WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



ORMSKIRK 



the time.^ One of his own grants has been pre- 

 served ; it conferred on Alan son of Robert de Holmes 

 a defined parcel of land in BickerstafFe for a rent of 

 zod? In 1292 he recovered some land which had 

 been unlawfully * improved * from the wood and 

 heath.' 



Adam was succeeded by his son Ralph/ a prominent 

 man in the county, being sheriff" in 1308, 13 10, 

 1312, 1314, and 1 31 5, and knight of the shire in 

 1313.* He took part in the rising of Thomas, earl 

 of Lancaster, against Piers Gaveston, for which he was 

 pardoned in October 1313.^ He was killed at Preston 

 4 November, 1315.^ As 'Ralph son of Adam de 

 Bickerstath ' he made a grant to Burscough Priory.® 



Adam de Bickerstath, son and heir of Ralph, 

 succeeded, holding the manor till 1346 or later. ^ In 

 1331 he settled upon his wife Joan and his son Ralph 

 six messuages and six oxgangs in Little Eccleston in 

 Amoundemess, then in the possession of Henry de 

 Bickerstath^"; and arranged the succession of two- 

 thirds of the manor of BickerstafFe, after his decease and 

 the decease of his wife Joan, to Ralph and his issue. '* 



Ralph de Bickerstath's name appears frequently 

 from 1347 to 1372.'^ His son and successor was 

 another Adam, the last of the principal line. His 

 first appearance is in 1361, when he complained that 

 certain persons, apparently his 

 trustees, had been guilty of 

 waste. ^' He settled his estates 

 in 1377 on his only daughter 

 and heir Joan, who married 

 Nicholas de Atherton.^* 



Nicholas was a younger son 

 of Sir William de Atherton of 

 Atherton. He was a knight 

 in 1 40 1, when he represented 

 the county in Parliament.^* He 

 died in 1420, and by his will 

 desired to be buried at Orms- 

 kirk. ^^ His son Nicholas suc- 

 ceeded, but his tenure was brief, 



as he died at the beginning of 1424. Just before 

 his death he gave his manor of BickerstafFe to trustees. 

 His son and heir Henry was then aged nine years 



Atherton of Bicker- 

 S T A F F E. GuUiy three 

 sparroiv-haivks argent, 

 belied or. 



were witnesses 5 it is not impossible that 

 the same Alaa used both surnames, and 

 that he was the ancestor of the Renacres 

 family whose descent is traced later. They 

 seem to have called themselves ' de Bicker- 

 stath ' at times. In 1255-6 Adam gave 

 the king ^ mark for a brief; Originalia 

 R. 40 Hen. Ill, m. 3. 



The parentage of Adam and Simon does 

 not seem to be known. 



^ As for instance in many of the deeds 

 just referred to, and in the Burscough 

 charters in Dep. Keeper*s Rep, xxxvi, App. 

 197 seq. Adam and his brother Simon 

 were in 1253 witnesses to a grant to 

 Cockersand Abbey; Cbartul. 602. Adam 

 was one of the jury in an inquisition of 

 1276 ; Abbre'v. Placiu 266. 



2 Kuerden MSS. ii, 268, B. i. Simon 

 de Bickerstath was a witness ; the date is 

 about 1260. 



3 Assize R. 408, m. 70. 



* He appears to have succeeded in 

 1292, for a suit in that year was brought 

 by Thomas Whitehead to recover from 

 Ralph son of Adam de Bickerstath, 'chief 

 lord of the vill,' the * improvement ' which 

 Adam had just successfully claimed ; 

 Assize R. 408, m. 24. For a suit by Ralph, 

 see the same roll (m. "^J d). Ralph was 

 certainly holding the manor in 1297, at 

 the death of Edmund, earl of Lancaster ; 

 Inq. and Extents^ 287. 



^ P.R.O. List, 72 ; Pink and Beavan, 

 Lanes, Pari. Represent. 16. He was in 

 1306 styled Sir Ralph de Bickerstath; 

 Scarisbrick D. n. 46. 



^ Rymer, Foedera (Syllabus, i, 180). 



7 Palgrave, Pari. Writs, ii (2), 392, 

 &c. Maud, widow of Ralph de Bicker- 

 stath, made a claim against Alice, widow 

 of Geoffrey de Cuerdale, as to lands 

 in Little Layton ; De Banc. R. 235, 

 m. 166. 



8 Dods. MSS. ix, 231. The abbot of 

 Cockersand granted his lands in Bicker- 

 staffe to Simon de Bickerstath (who seems 

 to have resigned them later) for rent of 

 zs. sterling ; on the decease of himself or 

 any of his heirs succeeding to the lands 

 half a mark was to be paid, and 41. on the 

 death of a wife. Sir Ralph de Bickerstath 

 and Adam his son and heir confirmed this 

 arrangement. An agreement as to bounds 

 was made in 1302; Cockersand Chartul. 

 ii, 548-50- 



To Simon son of Orm Ralph granted 

 for life common of pasture and all other 

 liberties in Bickerstaffe. A little later he 

 gave to Simon son of Simon de Bicker- 

 stath * all the land which Simon the father 

 had held of Adam, the grantor's father, by 

 hereditary right,* for a rent of i \d.-^ Kuer- 

 den MSS. ii, 268, B. 10, B. 22. There 

 were probably other Ralphs besides those 

 mentioned. One of these was witness to 

 some Burscough charters in the first half 

 of the thirteenth century ; Dep. Keeper^ s 

 Rep. xxxvi, App. 201. 



