A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



fourth part of that of Bolton-le-Moors ; the hundred, 

 bailiwick and view of frankpledge of Leylandshire ; 

 with messuages, lands, &c, in Aighton, Chaiglev and 

 Bailey and some thirty other townships ; fisheries in 

 the Ribble, Hodder, Douglas and Wyre ; also the 

 manor of Wigglesworth and other estates in York- 

 shire. 109 Richard his son was thirty-seven years of 

 age on succeeding. 110 He was captain of the Isle of 

 Man for fifteen years, 111 and in 1596 obtained from 

 the Crown a lease of the barony of Bangor Sabell in 

 Dalby there, which lease was renewed to his des- 

 cendants. 112 Perhaps more compliant in religion than 

 his father, 113 he acted as sheriff in 1613-14. 114 A 

 pedigree was recorded about the same time. 115 He 

 added to the family estates and died in 1628, leaving 

 as heir his son Richard, thirty-seven years of age, the 

 eldest son Henry having died before his father. 116 



Richard Shireburne, though lax in his religion at 

 one time, 117 was prepared to suffer for it when he 

 came into his inheritance, and in 1632 compounded for 

 the two-thirds of the estates liable to sequestration for 

 his recusancy by an annual payment of £48 1 3/. 4V. 118 

 He took the king's side in the Civil War, 119 and on 

 his monument is described as ' an eminent sufferer for 

 his loyal fidelity to King Charles I of ever-blessed 

 memory.' 120 His estates were of course sequestered 

 by the Parliament, and at last his sufferings broke his 

 spirit, for there is evidence -that he recovered pos- 

 session by renouncing his religion. 121 He lived to 

 see the Restoration, dying in 1667. 122 A pedigree 

 was recorded in 1664. 123 



His son Richard, founder of the Shireburne Alms- 

 houses and other charities, was under suspicion at 

 the time of the Oates Plot. He, his wife Isabel and 

 his sons Richard and Nicholas were indicted as 

 recusants in 1678, 124 while Stonyhurst was denounced 

 as the centre of ' a damnable Jesuit plot.' An account 

 of it was published in 1679 by Robert Bolron, one 

 of Lord Shaftesbury's agents, under the title of The 

 Papists' Bloody Oath of Secrecy. He had been sent 



down to search the house, and ' in the chamber of 

 the chaplain ... he found a copy of the constitu- 

 tions of the common fund for the Lancashire secular 

 clergy, a charity still existing for the relief of infirm 

 and decayed members. This document, written in 

 Latin, dated 28 February 1675, and bearing the 

 names of the members and officers,' was denounced as 

 a plot ' for the destruction of his most sacred Majesty 

 and the Protestant religion.' 126 At the Revolution 

 Richard Shireburne was ar- 

 rested as loyal to James II, 

 and died in prison at Man- 

 chester in 1689. 126 His elder 

 son Richard dying without 

 issue in 1690 127 was succeeded 

 by the younger son Nicholas, 

 who had been created a 

 baronet in 1 68 5-6. 128 A 

 settlement of Aighton and 

 other manors was made by 

 him on succeeding. 129 Sir 

 Nicholas remained faithful to 

 the Stuarts and was accused 

 of complicity in the alleged 



' Lancashire Plot ' of 1 694. 130 He was probably too 

 infirm to take part in the rising of 171 5, and was 

 not even charged as an accomplice, though in 

 November, in readiness for the Jacobite incursion, a 

 supper party at Stonyhurst spent the night in casting 

 bullets and next morning took with them four of his 

 coach horses, with guns and pistols. 131 He carried 

 out his father's charitable designs by building alms- 

 houses and in other ways ; but his plans for improving 

 the hall were checked by the sudden death of his 

 only son Richard Francis in 1702. 132 His other 

 child Mary in 1709 married Thomas the eighth 

 Duke of Norfolk. Sir Nicholas registered his estates 

 as a 'Papist' in 1 7 1 7, the annual value being set 

 down as £1,1 50. 133 He died in the same year, 134 

 and his daughter recorded his character as ' a man of 



Shirf. burns: of Stony- 

 hurst, baronet. Argent 

 a lion rampant guardant 

 vert. 



109 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, no. 3; 

 the manor of Aighton was said to be held 

 of the queen as of the earldom of Lincoln 

 in socage. 



