AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



In 1852 it was purchased from the trustees of Hugh 



Hornby by Thomas Miller, one of the great cotton 



manufacturers of Preston, 80 



who resided at Singleton and 



did much for the material 



improvement of the district. 



Dying on 24 June 1865, he 



was followed by his son, Mr. 



Thomas Horrocks Miller, the 



present lord of the manor, 



who resides at Singleton Park, 



having built the mansion there. 



He also owns the Avenham 



estate. 81 



LITTLE SINGLETON, as 

 half a plough-land, was, as 



above stated, granted in serjeanty. 88 The holders 

 adopted the local surname, but their principal 

 manor was Broughton in Preston, with which Little 

 Singleton descended to the heirs and representatives 

 of the Balderston family. 83 On the partition in 1565 

 it was assigned to the Earl of Derby." In 1602 it 

 was sold by Alice Countess of Derby and the heirs of 

 Ferdinando the fifth earl to William Hesketh of Little 

 Poulton, 85 who was probably already the occupier. 



The manor-house, known as MAINS, thencefor- 

 ward became the chief residence of this branch of the 



Lancaster. England 

 differenced <with a label 

 of France. 



KIRKHAM 



Heskeths. George Hesketh, who has already occurred 

 in the account of Aughton as half-brother of Gabriel 

 son of Bartholomew Hesketh, 86 

 had a considerable estate in 

 the town of Kirkham and the 

 neighbourhood, and in 1566 

 was described as of Rossall. 

 He died in 1 571, and was 

 succeeded by his son William, 

 aged thirty." This William 

 died at Mains in 1622, but 

 as nothing is said in the in- 

 quisition as to his holding 

 land in Little Singleton, the 

 purchaser in 1602 may have 

 been his son William, aged 

 sixty at his father's death. 28 



William died in 1623 holding the manor of Little 

 Singleton, and was succeeded by his son Thomas. 89 

 Pedigrees were recorded in 161 3 and 1664. 30 



The family were distinguished by their fidelity to 

 Roman Catholicism even in the days of Elizabeth. 31 

 In the Civil War it was a matter of course that they 

 took the king's side ; one of the sons was killed in a 

 skirmish at Brindle in 1651, 38 and the family estates 

 were by the Parliament sequestered for recusancy as 

 early as 1643." A later William Hesketh registered 



Hesketh of Mains. 

 Argent on a bend sable 

 three garbs or, a canton 

 of the second. 



80 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1870), ii, 495. 

 Mr. Cunliffe Shawe presented to the 

 curacy in 1797, and Mr. Hornby was 

 lord of the manor in 1809, rebuilding 

 the church. 



Mr. Miller greatly improved the estate 

 by draining the carrs and in other ways. 



81 Information of Messrs. J. W. Fair 

 and Rea. 



18 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 52, 151. 

 See the accounts of Broughton and 

 Balderston. 



,3 William son of Alan de Singleton 

 had a mill and fishery at Singleton in 

 1245 i Final Cone. (Rec. Soc Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 92. Thomas de Singleton 

 proved his title in 1292 ; Plac. de Quo 

 Warr. (Rec. Com.), 388. 



Joan (de Singleton) widow of Thomas 

 Banastre held the manor of Little 

 Singleton in 1303 ; Final Cone, i, 201. 



William Banastre died in 1323 holding 

 of the Earl of Lancaster the hamlet of 

 Little Singleton by serjeanty of the baili- 

 wick of Amoundemess and Blackburn- 

 shire ; Lanes. Ina. and Extents, ii, 159. 

 In 1346 Thomas son of Adam Banastre 

 held a plough-land in Little Singleton 

 by the same serjeanty, paying £2 a year ; 

 Survey, 50. 



Richard Balderston held the manor of 

 Little Singleton by serjeanty in 1457 ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), ii, 63. 



In or about 1460 a petition was 

 addressed to the Bishop of Exeter as 

 Chancellor by John Pilkington and 

 Robert Harrington, as lords of Singleton, 

 in right of their wives ; Early Chan. Proc. 

 bdle. 28, no. 224. 



Thomas son of Gilbert de Singleton put 

 in a claim to the manor of Little Singleton 

 in 1344 against John and Nicholas sons 

 of Thomas Banastre ; De Banco R. 338, 

 m ; 337- The story shows that the claim 

 failed; nevertheless the Singletons of 

 Broughton Tower and Chingle Hall appear 

 to have retained certain land in Little 

 Singleton; Final Cone, iii, 164 (1508). 

