WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



ORMSKIRK 



Henry and other sons, and a second daughter Isabel, 

 who in 141 8 married Richard de Bradshagh of 

 Aughton.* He took part in the French wars of 

 Henry V, fighting at Agincourt, and being mentioned 

 in the commissions of array in July, 141 9, and May, 

 1420.' The writ of Diem clausit extremum con- 

 cerning him was issued about July, 1420, so that he 

 probably died in France.' His widow Isabel was 

 living in 1442/ 



He was succeeded by his son Henry, who had no 

 surviving children by his first wife Katherine (who died 

 before 1440), but by his second, Margery, had daughters 

 Margaret and Agnes and a son James, born late in his 

 life. He made several feoffments of his estates.* 



He seems to have died in or before 1 464,® in which 

 year his son James was a juror on the inquest taken 

 after the death of Hugh de Aughton, being described 

 as ' esquire.' In 147 1 a dispute between him and 

 the lord of Halsall as to the bounds of Renacres in 

 Halsall and Shurlacres ' in Scarisbrick was settled by 

 arbitration.® 



In 1472—3 an arrangement was made between 

 James Scarisbrick and Sir Thomas Talbot of Bashall 

 as to the marriage of the former's son and heir, 

 Gilbert, with the latter's daughter Elizabeth, and in 

 1488 the 420 marks due to James Scarisbrick were 

 fully paid.^ Of his own marriages it is recorded that 

 his first wife was Margery, daughter of Sir Robert 

 Booth of Dunham ; ^^ his second wife, who survived 

 him, was named Elizabeth. He died between Sep- 

 tember, 1494" and May, 1496.^^ 



Gilbert, who succeeded, did not long survive his 

 father, dying on 24 April, 1502." His will recited a 

 feoffment of his manors of Scarisbrick and Eggergarth, 

 and desired his trustees to marry his son and heir, 

 James, * to a woman of worshipful blood,' and to apply 

 the sums received for this marriage towards providing 

 portions for his daughters Margery and Alice. His 

 other son, Thomas, was to have £^\ a year, and Mar- 

 garet his wife certain lands in Snape and elsewhere ; 

 to his bastard daughter, Alice, he left 10 marks. '^ 



James Scarisbrick was aged about ten years at his 

 father's death. Some years later the king claimed his 

 wardship, on the ground that certain of his lands were 

 held directly of the crown ; on inquiry this was 

 found to be a mistake. Scarisbrick and Harleton 

 were held of the earl of Derby as successor to the 

 Lathom family,^* Eggergarth of Butler of Warrington 

 (the king then having the wardship of the heir), 

 Snape of Sir Henry Halsall, and other lands of the 

 prior of Burscough and the lords of Aughton, Griffith, 

 and Starkie.^^ Before this was settled James died," 

 leaving his younger brother Thomas, then six years of 

 age, to succeed. His wardship was granted by the 

 king to William Smith, escheator of the county,^® who 

 sold it to the earl of Derby. The latter availed him- 

 self of the opportunity to marry his natural daughter 

 Elizabeth to his ward.*® 



In 1529 a disputed boundary in the moss land be- 

 tween Scarisbrick and Halsall was decided by setting 

 ' meres, limits and stakes ' by twelve men (six from 

 each side) in the presence of numerous witnesses,^^ In 



^ Scarisbrick D. n. 151, 



2 Nicolas, Agincourt, 354 ; Norman R. 

 {Dep, Keeper's Rep, xlii), 323, 373. 



^ Dep. Keeper's Rep, xxxiii, App. 18; 

 also in 14Z2, p. 21 ; also 12 Mar. 1422-3, 

 p. 24. 



^ Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 4, m. 11. She 

 is described as * of Eggergarth.' 



* One of these was made in 1424 ; 

 Scarisbrick D. n. 153. Another in 1433 

 granted the manor of Scarisbrick, except 

 lands held by his grandmother Joan and 

 those jointly occupied by himself and his 

 wife Katherine; ibid. n. 157. A third 

 (1440) concerned lands in Scarisbrick 

 called Otterhauxholme, Long heys in the 

 Wyke, Pewe hey with Chitfold, Pole hey, 

 Pewe meadow, and Gyliot meadow ; ibid, 

 n. 159. This deed has an armorial shield 

 displaying three mullets between two 

 bendlets engrailed ; the helmet is sur- 

 mounted by a dove ; the legend is sigillum 

 HENRici scARESBREc. A month later these 

 lands were regranted to Henry and his wife 

 Margery, with remainders, in default of 

 male issue, to his daughter Margaret and 

 his brothers William and Gilbert ; ibid. 

 n. 160. This Margaret was a daughter 

 of the first wife. She was married in 

 1433 to Boniface de Bold ; Lich. Epis. 

