AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



Margaret his wife claimed from William de Scargill 

 and Rose his wife the custody of the land and heir 

 of John de Balderston in respect of a plough-land, 

 &c, in Upper RawclifFe held of Thomas de South- 

 worth, the father of Margaret. 34 Robert de Urswick 

 the vounger and Margaret his wife made a feoffment 

 of the manor of Upper RawclifFe in the same year. 26 

 Robert de Urswick of Tatham in 1376 obtained a 

 grant of free warren for Badsworth, Tatham, Cants- 

 field and Upper RawclifFe. 36 



Sir Robert Urswick died in 1402 holding jointly 

 with Joan his wife a rent from Langbargh Wapentake 

 in Yorkshire. His son and heir, Sir Robert, was 

 thirty years of age. 27 Robert son of Robert de 

 Urswick and Margaret his wife had acquired land in 

 Yorkshire in I39I-2. 27 " Sir Robert was Sheriff of 

 Lancashire in 141 5-16 and 141 8. 28 As lord of the 

 manor or vill of Upper RawclifFe he in 1420 made 

 an agreement with the free tenants, viz. the Abbot 



ST. MICHAEL- 

 ON-WYRE 



of Cockersand, Nicholas Boteler, and others. 39 In 

 the same year he made a feoffment of his lands in 

 Claughton, RawclifFe, Eccles- 

 ton, Goosnargh and Bilsbor- 

 row. 30 He died about the 

 same time, and Thomas his 

 brother was found to be his 

 heir. 31 Thomas Urswick suc- 

 ceeded to Badsworth, 32 and 

 apparently the same Thomas 

 occurs in Lancashire, 33 but the 

 manor of Upper RawclifFe 

 went to daughters and heirs 

 of Sir Robert. These appear 

 to have been Ellen, who mar- 

 ried Roger Kirkby, and Joan. 34 

 The latter or more probably 

 a daughter and co-heir Joan 

 was wife of William Clifton in 1443-4. 35 Another 



Urswick. Argent 

 on a bend sable three 

 lozenges of thejield each 

 charged with a sahire 

 gules. 



of Adam de Urswick made a grant to her 

 ion Robert ; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 91 b. 



It is possible that Margaret died about 

 1370 and that Robert married again. 

 Thus Robert de Urswick and Ellen his 

 wife, executrix of the will of Sir John de 

 Dalton, gave a receipt for money at Upper 

 RawclifFe in 1372 and are named in 1379 ; 

 ibid. fol. 97*, 02i. Again Robert de 

 Urswick of Upper RawclifFe, Ellen his 

 wife and a daughter Ellen occurin 1382 ; 

 Final Cone, iii, 12, 13. 



The same or another Robert, not 

 described as a knight, was escheator for 

 Lancashire in 1384—91 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. 

 (Chet. Soc), i, 12, 45. One Robert de 

 Urswick was an esquire of John Duke of 

 Lancaster in 1395 ; Col. Pat. 1396-9, 

 p. 547. Robert de Urswick, one of the 

 king's esquires, received an annuity in 

 1373, which was confirmed in 1378 and 

 1399 ; Cal. Pat. 1377-81, p. 240 ; 1399- 

 •401, pp. 29, 3;. 



84 De Banco R. 433, m. 451. It is 

 noteworthy that the Balderstons also 

 occur at Badsworth in Yorkshire, where 

 the Urswicks obtained an estate ; Hunter, 

 Deanery of Doncaster, ii, 438 ; Torks. 

 Arch. Journ. x, 349. 



In connexion with the Balderstons 

 may here be cited a complaint by William 

 son of William de Balderston, in con- 

 junction with John and Nicholas sons of 

 Thomas Banastre, in 1334, respecting 

 4 acres of moor in Upper RawclifFe. It was 

 alleged in defence that the same William 

 son of William and a certain Adam 

 Verious were lords of the vill ; but the 

 jury, while finding for the defendants, 

 said that Adam Verious never had any- 

 thing there ; Coram Rege R. 297, m. 

 103 d. An Adam de Aspinwall and 

 Elizabeth his wife had some claim in the 

 township in 1318; De Banco R. 223, 

 m. 105. « pi„ a i c onc . H, 177. 



36 Chart R. 162 (47-51 Edw. Ill), 

 m. 6, no. 13. 



w Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Hen. IV, no. 15; 

 Dip. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 4. In an 

 inquisition taken in 141 8 Sir Robert son 

 of Robert son of Adam de Urswick is 

 stated to have been thirty-four years old 

 and upwards ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), 

 i, 136. 



Sir Robert de Urswick is mentioned 

 in various ways from 1386 to 1402 ; 

 ibid. 1385-9, pp. 233, 471 ; 1401-5, 

 p. 130. In 1398 he had a wife named 

 Joanj ibid. 1391-6, p. 375 ; 1396-9, 

 p. 402. 



John de Urswick, who married Con- 

 stance Banastre, but died without issue, 

 is said to have been a son of Sir Robert ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 16. 



"a Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 91. In 141 2 

 it was stated that Margaret wife of Sir 

 Robert de Urswick was divorced from 

 him and married to Gilbert de Kighley ; 

 Towneley MS. HH, no. 936. 



