AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



POULTON-LE- 

 FYLDE 



Mowbreck. 46 This family retained it for over 300 

 years, 47 frequently residing there, 48 and then it passed 

 by marriage to the Rev. J. Benison, who married 

 Anne daughter and co-heir of John Westby. 49 After- 

 wards it was sold to Fleetwood and later to Horrocks 

 of Preston. 60 



ROSS ALL after the Conquest does not seem to 

 have been accounted a manor. It became a pasture 

 ground from which the lords of the honour derived a 

 profit of about £5 a year. 61 In 12 16 King John at 

 the request of the Earl of Chester bestowed it on the 

 abbey of Dieulacres in Staffordshire, 52 and twelve 

 years later Henry III confirmed the gift. 63 The 

 monks obtained surrenders of rights from most or all 

 of the previous landowners there, 64 and received also 

 a number of gifts in other parts of Thornton and in 

 Bispham. 55 In 1 291 the goods of the abbot in 

 Rossall were taxed at £6 1 1 or. a year, but after the 

 Scottish invasion of 1322 at ^16 13/. s^d. only. 66 

 In 1498 the abbot was summoned to prove his right 

 to wreck of the sea at Rossall. 57 After the Dissolu- 

 tion the Rossall estate remained in the Crown for 

 some years, 58 but was in 1553 sold to Thomas 

 Fleetwood, who was to hold it by the twentieth part 



of a knight's fee. 60 A year later he obtained a 

 further grant of monastic lands in Marton, Bispham 

 and Layton, together with the advowson of Poulton 

 vicarage. 60 He died in 1576 holding Rossall Grange, 

 with wide lands in the parishes of Poulton and 

 Bispham and elsewhere ; his heir was his son 

 Edmund, aged twenty-eight. 61 



Edmund Fleetwood, who recorded a pedigree in 

 1 61 3, 63 died in 1622 holding 

 Rossall Grange, with Rither- 

 ham and other lands in 

 Thornton, and the manors of 

 Norbreck and Little Bispham 

 of the king by the twentieth 

 part of a knight's fee, and 

 various other estates. 03 His 

 son Paul, afterwards^ knight, 04 

 was forty-six years old. Sir 

 Paul died about 1657, in- 

 volved in debt. 66 His eldest 

 son Edward had died about 

 1644 without male issue, and 

 a younger son Richard suc- 

 ceeded ; he recorded a pedigree in 1664, being then 



Fleetwood of Ros- 

 sall. Per pale nebuly 

 azure and or, six martlets 

 counterchanged, a canton 

 argent. 



46 In 1445-6 Ellen Westby held one 

 plough-land in Burn in Thornton in 

 socage, paying I os. rent, as before ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Knights' Fees, bdle. 2, no. 20. 



47 See the account of Mowbreck in 

 Kirkham. William Westby in 1557 held 

 three messuages, &c, in Burn in Thorn- 

 ton of the king and queen as of the 

 duchy of Lancaster in socage by 10s. 

 rent ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, no. 17. 

 Thomas Westby died at Bum in 1638 

 holding six messuages, a windmill, <fcc, 

 there ; ibid, xxviii, no. 42. 



48 They were sometimes described as 

 'of Burn.' There is a short notice of 

 the hall, which had a domestic chapel in 

 their time; Thornber, Blackpool, 312. 

 Burn Hall, originally of the 1 5th century 

 but altered at a later date, is now divided 

 into two tenements occupied by farmers. 

 Over the porch is the date 1786 with 

 the initials of Bold Fleetwood Hesketh. 

 One of the rooms has a good 18th-cen- 

 tury ceiling and a mantelpiece with the 

 Hesketh arms. In Whitaker's Rich- 

 mondshire (1823), ii, 444, it is said : 'At 

 Burn Hall are the remains of a domestic 

 chapel with an oak wainscot richly carved 

 with small statues, shields and foliage, and 

 bearing on a projecting portal the appro- 

 priate passage "Elegi abjectus esse in 

 domo Dei mei, magis quam habitare in 

 tabernaculis peccatorum." ' 



49 Thornber, loc. cit. ; Mr. Benison 

 ' ruined his property in an attempt to culti- 

 vate it on the plan laid down by Virgil in 

 his Georgics.' An Act of 173 1 per- 

 mitted the sale of the manor of Burn 

 and land there, but it does not seem to 

 have been acted upon ; 4 Geo. II, cap. 29. 



50 Fishwick, Poulton (Chet. Soc), 169. 



51 This sum is recorded in the Pipe 

 Roll of 5 Hen. Ill, 4 d. In 1 212 Rossall 

 with its stock was in the king's hands, 

 the sheriff answering ; Lanes. Inq. and 

 Extents, i, 52. 



^Rat. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), i, 284. 

 This was a grant ' in bail ' or during the 

 tinges pleasure. Henry III ordered an 

 inquiry as to value in 1221 ; ibid. 474. 



