A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



to Gabriel's son and heir Bartholomew in 1573. 



G.ihriel Hesketh died zi November, 1573,' and his 



holding is described in the subsequent inquisition as 



four messuages, land, &c. held 



of Henry Starkie of Aughton, 



by a rent of 3/. id. ; other 



land in Aughton held of James 



Scarisbrick by a rent of 6/. zd. ; 



lands, &c. in Uplitherland held 



of the queen in socage by a 



rent of \s. ^d. Bartholomew 



Hesketh was his son and heir, 



and twenty-nine years of age.' 



Soon after his father's death 

 Bartholomew Hesketh was in- 

 volved in disputes with his 

 stepmother Elizabeth ' and half- 

 sisters.* Much more serious 

 trouble fell upon the family through their adherence 

 to the Roman Catholic religion. Among those who 

 attended the ministrations of a Cistercian monk 

 (Dominic Halsall) at North Meols Hall in 1577 were 

 Mr. Bartholomew Hesketh of Aughton and his second 

 wife Margaret,^ daughter of a noteworthy victim of 

 the persecution — Sir John Southworth. Mrs. Hes- 

 keth was at this time returned by the bishop of 

 Chester as 'a busy recusant.' She acted so 

 undisguisedly that in 1584 Walsingham wrote 

 to the bishop of Chester touching her ' bad 

 disposition,' and ' how she did much hurt in being at 

 liberty to go (as she used to do) where she would 

 among recusants and like persons.' ' She was accord- 



Hesketh of Augh- 

 ton. Argent., on a hend 

 sable cotised gules three 

 garbs or. 



ingly arrested at Meols Hall and confined in the New 

 Fleet in Salford. The husband, though returned in 

 1590 as 'in some degree of conformity," was reported 

 about the same time for having ' kept for sundry yean 

 now together one Gabriel Shaw to be his school- 

 master, which Shaw is most malicious against true- 

 hearted subjects.' ' 



Bartholomew Hesketh died in February, 1600, 

 and W.1S succeeded by his son Gabriel,' who died, 

 outlawed, about the end of 161 5. His widow Jane 

 renounced executorship of his will on 8 December, 

 and at an inquiry made in the following March an 

 account was taken of his goods, which were seized to 

 the king's use.'" Gabriel's son Bartholomew was his 

 heir, being about fifteen years of age." In the civil 

 war Bartholomew Hesketh '* escaped any penalties 

 until, upon some charge of ' delinquency,' his estate 

 was seized at the beginning of 1652." 



Gabriel Hesketh, who succeeded to the manor and 

 other estates of his father about 1672, quickly fell 

 into financial difficulties. He mortgaged or sold his 

 estate to his j'ounger brother Alexander, who seems 

 to have taken up his residence at Aughton and kept 

 the place in repair." In 1682 Gabriel demanded the 

 estate from his brother, offering £t.oo, on the 

 allegation that he had merely mortgaged it, and had 

 a right to redeem it ; but Alexander contended that 

 the bargain was absolute, and retained the whole." 

 He does not seem to have prospered." In 171 8 

 he and his son Thomas joined in the sale of the hall 

 and demesne of Aughton and all other their lands in 

 Uplitherland and Aughton to John Plumbe of Waver- 



' An abstract of his will it in Wills 

 (Ch«. Soc. New Ser.) i, 211. 



' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, n. 32. 

 Gabriel's first wife, the mother of Bar- 

 tholomew, was Jane Halsall, sister and 

 ultimately co-heir of Henry Halsall ; see 

 the account of Melling. The second 

 son. Sir Thomas, made a fortune by the 

 law and purchased Heslington in York- 

 shire, where he was succeeded by his 

 younger brother Cuthbert ; Wills (Chet. 

 Soc. New Ser.), ii, 165. 



As no 'manor of Uplitherland' is 

 mentioned and the annual service is 

 changed, it will be proper to add the 

 account of its possession as given by 

 Bartholomew Hesketh in 1 599 in reply 

 to William Bradshaw : * As for the 

 manor of Uplitherland and the messuages, 

 lands, &c., in Uplitherland and Aughton, 

 now in the tenure of the defendant or 

 his tenants or farmers (other than the 

 advowson of Aughton), the said Bartholo- 

 mew Hesketh says that he by virtue of 

 divers fines, recoveries, &c., levied and 

 suffered and made by William Bradshaw 

 the grandfather and William Bradshaw 

 the father [of plaintif}] to this defen- 

 dant's late grandfather and father or to 

 defendant, is seised in the fee of some 

 good estate of inheritance .... ever 

 since the making of the said convey- 

 ances, part whereof were made in the 

 time of Hen. VIII and Edw. VI, and 

 the rest in Queens Mary and Elizabeth ' ; 

 Duchv of Lane Pleadings, Eliz. cxcii, 

 B.35.' 



