A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



in Halewood in place of certain tenements in Waver- 

 tree and Liverpool.' Sir John died 29 July, 1525, 

 seised of the manors of Hutt and Hale, held of the 

 carl of Derby in socage by a rent of two roses, the 

 Talue being ;^40.' 



His son and heir was Thomas Ireland, then aged 

 22 years, whose mother is said to have been an illegiti- 

 mate daughter of James Stanley, bishop of Ely. 

 Thomas Ireland married (in 1508-9) Margaret, 

 daughter of Sir Richard Bold,' by whom he had 

 two sons — John, who left an only daughter 

 Margaret — and George, who succeeded him. He 

 died 27 August, 1545, leaving his possessions by 

 will to his son George and his heirs, with remainder 

 to the above-named Margaret.' 



George Ireland married for his first wife Elizabeth, 

 one of the two daughters and heirs of Ralph Birken- 

 head, of Crowton near Northwich, whereby he came 

 into possession of considerable lands in Cheshire. He 

 died 15 July, 1596.' 



His eldest son, John, then aged 38, who succeeded, 

 is said to have been lieutenant of the Isle of Man in 

 1 6 1 1 . He died 1 7 October, 1 6 1 4, being buried at 

 Hale on l 5 November following.* 



Gilbert Ireland, his younger brother,' succeeded 

 him, being then about fifty-five years of age. He 

 was made a knight at Lathom in 161 7, during King 

 James's stay there.' He served as sherlfl^ of Lan- 

 cashire in 1622,' and died at the Hutt in April, 

 1626.'° John, the son and heir, said to have been 

 aged 29 at his father's death, sold his share of the 

 Crowton estates, and dying at the Hutt 5 May, 

 1633," was buried at Hale." 



Gilbert, the eldest son of John Ireland, succeeded. 

 He was born 8 April, 1624, and married Margaret, 

 only child and heir of Thomas Ireland, of Bewsey, 



but there were no children. He took the side 

 of the Parliament in the Civil War, with the rank of 

 colonel, and was nominated upon the committee of 

 the county in 1 645 ; he was high sheriff of Lancashire 

 in 1648," governor of Liverpool Castle, governor of 

 Chester, member for Lancashire in 1654 and 1656, 

 and for Liverpool from 1658 till his death." Like 

 many of his Presbyterian brethren he aided the resto- 

 ration of Charles II in 1660, when he received 

 knighthood, and was appointed a deputy lieutenant of 

 Lancashire in 1665." He was a 'man of unbounded 

 hospitality ; .... his disposition, however, was 

 haughty, and his demeanour stately. He was fond 

 of elections, and maintained a contest for Liverpool 

 on several occasions, the last of which, from exces- 

 sive drinking and an extravagant expenditure of 

 money, proved as fatal to his 

 health as injurious to his purse.' " 

 He assigned his estates to trustees 

 for thirty years to pay his debts, 

 and, it is said, to prevent his 

 sister Elizabeth enjoying them. 

 He died at Bewsey 30 April, 

 1675, and was buried at Hale; 

 his widow following him two 

 months later." 



Hale then passed to his 

 nephew Gilbert Aspinwall, who 

 died in 1717, and whose son 

 Edward " died two years later. 



Ireland Aspinwall, son of Edward," died unmarried 

 in 1733, and the Hale estate devolved on his sister 

 Mary. 



She married Isaac Greene of Childwall, and had 

 three daughters. The eldest died unmarried ; the 

 youngest married Bamber Gascoyne ;'° while the 



WW^ 



Aspinwall of Hale. 

 Per pale gules and azyre, 

 a Jess dancettie ermine. 



1 Hale D. Richard del Croasc of Liver- 

 pool had land in Hale in 1423-4 ; Norris 

 D. (Rydal Hall), F. 18. 



■^ He also held lands in Cronton of the 

 abbot of Whalley In socage for a rent of 

 1 zd. ; other lands and messuages in Garston, 

 Much Woolton, Tarbock, and Aigburth ; 

 the last-named were held of the Hospital 

 of St. John outside the north gate of 

 Chester for a rent of i zd, j Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, n, 75. 



' There is a bond in relation to this 

 marriage in the Moore Deeds, 743. 



* Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiz, App. 160. 

 The will is wrongly dated. Gregson, 

 Fragments (ed. Harland), 129. 



* Ormerod, Ches. (Helsby), ii, 135 \ 

 i, 622 ; Gregson, Fragmentij 129-30. 

