A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



For the next hundred years the succession is 

 uncertain. The heirs of Jordan de Hulton held 

 Melling, paying the ancient lo/. in 1 297,' and in 

 the extent of the lands of Thomas earl of Lancaster 

 made in 1324 it is stated that ' Peter de Burnhull 

 (Brindle) holds the manor of Melling by the service 

 of 10/. for all services.' Jordan de Hulton had 

 occurred in connexion with Melling in 1259-60, 

 when Henry de Melling claimed 8 marks from him, 

 the arrears of an annual half^mark due.' There is 

 nothing to show how the manor passed to Jordan, or 

 to Peter de Burnhull.' Peter's two sisters were his 

 heirs — Joan, who married William Gerard of Kingsley 

 in Cheshire, ancestor of Gerard 

 of Bryn ; and Agnes, who mar- 

 ried another Cheshire man, 

 David de Egerton.' The Eger- 

 tons disappear, and in the feo- 

 dary of 1483 it is stated that 

 'Thomas Gerard [and others] 

 hold Melling.' It is to be 

 noted, however, that the in- 

 quisitions relating to the Gerards 

 do not claim any ' manor ' there, 

 but only a rent of a few shil- 

 lings. Thus Sir Peter Gerard, 

 who died in 1+46, had 5/. and 

 I 5;. rents in Melling,' and Sir Thomas Gerard in 

 1523 held land there of the king in socage worth 

 3/. clear.' 



Although this succession is supported by the sherifPs 

 accounts, it is not quite satisfactory. The Byron 

 family or a branch of it had certain manorial rights 

 in Melling ; and as Jordan de Hulton, rector of War- 

 rington, is found to call Geoffrey de Byron 'my 

 cousin" it appears probable that their right origi- 

 nated through him.' Again, the Molyneuxes of 

 Thornton had a fair estate here from an early time, 

 and claimed a share of the manor.' In 1292 Robert 

 son of Robert de Molyneux appears as claimant of a 



Gerard of K.incs- 

 Lcy. A^ure, a lion 

 rampant argent, over all 

 a bend gules. 



tenement against Henry son of Henry de Bootle, and 

 the latter Henry's widow Alice," and as defendant in 

 suits brought by William son of Adam de Sefton, the 

 ' Demand ' of Sefton, as to tenements which he claimed 

 in right of his grandfather Award de Sefton. In one of 

 these claims, which included a share of the wood, 

 Robert de Byron was the other defendant." Robert de 

 Molyneux relied on a technical plea — that his mother 

 Margery held a third in dower ; but Robert de Byron 

 denied that Award was ever in possession, and the 

 plaintiff withdrew his claim. 



Some years later (1300 onwards) Adam the 

 Forester of Melling made a number of claims against 

 various people of the vill," in respect of the inheri- 

 tance of his wife Anabil, daughter of Bernard son ot 

 Richard. One of these suits placed Robert de Byron, 

 Robert de Molyneux of Thornton, Margerj' late the 

 wife of Robert de Thornton first among the de- 

 fendants. Their defence was that they were lords of 

 the town of Melling, holding the waste in common ; 

 Adam the Forester had enclosed part of this waste, 

 and they had pulled down his hedge, as it was lawful 

 for them to do. The jury accepted this defence and 

 dismissed Adam's claim." Robert de Byron, Henry 

 and Nicholas de Bootle and others were in 1303 

 charged with assaulting one Henry de Moss, and 

 carrying him off to prison at Lancaster, for which he 

 claimed ^1,000 damages." 



Robert de Byron was succeeded by two daughters 

 — Isabel, who married Robert de Nevill of Hornby, 

 and Maud, who married William Gerard of Kingsley, 

 father of the William Gerard above mentioned." 

 The latter thus had a double right in Melling, by 

 his mother as well as by his wife. The Nevill share 

 descended with Hornby to the Harringtons, and in 

 the division of Sir John Harrington's '" estate between 

 his two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne, Melling went 

 to the former. She married John Stanley, son and 

 heir of John Stanley of Weaver, in Cheshire (a 

 younger brother of the first earl of Derby)," and Jane, 



Roger's estate seems to have been acquired 

 by the BTTons. 



