A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



buried at Halsall.' 



Gerard, Earl of Mac- 

 clesfield. Argent, a ialtire 

 gula. 



Sir Chnrles Gerard married Penelope, daughter 

 of Sir Edward Fitton of Gawsworth, and one of the 

 hein of her brother Sir Edward. Sir Charles, who 

 died at York about 1640, was 

 He built a windmill there ; 

 and there was also a water- 

 mill.' His eldest son, Charles, 

 ■was born about 161 8, and took 

 the royal side in the Civil War, 

 as did his two brothers. He 

 greatly distinguished himself, 

 and was in 1645 created 

 Baron Gerard of Brandon in 

 Suffolk. He was obliged to 

 quit England during the rule 

 of Cromwell, and was reported 

 to be scheming the assassination 

 of the Protector. Returning 

 at the Restoration he had various promotions, and in 

 1678-9 he was created Viscount Brandon and earl of 

 Macclesfield. Afterwards he intrigued with the duke 

 of Monmouth, and in the time of James II was 

 obliged again to seek a refuge abroad, returning with 

 William prince of Orange, by whom he was rewarded 

 with offices of honour. He died in January, 1693-4, 

 and was buried at Westminster.' So far as the Halsall 

 ■estate w.is concerned. Lord Gerard went on with 

 the disputes with Robert Blundell of Ince as to the 

 boundaries of the adjacent manors of Birkdale and 

 Ainsdale and Renacres. These disputes lasted till 

 I 7 19.* 



His son Charles, born in Paris about 1659, was 

 knight of the shire (Lord Brandon) 1679-85 and 

 1689-94, and made lord lieutenant on the Revolu- 

 tion. He had been convicted of high treason in 

 connexion with the Rye House Plot, but pardoned.' 

 He died without legitimate issue in November, 1 701, 

 and was succeeded in the titles by his brother Fitton, 

 who died unmarried in December, 1702, when the 

 earldom, &c., became extinct." 



Two sisters were co-heirs of the properties : Eliza- 



MoHUN. Or, 

 TtigraiUd table. 



beth, who married a distant cousin, Digby, fifth Lord 

 Gerard of Bromley, and died in 1700, leaving a 

 daughter and heiress Elizabeth, 

 who married James duke of 

 Hamilton ; and Charlotte, wife 

 of Thomas Mainwaring, who 

 left a daughter and heiress 

 Charlotte, who married Lord 

 Mohun, and died in or before 

 1709. Lord Mohun, by the 

 will of the second Lord Mac- 

 clesfield, became owner of his 

 wife's share of the Gerard 

 estates, and the duel between 

 him and the duke of Hamil- 

 ton, in which both were killed (15 November, 

 1 71 2), originated in a dispute about the division/ 

 His widow was made the heir to his part of the 

 estates, which included Halsall, and carried them 

 to her third husband. Colonel 

 Charles Mordaunt.** Though 

 Colonel Mordaunt had no 

 issue by her, he remained in 

 possession of the Gerard and 

 Fitton properties, and Halsall 

 descended to his son by a 

 second wife,® Charles Lewis 

 Mordaunt, who at one time 

 resided in the hall at Halsall."* 

 Eventually he sold the manor 

 to Thomas Eccleston, lord of 

 the adjoining manor of Scaris- 

 brick, and the advowson of 



the rectory to Jonathan Blundell of Liverpool. He 

 died at Ormskirk on 15 January, 1808, aged seventy- 

 eight." 



The manor has since descended with Scarisbrick. 



Courts used to be held in July and October ; " 

 there is still one kept in November. 



The grant of RENJCRES'^ to the Hospitallers 

 has been related, and the Halsall family held it 



Mordaunt. Argent^ 

 a chevron benveen three 

 cstoiles sahle. 



hamlet, but a distinct manor in itself, and 

 was not included in the sale. Sir Cuthbert 

 further pleaded that the sale to Shireburnc 

 and Brcrcs in 161 9 was of the nature of 

 a mortgage, they being bound for his 

 debts ; Edmund Breres himself was a 

 man of very * miserable decayed estate, 

 very far indebted." By discrediting his title, 

 'they had prevented him from marrying his 

 daughter to John Mallet, ^a gentleman 

 .of great ability and estate,' who would 

 have given him j^io,ooo. His pleas for 

 delay and rescission of the sale did not 

 avail, and Sir Charles Gerard retained 

 ithe manors of Halsall and Dowaholland ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Pleadings, Easter and 

 Trin. 2 Chas. I. 



