\ HIS'lORV OF LANCASHIRE 



loai, who m.irrieJ Sir Richard Jc Grccnacres.' Tiic 

 l.i'.tcr pair in I 364 r.leascd their right in the moiety 

 of Read to the Xo\cll;.in return for Great Mcarlcy 

 and an annuity ui £10.'' 



The Nowells, who were thenceforward desv.Tibed as 

 ' of Read,' though they had lands near Wakefield in 

 Yorkshire also,'" acquired a;l 

 but one of the other tenements 

 in the township. Lawrence 

 No'.vell was dead in 1375." 

 His son John Nowell of Read 

 died in 1433 holding 'the 

 manor ' of the king as Duke 

 of Lancaster by a rent of 

 9/. 9/ ; his heir was a grand- 

 son Alexander (son ofNicholas) 

 Nowell, aged twenty." Roger 

 X o w e 1 1 son and heir of 

 Alexander was in 146S to 

 marry Grace daughter of John 

 To'.', neloy." Described as of 



ArUc'.-, he died in i486"; his son John, who 

 obtained a royal charter for imparking land in Read," 

 died in 1525 holding the manor \'. ith various messu- 

 age;, &1.., of the king as duke by the old rent of 

 9;. <)J. His so 1 Roger, over thirty )ears of age, was 

 his heir.'' R(';.,'cr died in i;66 holding the same 

 e>ta:e, and leaving a son Thomas, aged fort; , to 

 succeed him." \ pedigree \\a; rLcurdcd in 1567.'^ 



X )WtLL of Read. 

 Argent three coi'ereJ 

 cuf)s iable. 



Roger's half-brother was tlie celebr.tcd Dr. .\Iex- 

 andcr Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's. Educated at 

 Middleton School and Brascnose College, Oxford 

 (M..\. 1540), he became a strenuous Protectant. He 

 w.is appointed prebendary of Westminster in i;;i, 

 and was head master of the school from 1543 ; he 

 was al-o in October 1553 member of Parliament for 

 Looe in Cornwall. Soon after the accession of Mary 

 he went into exile at Strasburg and Frankfort, return- 

 ing to London immediately after the accession of 

 Elizabeth and being at once employed by her in the 

 re-establishment of Protestantism. He was of note 

 as a preacher, and was sent into Lancashire in 1568 

 and 1580 to reduce the recusants of the county into 

 some degree of conformity to the established religion. 

 He was appointed to the deanery of St. Paul's in 

 1560, and held it till his death in 1602." His 

 brother Lawrence, also a Protestant exile in Mary's 

 reign, was by her successor in 1560 rewarded with 

 the deanery of Lichfield; he died in 1576. He 

 compiled an Anglo-Saxon Vocabulary and made othei 

 antiquarian collections.'" 



Thomas Nowell of Read did not survive his father 

 many years, dying in 1575, and leaving a daughter 

 (Trace, wife of Thomas Proctor, as heir." Roger 

 the brother of Thomas Nowell succeeded and on 

 his death in 1591 was followed by a son Roger." 

 The family prospered ; the estates were augmented 

 by the purchase of lands formerly belonging to 



" K.athrriae'8 parent.nge i- not stated 

 directlv, but in I ; ^ v 4- Rf'.-'r^r son of 

 Adnni son of Roger M.iwson (.Mattlit-w- 

 ton] was claiming a messuage and land in 

 Rca-l ag3ir.?t Richard (son of Thomas) de 

 Kniill and Joan hi8\\Me, and Lawrence 

 (-nn of Richard) Xowell and Katherine 

 his wife; .Assize R. 43^, m. II ; Duchy 

 of L inc. Assize R. T,, m. 5 d. It seems 

 likely that Jo:in and Catherine were the 

 co-heirs. The case was deferred because 

 Richard de K.nnll had a protection while 

 going to Briltanv on the king's service in 

 the retinue of Thomas de Holland. 



11 nry son of .Mjtthcw dc Read occurs 

 in 1301 ; Assi/c R. 419, m. 4 ; 420, 

 m. 8. 



^ Final C'j'K. (Rcc. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.;, ii, 169, 154. There arc numerous 

 deeds concerning the transaction in 

 Towncley's .MS. DD, no. 594, kz. Ry 

 one of them (no. 597) Sir Richard de 

 Greenacrcs gives tn trustees the manor of 

 Read which he had in right of his wife 

 Joan after the death of Jnhn del Clough 

 her father. In others Joan's right is 

 called a moiety of the manor. 



Henry son of Richard the Tailor and 

 Roger son of Adam son of Roger de Read 

 claimed messuages, &c., from Lawrence 

 N'owe 1 and Katherine his wife in 1366 ; 

 De Banco R. 42:;, m. 504. Lawrence 

 and Katherine were in possession of the 

 manor in 1368; Towne'.ey MS. RR, 

 no. 7. 