 Reg. ix, fol. 168 J Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 Fines, bdle, 8, «. 98. Probably it was 

 another Margaret, daughter by the second 

 wife, who was in 1452 married to 

 Nicholas Blundell of Little Crosby, a 

 child, and lived with him for sixty years. 

 Scarisbrick D. n. 166; Gibson's Cavalier's 

 Note-book, 10. In September, 1447, the 

 bishop of Lichfield granted to Henry 

 Scarisbrick and Margery his wife licence 

 for mass (in a low voice) and other divine 

 service in their oratories ; other sacra- 

 ments not to be ministered, and no preju- 

 dice to be done to the mother church. 

 Scarisbrick D. h. 163-4 (dated 145 1). 

 For some reason unknown he found it 



advisable, early in 1452, to have it 

 declared publicly in Halsall churchyard 

 that he was born of lawful wedlock, was 

 of sound estate, good respect, uninjured 

 character, not under sentence of excom- 

 munication, nor convicted of any notable 

 crime ; calling upon the apostolic see and 

 the primatial court of Canterbury, sub- 

 mitting himself to their protection, and 

 protesting that in the event of any trouble 

 of the kind he feared he appealed to them ; 

 Scarisbrick D. n. 165. 



^ He was living in April, 1463 ; 

 ibid. n. 169. 



7 Shirwall acres. 



s The prior of Burscough and the 

 other arbitrators perused the charters 

 and muniments and took the evidence of 

 certain old inhabitants, and determined 

 the bounds as follows : Beginning at the 

 end of Senekar where the Whit syke fell 

 into it (and where a stone was then 

 placed) to an old ditch between the dis- 

 puted areas to a large stone ; thence 

 following the stones placed by the arbitra- 

 tors to the Rodelath between Wolfhaugh 

 and Shurlacres to two large stones on the 

 bank of Shurlacres mere ; the lands and 

 moor on the north, as far as Snape, to be 

 Scarisbrick's, and those on the west, as 

 far as Halsall church, to be Halsall's ; 

 Scarisbrick D. «. 172. 



There was later (1488-9) a dispute 

 with Hector Scarisbrick, prior of Bur- 

 scough, as to a lease of land called Mene- 

 water, made by Henry Scarisbrick to 

 William his brother. The latter's widow 

 Janet was called ; she spoke of the prior 

 as her son, another son (Robert) having 

 succeeded his father William as tenant ; 

 Kuerden MSS. vi, 83, ««. 303, 304. 



9 Karl. MS. 804, fol. ijb ,• Add. MS. 

 32104, K. 913. 



10 Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), vi, 257 ; 

 Ormerod, Cbes, (ed. Helsby), i, 523. 



^^ On 15 Sept. 1494, a settlement was 



267 



made of lands in Parbold, Wrightington 

 and Dalton, and others in Ormskirk and 

 Scarisbrick (the latter including Whassom 

 Heys and the fishery of Wyke) ; with 

 remainder to James Scarisbrick the 

 younger, and then to Gilbert, son and 

 heir of James Scarisbrick the elder j 

 Scarisbrick D. n. 179. 



^2 In May, 1496, Elizabeth widow of 

 James Scarisbrick and their son James on 

 the one part, and Gilbert the son and heir 

 on the other part, came to an agreement as 

 to lands which the former had received (for 

 life) from James Scarisbrick the father ; 

 Scarisbrick D. n. 180. See also Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, n. 102, for particulars. 



^ Writ of Diem cL extr. issued i Aug, 

 1503 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 542. 



^^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 

 n. 10, 102. The trustees appear to have 

 carried out the wishes of the testator ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Bills, bdle. i, n. 10. There 

 are other directions in the will that 

 should be noticed here. He desired to be 

 buried in Halsall church j his ' best 

 cattle * he left to the prior of Bur- 

 scough as a mortuary i and ^4 a year was 

 to be paid for fifteen years to Thomas 

 Paytson, priest, or some other, to pray for 

 his soul and his wife's. Towards buying 

 a cross for Ormskirk church 51. was 

 bequeathed. 



^5 The holder paid 30J. yearly, and 

 rendered zs. to a scutage of 40J, 



16 Pal, of Lane. Plea R. 109, m. 11 and 

 131, «, 4. 



17 On 25 July, 1508 ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Inq. p.m. ii, n. i (imperfect) ; and iii, 

 n. 10. 



IS Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 559. 



" Duchy of Lane, Plea, (Hen. VIII), 

 iii, B. 3. 



20 Scarisbrick D. n. 182. There was an- 

 other arbitration in 1530 on the disputes 

 between Thomas Scarisbrick and Hum- 

 phrey Hurleton ; ibid. nn. 184, 186-7. 



