FEUDAL BARONAGE 



BUTLER, BARON OF WARRINGTON 



No evidence of the existence of the barony of Warrington is to be found 

 in the Domesday Survey, either in the region between Ribble and Mersey, or 

 in cos. Lincoln, Notts., and Derby, where part of this barony afterwards lay. 

 It was probably created by Stephen of Blois after 1 1 18.^ The Lindsey Survey 

 shows that three of the manors afterwards belonging to this barony, viz. 

 Croxton, Ingham, and Fillingham, were respectively held at that date 

 (ill 5-8) by Hugh de Croxton, Reynold Purcell, and Godfrey, whilst 

 Ranulf Bilion held Fillingham immediately of Stephen of Mortain.* In fact 

 the Pain de Vilers whose name occurs in the Lindsey Survey as tenant of 



I carucate 5 oxgangs of land in Upton, in Well wapentake, under Stephen, was 

 probably of an earlier generation than the first recorded baron of Warrington." 

 This is the more probable because Upton did not afterwards belong to the 

 honour of Lancaster, nor did it descend to the heirs of Pain de Vilers, but 

 seems to have fallen into the honour of Brittany, of which it was held by the 

 family of Trehamton.* The Pain de Vilers of the Lindsey Survey may no 

 doubt be identified as the ' Paganus de Vilers ' who in 1088 attested a charter 

 of Robert, duke of Normandy, to the abbey of Mont St. Michel," and six 

 years later attested the grant of the church of Lancaster and other churches, 

 lands, and tithes in this county by Roger of Poitou to the abbey of St. Martin 

 of Sees.* At a later date we find Robert de Vilers attesting a Lancashire 

 charter of Stephen, count of Boulogne and Mortain, about the year 1123.^ 

 Whilst it is probable that Pain held some fee of Roger of Poitou between 

 1088 and 1 102, which his descendants may have held of the honour of Lan- 

 caster, we should not be justified in ascribing the creation of the barony of 

 Warrington, and the infeudation of Pain de Vilers in the same, to an earlier 

 date than 11 18 to 1123. That Pain was the first to be infeoffed we know 

 upon the authority of the great inquest of service made in 12 12.* Only one 

 act of ascertained date in connexion with this barony can be attributed to 

 Pain I. By a charter of confirmation in favour of Salop Abbey, expedited 

 at Bridgenorth in 1 155, the king confirmed the grant from Pain de Vilers of 

 the tithes of Laton and Warbreck.' The same inquest records many other 

 grants and infeudations made by Pain. To the Knights Hospitallers he gave 

 the vill of Becconsall, in Leyland hundred, being i carucate of land ; ^° to 

 Alan de Vilers, his son, 5 carucates of land (probably Cropwell Butler, 

 CO. Notts), and Treyford, co. Sussex ;" to William, another son, the vill of 

 Newbold, including part of Kinalton, and the moiety of Owthorpe, co. Notts. ;^* 

 to Thomas, another son, the other moiety of Owthorpe, Calverton, co. Notts., 



1 The only fees in the pre-conquest hundreds of West Derby and Warrington which may possibly have 

 formed the nucleus of the later barony of Warrington were those of l^ hide in West Derby hundred, and of 



I I carucate in Warrington hundred which Theobald held in 1086, and i hide and | carucate in the latter 

 hundred which Adelard held. The survey gives no indication that any of the manors in the cos. of Lincoln, 

 Notts., and Derby, which were afterwards included in the barony of Warrington ' without the Lyme,' were in 

 the possession of the Vilers family at that date. 



2 Tie Lindsey Survey, edit. Greenstreet, 5 and 17. ^ Ibid. 9. 



* Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 345 ; Gale, Regist. Honor. Richmond, App. 29. 

 6 Round, Cal. of Docs. France, 257. 



6 Chartul. of S6es. No. cclxv. ; Chetham Soc. (New Ser.), xxvi. 10. 7 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 427. 



8 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 402 ; Lanes, and Ches. Rec. Soc. xlviii. 6. 

 » Reg. of Salop Abbey, No. 36 ; see also Hen. IIL's confirmation, Mo». Angl. iii. 523. 

 10 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 402 ; Lanes, and Ches. Rec. Soc. xlviii. 6. " Ibid. i^ Ibid. 



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