A contemporary Roger de Melling, 

 sometimes described as son of Robert 

 rector of Halsall, made two grants. The 

 boundaries of one arc thus described : 

 From the land of Adam the brewer to the 

 clough of N'>rthcrott on one side, and on 

 the other side all that piece of land between 

 my land and Adam's, extending in length 

 from the water called Alt to Adam's field, 

 and 'having in breadth 4 perches faith- 

 fully measured by the rod of 24 feet,' with 

 various common rights, and ' with honey 

 and hawks {nisi) found there' ; ibid, ii, 



53 5. 5+0- 



^ Lanes. Inq. and Extents, 288. 



' Cur. Reg. R. 164, m. z d. Jordan 

 de Hulton may have purchased the manor 

 from Henry. 



' Before 1330. Peter, son of Peter de 

 Burnhull, is named among the kinsmen of 

 Jordan de Hulton in 1292; Assize R. 

 408, m. 37 d. 



* See Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), 

 ii, 628 ; he may be the David de Eger- 

 ton who died in 1361 s.p. In 1348 

 the sheriff rendered account of loi. 

 from David de Egerton and William Ge- 

 rard J Duchy of Lane. Var. Accts. ^2/17. 

 About 1400 it was found that the manor 

 of Melling was held of Peter Gerard, 

 lately deceased, and he held it of the 

 king in thegnage ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Misc. 2/6. 



» Towneley MS. DD, 1465. 



* Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, n. 52. 



^ Whalley Coucber (Chct. Soc), iii, 

 919. 



' Prior Warin of Burscough (about 

 1280) granted to Robert de Byron and 

 Joan his wife for their homage and ser- 

 vice two selions formerly held by Richard 

 del Halle of Kirkby ; Def. Keeper's Rep. 

 ijuvi, App. 199. 



' The 'land of Robert Molyneux' has 

 been mentioned in one of the charters 

 quoted above. By a charter dated be- 

 tween 1235 and 1240, William son of 

 Simon de Molyneux granted to Richard 

 son of Richard de Thornton certain lands 

 with common rights, mast-fall for his pigs, 

 and timber and firewood in Melling : 

 Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 46. 



In 1246 Simon de Wadacre (Waddicar), 

 William de Widnes, and others were found 

 to have disseised Roger de Melling and 

 Robert de Molyneux of one acre in 

 Melling ; Assize R. 404, m. 8 d. Robert 

 is also mentioned as holding land in 1276 

 in cormexion with a claim by the Aintrce 

 family ; Assize R. 405, m. 4 ; De Banc. 

 R. 151, m. 148. 



•" Assize R. 408, m. 321/. 



^^ Ibid. m. 34 d. 68. There was another 

 claim by William the 'Judger' against 

 Byron and Molyneux ; ibid. m. 11. 



Another case in the same roll (m. 98 d.) 

 may be mentioned — Richard prior of 

 Burscough gave \od. for licence to agree 



210 



with Alice the Recluse of Melling, touch- 

 ing a plea of debt. 



" Assize R. 41 9, m. 2 </. ; 420, m. 2 d. 

 4</. j 423, m. I. See also De Banc. R. 

 •49. "1- 348 ; 152, m. 87^. 



" Assize R. 420, m. 4 d. 



"Ibid. 421, m. I. Comparing the cases 

 it seems that Robert de Byron (1292) 

 had inherited or acquired the estate of 

 Roger de Melling (1246). 



" De Banc. R. 251, m. 160. See also 

 De Banc. R. 220, m. 92^. ; Nevill -v. 

 Richard son of Adam Tatlock. 



In August, I 313, Robert de Nevill and 

 Isabel his wife took action against William 

 soti of Roger de Melling in a plea of the 

 assize of mort d'ancestor. Hervey de 

 Melling and Henry his son, as also Henry 

 son of Roger de Melling, were concerned 

 in the case ; Assize R. 424, m. 4. 



In 1374 Henry de Chathirton, in right 

 of Robert de Nevill, prosecuted Gilbert 

 son of Otes de Halsall and others for 

 taking cattle at Melling ; De Banco R. 

 456, m. 408. For a claim against this 

 Henry see Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 

 354- 



" Killed at Wakefield in 1460. 



" K«/(. of 1533 (Chet. Soc), 166. 

 He IS elsewhere described as illegitimate 

 (Visit, of 1567); but John Stanley of 

 Weaver certainly had a son and heir John 

 hvmg in 1 476, though his brother Thomas 

 succeeded to Weaver ; Ormerod, Ches. (ed. 

 Helsby), iii. 574. 