' She afterwards married William 

 Gerard, the licence being granted i June, 

 1576 ; Pennant's Acct. Bk. at Chest. 



■* These had leases of lands and tithes, 

 and it appeared that they had been pre- 

 vented from carrying the produce, and had 

 only made a way by force ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Pleadings, Eliz. Ixxxvii, H. 11, 16. 



* Both arc in the bishop of Chester's 

 report of 1577; Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 

 216. The marriage licence was granted 

 20 September, 1575; Pennant's Acct. 

 Bk. The first wife was Elizabeth, 

 daughter of Sir William Norris of Speke ; 

 her son Gabriel was baptized in 1574. 



^ Desiderata Curiosa (ed. 1779), bk. iv, 

 149. 



7 Gibson, op. cit. 245. 



8 Ibid. 258. Here Mr. Hesketh is 

 described as * of New Hall.' 



• He recorded a pedigree in 1613 ; 

 yisit. (Chet. Soc), 22. 



i» Wills (Chet. Soc. New Ser.), i, 212 ; 

 and Testimony (1619) in the Dioc. Reg. 

 at Chester. Margaret Hesketh, probably 

 his step-mother, was the administratrix. 



" Aged 64 in 1664 ; pedigree recorded 

 by Dugdale, Fisit. (Chet. Soc), 134. 



Jane Hesketh died about the end of 

 1622 ; among her bequests is one of *my 

 best heifer' to Gabriel Shaw. Will at Chest. 



" He paid ^10 on refusing knight- 

 hood in 1631 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 212. 



By fine in Lent, 1641, a settlement 

 was made of the manors of Aughton and 

 Uplitherland, and the advowson of Augh- 

 ton, Bartholomew Hesketh and Alice his 

 wife, and Alexander Hesketh being 

 deforciants ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 138, m. 35. 



" Royalist Comp. P. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), iii. 185-6. No mention is 

 made of recusancy, but his son Gabriel 

 was described as 'a papist' in 1674. In 

 1665 Alice wife of Bartholomew Hesketh, 

 Gabriel Hesketh, Alice his wife, and 

 many others were presented as recusants, 

 and in 167 1 Bartholomew Hesketh him- 

 self was included ; Visit. Rec. at Chest. 



Bartholomew's will, made 22 Feb. 

 1669-70, was proved at the beginning of 

 1673 i it mentions his second wife Alice, 



294 



and his sons (by his first wife, Anne 

 Halsall) Gabriel, Bartholomew, and Alex- 

 ander ; he describes himself as *of the 

 manor of Uplitherland.' The inscription 



of the New Hall | shows that 



he had made 

 in the building 

 his son was 



1670 



alterations 

 and that 

 married. 



The younger son Bartholomew seems 

 to have died shortly afterwards (12 January, 

 1674-5), ^"^ administration was granted 

 to his brother Alexander, described as * of 

 Croston.' The inventory (preserved at 

 Chester) is noticeable : Nag, apparel, 

 trunk, colt ; books ^^ 5 j two periwigs j^i; 

 his picture that hangeth in the gallery 

 ^i ; the total was ^^14 141. 



^* At the time of the bargain (1675) 

 Gabriel was a prisoner in the Counter 

 in London, and on the 'common* or 

 poor man*8 side ; there were fourteen 

 actions against him. Through a friend, 

 Cuthbert Gerard of Garswood, he was 

 relieved and transferred to the Fleet. 

 His brother soon afterwards procured his 

 release, paying ;^i3o for him. It 

 appeared that Gabriel had been living in 

 Falcon Court, London, in great splendour 

 all the previous winter, being known as 

 * the great esquire Hesketh of Lancashire.* 

 A few years later he was anxious to join 

 the earl of Macclesfield's regiment ; see 

 Duchy of Lane. Depos. 1682, n. 3. 



^ Ibid. The estate was described as 

 worth 'about ^^loo or £110 a year, and 

 to be an esquire's estate.* 



" In August, 1692, Alexander Hesketh 

 and Mary his -wife by fine remitted to 

 Thomas Earl Villiers and his heirs the 

 manors of Uplitherland and Aughton, and 

 various lands there and in Ormskirk, 

 Scarisbrick, Aspinwall, Harleton, and 

 Snape 5 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 

 229, m. 77. 



On 21 January, 1705-6, he wrote to 



