A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



or more.' Little is recorded of Henry Atherton' ; 

 he had four sons — Hamlet or Hamnet, his successor, 

 William, Henr)', and Charles. Hamlet had a son 

 Thomas,' whose heir was his daughter Margaret, 

 born about i486.' 



The heiress married James Scarisbrick, a younger 

 son of James Scarisbrick (who died about 1495), lord 

 of Scarisbrick. She died on 18 January, 1517-18, 

 leaving an infant daughter Elizabeth as heir to the 

 Bickerstath properties.^ Elizabeth Scarisbrick, born 

 about the beginning of 1 5 16, married Peter, a younger 

 son of Sir William Stanley of Hooton, and died about 

 1560, leaving an only daughter Margaret as heir. 



Peter Stanley married again, but retained Bickerstafte 

 during his life ' by the courtesy of England.'* 



Margaret Stanley married in 1563 Henry Stanley 

 of Little Hall in Aughton and Cross Hall in Lathom. 

 He was a younger son of Sir James Stanley, marshal 

 of Ireland in the time of Henry \'III, who was 

 third son of George, Lord Strange of Knockyn, 

 and brother of the second carl of Derby.' Henry 

 Stanley, dying in 1598,* was succeeded by his 

 eldest son Edward, created a baronet by Charles I 

 in 1627.° He was buried 

 1640,'° being succeeded by 

 Stanley, born in 1616. 



at 

 his 



Ormskirk 4 May, 

 son Sir Thomas 



1 Towneley MS. DD. n. njj. The 

 tenure of Bickerstatfe was described as 



* in socage by the service of 51. yearly *j 

 it was worth 20 marlcs yearly. The 

 writ of Diem cl. extr. was issued on 

 15 Mar. 1424 ; Dtp. Keeper i Rep. xxxiii, 

 App. 25. Besides the heir he had other 

 children ; Joan, mentioned in the will of 

 Sir Nicholas ; Edmund, of Gautley ; John, 

 and perhaps Matthew also. John had 

 children — Philip, who married Joan, 

 daughter of Nicholns Hurleton ; Robert, 

 Ellen, Margery, Margaret. For these 

 sec Kuerdcn MSS. ii, 269, n. 35 j also 

 268^, &.C. In some places John is called 



* son of Sir Nicholas de Atherton knight.' 



* His marriage with Douce, a daughter 

 of Hamlet M.iscy of Rixton, was arranged 

 in 1430. Mascy of Rixton D. R. 150. 

 He had some variance with John Atherton 

 about 1441 ; Kuerdcn MSS. ii, 268i, 

 nn. 14, 16 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 5, m. 2. 

 Henry was living in 1461, and apparently 

 in 1474 (Cockersund Cbarlul. ii, 668 ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Plea R. 44, m. l 3 </.), but Hamlet 

 is given as tenant in the feodary of 1483. 

 Hamlet and William Atherton of Bicker- 

 staffe were accused of being concerned in 

 the death of Robert Derbyshire ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Plea R. 28, m. gd. 



' Kuerden MSS. ii, 268*, n. 12. 

 Living in 1479. 



* The inquest after the death of 

 Thomas Atherton, taken in 1515, shows 

 that he died in 1514, holding the 

 manor of Bickerstath in socage by a 

 rent of 5/. ; and numerous scattered 

 lands, chiefly within the hundred. His 

 daughter and heir Margaret was of the 

 age ol 30 years ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. IV, «. 68. An account of the 

 descent from the younger Nicholas 

 Atherton will be found in Duchy Pleadings 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 27-51. 

 Ralph, a younger brother of Nicholas, 

 died in 146 1 without legitimate issue, 

 w-hen his property was taken by Henr\, 

 as son and heir of the elder brother, 

 and descended to Hamlet and Thomas. 

 In 1^06, however, Ralph, son and heir 

 of Humphrey Atherton, put in his 

 claim j but it was shown that Humphrey's 

 lather. Piers, was one of four illegitimate 

 children of Ralph Atherton. Janet, 

 widow of Gilbert Walsh, was another ; 

 she was then 58 years of age. The writ 

 Diem cl. extr. for Ralph Atherton was 

 issued in July, 1461 ; Dcp. Keeper's Rep. 

 xxxvii, App. 176. 



Some Athertons continued to reside 

 in Bickerstaffe. Philip Atherton, son 

 and heir of Arthur Atherton, was sum- 

 moned to Lancaster in 1541 ; he brought 

 a complaint against Go\vther Scarisbrick 

 in 1550; Pal. of Lane. Writi, Lent, 

 5; Hen. VIII ; Duchy of Lane. Plead- 

 ings, Edw. VI, XXV, A. 4. 