The boundary between the hey of 

 Rossall and Roger de Heaton's land of 

 Burn was defined in 1222 ; ibid. 518. 

 The king resumed possession in 



1226 ; Rot. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), ii, 

 160. Two years later he ordered the 

 sheriff not to interfere with the abbot's 

 6heep and other animals in the pasture 

 of Rossall, and on 14 July 1228 he 

 granted Rossall in alms for ever ; Cal. 

 Close, 1227—31, pp. 35, 62 ; Cal. Pat. 

 1225—32, p. 125 ; Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, 

 p. 78. This grant was perhaps revoked, 

 but on 28 July 1247 a definitive charter 

 was passed, granting Rossall in free alms ; 

 ibid. 325 5 Dieulacres Chartul. (Wm. Salt 

 Soc), 341. 



Thomas de Rigmaiden, Adam son of 

 Agnes de Middleton and Adam son of 

 Alan de Middleton in 1290 claimed the 

 manor of Rossall from the abbot, who 

 alleged the charter of King Henry ; De 

 Banco R. 83, m. 40 d. 



In 1292 the abbey's right was called 

 in question by the king, and the jury 

 found that Rossall had been held in bail 

 of King John for seven years, being then 

 worth £20 a year, which was also its 

 value for the first twenty-four years of 

 Henry III, but in the following six years 

 it was worth 40 marks yearly ; the abbot 

 was liable for the arrears — ,£780 in all ; 

 Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 374-5. 



54 Dieulacres Chartul. 346. Theobald 

 Walter, as heir of the lord of Amounder- 

 ness in the time of Richard I, about 1230 

 released to the abbey all his title in 

 RossalL William de Tatham in 1228 

 gave a similar release in return for 200 

 marks ; he had claimed three plough-lands 

 there; Final Cone, i, 55. Of the three 

 plough-lands one may have formerly 

 belonged to Burn. William de Clifton 

 released his right for 9 marks. For 

 Clifton see also Close 44, 17 Hen. Ill, m. 

 9d., 10 d. Roger de Heaton about 1235 

 released his claim between Saltholmpool 

 and Stodfoldpool according to the boundary 

 between Rossall and Burn fixed in the 

 time of Theobald Walter. 



s5 Roger son of Alan de Singleton gave 

 land in Stanah, excepting right in the 

 field called Tranehole (Trunnah), and 

 made several other grants and exchanges 

 in the same part of the township ; 

 Dieulacres Chartul. 347-8. Henestebreck 

 and the Gald Rene are place-names. 



William Bon of Alan de Staynole 



2.35 



(Stanah) gave a 'land' at Foxholes upon 

 Trunnah, &c. ; ibid. 348—9. Roger son 

 of John de Stanah, William de Thornton 

 and Richard de Thornton gave shares of 

 the Crook in Stanah ; ibid. 349, 351. Some 

 'natives' also were given ; ibid. 352—3. 

 . 6G Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 329. 



67 Pal. of Lane. Writs Proton. 1 5 

 Hen. VII. 



58 About 1540 the farm of the Grange 

 amounted to £13 6s. %d. ; Dugdale, Mon. 

 Angl. v, 630. 



59 Pat. 7 Edw. VI, pt. ix. The grant 

 included lands in Little Poulton, Bispham, 

 Norbreck, Ritherham and Thornton. 



60 Pat. 2 Mary. 



61 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, no. 2. 

 John Fleetwood of Penwortham was his 

 brother. Rossall Grange with its appurte- 

 nances was held, according to the patent, 

 by the twentieth part of a knight's fee. 

 In addition to this and the lands in Layton 

 and Marton he had scattered estates in 

 other parts of the county, including the 

 Peel in Hulton, Lostock Hall in Walton- 

 le-Dale, the manors of Eccleston and 

 Heskin, &c. 



Thomas Fleetwood was also lord of the 

 Vache in Buckinghamshire, treasurer of 

 the Mint, sometime knight of the shire 

 and Sheriff of Buckinghamshire and Bed- 

 fordshire. He was buried in Chalfont St. 

 Giles Church, where there is a monument. 



There is an account of the family in 

 Fishwick's Poulton, I 57-67. The late J. P. 

 Earwaker made collections for a history of 

 them. The place from which their sur- 

 name is taken does not seem to be known. 



6a Visit. (Chet. Soc), 89. He was 

 Sheriff of Lancashire in 1606 (P.R.O. List, 

 73), and seems to have lived at Rossall. 



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

 Ches.), iii, 3>5- 16 - 



64 At Greenwich, 2 June 1623 ; Met- 

 calfe, Bk. of Knights, 181. He purchased 

 the manors of Preesall and Hackinsall. 

 See Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 22, 24. 



Robert Fleetwood of Rossall, younger 

 brother of Paul, compounded in 1631 on 

 refusing knighthood ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 221. 



65 Fishwick, op. cit. 161-2. The family 

 estates were much reduced. 



