A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



of land, as profitable to Sir Henry as that was to 

 Sir John ; the moor to lie in common to them and 

 their tenants as it used to be, with right of turbary.* 

 In 1354 he obtained a grant of free warren in all 

 his demesne lands of Speke.' 



Sir Henry had a son and heir John, who married 

 Cecily, daughter of Hamlet de Mascy of Puddington 

 in Cheshire.' 



Of Sir John le Norreys, the next lord of Speke, 

 but little is known. In 1369 he granted to feoffees 

 his manor of Speke, together with lands in Garston, 

 Hale, Woolton, Walton, Ince, and Lydiate.^ He 

 died about three years afterwards, leaving a widow 

 and three young children — Henry, Katherine, and 

 Agnes. In November, 1372, an agreement was 

 entered into by Cecily his widow with Nicholas le 

 Norreys of Halsnead,^ and Gilbert le Norreys, 

 coroner, with regard to the children. She was to 

 be responsible for their living and clothing, such as 

 belonged to their estate, for the next twelve years, 

 and to make suitable provision for each of them when 

 they were married.*^ But as already stated Roger 

 Erneys, as superior lord, quickly intervened,^ and in 

 1379 released to Cecily and her second husband the 

 custody of the heir. At this time Henry was still 

 under age, and the daughter Agnes is not mentioned. 



Except for the dispute with John Ic Norreys, re- 

 lated in a note, Sir Henry's tenure seems to have been 

 undisturbed. By his marriage with Alice Emcys he 

 became lord of the manor." In 1416 he made pro- 

 vision for his son William on his marriage with Eliza- 

 beth, daughter of Sir James de Harrington.* 



William, son and heir of Sir Henry, succeeded 

 about 143 I." A grant of land was made by him in 

 1433-4, and he occurs in 1453 in a bond for /40 

 from William Gerard." He had a large family, and was 

 succeeded by his son Thomas, who married a distant 

 cousin Lettice,'* daughter and heir of Thomas Norris 

 of West Derby ; by her he had six (or seven) sons 

 and five daughters.'' He died in 1487-8, seised 

 of a messuage and land in West Derby, of four 

 oxgangs and other land in Formby, also of the manor 

 of Speke and land, meadow, wood, heath, and pasture 

 in Speke, but the jurors at the inquest did not know 

 of whom he held the same. William Norris, his son 

 and heir, was then twenty-eight years of age.'* 



Sir William Norris, the successor, must therefore 

 have been born about 1459. His knighthood appears 

 to date from 1487, after the battle of Stoke, in which 

 case he must have fought there on the Lancastrian 

 side.'* He was contracted in marriage as early as 

 1468 to Katherine, daughter of Sir Henry Bold.'* 



1 Norris D. (B.M.), 548, 566, ^-c, 

 <;7i. At the inquiry into forest offences 

 about 1358 Henry le Norreys of Speke 

 was described as * a common malefactor 

 of the forest with greyhounds and bows 

 and arrows, and has been so these ten 

 years past.' For instance, in 1348 he 

 had hunted and taken a buck in the 

 forest, giving half of it to John Grelley ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Forest Proc. 1-20. 



"^ Def). Keeper^t Rep. xxxii, App. p. 333. 



Henry le Norreys (perhaps the son) 

 with William de Holland of Hale went 

 abroad on the king's service in 1359, 

 having letters of protection granted ^ 

 ibid. p. 347. 



In October, 1 ^67, the bishop of Lich- 

 tield granted a licence to Sir Henry le 

 Norreys for his oratory within his manor 

 house of Speke ; Lich. Epis. Reg. v, fol. 18. 



* The indenture in French settling this 

 marriage is described by the compiler of 

 the Norris pedigree about 1600; but he 

 ascribes it to Edward I's reign ; see 

 Ormerod in the Topographer^ ii, ^74. 



Sir Henry had children apparently 

 by several mistresses, for whom he 

 thought it right to make provision in 

 1367, not long before his death, by en- 

 feoffing Roger Poghden vicar of Child- 

 wall, of lands, &c., in the Wro in Hale- 

 wood, in Oglet and Contelache in Speke. 

 These lands the vicar at once regranted 

 to Sir Henry, with remainders to Richard 

 son of Cecily de Culcheth, to Henry son 

 of Sir Henry, to Robert son of Alan son of 

 Alan le Norreys, and to John son of John 

 le Norreys of Woolton ; Norris D. 

 (B.M.), 574, 575. By another deed he 

 granted land for his son Henry and the 

 heirs of the body of Margaret de Lancas- 

 ter — in the Dep. Keeper's version it 

 appears to be * Henry son of Sir Henry, 

 by Margaret de Lancaster' — with re- 

 mainders to Richard son of Cecily de 

 Culcheth, to Robert son of Agnes de 

 Myntynge, and to John son of Agnes del 

 Mosshead. Henry and Robert son of 

 Agnes de Myntynge died without heirs 

 male 5 Richard son of Cecily de Culcheth 

 had a son and heir, John Norreys, who 

 was convicted of felony and hanged in 

 1401-2 J and so the property, of the 



annual value of 22J. clear, was claimed by 

 John Norreys, the son of Agnes de Moss- 

 head of Great Woolton j Lana. Inq. p. m. 

