A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



A considerable amount of litigation followed ; in- 

 deed there had been some already.' At the begin- 

 ning of I 349 John le Norre^-s, younger brother of 

 Henr\', lord of Speke, married the heiress, Katherine 

 de Huyton, and at once brought actions against 

 Emma de Newton and against Margery widow of 

 Robert de Huyton, on pleas that they were making 

 waste, &c., in the houses, woods, and gardens which 

 they severally held as dower in Huyton, and which 

 were Katherine's inheritance.' 



Shortly afterwards (1350) Sir Thomas de Lathom 

 put forward his claim to the manor of Huyton as 

 against Margaret, then wife of John son of Richard the 

 Tailor of Warrington.' 



In 1354 Henry de Walton, archdeacon of Rich- 

 mond, purchased two-thirds of the manor from John 

 le Norreys of Speke.' The remaining third was sold 

 in 1357 to William de Walton by Avice de Bret- 

 targh and William de Brettargh.' 



There were cross suits between the Waltons and 

 the Lathoms as to title. The archdeacon alleged 

 that Sir Thomas held of him, by virtue of his pur- 

 chase, messuages, land, &c., by an annual service of 

 6s. id. Sir Thomas on the other hand asserted the 



disseisin done to his great-grandfather, Richard son of 

 Robert son of Henry de Lathom, and claimed the 

 manor.' The suits went on for many years, but in 

 the end the Lathom claim seems to have prevailed.' 

 In 1 366 Sir Thomas de Lathom 

 the elder claimed from Richard 

 de Causay, chaplain, the manor 

 of Huyton ; two years later he 

 claimed it from Robert son of 

 Robert de Standen, certainly a 

 Walton trustee ; in the next 

 year the latter prosecuted Robert 

 de Huyton for cutting down 

 trees at Huyton.* In 1 371 

 Gilbert de Ince of Aughton, in 

 a deed made at Huyton, re- 

 leased William son of John de 

 Walton and the above Robert 

 Standen from all actions.' After 



this the Walton connexion with the place seems to 

 have ended absolutely.'" 



The next Sir Thomas Lathom and his wife Joan, 

 after the recovery of the manor, made a settlement 

 of it in 1382 ; the remainders were thus stated : To 



Walton of Walton- 

 lk-Dale. Argent^ a 

 chevron gules befween 

 three falcon^ heads erased 

 sable beaked or. 



^ The records of the suit arc so con- 

 fused that it is difficult to give a satis- 

 factory narrative. William de Huyton 

 according to one story married an Avice 

 whom he afterwards repudiated — the rea- 

 son is not given — and he settled upon her 

 and her children lands in Little Wooltrm, 

 and also some in Huyton. Avice next 

 married Roger son of John the Walker 

 of Tarbock, and a settlement was made 

 in 1^24, the remainder being to William 

 de iluyton ; Fmjl Cone, ii, 58. Wil- 

 liam's widow Emma having married 

 Robert de Hale sought her dower from 

 William Poyde and the above-named 

 Avice his wife, Roger the Walker having 

 died ; and the defendants called upon Sir 

 Thomas de Lathom to warrant them, 

 as being guardian of Robert the heir of 

 William de Huyton ; De Banc. R. 286, 

 m. 57 ; 287, m. i:;6 j 288, m. 129. It 

 would appear that the lands in Woolton 

 and Brettargh were an absolute gift to 

 A\ ice, but her right in Huyton was of 

 the nature of dower, though the marriage 

 had been nuU. 



During the following minority, in 1346, 

 Avice late the wite of Roger de Brettargh, 

 William son of Roger the Walker of 

 Brettargh, and John another son, with 

 Margery John's wife, claimed warranty 

 from Catherine and Sir Thomas de La- 

 thom, as guardians of Ratherine, daughter 

 of Robert de Huyton and kinswoman and 

 heir of William de Hu}'ton, and from 

 Avice late the v^ife of Roger the Walker, 

 who was only called to warrant William 

 and John. Emma had now married a third 

 husband, Matthew son of Thomas de 

 Newton, and her claim for dower v^'as re- 

 newed. At a later hearing Katherine de 

 Huyton appeared to warrant. Avice, 

 Roger's wife, is called the * daughter ' of 

 William de Huyton. If there is no error 

 in the record, she must have been the 

 daughter of the Avice already named. 

 Avice wife of William de Stockley was 

 also called to warrant ; De Banc. R. 34.6, 

 m. 88 ; 358, m. J^d. 



" De Banc. R. 358, m. nod. Ka- 

 therine had before claimed from Emma 

 and Margery six charters which they kept 

 from her; De Banc. R. 352, m. 226; 

 35^, m. 226 d. 