•* Duchy ct Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, n. 92, 

 This inquisition records that in 1478 



Hamlet Bickerstath enfeoffed Sir William 

 Stanley and others of various tenements 

 in Bickerstaffe, and the feoffees im- 

 mediately transferred them to Alice 

 Stanley, wife of Hamlet, for her life, with 

 remainder to Thomas Atherton his son 

 and heir. The whole estate is described 

 as the manor of Bickerstaffe, with a 

 hundred messuages, a windmill, a thousand 

 acres of land, also meadow, pasture, wood, 

 turbary, furze and heath, and marsh, with 

 20J. rent in Bickerstaffe, Ormskirk, Bur- 

 scough, Aughton, Lydiate, BiUinge, Rain- 

 ford, Mossborough, Whiston, Sutton by 

 Prescot, Dalton by Lathom, and Little 

 Eccleston. Thomas Atherton in 1511 

 gave these lands to feoffees to fulfil his 

 will, and next year made an estate of 20 

 marks value to the benefit of his daughter 

 Margery and James Scarisbrick and their 

 heirs. He also set apart certain lands 

 for the use of his wife Ellen for her life 5 

 and others for the maintenance of a 

 chaplain at the altar of the B. V. Mary 

 in Ormskirk church. The clear annual 

 value of the manor of Bickerstaffe was 

 said to be ^40 ; the ^i. rent was still 

 paid to the king (as duke) at his manor 

 of West Derby. The value of the other 

 properties was about £1 1. James Scaris- 

 brick married a second time, and his 

 heirs by this marriage ultimately suc- 

 ceeded to Scarisbrick. For his tomb in 

 Ormskirk church see Dods. MSS. cxlix, 

 68 J and Fisit. of 1533 (Chet. Soc), 171. 

 " In Eastham church was formerly the 

 inscription : ' Pray for the souls of Peter 

 Stanley of Bickerstaffe esquire, one of 

 the younger sons of William Stanley of 

 Hooton, knight, and Elizabeth his wife, 

 the daughter and heir of James Scarisbrick 

 and Margaret his wife, who was daughter 

 and heir of Thomas Atherton of Bicker- 

 staffe esquire ; which made this window 

 anno 1543, 34 Hen. VIII' ; Add. MS. 



321 II, -7*. 



There was a son and heir, Thomas 

 Stanley, who married Jane, daughter of 

 Sir Richard Molyneux of Sefton ; the 

 marriage covenant being made in 1547 ; 

 Duchyof Lane. Pleadings, Eliz. clxv, M. 6. 

 He died young and she married again ; 

 see the account of the Mossocks. 



In the reign of Elizabeth, Peter Stanley 

 made complaint that Richard Molyneux 

 of Sefton had claimed common rights in 

 Barrow within Bickerstaffe on behalf of 

 the tenants of Simonswood ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Pleadings, Eliz. Ixxxiii, S. 6. 



''Visit, of 1533 (Chet. Soc), iii. 

 Sir James Stanley, knight, was still 

 living in 1545 i Lay Subs. bdle. 130, 

 1. 136. The two eldest sons are said to 

 have died without issue. Sir George, 

 'the Black Knight of Ireland,' died in 

 December, 1570, and was buried at 

 Ormskirk ; his sons (Edward and Henry) 

 died without issue, and of his daughters 

 Mary married Robert son of Sir Robert 



278 



Heskcth of Rufford, and Agnes or Anne 

 married a Salisbury. There is in the 

 reg. at Chester a deposition by Jane 

 Stanley alias Clifton, relict of Henry 

 Stanley of Cross Hall (who died in 1590), 

 to the effect that Anne Salisbury was the 

 only sister of Henry, living in 1592, his 

 brother also being dead. Henry, the 

 youngest son, thus succeeded to Cross 

 Hall. 



•* The inquisition notices only the 

 Little Hall in Aughton, held of John 

 Starkie of Aughton by fealty and a rent 

 of \od. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, 

 n. I. Henry Stanley acquired this pro- 

 perty from Edward, son and heir apparent 

 of John Becconsall, in 1566; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle, 28, m. 215. In 

 his will he calls himself ' of Bickerstaffe ' 

 and orders his burial *in his chapel in 

 Ormskirk church and amongst his 

 ancestors ' ; his unmarried daughters 

 were to have ,^500 apiece out of Bicker- 

 staffe, * they being ruled by my wife.' 

 His lands were to go to his eldest son 

 Edward, with remainder to his second 

 son James 5 the latter was to have the 

 lease of Cross Hall and its lands granted 

 by William, earl of Derby, but was to 

 surrender it to his elder brother on being 

 placed in possession of the Little Hall 

 and a rent of ^30. He died a few days 

 after making this will, being buried at 

 Ormskirk on 28 July, 1598. His widow 

 Margaret was buried there on 2 Nov. 

 16.3. 



In 1590 Henry Stanley of Bickerstaffe 

 was reported as among the * more usual 

 comers to church, but not communicants '; 

 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 245. The Stanleys 

 seem to have conformed entirely soon 

 afterwards ; they do not appear in the 

 recusant rolls. Henry had a natural son 

 William, a prisoner for debt about 1595, 

 to whom he gave a lease of lands in 

 Bickerstaffe ; about this there was after- 

 wards a dispute between Edward Stanley, 

 the heir, and Roger Wallwork of Bicker- 

 staffe, who had been tutor and ' instructor 

 in learning' to Edward ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Pleadings, Eliz. ccvi, W. 10. 



The son James, described as of Little 

 Hall in Aughton, was a convicted re- 

 cusant ; and his estate was consequently 

 sequestered by the Parliament ; he was 

 dead in 1654; Cal. Com.for Comp.\,z()%\. 

 ^ G. E. C, Complete Baronetage, ii, 27. 

 Sir Edward was sheriff of Lanes, in 1614, 

 1626, and 1638 ; P.R.O. List, 74. At 

 Edward Stanley's court-baron of Bicker- 

 staffe, held II July, 1617, Henry Wilding 

 was fined lor. for having overcharged the 

 common of the manor with cattle. The 

 bailiff, in distraining, broke into a close 

 to seize a mare, for which he was 

 indicted at the assizes and punished ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 322, m. 11. 



>" Fun. Cert. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 207. 



