WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



AUGHTON 



de Bradshagh of Pennington,' and Eleanor, who 

 married Thomas de Formby. Roger de Bradshagh's 

 name appean among the attesting witnesses of charters 

 from 1 371 onwards/ 



There is some uncertainty as to the exact succession 

 at this point. Richard may have left a son,* but if so 

 he died without issue before 1372, when Eleanor had 

 brought to her husband a moiety of the estates, which 

 was settled upon them by fine in that year ; she had 

 the third part of Aughton, the fourth of Dalton, and 

 a moiety of the advowson, so that to her sister Up- 

 litherland was left.* This sister and her husband 

 Roger de Bradshagh were in possession of the whole 

 in 1 381, when they enfeoffed Richard de Sutton and 

 Henry de Bradshagh.' 



Richard, the son and heir, must have been over 

 thirty years of age when his widowed mother in 

 1 4 1 8 covenanted with Sir Henry de Scarisbrick that 

 he should marry Isabel, daughter of Sir Henry ; she 

 agreed to surrender to Richard and Isabel all her 

 manor of Uplitherland, the windmill alone being 

 reserved.* Richard's son and heir was Thomas, 

 whose name occurs in a deed of 1457—8. In 1472 

 Thomas agreed that his son Richard should marry 

 Alice, daughter of Joan the wife of William Main- 

 waring.' Thomas was succeeded by his grandson 

 James, the son of Richard and Alice. 



James Bradshagh died 28 November, 1527, his son 

 and heir William being then fourteen years of age. 

 The service of 10/. is duly recorded in the inquisi- 

 tion, which gives the value of the manor as 20 marks 



clear.' As soon as he came of age William Brad- 

 shagh ° began to dissipate his inheritance. In 1535-6 

 he demised Aughton Meadow to Brian Moorcroft, 

 clerk, who transferred it to Peter Stanley of Bicker- 

 staffe. Eight years later he sold other lands to the 

 same Peter Stanley.'" In 1551 

 he sold the manor of Uplither- 

 land, the third part of Aughton, 

 and all the demesne lands not 

 previously disposed of, to James 

 Scarisbrick of Scarisbrick ; and 

 this was confirmed by fine in 

 the following year." In 1599 

 William Bradshagh of London 

 exhibited a bill of complaint in 

 the duchy chamber, apparently 

 with a view to testing the validity 

 of his ancestor's alienations. The 

 answer of the defendants re- 

 viewed their title and disposed of any doubt as to 

 its soundness. It appears from the complaint that 

 the William Bradshaw who sold Uplitherland died 

 about 1565, leaving two sons — Edward who died 

 about 1587, and William who died a little later, 

 leaving a son, the petitioner.'^ 



James Scarisbrick held Uplitherland for less than 

 ten years, selling it to Gabriel son of Bartholomew 

 Hesketh, who had already an estate in the parish." 

 In 1 561 George and Gabriel Hesketh mortgaged the 

 manor to Edward Halsall for ;^5oo, recovering part 

 of the land two years later,'* the manor being restored 



Bradshagh. Argent^ 

 three muUets bet'ween 

 tiuo bendUts sable. 



^ Richard de Bradshagh and Chris- 

 tiana his wife had a suit concerning lands 

 in Dalton in 1352 ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 2, m. viij d. 



* Scarisbrick charters, n. 114. He 

 joined in the presentation to Aughton 

 rectory in 1369. 



^ See the presentation referred to. 



^ Final Cone. ii, 183. Eleanor 

 seems to have died without issue before 

 1381. 



^ Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iv, 223. 

 Through these trustees a settlement was 

 made three years later by fine ; the 

 succession was to be to their heirs, then 

 to the heirs male of Maud, then to Mar- 

 garet, Isabel, Katherine, Agnes, and 

 Cicely in succession, the daughters. There 

 was a third provision, that the fourth part 

 of Dalton should remain to their son 

 Thomas for life, and after his decease to 

 the heirs male of Roger and Maud, and 

 then to the heirs male of Maud and so 

 on, as before. Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. I, m. 23. For Thomas see the 

 account of Moor Hall. 



® Scarisbrick charter, n. 151. (Tram, 

 Hist, Soc. New Ser, xiii.) 



The feodary of 1430-1 shows that 

 Richard de Bradshagh was still holding 

 the manor by the ancient service ; Dods. 

 MSS. Ixxxvii, fol. 58A. 



