WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



AUGHTON 





it was sold' to John Charnock of Farington.' In 

 1613 it was sold by Robert Charnock to Thomas 

 Bickerstath. The latter by his will gave all his lands 

 to his son Robert — his eldest i uojbao .. 

 by his first wife — excepting the 

 Cock Beck estate, which he 

 gave to John, one of his sons 

 by his second marriage, and it 

 was quickly sold to Henry Pye 

 of Aughton. The Middlewood 

 estate descended from Robert 

 Bickerstath to his nephew, an- 

 other Robert, who also died 

 childless ; it then passed to Beconsaw. SaiU, a 



Thomas, half-brother to the cross fatle and in sinister 



former Robert, and was sold by chief an escallop argent. 

 his great-grandson Robert to 



John Dannett, whose son (the Rev. Henry Dannett 

 of Liverpool) sold it to an ancestor of the present 

 ovyner. Major Hughes of Sherdley in Sutton.' 



Another Bickerstath family acquired an estate 

 before 1326, when Henry de Bickerstath contributed 

 y. to the subsidy. He appears to have been son of 

 a Simon de Bickerstath, and his own son was Henry, 

 to whom on his marriage with Margaret, daughter of 

 Richard de Sankey, the father gave lands in Aughton 

 and BickerstaiFe.' Father and son dying without 

 further issue, Richard de Sankey in 1361 released to 

 John son of Simon de Bickerstath all his lands, mills, 

 &c., wardships and reliefs, with remainder to John 

 Bas of London and Margaret his wife.' John's 

 widow Alice de Bickerstath was afterwards placed in 

 possession of certain of her husband's lands, with 

 remainder to Simon son of John de Bickerstath.' 

 Gilbert occurs in 1408 ; and Joan widow of John 

 held part of the lands in dower in 1479, Nicholas 

 Bickerstath being in possession of the remainder. 

 The estates were in this year settled upon Nicholas, 

 with remainders to his two sons, two brothers, and 



the four sons of Gilbert Bickerstath.' Hugh, one of 

 his sons, succeeded Nicholas, and in 1498-9 released 

 to Miles Gerard of London, gentleman, twelve 

 messuages, 200 acres of land, 100 acres of meadow, 

 and 200 acres of pasture in Bickerstaffe and Aughton.' 

 GERJRD'S HJLL takes its name from this family. 



Nothing is known of the ancestry of Miles Gerard ; 

 in his will " he describes himself as having been born 

 in Ormskirk. At the inquest in 1522, taken after his 

 death, it was found that he held lands, &c. in Aughton 

 of Alice Griffith and Margery Stanley in socage, by 

 the yearly rent of 6d., and 

 another parcel called the Halt 

 Heyve Wood, of James Brad- 

 shagh, by the service of id. 

 yearly. Peter Gerard, clerk, 

 was his brother and heir, and 

 over fifty years of age.'° 



By the will of Miles Gerard 

 the estate descended to his 

 natural son Lionel," whose son 

 and heir Miles Gerard was in 

 1599 accused of withholding 

 a rent due to the chantry of 

 St. Mary Magdalen in Ormskirk 



church.'* Henry Mossock of Bickerstaffe made com- 

 plaints against him and his son Thomas in 1584." 

 This Thomas Gerard died in 1 595 or i 599, before his 

 father, leaving a son Miles, about ten years of age." 



Miles Gerard the elder deceased in June, 1602 ; 

 by his will he desired to be buried in the parish 

 church of Aughton ' near his ancestors,' and be- 

 queathed ' all his harness and his cross bow ' to his 

 grandson Miles, and a dagger to Paul, one of his 

 younger sons." Miles Gerard the younger died 

 28 December, 1616,'' and was succeeded by his 

 eldest son Thomas, then a minor, not thirteen years 

 of age. Thomas Gerard paid double to the subsidy 

 of 1628 as a convicted recusant." What became of 



Gerard of Aughton. 

 AzurCf a lion rampant 

 ermine croivned or. 



^ Pal. of Lane. Feet ofF. bdle. 17, m. 74. 

 Part of the estate was sold to Ireland of 

 Lydiate, who resold it to Sir Richard 

 Molyneux. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, n. 35. 



^ Among the iield names are Bastenhead, 

 Bangart, and Willfield. 



