A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



A u G B T o N. Sahlej 

 three garbs or. 



castle-guard rent, and suit to the court of Pen- 

 wortham. His heir was his son Hugh, fourteen years 

 of age," whose guardianship 

 was in the following year 

 granted to Matthew de Hay- 

 dock.' 



The heir came of age at the 

 beginning of 1397,' and shortly 

 afterwards his mother leased to 

 him all her dower lands,* and 

 in 1409 made over to him 

 her inheritance in Xewbold 

 Comyn and Hall Moreton.* 

 In 1 410 Hugh agreed to an 

 arbitration as to a disputed 

 boundary between North Meols and Scarisbrick.'' 

 He died at the beginning of 14 17, seised of the 

 manors of North Meols and Thistleton in Amounder- 

 ness ; his son and heir, Hugh, only ten years of age, 

 was given to the guardianship of Nicholas Blundell 

 and Robert de Halsall, who died respectively about 

 1422 and 1427. In 1429, having proved his age, 

 Hugh received his lands.' 



Hugh de Aughton married Joan, daughter of 

 Henry de Scarisbrick, on whom he settled certain 

 lands in 1460, with remainder to his brother 

 Nicholas.* He died 20 July, 1464, without issue, 

 and his heir w.is his sister Elizabeth, aged fifty years 

 and more.' This finding probably means that 

 Nicholas was half-brother only ; he succeeded to the 

 manor under the settlement. In 1469 Nicholas 

 married his son Hugh to Maud, daughter of Robert 

 Hesketh, the former being about five years of age and 

 the latter still younger." He died in 1488, and at 

 the subsequent inquisition it was found that he had 

 held the Wyke in North Meols and lands in Barton, 

 each by the twelfth part of a knight's fee. Hugh, 

 his son and heir, was twenty-four years of age." 



Hugh Aughton in 1498 contracted his son Richard, 

 then five years old, in marriage to Isabel daughter of 

 James Boteler." In 1503 a dispute as to the Wyke 



occurred." In 1516 Hugh made a feoffment of all 

 his manors and lands in North Meols, Barton, 

 Thistleton, Much Hoolc, and Whiston, for the 

 benefit of Thomas Hesketh during life and then to 

 the grantor and his heirs. He died on i 1 December, 

 1520, his heir being his son Richard, aged twenty- 

 eight years." 



Richard Aughton in 1522 conveyed to fresh 

 trustees all his lands, to the use of himself and then 

 of his son and heir John ; three years later the estates 

 were reconveyed to him in fee simple." In 1529 he 

 received a confirmation of exemption from the juris- 

 diction of the Great Admiral of England for his lands 

 and ports from the cross in the Hawes (now South- 

 port) up to Snoterstone, and as far seaward as one 

 might see towards the ' Humbar Barrel ' ; this al- 

 lowed him wreck, fishes-royal, &c.'° He was made a 

 knight before 1536, in which year he appeared at 

 Sawley with thirty-six men, as part of the force called 

 out to resist the northern rising." He died on 

 I 'March, 1542-3, his heir being his son John, 

 twenty-six years of age.'* 



John Aughton had livery of his lands on 26 April 

 following. A few years later another boundary dispute 

 occurred." A little later the lessee of the leet court 

 of Penwortham attempted to prevent the constables 

 of North Meols from presenting assaults at John 

 Aughton's court-baron.** He died without issue on 

 26 February, 1549-50, his sisters Elizabeth, aged 

 twenty-eight, and Anne, aged twenty-five, being his 

 heirs." 



Elizabeth was the wife of John Bold, and Anne the 

 wife of Barnaby Kitchen ; and these two shared the 

 inheritance. There appears to have been a partition 

 of the lands, and some contention followed concerning 

 the Wykes." Both sides, however, agreed in resisting 

 the claim to an annual rent of 37/. ^^d. claimed 

 as due to the baronial court of Penwortham.*' 



Elizabeth Bold died in August, 1558, and her 

 husband in December, 1589; their son and heir 

 was John Bold, aged forty and more in 1590." In 



1 Lanes. Inp p.m. (Chct. Soc), i, 30, 

 39. William de Aughton also had a 

 rent of j^2 1 31. \Oii. in Barton. Henry 

 de Scarisbrick, by the courtesy of England, 

 held certain lands in North Meols, with a 

 rent of 3J marks from the manor. He 

 granted a temporary right of turbary in 

 Scarisbrick to the heir's guardian ; Scaris- 

 brick D. n. 123. 