110 Livery was granted on 17 Feb. 

 1 5 94-5 ; Dep. Keepers Rep. xxxix, App. 

 559. A feoffment by Richard Shireburne 

 in 1597, mentioning his former wife 

 (Catherine and his then wife Anne, is in 

 Add. MS. 32106, no. 773. The will of 

 Anne Shireburne may be seen ibid. no. 

 1043. 



111 Whitaker, Whalley, ii, 490, quoting 

 his epitaph. His wife Katherine Stourton 

 wa3 niece to Henry Earl of Derby, lord 

 of Man. She died at Kirkmalee, near 

 Castle Rushen, leaving three surviving 

 children, Henry, Richard and Katherine; 

 four had died ; Shireburne Abstract Bk. 



112 Ibid. ; renewals in 1669 and 1698 

 are recorded. 



113 In the epitaph quoted is a prayer for 

 ihe dead. ul P.R.O. List, 73. 



115 Visit, of 1613 (Cher. Soc), 27. 



116 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvi, no. 4. 

 His will is in Wills (Chet. Soc new 

 ser.), ii, 199. He had an illegitimate 

 daughter ; Cat. S. P. Dom. 1619-23, 

 pp. 239, 362. 



n 7 He was godfather to one of Sir 

 Ralph Assheton's children (a Protestant) 

 in 1617 j Asshetori s Journal (Chet. Soc), 16. 



118 Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xxiv, 

 17S. 



In 1642 he desired permission 'to go 

 to the waters of Bourbon ' with his wife, 

 daughter and servant ; Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. v, 63. The journey probably related 

 to the education of his children on the 

 Continent, as Richard his son was at 

 St. Omers in 1643-6 ; Gerard, op. cit. 64. 



119 A Mr. Shireburne of Stonyhurst 

 was taken prisoner at Rowton Heath in 

 1645 ; Chet. Sheaf {Str. 3), v, 18. This 

 was perhaps not the head of the family. 



130 Whitaker, Whalley, ii, 491. 



121 Cal. Com. for Comp. iii, 1996 ; Cal. 

 Com. for Advancing Money, iii, I 362. It 

 appeared that Richard Shireburne himself 

 was not a convicted recusant, but his wife 

 was; and 'his children were educated in 

 popery,' The doubt arises from the 

 appearance of more than one of the name. 

 Richard of Stonyhurst had refused to come 

 and take the oath of abjuration in 1651. 



A settlement of his manors of Aighton, 

 Bailey, Chaigley, Wis well, Dutton, Hara- 

 bleton and Longton, with extensive lands, 

 two water-mills, two windmills, three dove- 

 cotes, &c, was made by him in 1647 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 145, m. 4. 



122 An abstract of his will is printed by 

 C. D. Sherborn (op. cit. 45). It records 

 the alienation of ^4,000 from his son's 

 wife's settlement on account of the alleged 

 dishonesty of his son Richard. 



128 Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), 263. 

 U4 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 



109. Richard the son occurs in a list of 

 1 Papists fled from justice ' in 1680 ; ibid, 

 xi, App. ii, 240. 



125 J. Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. 

 iv, 326 ; ' in the document which he prints 

 the wretched informer has cut out every- 

 thing which would denote the real object 

 of the association.' See also Pal. Note Bk. 

 ii, 8, 41. 



126 M.I. in Mitton Church. A mortu- 

 ary list of his time (copied 1724) shows 

 that the prie3t at Chipping was * to cele- 

 brate three times a week, offering up one 

 mass for Richard Shireburne of Stony- 

 hurst, esquire, and Isabel his wife,' &c. ; 

 Foley, Rec. S. J. v, 339. l27 M.I. 



128 G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, iv, 138. 

 139 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 452, m. 7. 



180 Jacobite Trials (Chet Soc), 3, &c 



181 Payne, Rec. of Engl. Cath. 145-6. 



182 He was only eight years old. The 

 tradition is that he died of eating some 

 poisonous berries in the garden at Stony- 

 hurst. 



138 Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. 

 Non-jurors, 1 14, 200, 309. He had large 

 estates in Yorkshire and Northumberland 

 as well as in Lancashire. A catalogue 

 of the Shireburne deeds, made for him in 

 1715, is preserved at Leagram Mail. He 

 compiled a pedigree of his family, now at 

 Lulworth. 



™ M.I. in Mitton Church •, Whitaker, 

 Whalley, \\, 491-2. 