7 Towneley MS. DD, n. 112. Pro- 

 visions for Thomas and other younger 

 sons may be seen in Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 

 269A, «. 102 ; 271, «. 40, &c. Thomas 

 Bradshagh's seal bore 'Three ^nuUets 

 between two bendlets ' ; * Crest, a bird.' 

 There are named Robinson House and 

 Moor Hall in Aughton, lands in Brook 

 Acre, Kirk Acre, and in Ormskirk and 

 Burscough, 



8 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, «. 26. 



9 One night in 1538 or 1539 William 

 Bradshagh, described as * a man of light 

 disposition and behaviour,' and 'a very 



troublous and seditious person,' with six 

 companions entered the house of Lionel 

 Gerard in Ormskirk and carried ofF 

 Lionel's wife Grace and some of his 

 goods, and took sanctuary at Ripon. The 

 aggrieved man recovered his wife and 

 some of his goods, but Bradshagh being 



* a man of great possessions, substance 

 and riches ' was able to molest and de- 

 fraud him ; Duchy Pleadings (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 124. 



10 Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 269^, n. 103, 

 107, no. 



11 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 

 139. The property included a dovecote 

 and a windmill. 



A curious remissness in the care of the 



* evidences ' is shown by an inquiry relat- 

 ing to this manor. Thomas Kirkby, 

 clerk, stated that he could make deeds 

 and other writings after copies made to 

 him } he had learned to write at school 

 and afterwards 'exercised' writing when 

 he dwelt with his master Edward Moly- 

 neux (sometime rector of Sefton). He 

 had never embezzled or forged deeds, but 

 knew that James LightoUers had an ill 

 fame for making untrue deeds and writings. 

 As to the Bradshagh deeds Edward Moly- 

 neux had had the custody of them, as 

 trustee for James Bradshaw, and they 

 were put into a basket. This basket was 

 kept locked, and had been in Kirkby's 

 custody for fourteen years or more, ever 

 since the death of Edward Molyneux, but 

 he had cut it open and sent to London 

 the writings demanded ; afterwards he 

 found some other- writings therein, and 

 sent those up to London. He had heard 

 Edward Molyneux say that whoever 

 bought William Bradshagh's lands would 

 lose both his money and the lands ; 

 and Sir William Molyneux was said to 

 have other evidences as to Uplither- 

 land ; Duchy of Lane. Depos. Edw. VI, 

 Ivii, U. 2. 



In 1582 William Bradshagh of Killing- 

 worth in Warwickshire, son of the above- 

 named William, sold to Peter Stanley of 

 Bickerstaffe the Little Meadow and an 

 acre of land in the tenure of Henry 

 Moorcroft ; Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 269^, 

 n. 109. 



12 Duchy of Lane. Pleadings, Eliz. cxeil, 

 B. 35. 



^^ In 1536 Bartholomew Hesketh,senior, 

 one of the Hesketh of Maynes family, 

 acquired Walshcroft from the Halsalls, 

 who had held it of the Bradshaghs. See 

 the Inq. p.m. of Henry Halsall, 1472 ; 

 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 87. 



Lands in DownhoUand were given for 

 it ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, n. 13 

 (Sir T. Halsall). It passed to George 

 Hesketh, who between 1543 and 1547 

 alienated it to his half-brother Gabriel, as 

 is brought out in a complaint by James 

 LightoUers of Eggergarth, gentleman, 

 who had had a lease for six years granted 

 by George Hesketh in 1543, and yet was 

 expelled by force by Gabriel Hesketh in 

 1547 ; Duchy of Lane. Pleadings, Edw. 

 VI, xxiv, L. 5, 



In 1549 Gabriel claimed, as having 

 succeeded to his brother's title, the Walsh 

 and Bradshagh estates, which had come 

 into the hands of Richard Molyneux of 

 Sefton. This claim is of interest as 

 giving a number of farm and field names : 

 Broad Hey, Akens and Pyggill, Potter's 

 Hey, Finch Hey, Whight Shaw, and 

 Whightshaw Worrall, Cuttes Heys, Par- 

 son's Heys, Marewood Heys and Banks 

 Hey ; ibid. Edw. VI, xxvl, H. 5. 



Gabriel Hesketh is called *son and 

 heir' of Bartholomew Hesketh, deceased, 

 in 1543 ; he was then a minor, and a 

 ward of the king ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Mins. Acct. (Burscough), bdle. 136, «. 

 2025-6. 



" Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 23, m. 

 120; 25, m. 7. 