James Bickersteth, a brother of this 

 last-named Robert, settled in Kendal, and 

 became the ancestor of Bishop Bickersteth 

 of Ripon, Bishop Bickersteth of Exeter, 

 Lord Langdale, Master of the Rolls, and 

 other distinguished men, 



■• Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 269*, n. 63. 



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

 Ches.), ii, 182. 



6 Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 286*, n. 2. 



' Ibid. fol. 2684, n. 27. 



s Ibid. n. 26 ; also fol. MS. 462. 

 Hugh's sisters, Katherine Mossock and 

 Margary Faldering, released their claim 

 in 1 5 14-15. 



' P.C.C. 29, Mainwaring. It is dated 

 I June, 1518. He is called citizen and 

 fishmonger of London. He left money 

 to Ormskirk church, including ^^4 for a 

 priest there to pray for his soul and the 

 soul of Hugh Bickerstath and all Chris- 

 tian souls for ever ; also to 'the new 

 chapel founded by the Fishmongers in 

 St. Michael's in Crooked Lane (London) 

 and built, I being their warden and chief 

 deviser thereof, and for my "lestow" there 

 I bequeath a silver gilt chalice of the 

 value of ,^8 sterling to serve in the said 

 chapel.' His lands in Ormskirk, Augh- 



ton, Ashton, Liverpool, and Wigan were 

 to go to his illegitimate son Lionel, with 

 remainder to his daughter Barbara, also 

 base ; for default of heirs, to Miles son of 

 Godfrey Gerard, * my brother.* There 

 was also a daughter Pernell. His brother 

 Sir Piers was to be guardian of the 

 children. His lands in Hertfordshire 

 were to be sold. Sir Thomas Seymour 

 was one of the executors and Sir Henry 

 Wyatt the overseer. 



10 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, n. 43. 

 At the inquest after Peter's death, made 

 in 1529, it was found that Miles son of 

 Godfrey Gerard was his heir, and aged 

 twenty-six and more ; ibid, vi, n. 58. 



1^ For the abduction of his wife Grace 

 see above, under Litherland. In Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet, of F. bdle. 13, m. 127, is a 

 feoffment by Lionel Gerard. Miles his 

 son and heir apparent appears with Lionel 

 Gerard and his wife Grace in 1574; ibid, 

 bdle. 36, m. 29. 



12 He admitted that Peter Gerard by 

 his will in 1528 desired an annual pay- 

 ment of 46i. to be made to Roger Siiaw, 

 priest, for his life, and gave ^^20 to the 

 building of St. Mary Magdalen's Chapel 5 

 but denied that any permanent endow- 

 ment was made or intended, his father 

 and himself having enjoyed the lands, 

 after Roger Shaw's death, without any 

 burden upon them ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Pleas, Eliz. cxc, W. 12. 



•8 Ibid, exxx, M. 8. 



" The widow Dorothy claimed the 



Gerard tenements in Aughton, Ormskirk, 

 and elsewhere, including burgages and 

 gardens lying outside the Northgate of 

 Chester, in right of her marriage settle- 

 ment. She complained that her son was 

 being badly trained, spending his time ' in 

 dissolute and unbridled manner without 

 learning or virtuous education,' and was 

 not suitably clothed ; ibid, ccxi, G. 4. 



IS Will at Chester dated 31 May, 1602 ; 

 proved 24 June. The inventory (9 June) 

 shows a total of ^^60 %s. 



^^ He held four messuages and land 

 in Aughton of Bartholomew Hesketh and 

 John Starkie ; also two cottages built on 

 land recently improved from the waste, of 

 the king, in right of his duchy, by th 

 300th part of a knight's fee. He had 

 other houses and lands in Ormskirk, 

 Burscough, Bickerstaffe, Lathom, and 

 Formby ; also in Ashton in Makerfield, 

 Liverpool, and Chest. Sec Lanes. Inq. p.m, 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 46-8. 



17 Norris D. (B.M.). He did not 

 persevere. The troubles of the Civil 

 War period seem to have made him ready 

 to swear or abjure anything in order to 

 preserve his property. At the beginning 

 of the war, being one of the trained 

 bands, he had been 'enforced' to take 

 arms against the Parliament. Sequestra- 

 tion followed and he compounded, paid a 

 fine of £^0, and was discharged in 1648. 

 He took the National Covenant in 1644 

 and again in 1646, and the Negative 

 Oath also. Next came the more serious 



