AMOUNDERNESS HUNDRED 



The soil is clay, and the land is nearly all in 

 pasture. There was formerly some linen manufac- 

 ture, 2 now there are file-cutting works. 



The place was thus described about forty years 

 ago : ' For sweetness of position, richness of isolation, 

 and wealth of umbrageous beauty, for sunny hillsides 

 and shady dells and peaceful glades, for smiling farm- 

 steads and magnificent woodland scenery and rippling 

 brooks, and all that makes country life a joy and a 

 talisman, commend us to Claughton. . . . To anyone 

 anxious for a day's serene pleasure, for a sweet and 

 pure and unalloyed rural treat, for scenery deliciously 

 pastoral and air delightfully fresh, we could not 

 recommend any place in this part of the country half 

 so excellent.' 3 Many Preston people spend their 

 holidays there. Around the hall there is a park of 

 about 600 acres in extent. 



The pedestal of an ancient cross remains at Char- 

 nock House 4 ; three other cross sites are known. 5 



Before the Conquest CLAUGHTON 

 MANOR was held by Earl Tostig as part of his 

 Preston fee, and was assessed as two plough- 

 lands. 6 Afterwards it formed part of the barony of 

 Penwortham, 7 and for a time seems to have descended 

 with Warton in Kirkham ; thus Roger le Boteler was 



GARSTANG 



concerned in it in 11 84-5 8 and Richard le Boteler 

 in 1208. 9 The immediate tenants appear to have 

 been numerous, four — each holding a fourth part — 

 being named in 1 zo8, 10 and very quickly the mesne 

 lordship of the Botelers" and their successors was 

 forgotten, and the lords of Claughton were said to hold 

 of the Lacys or of the Earls and Dukes of Lancaster. la 



The subdivision of the manor makes it difficult to 

 trace the descent. One moiety was held by the 

 Singletons and their successors — Banastre, Balderston, 

 &c. 13 The other moiety was acquired by the 

 Brockholes family in the time of Edward II and 

 later ; ultimately they acquired the whole manor, 

 though the steps are not clearly made out. 



It has already been stated 14 that Adam de Brock- 

 holes inherited Byrewath in Bonds, holding it till his 

 death in 1290. His son Roger, under age, married 

 Nichola daughter and heir of Isolda wife of John de 

 Rigmaiden. 15 Roger was dead in 1311, but he left 

 two sons, John and Adam, and a division of the 

 inheritance seems to have been made, John receiving 

 lands in Garstang, while Adam had the manor of 

 Brockholes, near Preston, from which their surname 

 was derived. 16 John de Brockholes held land in 

 Claughton, 17 but it was his son Roger who in 1338 



I Lewis, Tc-pog. Diet. A cotton factory 

 was built about 1791 on the Brock; 

 Prtsion Guard. 24 May 1884. 



3 Hewitson, Our Country Churches, 286. 



4 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xx, 199. 



5 Shepherd Hill, Langtree's and 

 Catterall House; ibid. 199, 200. 



6 V.C.H. Lanes. i, 288a. 



7 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 36. 



8 Farrcr, Lanes. Pipe P.. 56, 60 ; Roger 

 desired that Richard and Robert, sons of 

 Uctred, should have their tenure of two 

 plough-lands in Claughton defined : was it 

 in fee or only for a term ? The tenants 

 were of the Singleton family. 



9 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Chea.), i, 33. Gilbert Fitz Reinfred and 

 Hawise his wife (she was daughter and 

 heir of William de Lancaster II) obtained 

 from Richard le Boteler an acknowledge- 

 ment that the plough-land he himself held 

 was the fee and right of Hawise, and that 

 the other plough-land, held (? lately) by 

 Richard son of Uctred and Robert de 

 Stanford, was also her right. 



10 Ibid. Hawise was to receive the 

 services due from these tenants, who were 

 Adam de Claughton, Michael de Claugh- 

 ton, Walter de Winwick and Richard de 

 Stanford. Here nine plough-lands were 

 reckoned to a knight's fee. 



II As in the case of Warton this passed 

 to the lords of Woodplumpton. Quenilda 

 Geraet in 1252 held two plough-lands in 

 Claughton of Edmund de Lacy Earl of 

 Lincoln, but received nothing from it 

 except wardship and relief ; Lanes. Inq. and 

 Extents, i, 190. Ralph de Beetham in 

 1254 held the two plough-lands, but 

 received nothing because others had been 

 enfeoffed freely by the fee of a hauberk ; 

 ibid, i, 202. Nicholas de Eaton held 

 Quenilda's right in t3ii-i2 ; ibid, ii, 

 21. 