 This is not mentioned in the inquisitions, 

 but is said to have been the estate called 



the Lodge, once the residence of William 

 Cunliffe Shawe ; Baines, loc. cit. 



Robert Hesketh and John Talbot were 

 in 1466 appointed to arbitrate between 

 William Singleton and Joan widow of 

 Richard Balderston ; Kuerden MSS. 

 iv, S 12. 



24 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 216, m. 10. 

 Little Singleton occurs, as part of 



the Balderston estates, in the inquisi- 

 tions of Edmund Dudley, Thomas Rad- 

 cliffe of Winmarleigh and his successors, 

 Thomas Earl of Derby and Sir Alexander 

 Osbaldeston. In that of the Earl of 

 Derby in 1 521 the ' moiety of the manor' 

 is stated to have been held of the king as 

 of his duchy by serjeanty, viz. being 

 bailiff of the king of his wapentakes of 

 Amoundemess and Blackburnshire ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, no. 68. The 

 tenure of 4 the manor of Singleton alias 

 Little Singleton ' was recorded in similar 

 terms after the death of Ferdinando, fifth 

 earl ; Add. MS. 32104, fol. 426. 



25 Brockholesof Claughton D. A con- 

 firmatory fine shows that the manors 

 of Little Singleton and Elswick, with 

 lands there and in Mains, Great Eccleston, 

 Newton-with-Scales, &c, were purchased 

 by a large number of persons ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 65, no. 69. The 

 deforciants were Thomas Lord Ellesmere, 

 Chancellor of England, Alice his wife, 

 Grey Bridges Lord Chandos, Anne his 

 wife, Sir Thomas Leigh and Thomas 

 Spencer. Alice (Spencer) was the widow 

 of Ferdinando Earl of Derby, and Anne 

 was one of his daughters and co-heirs. 

 The twenty plaintiffs (or purchasers) 

 include Richard Burgh, William Hesketh, 

 and Cuthbert Sharpies. On the other 

 hand it should be noticed that a manor 

 of Singleton — probably titular only — 

 occurs among the Earl of Derby's estates 

 in 163 1 ; ibid. bdle. 118, no. 1. 



William Hesketh held the manor of 

 Little Singleton in 1712, and Thomas 

 Brockholes, lately called Thomas Hesketh, 

 in 1737 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 493,1a. 5 ; 

 544, m. 12. 



I8 5 



26 Bartholomew Hesketh was described 

 as ' of Ruffbrd ' ; Anct. D. (P.R.O.), 

 A 134.76. He seems to be the founder 

 of the chantry at RufTord. 



27 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiii, no. 1 5. 

 He held nothing in Little Singleton. 



28 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), iii, 365. 



29 Brockholes of Claughton D. 



30 Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 21 (1613), 136 

 (1664). They give the descent as : 

 Bartholomew Hesketh -s. George -s. 

 William -s. William, d. 1628 -3. Thomas, 

 d. 1653 — s. William, aged forty-six in 

 1664. — s. Thomas, aged five. A more 

 extended pedigree may be seen in Fish- 

 wick, op. cit. 197. 



81 For some notes on the family see 

 Gillow, Bib/. Diet, of Engl. Cath. iii, 285, 

 290 j Foley, Rec. S. J. vi, 493 ; vii, 



356-7- 



William Hesketh, who was a brother- 

 in-law of Cardinal Allen, was in 1577 a 

 recusant, * in lands ^20 and in goods poor*; 

 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 215 from S. P. Dom. 

 Eliz. cxviii, 451. In 1584 he had, as 

 a recusant, to provide a light horseman 

 for the queen's service ; ibid. 231, from 

 S. P. Dom. Eliz. clxxxiv, 33. He was 

 fined the £260 a year in 1586 ; ibid. 238, 

 from S. P. Dom. Eliz. exc, 43. His arrest 

 was desired in 1593 ; ibid. 261. 



33 This was Thomas Hesketh, son of the 

 Thomas who died in 1653 ; Visit, of 1664 

 (Chet. Soc), 136 ; War in Lanes. (Chet. 

 Soc), 74. 



33 Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 218-21. Thomas 

 Hesketh, who died in Oct. 1653, had two- 

 thirds of his estates sequestered for recu- 

 sancy in 1643. William as son and heir 

 succeeded to the remaining third, but had 

 not been convicted of recusancy, nor had 

 he been charged with an offence against 

 the State, though his father had aided * the 

 King of Scots' in 1651 and his brother 

 had died in arms against the Parliament. 

 The petition of 1654 was on behalf of 

 William's seven daughters, of whom the 

 eldest was twelve years old. 



24 