The matter was still before the courts 

 in 1631, on the point * how much Sir 

 Charles Gerard should pay to Sir Cuth- 

 bert Halsall more than he had already 

 paid to Shirebume and Breres*; and in 

 the following year Dame Dorothy, as 

 widow and executrix, continued the ap- 

 plication 5 Decrees and Orders, 7—10 

 Chas. I, xzxi, fol. 129, 131, 211. 



Sir Cuthbert retired to Salwick Hall, 

 part of his grandmother's estate, and died 

 there about 1632 5 Gibson, Lydiate Hallj 

 [14, 116. 



^Ormerod, Ches. (ed- Helsby), i, 653. 



^Royalist Comp. P. (Rec Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches), iii, 16, 18. RadclifFe Gerard 

 was one of the trustees, and had resided 



at the hall ; there is mention of boon 

 hens and other services ; ibid. 11. 



* Ormerod, loc. cit. ; G.E.C. Complete 

 Peerage. 



* Gibson, Lydiate Hall^ 1 14-16. A 

 deposition in 1664 states the Halsall 

 boundaries thus : From Renacres Mere 

 on the north or right hand to Bull Acre, 

 Corner Hill or Shirleys Hill, Shurlacres 

 Mere on the left, to Birkdale Cop (divi- 

 ding Scarisbrick and Halsall), east side 

 of Birkdale Brook (dividing Birkdale and 

 Halsall), to Ainsdale Brook (dividing 

 Ainsdale and Halsall), to a ditch from 

 Gettern Hey (parting Formby and Hal- 

 sall), and another ditch between Barton 

 and Halsall j containing 4,000 acres and 

 more, of the yearly value of ;^50o. Barton 

 was a member of Downholland Manor. 

 Most of the said premises, the complaint 

 adds, were seized and sold by *the late 

 usurped powers on account of plaintiffs 

 loyalty to His Majesty' ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Pleadings, Easter, 16 Chas. II. 



* He appears to have been distrusted 

 in Lancashire. 'It will not be easily for- 

 got,' it was said in 1689, 'that Lord 

 Brandon had had two pardons — one for 

 murder and another for high treason ; 

 and that after the late king had forgiven 

 him he was a violent asserter of that 

 king's dispensing power to the highest 

 degree in that county and in that reign, 

 when he was a deputy-lieutenant to the 



196 



Lord Molyneux, a grand papist. . . His 

 actings may administer suspicion what 

 his designs are, if these things were in- 

 quired into, viz. what arms besides the 

 militia arms (of which every soldier keeps 

 his own) are stored up in Lancashire by 

 that lord, part at Halsall, part at Liver- 

 pool Castle, and other parts elsewhere, in 

 the custody of some Dissenters ' ; Kenyon 

 MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 234-5. 



« G.E.C. Complete Peerage. 



'Ormerod, Ches, (ed. Helsby), i, 653 ; 

 iii, 551 ; Earwaker, East Ches. ii, 561-7; 

 G.E.C. Complete Peerage ; Gregson, Frag- 

 ments (ed, Harland), 218. 



8 Son of General Lewis Mordaunt, 

 brother of the third earl of Peterborough. 



® Part of the estates went to daughters 

 of his wife by her first husband and part 

 was sold. The parties to a fine concerning 

 Halsall in April, 1728, were Sir Richard 

 Rich, bart. and his wife Elizabeth ; Wil- 

 liam Stanhope and Charles Mordaunt ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 299, 

 m. 119. 



i**Hi8 initials and the date 1769 are 

 on a spout head ; his coat-of-arms is over 

 one of the doors. 



^^Gregson, op. cit. 218. 



^^Baincs, Lflflfi. (1836), iv, 261. 



^ The old spelling seems to be Runacret, 

 with variants like Ruinacrcs, or Rynacres ; 

 later (1575) is Renacres. A common 

 modern spelling is Ranicar. 



