A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



terms of years by which increasing areas of cultivated 

 lands accrued to them from time to time at greatly 

 enhanced values. A fine levied in 1332 discloses the 

 fact that there were then in the manor at least fifty 

 messuages, 250 acres of land and meadow, and 

 1 1 4 acres of wood in the hands of the tenants 

 held for terms of one, two, or tliree lives.» In 

 1337 the principal tenants of the manor were 

 Matthew de Southworth, Alan de Eccleston, and 

 William Muskil.' Burtonwood was then described 

 as being neither a vill nor a hamlet.^ It seems 

 to have contained much timber at this time, for 

 in 1 3 3 1 William le Boteler sued William son of 

 William de Calverhale for 100 marks, the value 

 of trees which he had cut down here and carried 

 away.* The demesne lands were described in 

 1 416 as consisting of lands and tenements called 

 Dallum, the ' Parkes feldes,' and the Dourehey, 

 valued at £() clear, in addition to the manor- 

 house and lands of Bewsey.' At the death of 

 Sir John le Boteler, in 1463, his messuages and 

 lands here were said to be held of Lord Ferrers 

 in socage by the service of \d. yearly .' At the 

 death of Sir Thomas Boteler,' 1522, Bewsey was 

 said to be worth ^74 clear.* 



In I 580 Edward Butler alienated the manor to 

 Richard Bold of Bold," and in 1597 John Main- 

 waring and Elizabeth his wife and Sir Robert 

 Dudley and Alice his wife, to whom Edward Butler 

 had conveyed an interest in his estates in i 5 8 1 , con- 

 veyed the manor by fine to Richard Bold and Thomas 

 Ireland.'" By a subsequent division, or perhaps by 

 virtue of the respective deeds of conveyance made to 

 them. Bold acquired the manor, 

 twenty messuages, 350 acres of 

 land, meadow and pasture, and 

 300 acres of moor and turbary 

 lying near his demesne lands 

 in Bold," whilst Ireland ac- 

 quired the manor of Bewsey 

 and a reputed manor of Bur- 

 tonwood with thirty messuages, 

 1,200 acres of land, meadow 

 and pasture, and 210 acres of 

 moor, moss, and wood in Bew- 

 sey and Dallam." From this 

 time till the year 1 86 1 the 

 manor descended like the other 

 Bold family estates'' to Sir 



Henry Bold-Hoghton, the representative of that 

 family in right of his first wife. It was then sold 

 to Mr. Thomas Henry Lyon of Appleton, near 

 Daresbury, the present owner." 



The origin of the name of the mesne manor of 



BEWZET and the date of its acquisition by the 

 Botelers have been suggested above. For nearly four 

 centuries it was the abode of the lords of Warrington. 

 In 1368 William le Boteler had a licence for his 



Lyon of Appleton, 

 A^urt^ a lion passant or 

 bettveen three plates each 

 chargij ivitA a griffon s 

 head erased sable. 



Bewsey Hall, Warrington 



oratory at Bewsey." The manor-house, park, and 

 demesne lands lay within the township of Burton- 

 wood and formed part of the superior manor, but 

 some lands in Warrington and Great Sankey seem 

 to have been included in the park and demesne of 

 Bewsey." Upon the dispersal of the estates in the 

 time of Elizabeth by Edward Butler, this manor was 

 acquired by Thomas Ireland, afterwards of Bewsey, 

 from whom it has descended to John Powys, fifth 

 Baron Lilford, in the manner described under 

 Atherton." 



Bewsey Hall stands within a nearly circular moated 

 enclosure. There remains only the south end of a 

 fine house of circa 1600, which had its principal 

 front to the east, of three stories, with tall, square- 

 headed, muUioned and transomed windows. The plan 

 belongs to the stage of development when the hall is 

 represented by a small central part of the front flanked 

 by projections representing the bay and porch re- 

 spectively. Beyond these at each end projected a 

 larger gable, as in the earlier houses, but at Bewsey 

 only the large south gable and the projection repre- 

 senting the bay of the hall now remain. The stone- 

 work — of red sandstone — is in poor condition, and the 

 house preserves nothing of its ancient fittings. 



* Final C:nc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 83-5, 



^Assize R. 14.24, m. 10. 

 'Ibid. 



* De Banc. R. z%-, m. 3+- d. 



^ Lares, Inq, p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 112. 



'Ibid, ii, 74. 



" A deed of reinfeoflinent made in 1507 

 gives the names of forty-eight tenants 

 of Sir Thomas Boteler in Burtonwood ; 

 Raines MSS. xjcrviii, 315. 



=^ Duchy of Lane Inq. p.m. v, n. 13. 



»PaL of Lane Feet of F. bdle. 42, 

 m. 177 ; bdle. 4.3, m. 16. 



lojbid. bdle. 58, m. 152, 364. 



^ Richard Bold died seised of the above 

 estate here in 1636, holding the manor of 



the king as of his duchy of Lancaster in 

 socage by fealty and id. per annum ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, n. 58. 



^^ Sir Thomas Ireland died seised of 

 this estate in 1641, holding it in chief of 

 the king; ibid, xxvi, n. 58. A convey- 

 ance by fine in 1543 to the king made by 

 Sir Thomas Butler (Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdle. 12, m. 100), and a subsequent 

 grant in 1 600 by letters patent by Queen 

 Elizabeth to Humphrey Davenport and 

 others of the manor of Burtonwood, 

 Great Sankey, and Warrington, may have 

 had something to do with the creation of 

 the reputed manor held by Ireland ; Pat. 

 42 Eliz. pt. xxiii (Palmer's Ind. xv, 76). 



" Pal of Lane. Plea R. 471, m. 48 d. ; 



326 



R. 523, m. 3 i and Feet of F. bdles. 244, 

 m. 4 ; 296, m. 56 ; Docquet R. Aug. 

 37 Geo. Ill ; Aug. 43 George III ; and 

 Lent, 54 Geo. III. 



^* See Burke, Landed Gentry. 



^5 Lich. Epis. Reg. v, fol, igi. 



^^ Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 113 ; 

 ii, 49. 



1' See also W. Beamont't Annals tj 

 Warr. and Bev)sey since 1587, pp. 1 27-62, 



The manor of Bewsey now com- 

 prises the portion of the Lilford Estate 

 in Burtonwood and Little Sankey, and 

 courts were held yearly to 1888 at an inn 

 in the latter place ; Information of Lord 

 Lilford's agent, Mr. John B. Selby of 

 Leigh. 