 (Chet. Soc), i, 79, and Towneley MS. 

 DD. 1462. In a grant made directly to 

 him, he is called son of Agnes Mosley \ 

 Norris D. 191. 



Naturally his claim was not well 

 received by Sir Henry's grandson, another 

 Sir Henry, then lord of Speke ; but it 

 seems to have been successful, and it was 

 agreed that this Sir Henry should have 

 half the lands in dispute for John's life, 

 rendering him a red rose, but John's heirs 

 male were to succeed to the whole ; Dep. 

 Keeper s Rep. xxxiii, App, p. 4 ; Norris D. 

 (B,M.), 630-1. By later deeds (634, 

 635) it appears that the dispute went on 

 for twenty years, and was referred to the 

 decision of Sir Richard Molyneux of 

 Sefton, who allowed the Speke family 

 land of the value of 201. yearly. 



* Ibid. 584. 



* He was one of the executors of the 

 will, Cecily being the other j De Banc. 

 R. 4i;9, m. 10. 



« Norris D. (B.M.), 585-7. 



7 The plea as to the custody of land 

 and heir by Roger Erneys -v. Cecilia, who 

 was wife of Sir John le Norreys appears 

 in the De Banc. R. 455, m. 274; 456, 

 m. 183 ; 462, m. 16 d. 



^ In 1 400 he entered into a recognizance 

 in 10 marks before Hugh Holes, justice 

 of the King's Bench, to abide by the 

 judgement of the king and his council as 

 to his leaving the king's army in North 

 Wales, taking with him cattle, &c., but 

 the 20 oxen and 200 sheep taken from 

 him at Halton were to be restored to 

 him; Dep. Keeper^s Rep* xxxvi, App. p. 279. 

 9 Norris D. (B.M.), 600. 



"^^ Sir Henry occurs in the Chester 

 Recognizance rolls down to 1430 ; Dep. 

 Keeper's Rep. xixvii, App. p. 633, 1 97, Sec. 



11 Norris D. (B.M.), 611, 615. In 

 1458 a marriage was arranged between 

 his daughter Elizabeth and Thomas son 

 and heir-apparent of William Gerard of 

 Ince, for which a dispensation had been 

 obtained as early as 1449, the parties 

 being related in the third degree ; ibid. 

 643-5. 



1^ Marriage covenant, 1446 j Lanes. 

 Chant. (Chet. Soc), i, 98 n. 



1^ In 1464 he made an arrangement 

 with the prior and convent of Upholland 

 for the daily celebration of mass at an 

 altar in the church by one of the monks 

 (to be deputed weekly according to the 

 cursus tahule si-ve scripture sue) for the souls 

 of Sir Richard Harrington, his parents 

 and benefactors j saying between the 

 offertory and Lavabo the psalm De Pro- 

 fundis, Pater Noster, Ave Maria, the 

 collect Inclina Domine, and other suitable 

 prayers. Every year also on 17 August, 

 the day of Sir Richard's death, his obit 

 was to be solemnly kept at the high 

 altar, with mass and office of nine lessons, 

 a bier (libitina) being erected in the choir 

 and covered with a pall, and having a 

 candle burning at each end. An annual 

 rent of 8 marks was assigned for this, to 

 revert to Thomas Norris and his heirs 

 should the monks fail to fulfil their con- 

 tract; Norris D. (Rydal Hall). Sir Richard 

 was uncle of Thomas Norris. He placed 

 one or two windows in Childwall church, 

 and founded there the chantry of St. 

 Thomas the Martyr, 



!■* Duchy of Lane. Inq. p. m. vol. iii, 

 n. 38. A rental of the Norris properties 

 compiled for him has been preserved 

 (B.M.). It is annotated by his great- 

 grandson Sir W. Norris. 



IS Metcalfe, Bk. of Knights, 17. His 

 arms are not given. The other Sir 

 William Norreys (said by Dugdale to 

 have fought at Stoke) was knighted at 

 Northampton in 1458, and his son 

 Edward, grandfather of Lord Norris of 

 Rycot, was knighted at Stoke (Metcalte, 

 p. 2, 14). The arms given to this Sir 

 Edward (viz. Ravenscroft) were quite 

 different from those of Norris of Speke, 

 which the Rycot family also used ; Oxford 

 risit. (Harl. Soc), 289. 



w Norris D. (R.M.), 646, 650, 651, 

 653. There were covenants as to the 

 dower of Lettice wife of Thomas Norris, 

 and as to the provision to be made for 

 younger sons and brothers. Lettice had 

 sworn upon the holy evangelists before 

 Sir Thomas Gerard and other witnesses 

 that the whole of her inheritance in 