In 1290 Ralph de Bickerstath com- 

 plained that Adam de Rainford and others 

 had disseised him of a messuage and land 

 in Bickerstaffe ; on inquiry, however, the 

 land was found to be in Rainford ; Assize 

 R. 1288, m. 12. He made a similar com- 

 plaint against John le Waleys of Uplither- 

 land and others ; and the land in dispute 

 was found to lie partly in Aughton and 

 partly in Bickerstaffe; ibid. m. 12. The 

 plaintiff may have been Ralph son of Adam, 

 though his father was still living. In 1 294 

 Stephen de Bickerstath, Stephen de Ren- 

 acres and others were accused of a similar 

 offence against Ralph de Bickerstath ; it 

 was stated that Stephen had sold the lands 

 one Sunday at the hour of vespers for 22 

 marks ; Assize R. 1299, m. i^d. Later 

 (13 1 3-14) Ralph de Bickerstath, Simon 

 son of Stephen de Renacres, and others 

 were accused of depriving Robert son of 

 Simon de Bickerstath of common of pas- 

 ture ; and the same Simon de Renacres 

 brought an action against Ralph and 

 others ; Assize R. 424, m, i d. 6 and 



In the Extent of 1323-4 Ralph de 

 Bickerstath is returned as the lord of the 

 manor, holding it in thegnage by the ser- 

 vice of 5^. and doing suit to the county 

 and wapentake ; Dods. MSS. cxxxi, 36. 



5 Dods. MSS. xvii, 40; dated 1320. 

 He was a defendant in a suit 1319-20 ; 

 Assize R. 424, m. 9. A release in 

 1 321-2 by Adam son of Ralph de 

 Bickerstath is given by Kuerden (ii, 269, 

 n. 49). In the roll of the Foreign rent 

 of Derbyshire, 17 Edw. II, Adam was 

 holding the manor. 



Adam's name as a witness occurs in 

 the Scarisbrick D. from 1319 to 1346; 

 nn. 52, 75. He was one of the West 

 Derby jurors summoned, but absent, in 



277 



1 331; Assize R. 1404. In 1346 he 

 held Bickerstaffe by the old services ; 

 Survey (Chet. Soc), 34. 



^^ Henry de Bickerstath was knight of 

 the shire in 1339; Pink and Beavan, 

 op. cit. 27. 



11 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.], ii, 80. Simon de Renacres and 

 Richard his son put in a claim. See also 

 De Banc. R. 284, m. 131 ^. 



'^'^ In the Scarisbrick D. from 1359 to 

 1365; nn. 86, 98. In 1355 he was 

 defendant in a suit ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 4, m. 13. In 1366 he sub- 

 scribed I zd. toward the stipend of a 

 priest at Ormskirk 5 Misc. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 1 14. He may be 

 the Ralph de Bickerstath who held part 

 of a fee in Bretherton In 1346 ; Exch. 

 Lay Sub. Lanes, bdle. 130, n. 16. 



^3 Assize R. 441, m. 6 d. 



" Adam was a witness to Scarisbrick D. 

 between 1369 and 1388; n. 103, 125. 

 For the settlement on his daughter see 

 Dods. MSS. cxlii, 252^; Sir William de 

 Atherton was a witness. In 1379 he 

 was rated at 5;. in respect of his lands 

 at Bickerstaffe; Harl. MS. 2085, fol. 

 42 li. In 1370 he and his wife Elizabeth 

 were defendants in a suit brought by 

 Richard son of John son of Stephen de 

 Bickerstath ; De Banc. R. 438, m. 321. 

 In June, 1371, he obtained a licence for 

 an oratory in his manor-house at Bicker- 

 staffe ; Lich. Epis. Reg. v, 25^. 



^^ Pink and Beavan, op. cit. 45. 



^^ The writ of Diem cl. extr. was 

 issued 20 Nov. 1420 ; Dep, Keeper's Rep. 

 xxxiii, App. 19. The bishop of Lichfield 

 granted Nicholas de Atherton licence for 

 an oratory in his manor of Bickerstaffe in 

 September, 1389 ; Lich. Epis. Reg. vi, 

 1 25^. This was probably soon after 

 he came into possession. His will was 

 made in 141 5. He made bequests to 

 the four orders of friars, to various 

 chaplains and clerks, also to his son 

 Nicholas, Joan daughter of Nicholas 

 Atherton, Hugh Atherton, Peter Boyer, 

 and Ellen formerly wife of John de 

 Walton. It was proved in 1420 ; 

 K-uerden MSS. ii, 268i, n. 24. Beside 

 the son named he had others, Ralph and 

 James ; the former had pardon for the 

 murder of Robert le Walsh in 1401-2 ; 

 Add. MS. 32108, n. 1510, 



