 



''TowncleyMS. DD, no. 814. Lands 

 in Duckworth in Oswaldtwistle were 

 granted to Adam son of Robert de Holden 

 and his issue by the same Alice j ibid, 

 no. 815. 



In 1 3 12 Robert de Holden gave his son 

 Robert all his lands in Haslingden ; ibid, 

 no. 766. 



" Ibid. no. 765. 



In 1 3 51 Ellen widow of Nicholas son 

 of Adam de Holden released to Robert 

 son of Adam de Holden her dower in 

 Holden in Haslingden, Brockholes in 

 Eccleshill and Habergham in Burnley ; 

 ibid. no. 769. 



William de Mawdesley and Emma his 

 wife, formerly wife of John son of Adam 

 de Holden, in 135; claimed dower in 

 fourteen messuages, &c., in Haslingden, 

 Rochdale, Mellor, Habergham and Burn- 

 ley against Robert son of Adam de Holden ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 4, m. 5, 

 i6d. 



Two years later Richard de Cudworth 

 and Ellen his wife (probably the widow 

 of Nicholas) claimed dower against the 

 same Robert ; ibid. 6, m. 2 d. Ellen de 

 Hopwood, no doubt the same, released to 

 Adam de Holden in 1390 all her dower 

 in lands of Nicholas son of Adam de 

 Holden for loj. rent, but reserved her 

 right in the lands of Robert son of Robert 

 de Holden ; Towneley MS. DD, no. 822. 



In 1368 Roger de Aspden released all 

 actions to Henry son of Adam de Holden 

 and Hawise formerly his wife ; ibid, 

 no. 797, Robert and Richard the brothers 

 of Henry are named. 



"* Robert son of Adam de Holden was 

 in 1375 released from an excommunica- 

 tion incurred through a false charge ; ibid, 

 no. 869. John de Towneley, as executor 

 of Richard de Towneley, in 1379 ac- 

 knowledged the receipt of looj. paid by 

 Robert de Holden of Haslingden for the 

 escape of Adam son of Robert de Holden; 

 ibid. no. 795. In 1382 Robert son of 

 Adam de Holden and others, including 

 Nicholas de Holden, became bound to 

 Richard son of Richard de Holden and 

 Thomas his brother, who acknowledged 

 the receipt of an account of the goods and 



chattels of their father and his wife Mar- 

 garet ; ibid. no. 790, 793, 800. 



Robert son of Adam de Holden and his 

 sons Adam, Robert and Gilbert are named 

 in a bond dated 1382 ; ibid. no. 803. In 

 the following year Robert son of Robert 

 de Holden released to his father all actions; 

 ibid. no. 796. Isabel widow of John de 

 Holden in 1387 granted to Adam son of 

 Robert de Holden all her lands in Holden 

 at a rent of 431. ^d. To this deed Robert 

 son of Adam de Holden, probably the 

 father of the grantee, was a witness ; ibid, 

 no. 768, 799. 



2' In a bond in 1398 there are men- 

 tioned Adam, Gilbert and Richard de 

 Holden. Gilbert had married Agnes 

 daughter of Adam de Halstead ; ibid, 

 no. 789. i" Ibid. no. 786. 



^ George son of Robert Waddington in 

 or before 1439 married Alice daughter of 

 Christopher Holden ; ibid. no. 832. 



29 Ibid. no. 770. Christopher Holden 

 and the heirs of Thomas Holden were 

 tenants in 1443 ; Farrer, Clitheroe Ct. R. 

 501-2. 



3" In that year Ralph son and heir of 

 Christopher Holden and Joan his wife 

 made a feoffment of all their lands ; 

 Towneley MS. DD, no. 871. 



Ralph Holden (probably the same) and 

 Adam his brother are named in 1437 ; 

 ibid. no. 801, 804. Randle son of 

 Christopher Holden and John Holden of 

 Aighton occur in a bond in 1451 ; ibid, 

 no. 798. 



" Ibid. no. 812. Henry son of Ralph 

 is named in an earlier deed, 1457 ; ibid, 

 no. 865. Ralph had another son named 

 Charles, to whom he gave lands in 

 Tottington in 1469 ; ibid. no. 866. 



'^ Ibid. no. 830. Ralph Holden occurs 

 again in 1483, when he and his wife 

 Douce received from the feoffees Helm- 

 shore (Holleshore) and other land ; ibid, 

 no. 835. 



33 Ibid. no. 833. That Gilbert was 

 son of Thomas depends on the pedigree 

 recorded in 1567 



3< In 1517 i trhalley Act Bk. (Chet. 

 Soc), 50, 56. Also in 1 5 19; Duchy 

 Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 



429 



86, 134. In 1541 he gave land in 

 Cockham in Haslingden to trustees ; 

 Towneley MS. C 8, 13, H 217. 



^^ DD, no. 826. A note of the inquisi- 

 tion, dated 1553, refers to Duckworth 

 only ; ibid. no. 8og. Ralph the son and 

 heir was then of full age. 



^^ Ibid. no. 827. Nothing further 

 seems to be known of the grandson 

 Thomas. 



^^ In 1559 Alexander Elston, lessee, 

 claimed Sunnyfield Hall, &c., against 

 Ralph Holden and Elizabeth Elston alias 

 Holden ; Ducatus Lane. 11, 2 1 1 . Alexander 

 was son of Ralph Elston ; ibid. 144. 



A certain Ralph Holden bigamously 

 married an Isabel Houghton in 1546; 

 Child Marriages (Early Engl. Text Soc), 

 72. His first marriage, however, does 

 not agree with that in the pedigree and 

 his sisters were Sibyl and Lettice, not 

 Alice and Lettice. 



From later pleadings it seems that 

 Elizabeth Elston of Brockholes was in 

 childhood married to James Anderton of 

 Euxton. Before this union was formally 

 dissolved (1561) Ralph son of Gilbert 

 Holden married her, but his act was 

 decided to be bigamous and null. He 

 afterwards married an Agnes and an 

 Isabel. The latter was still living in 

 1580. Elizabeth Elston married Nicholas 

 Banastre of Altham, and she also 

 was living in 1580. See Piccope MSS. 

 i, 20 ; Duchy of Lane. Plead, cxi, 

 H 7 ; cxxii, H 6 ; Dep. ser. ii, bdle, 18 

 {18 Ellz.), no. 30; ser. i, Ixviii, E 1. 

 These references are due to Mr. H. I. 

 Anderton. 



^^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, no. 3. 

 Gilbert must have been born by 1535. 



In 1575 the Bishop of Chester received 

 a caveat warning him against proof of 

 the will of Ralph Holden without notice 

 to Thomas Holden his heir, and a note 

 was made that it would suffice to warn 

 Edmund Entwisle or publish in Has- 

 lingden Church ; Pennant's MS. Acct. 

 Bk. at Chester. In the following year 

 letters testimonial were issued respecting 

 the divorce of Ralph Holden and Isabel 

 Houghton J ibid. 