^TowneleyMS. CC. (Chet. Lib.), n. 



35>- 



' Ibid. n. 2I01. 



* Dods. MSS. cxlii. She married se- 

 condly Richard Massy, of the Hough near 

 Nantwich. 



* Ibid. fol. 226^. She afterwards 

 (about 14 1 7) made complaint as to her 

 disherison by Robert de Halsall and 

 Nicholas Blundell ; Early Chanc. Proc. 

 bdle. 5, n. 121. 



* Scarisbrick D. n. 14-. 



' Duchy of Lane Chan. R. 7, §§ 62, 65. 



« Towneley MS. CC. n. 2146; there 

 are three deeds. 



^ Ibid. The manor is said to be held 

 as the twelfth part of a knight's fee ; the 

 parcel of land known as the Wyke was 

 held by the same service. 



1" Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 233. 



" Towneley MS. C. 8, 13 (CheU Lib.), 

 A. ^3. Nicholas Aughton had farmed 

 out his lands in N'ewbold Comyn at a 

 rent of £\ loi. in 14S- ; and Hugh 



Aughton in 1489 farmed them for 

 twenty-one years ; in 1 508 he sold the 

 fourth part of the manor of Hall Moreton- 

 under-the-Hill for 20 marks to Henry 

 Smith ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 227, 227^; 

 liii, fol. 92. 



" Ibid, liii, fol. 92 ; cxlii, fol. 227*. 



" Duchy of Lane. Depos. iv, L. 7. It 

 was due to a confusion between three 

 places of the name : one, already men- 

 tioned, was in North Meols ; and two in 

 Scarisbrick, then known as Long Wyke 

 and High Wyke, on the eastern side of a 

 * great moss ditch ' that formed the boun- 

 dan,- between the townships. There is 

 now a Wyke in the north-western corner 

 of Scarisbrick ; Blowick may be the 

 Wyke in North Meols. 



^^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. V. n. 28. 



1* Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol, 234, 112. In 

 1523 he had petitioned for the restoration 

 of the family muniments ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Pleadings, Hen. VIII, iii, A. 2. 



1^ Bland, Annals of Soutbport^ 1 1 . 



17 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xi, B. 1251. 



1^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. viii, n. 3, 



1* The bounds were found to begin at 

 Snoterstone, ' standing within the flood 

 mark;,' thence to the foot of Walding 

 Pool, and up this to a * stub ' fixed by the 

 commissioners ; Farrer, ^ortb Me^Ji, 29. 



» Duchy of Lane. Pleadings, Edw. VI, 

 xxiii, C. 12. 



232 



21 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, n. 4. 

 The water-mill in North Meols is men- 

 tioned in this inquisition ; and Oliver 

 Ball Hey, Moss Hey, and the Frere Hook 

 are also named. In the subsequent as- 

 signment of dower to the widow there 

 are some interesting particulars ; the 

 document is printed at length in North 

 Meols, 31-4. 



There was an eel fishery on the water 

 running to the mill j also a fishery on 

 Martin Mere. Marsh Side was then 

 called the Howes, and was waste. A 

 windmill called Ashurst Mill stood to the 

 east of Churchtown. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Pleadings, Eliz. Ixiv, 

 B. 12, and xlix, K. 1. 



!" Ibid, xlv, F. 15 ; the date of the bill 

 of complaint was Easter, 1560. 



"^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, n. 44. 

 Their share is described as the moiety of 

 the manor of North Meols, four messuages 

 with land in Barton, five messuages and 

 land in Thistleton, an acre in Whiston, 

 and a quarter acre in Much Hoole. Be- 

 tween 1572 and 1581;, however, the 

 Bolds had been selling various parcels of 

 their lands, the purchasers being Robert 

 Wright, Gilbert Rimmer, Richard Johnson 

 (alias Brekell), William Clayton, and 

 Richard Lee ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 34, m. 87; 3-, m. 199; 38, m. 

 M^i, 115 ; 4-, m. 85. 



