A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



His son and heir was Gilbert, made a knight in 

 1388. In 1367 Otes de Halsall gave land in Barton 

 to Gilbert his son and Elizabeth his wife, probably 

 on the occasion of their marriage.' Some dispute 

 occurred about 1379 as to the title of David Hulme 

 of MaghuU in the manor of Halsall, and this was 

 settled by Gilbert.' He was escheator for the county 

 in 22 Richard II. After his death two inquisitions 

 were made (1404), one of which states that 'on the 

 day of his forfeiture ' he had no estates save those 

 found and appraised in an inquisition taken in 

 August, 1403.' The other recites the gifts of 

 Robert de Parr of the manors of Halsall and Down- 

 hoUand and lands there ; also Argar Meols and Birk- 

 dale, with remainder to Otes son of Gilbert ; these 

 had descended to Henry de Halsall, clerk, as son and 

 heir of Sir Gilbert, son of Otes ; the grant by the 

 last-named to his son and his wife is also recorded, 

 with the statement that Gilbert died seised thereof, 

 and Elizabeth his wife was still living.* 



Henry de Halsall, the heir, had embraced an 

 ecclesiastical career, and was in 1395 presented by 

 his father to the rectory of Halsall, which in 141 3 

 he exchanged for the archdeaconry of Chester. He 

 retained his various preferments till his death on 

 7 M.irch, 1422-3.' He wished to interfere as 

 little as possible with secular business, for one of his 

 earliest acts was to make a settlement on the marriage 

 of his brother Robert with Ellen daughter of Henry 

 de Scarisbrick ; and then to arrange the dower of his 

 mother." 



His brother and successor Robert does not seem 

 to have survived him long, for from 1429 the name 

 of his son Henry frequently occurs.' The inquisi- 

 tions taken after the death of Henry Halsall in July, 



I47l,give many details of the family histor}- and pro- 

 perty. Otes, his great-grandfather, had acquired a 

 messuage and 24 acres from Emma wife of Thomas 

 the clerk of Edge, and some similar properties. His 

 father Robert appears to have acquired other lands 

 in Halsall and the neighbouring villages — including 

 Thornfield Clerk, Blakehey, Dudleyhey and Brand- 

 erth in Halsall ; and these he had given to Henry 

 in 1426-7 on his marriage with Katherinc, daughter 

 of Sir James Harrington, and they had descended to 

 his daughters and heirs, Margaret and Elizabeth (wife 

 of Lambert Stodagh), whose ages were forty and 

 thirty-eight years respectively. Most (or all) of the 

 lands, however, went to the heir male, his brother 

 Richard's son Hugh, who was of full age in 147 2.' 



Hugh's father Richard had been married at the 

 end of 1448 to Grace daughter of Sir John Tempest.' 

 Of Hugh himself nothing seems known ; he was still 

 lord of Halsall in 1483.'° His son " Henry, who was 

 made a knight by Lord Strange in Scotland in the 

 autumn of 1497,'' married Margaret Stanley, daughter 

 of James Stanley, clerk." Sir Henry died in June, 

 1522. At the inquisition taken after his death it was 

 found he had held the manors of Halsall, Renacres, 

 Lydiate, and Barton, and lands in Scarisbrick and 

 elsewhere ; also the manors of Downholland and 

 Westleigh.'* These had been assigned to trustees to 

 perform his will, made in 1518." The manor of 

 Halsall was held of Thomas Butler by the twentieth 

 part of a knight's fee ; the manor of Renacres of the 

 prior of St. John by the free rent of i zd. yearly, 

 being worth 40/. clear ; the manor of Barton of the 

 heirs of Peter Holland by the service of dd. yearly, its 

 clear value being 40J. ; the premises of Downholland 

 were held of the same.'" 



hours were violent also ; he charged John 

 de Cunscough and Adam his son with 

 having set 6rc to his houses in Halsall ; 

 De Banc. R. 349, m. 118. 



In 1359 he received from Henry duke 

 cf Lancaster a grant of free warren in all 

 his demesne lands of Halsall and Ren- 

 acres, unless they were within the metes 

 of the duke's forest j Dtp. Keeper t 

 Rep. xxxii, App. 338. In 1361 he had 

 from the bishop licence for two years 

 for an oratory ; Lichfield Epis. Reg. v, 

 fol. 7. He was a knight of the shire in 

 1351 (Pink and Beavan, 30), and was 

 still living in 1377; Dods. MSS. cxlii, 

 fol. 233. 



^ Dods. MSS. xxxix, fol. 14;, n. 63. 



'Ibid. fol. 142, n. 51. The Hulme 

 claim may have been based upon the 

 doubtful legitimacy of Gilbert. A com- 

 promise seems to have been made ; sec 

 the account of Ainsdale. 