12 In 1297 Claughton rendered zs. zd. 

 to the Earl of Lancaster, probably for 

 castle guard ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 

 290. In 1324 the lord (or lords) of 

 Claughton held the manor of Alice de 

 Lacy (as of the fee of Penwortham) by 

 the sixteenth part of a knight's fee and 



rendering 21. zd. a year for castle guard ; 

 Dods. MSS. exxxi, fol. 39^. 



In 1346 Queen Isabella paid the zs. zd. 

 rent for two plough-lands in Claughton ; 

 Sunty of 1346 (Chet. Soc), 44. The 

 tenants' names were thus recorded in 

 1355 : Thomas Banastre, Robert de 

 Haldleghs, Henry de Kuerden, Richard de 

 Towneley and John de Stamford or 

 Stanford, having the 128th part of a 

 knight's fee which William de Whitting- 

 ham formerly held ; Feud. Aids, iii, 88. 

 This return appears to be erroneous, but 

 William de Whittingham had in 1323 

 held land in the township of Adam 

 Banastre ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, ii, 154. 



In 143 1 Richard Balderston and John 

 Brockholes of Heaton held the manor of 

 Claughton by the fifth part of a knight's 

 fee ; Feud. Aids, iii, 95. In 1445-6 

 Richard Balderston was named as sole 

 tenant ; Duchy of Lane. Knights' Fees, 

 bdle. 2, no. 20. 



13 The preceding note affords proof of 

 this. William Banastre was in 1324 

 found to have died seised of a moiety of 

 the vill of Claughton held of the Earl of 

 Lancaster (as of the inheritance of Alice 

 de Lacy) by the eighth part of a knight's 

 fee and zd. yearly. In the other moiety 

 he held lands of the Hospitallers and 

 Cockersand Abbey ; Lanes. Inq. and 

 Extents, ii, 160. The Banastre lands in 

 Claughton are again mentioned in 1379 ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 14, 16. 

 In 1456 Richard Balderston was found 

 to have held the manor of the king as of 

 his duchy by ibd. rent ; ibid, ii, 63. 



The same estate is mentioned in the 

 following century in the inquisitions after 

 the death of Edmund Dudley, the Earl 

 of Derby, Radcliffe of Winmarleigh, Sir 

 Gilbert Gerard and Sir Alexander 

 Osbaldeston. 



The manor of Claughton was held by 

 the Earl of Derby in 1600; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 62, no. 113. It 

 was sold in 1602, with other estates, by 

 the representatives of Ferdinando the 

 fifth earl ; ibid. bdle. 64, no. 44. For 

 names of tenants, &c, see Add. MS. 

 32108, no. 677-8. 



325 



14 In the account of Barnacre with 

 Bonds. It does not appear that Adam 

 had any land in Claughton. 



15 Isolda occurs frequently in the story 

 of the Rigmaidens of Wedacre, but her 

 parentage is not given, nor is it stated 

 how Nichola was her heir. Various 

 details as to Roger and Nichola will 

 be found in the account of Brockholes. 



Roger de Brockholes acquired a mes- 

 suage and land in Claughton from Godith 

 de Myerscough ; Brockholes of Claughton 

 D. in the possession of Mr. Fitzherbert- 

 Brockholes. Roger son of Adam de 

 Brockholes and Nichola his wife in 1292 

 claimed a tenement in Wlgarheved and 

 Garstang against John de Rigmaiden and 

 Richard de Pleasington ; Assize R. 408, 

 m. 46 d. Nine years later (Michaelmas, 

 1 301) it was stated that Roger, Nichola 

 his wife and John their son were all 

 under age; ibid. 419, m. 13. Nichola 

 widow of Roger was living in 1344 ; 

 ibid. 1435, m. 37 d. 



16 See the account of Brockholes. In 

 1316 Nichola widow of Roger de Brock- 

 holes granted land in Garstang to John 

 de Brockholes her son and Margaret his 

 wife with remainder to John's brother 

 Adam; Towneley MS. C 8, 13 (Chet. 

 Lib.), B 171. 



17 John son of John de Rigmaiden con- 

 ceded to John de Brockholes the homages 

 of certain tenants, among these being 

 William de Tatham ; Brockholes D. 

 William son of Gilbert de Rigmaiden 

 gave him lands at Turnhurst in Garstang 

 for life ; Towneley MS. C 8, 13, B 173. 



In 1323 William de Tatham, then 

 rector of Halton, granted various lands 

 in Claughton to John de Brockholes ; 

 Brockholes D. From Final Cone. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 50 it appears 

 that William in 1324 received them from 

 John for life at the rent of a rose, and 

 that Ralph de Stirzacre put in a claim. 

 In 1327 John de Brockholes quitclaimed 

 to Richard son of Walter de Claughton 

 all right in the Priestridding in Claughton 

 which Richard had had from William de 

 Tatham in exchange for land in Dikoun- 

 ridding ; Brockholes D. 