 The inquisition taken after his death gives 

 a full list of the Ireland properties at that 

 time. These included the manors of Hutt 

 and Hale, with Halewood and Halebank, 

 held of the earl of Derby, in free socage, 

 by fealty and the rent of two roses an- 

 nually, the values of the manors being 

 respectively ^^5 and j^io ; lands in Much 

 Woolton of the queen, by a rent of izd. ; 

 in Tarbock, of Edward Torbock, by a rent 

 of 21^. ; in Denton and Farnworth, of the 

 barony of Widnes ; in Bold, of Richard 

 Bold ; in Wigan, of the mayor and 

 burgesses ; in Warrington, of Thomas 

 Ireland (by knight's service) ; in Walton 

 Ic Dale, of Thomas Langton ; and 

 >ariou8 lands and tenements in Cheshire 

 and Flintshire. In the Cat. of 5. P. 

 Dom. 1566—79, Add. p. 375, is a curious 

 story of his dealings with the tithes of 

 Darcsbury, 



A pedigree was recorded in 1567 j yisit. 

 (Chet. Soc), 95, 96. 



" See Ormerod, Cbes. (ed. Helsby), ii, 

 1355 Funeral Certs. (Rcc. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 205. By his will (26 September, 

 161 1) he left his brother Gilbert his silver 

 and gilt plate, his armorial signet ring 

 that had been their father's, and the 

 horn of Crowton. To his wife he be- 

 queathed various pieces of plate ' made by 

 one Holme, now or later a goldsmith in 

 K.nowsley,' a gold chain (worth ;^2o) 

 which had been his mother's, and other 

 goods ; Lanes, and Cbes. fVills (Chet. Soc, 

 New Scr.), ii, 178. 



A pedigree was recorded in 1613 ; yhit. 

 (Chet. Soc), p. 105. 



7 He had matriculated at Oxford 

 (Brasenose) in 1578 ; Foster, Alumni. A 

 younger brother, Thomas, was member of 

 Parliament for Liverpool in 1614. 



8 Metcalfe, Book of Knights, p. 171. 



» P.R.O. I,wf, p. 73. 



^^ By his will, dated on the previous 

 30 January, he left jewellery and other 

 articles to his wife Barbara, his best horse 

 (with the armour and furniture belonging 

 to a lance) and other gifts to his eldest son 

 John, with a request that this son * do not 

 put in suit a certain bond of ;^ioo which 

 was at the time of his marriage taken in 

 his name to no other purpose but to stir 

 up and cause my Lady Yonge to be more 

 open-hearted and liberal to him and her 

 daughter in future time, in respect of her 

 former large promises made to me how 

 good she would be to them and what great 

 gifts she would bestow on them after their 

 marriage and especially at their going to 



146 



keep house ' ; Lanes, and Ches, Wills (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), pp. 126— 130 j 

 Ormerod, Ches. ii, 135. 



^^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, 

 n. 50. 



** Three of his sons died before 1638 

 without issue ; two of the daughters died 

 unmarried, and the others were Eleanor, 

 who married (1) Edward Aspinall, or 

 Aspinwall, of Ormskirk — their son Gil- 

 bert succeeded to Hale — and (ii) . . , 

 Crompton, a Puritan minister ; and 

 Martha, who married Arthur Squibb. 



^ As such he published the proclama- 

 tion issued after the execution of Charles I, 

 forbidding any one to be styled *king of 

 England * ; Local Gleanings Lanes, and Ches. 

 i, 163. There is a long account of him in 

 W. Beamont's Hale and Orford, 55-130. 

 Fines referring to his manors in Pal. of 

 Lane Feet of F. Sept. 1649; and 1661, 

 bdle. 167, m. 72. 



^^ Pink and Beavan, Parly. Rep. of Lanes. 

 PP- 73> 190; 



^* A pedigree was recorded in 1664; 

 Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), p. 165. 



^^ Gregson, op. cit. 102, 



17 Funeral Certs. (Chet. Soc), pp. 82-8S. 

 See further Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. 13, 

 App. v, 266. 



^ A settlement of the manors of Hale 

 and Hutt was made in 1698, by Edward 

 Aspinwall and Mary his wife; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 240, m. 116. 



^^ Ireland, son of Edward Aspinwall, was 

 admitted to St. John's College, Cam- 

 bridge, as a fellow commoner in 1721 ; 

 R. F. Scott, Admissions, iii, 31, 



20 See the account of ChiidwaU, 