* He was witness to a charter dated at 

 Ormskirk, 19 June, 1402. 



■* Towneley MSS. DD., n. 1464, 1456. 

 An annuity of ,^20 was granted to Sir 

 Gilbert de Halsall in 1397, the king 

 having retained him in his service for 

 life ; Dep. Keeper i Rep. xxxvi, App. 214. 

 He served in Ireland ; Cal. of Pat. Ric. II 

 and Hen. IV. 



* Lich. Epis. Reg. vi, fol. 6o(/. ; vii, 

 fol. 103*/. 5 ix, foL iiztJ. The writ of 

 Diem cl. extr. was issued on 12 March, 

 1422-3 ^ Dep. Keeper*! Rep. xxxiii, App. 



* Dods. MSS. xxxix, fol. 139A, n. 20 

 (June, 1405), and n. 19, and fol. 141, 

 n. 29 (Feb 1406). 



't Robert had other sons, Richard and 

 William ; and Gilbert, rector from about 



1426 to 14^2, may have been another. 

 Gilbert and Richard, sons of Robert, were 

 in 1429 executors of their uncle Henry, 

 late archdeacon of Chester; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 2, m. 8. 



A prominent Halsall of the time was 

 Sir Gilbert Halsall, who fought in the 

 French wars and was bailiff of Evreux, 

 afterwards marrying a Cheshire heiress ; 

 Dep. Keeper'i Rep. xli (Norman R.). 

 App. 758 ; Rep. xlii, App. 320, &c. ; 

 also Rep. xxxvii (Welsh Records), App. 

 342. A grant of land in Lydiate was 

 made to Sir Gilbert Halsall in 1423 ; 

 Croxtcth D. 



' Land. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), ii, 84- 

 91, 109. The estate included the manors 

 of Halsall (held under Warrington), Ren- 

 acres (under the Hospitallers), Lydiate (a 

 moiety), and Barton, and 50 messuages, 

 300 acres of land, 40 acres of wood, 100 

 acres of meadow in Birkdale, Argar Meols, 

 Melling, Liverpool, and Aughton. 



Henry de Halsall was escheator in 

 1430 ; and a knight of the shire several 

 times between 1435 and 1460; Pink and 

 Beavan, Parly. Rep. of Lanes. 55-57. 

 An annuity of ,^10 granted to him was 

 reserved in the Act of Resumption in 1464; 

 R. of Pari. -v, 547. The bishop of Lich- 

 field on 27 Sept. 1453, granted to him 

 and {Catherine his wife licence for an 

 oratory where mass and other divine 

 offices might be celebrated ; Lichfield 

 Epis. Reg. xi, 46. 



' Dods. MSS. ixxii, fol. 143*, n. 73. 



'» Ibid. n. 56. So also in the Duchy 

 Feodary of 1483. 



" Edward Halsall, clerk, was another 

 son ; ibid. n. 48. 



1^ Metcalfe, Bk. of Kmghti, 31. 



194 



" Visit, of 1 567. This James is usually 

 identified with James Stanley, afterwards 

 bishop of Ely ; Margaret's son was born 

 about 1498, so that her birth may be 

 placed about 1480, and her father's about 

 1460 — a possible date. 



^^ These Sir Henry had recently pur- 

 chased from Edmund Holland. 



" By this will he provided for his 

 younger sons and the marriage portions of 

 his daughters. Should the rectory fall 

 vacant while his heir was under age the 

 feoffees must present ' one of the next of 

 his blood ' to it, or (in default) some other 

 person of good conversation whom they 

 might judge would be ' loving and kind ' 

 to his heirs. They were also to set apart 

 land of the yearly value of ^4 6j. id. to 

 find 'an honest and well-disposed priest' 

 to pray and do divine service in Halsall 

 church for ever for his soul and that of 

 his deceased wife Margaret. His heir was 

 to be found at school and to be kept * like 

 a gentleman ' till the age of 20. As the 

 son and heir was over 28 in 1522, it 

 would appear that the date of the will is 

 much earlier than 1518. In 1520 he 

 gave lands in Scarisbrick, Harleton, Hal- 

 sall, and Snape to other feoffees for the 

 benefit of his younger (natural) sons 

 Edward and George for their lives. 



'° The other properties were held in 

 socage (except where stated otherwise) 

 by small annual rents as follows ; Birk- 

 dale, abbot of Cockersand, 101.; AspemoU 

 in Scarisbrick, James Scarisbrick, f>i.\ 

 Melling, prior of St. John, f>d. ; half- 

 burgage in Liverpool, the king (as duke) 

 in free burgage, by 6</.; Ormskirk, prior of 

 Burscough, bd. ; Aughton, James Brad- 

 shaw, 2j. ; manor of Downholland, the 