^ De Banc. R. 362, m. 26 </. This 



Margaret soon afterwards appears as wife 

 of John de Billinge, claiming the manor of 

 Huyton as next of kin, being daughter of 

 Henry de Huyton. It was alleged that 

 John le Norreys had seized her at Sutton 

 in 1349, kept her imprisoned in a house 

 at Huyton, and by threats compelled her 

 to sell to him all her right in the manor 

 — i.e. the two-thirds of it not held as 

 dower by Emma de Newton, and the re- 

 version of the other third ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Assize R. 2, m. ii d. Norreys' reply 

 was that Margery acted of her own free 

 will while she was a single woman ; 

 Assize R. 435, m. 10. 



Whatever truth there may be in this 

 story, John le Norreys seems to have 

 thought his tenure insecure, for he made 

 over the whole to his elder brother Henry, 

 who thus for a time was lord of Huyton, 

 perhaps as trustee, and became the 

 plaintifr or defendant in actions as to 

 title J Assize R. 1444, m. 3 ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Assize R. I, m. 2, 3 i/. ; R. 2, m. 

 7. Quite a different story is now told. 

 Robert de Huyton is said to have died 

 without issue — which may mean only 

 that the above-named Katherine his 

 daughter had now died childless — and 

 Avice de Stockley is described as daughter 

 of William de Huyton by his first wife 

 Almarica, who had died without male 

 issue, the son Robert being by the second 

 wife Emma. Avice claimed a third part 

 of the manor by grant from her father 

 William. The N'orreyses had entered on 

 possession, Emma having died, and Avice's 

 title being ignored ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. I, m. iii. Emma's husband, 

 Matthew de Newton, was killed at Huy- 

 ton in September, 1 348, by William son 

 of Robert de Hale (her former husband) ; 

 Assize R. 443, m. vii. 



Avice succeeded in obtaining recogni- 

 tion, and in 1354 Sir Thomas de Lathom 

 claimed two-thirds of the manor from 

 Henry le Norreys of Speke, and one-third 

 from Avice de Stockley ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 3, m. \\ d. In the previous year 

 John del Dale of Childwall, chaplain, had 

 been enfeoffed of this third, which in- 

 cluded the homages and service of William 

 the Couper, William son of Matthew de 

 Huyton, and Matthew his son, William 

 the Baxter, and Thomas del Wolfall : 



Final Cone, ii, 138, The other claimants 

 all appeared j Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 

 2, m. i. 



■* Final Cone, ii, 145 ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 3, m. i d. v d. and vi. Pro- 

 bably Henry was acting for his brother 

 William ; they were of the Walton Ic 

 Dale family. 



* Avice de Brettargh's charter gives no 

 clue as to her right or identity ; she was 

 probably a daughter, for in 1355 William 

 de Stockley surrendered to Avice de Bret- 

 targh a third part of the manor of Huyton 

 which he held for the term of his life — 

 this implying that his wife Avice was 

 now dead. See Norris D. (B.M.), 985 ; 

 Final Cone, ii, 156; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 6, m. 6 ; Def. Keeper's Rep. 

 xxxii, App. 333. 



In the meantime another claimant ap- 

 peared to some land in Huyton — Robert 

 son of Robert son of William, who was 

 a younger brother of Henry de Huyton. 

 Sir Thomas de Lathom, the elder, was the 

 defendant, and he alleged that the land 

 was within Knowsley ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 3, m. iiii ; 4, m. 19. 



« Ibid. R. 4, m. 26 d., 28 d. ; 5, m. 25 d. 



1 There are numerous deeds of the 

 Walton family preserved by Kuerden, and 

 the manor of Huyton is with other lands 

 transferred in several feoffments up to 

 1366, after which Huyton is omitted; 

 Kuerden MSS. iii, W. 4, n. 66, 65, 37, 

 52 ; 56, 57. See also Harl. MSS. 2042, 

 fol. 164A, 166A. 



" De Banc. R. 425, m. 353 </. ; 432, m. 

 loi d. ; 434, m. i%id. 



» Kuerden MSS. iii, W. 8, n. 92. 



" Another claim of the same period 

 (De Banc. R. 348, m. 98 </. ; 352, m. 442) 

 may be related, as it gives the names of 

 several minor tenants. Henry son of 

 Roger de Huyton demanded from John 

 del Birches 4 acres, from Gilbert de Gor- 

 such (Gosfordsiche) 4 acres, from William 

 son of Matthew de Huyton a messuage 

 and 12 acres, from Richard son of Ellis 

 Simson ' le Swone' a messuage and 5 

 acres, from John the Smith a messuage 

 and 6 acres, from William del Dam an- 

 other acre. This land the claimant 

 averred had been given by Adam de 

 Knowsley to Henry de Huyton, and Avice 

 his wife ; from these it descended to Roger 