Lawrence Xowell's armorial seal is 

 drawn on the pedigree in Whitaker, 

 ff^hjlUy^ ii, 40. 

 '" Ibid. 38. 



" De Bar.co R. 4;-, m. 318 ; 46;, 

 m. 2 T . 



" Ljrcs. In J. p.n-.. (Chet. Soc), ii, 38 ; 

 •IS J^hn son of Lawrence Xowell of Re; J 

 he had made a settlement of his estates 

 in 1 594. 



In 1370 John Bauastre of \S'alton-L-- 

 Dale and Mnrje'y his wfe claimed land 



in Read, ic, aga nst John ccn of Lnwie ;cc 

 N'j\M II ; De Banco R. 440, m. 422 d. 



In 1378 9 John Xowell granted to 

 feoffees his manor of Read and lands in 

 Great Harwood and Church ; Towneley 

 MS. DD, no. 40. He had the king's 

 protection in 1386 en going to Ireland 

 with Sir John Stanley ; Cal. Pal. 1385-9, 

 p. 126. 



Richard son of Lawrence Xowell ob- 

 tained a protectif n also in 1395-6 on 

 going to Calais with the captain of the 

 castle ; Pal. of Lane. Chan. Misc. bdle. 

 1, file ;. 



On John Xowell's death the custody of 

 the manor, &c., was granted to Hugh 

 Hesketh and Richard Towneley ; Land. 

 IiKj. ut sup. ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. 

 xviii, 32 d. His sons Arthur and Ottwell 

 Xo«cil were executors of his will ; Final 

 Co':c. iii, I 26. 



" Towneley MS. C 8, 1 ; (Chet. Lib.), 

 .N 3 1 . The dower of Alice widow of 

 Alexander is named. 



" His will dated 14 June and proved 

 1^ July i486 is printed in Veir. Ehor. 

 (Surtees Soc), iv, 18. He left lOJ. to 

 the -Abbey of Whalley, loi. to the parisli 

 ch'.irch and 31. 4^/. to Burnley Church. 

 His daughters arc named. His executors 

 and residuary legates were his wife 

 Grace and his son Alexander. He founded 

 a chantry at Wakefield. 



'* Whitaker, U'hall.y, ii, -^g. He 

 placed a window in 15 10 in Whalley 

 Church, asking for prayers for hi» father 

 Roger and Grace his wife, also for him- 

 self, &c. ; ibid. 13. 



" Duchy of Lane Incj. p.m. vi, no. 

 76. In 1497 John had granted a mes- 

 suage in Read to his brother Alexander 

 for life. 



Elizabeth widow of John Xowell after- 

 wards married Charles Towneley. She 

 and a son John were executors of the 

 will and had discharges from daughters 

 Grace, Isabel, Margaret, &c. ; Towneley 



50 + 



MS. C8, 13, N 17, 25, \z, ^;^ ; Add. 

 MS. ^210+, no. 1 132. 



^' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, no. 26. 

 Roger had in 1544 granted certain mcB- 

 suages, &c., in Read and Great Harwood 

 to a younger son Roger, who was in 1567 

 living at Preston. In 1559 an agreement 

 was made between Roger Nowell and his 

 sons Thomaa and Roger concerning the 

 entailing of the manors ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 22 I, m. 3. 



'Roger Nowell was a very irreligious 

 man and never attended any public wor- 

 ship' ; Whitaker, op. cit. ii, 535. 



'« Viiiu of 1567 (Chet. Soc), 36. 



'3 Dicu Nat. Biog. ; Churton, Life of 

 NoivelL The Parker Society reprinted 

 Nowell's C atech htm {i^yo) and a not'cc 

 of the author is prefixed. 



It is noteworthy that he was refused a 

 seat in the House of Commons not because 

 he was a clergyman but by reason of his 

 prebend at Westminster. 



20 Diet, Nat, Biog. } Whitaker, op. cit. 

 ii, ^39. The will of Lawrence Nowell is 

 in Towneley MS. C 8, 13, N 56. 



Dr. Grosart edited the Spending of the 

 Money of Robert Noivell (1877). Robert 

 was brother of Alexander and Lawrence 

 and became Attorney of the Court of 

 Wards. He died in 1569. He spent 

 much of his income in charity, taking 

 care of 'poor scholars' in particular j 

 Edmund Spenser was one of them. 



^' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, no. 7 ; 

 there is recited a settlement of the manors, 

 &c,, in 1563. Another was made in 

 1567 i Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 29, 

 m. 150. 



Roger Nowell in i 599 purchased from 

 Josiah Proctor his right in the manor of 

 Read, &c. ; ibid. 61, m. 250. 



^' Duchy of Lane, Inq. p.m. xv, no. 33. 

 Provision was made in 1577 for a younger 

 sun Roger and a daughter Alice Shuttle- 

 worth, an elder son John being then alive. 

 John died before his father, leaving a 