38 P.R.O. List, 72. He is not de- 

 scribed as knight in this place, but else- 

 where is designated chivaler ; Lanes. Inq. 

 p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 1 34 . 



In 1406 Sir Robert de Urswick gave 

 to Thomas his brother all his lands ; 

 Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 92*. He made a 

 feoffment in 1410 ; ibid. fol. 936. 



39 Ibid. fol. 91. 

 80 Ibid. foL 95A. 



31 Dip. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 19 i 

 Pal. of Lane. Chan. Misc. bdle. I, no. 14. 



83 Hunter, op. cit. ii, 436 ; Sir Thomas 

 Urswick held Badsworth in 1424-5 ; it had 

 in 1402 been held in moieties by Robert 

 and Thomas Urswick. Sir Thomas had 

 a son Robert who married Katherine 

 Harrington of Hornby, and their daughter 

 and heir Isabel (d. 1471) married William 

 Vavasour ; ibid. 437, 441. 



33 The feoffees of Sir Robert gave lands 

 to Thomas Urswick in 1424 5 Dods. MSS. 

 cxlix, fol. 95*. Thomas Urswick, esquire, 

 and Dame Katherine Urswick are named 

 together in 1443 and 1455 ; ibid. fol. 

 94. See also Torks. Arch. Journ. xvii, 

 119. 



Thomas Urswick, receiver to the king's 

 father and the king for twenty-four years, 

 was in 1442 rewarded with an annuity 

 of ,£10 secured on the herbage of 

 Myerscough, Fulwood and Wyresdale ; 

 Towneley MS. RR, no. 1664. See also 

 Cal. Papal Letters, vii, 330 ; Cal. Pat. 

 1422-9, p. 405 ; Anct. D. (P.R.O.), 

 C 2978. In 1452 he was made serjeant- 

 at-law and attorney in all the king's 

 courts of Lancashire ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Chan. Misc. file 1, bdle. 1, no. 60. He 

 was dead in 1456, when his successor 

 was appointed ; ibid. bdle. 1, file 1 1, 

 no. 4. He is named in various pleadings, 

 e.g. Pal. of Lane Plea R. 7, m. 21. 



Another Thomas occurs in the Raw- 

 clifFe deeds as holding lands in Caton, 

 Great and Little Eccleston, Elswick and 

 Upper RawclifFe in 1473 ; Dods. MSS. 

 cxlix, fol. 94A. He was recorder of 

 London in 1455 and chief baron of the 

 Exchequer from 1471 till his death in 

 1479. He held manorB, &c, in Essex ; 



Foss, Judges ; Diet. Nat. Biog. (called son 

 of Thomas Urswick). 



34 Roger son of Sir Richard Kirkby in 

 1420-1, i.e. shortly after Sir Robert's 

 death, demised to Thomas Urswick the 

 moiety of the manor of Upper RawclifFe 

 which he (Roger) held by reason of the 

 minority of (blank in the deed) the 

 daughters and heirs of Ellen his wife lately 

 deceased, viz. as father of the heirs, Roger 

 being the nearest relative, to whom their 

 estates held in socage could not descend ; 

 Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 91. This deed it 

 is difficult to explain in view of others. 

 It is usually stated (e.g. in the recorded 

 pedigree) that it was John, a younger son 

 of Sir Richard Kirkby of Kirkby Ireleth, 

 who married Ellen Urswick. Roger was 

 the son and heir of Sir Richard ; West, 

 Furness (ed. 1774), 240. 



A fragment of pedigree in Towneley 

 MS. HH, no. 936, gives Sir Robert de 

 Urswick and Margaret his wife two 

 daughters, Joan wife of Richard de 

 Kirkby and Ellen wife of Roger de 

 Kirkby. 



In a pleading as to the manor of Bads- 

 worth in 1424 Thomas Urswick called 

 the heirs of Sir Robert to warrant him, 

 viz. John Worsley and Joan his wife, 

 Margaret Kirkby and Joan Kirkby, of 

 whom the last was under age ; De Banco 

 R. East. 2 Hen. VI, m. 329 d. (quoted 

 in Gen. [new ser.J, xvii, 22). The two 

 Kirkbys may have been daughters of 

 Richard, and may have married Latus 

 and Clifton respectively ; Joan was perhaps 

 their mother, formerly wife of Richard. 



In 1437—8 John son of Roger Kirkby 

 by Ellen his wife, daughter of Sir Robert 

 Urswick by Margaret his wife, made a 

 settlement of his purparty of the manor 

 of Upper RawclifFe and lands, &c, in 

 Thistleton and Tatham 5 also the reversion 

 of others held for life by his brother 

 Roger ; Kuerden fol. MS. 213. 



A John son of Richard Kirkby had the 

 manor and advowson of Waberthwaite in 

 1427-8 ; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 98*. 

 In the same collection of charters are 

 some relating to the town of Kendal, 

 where the Kirkbys of RawclifFe later 

 held land. 



85 William and Joan received lands, 

 &c, from Thomas Urswick about that 

 time ; Kuerden fol. MS. 410, 87. 

 From abstracts preserved by Towneley it 

 appears that some at least had been 

 acquired from Robert Jenkinson of 

 Bispham ; HH, no. 453. 



269 



