WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



WARRINGTON 



Between 121 2 and 1242 a moiety of the adjoining 

 manor of Glazebrook was acquired and remained in 

 the possession of the Rixtons and their successors ; 

 the combined holding was called the fifth part of a 

 knight's fee ;* and in the later inquisitions the service 

 is variously stated as 20s. or 20s. i^d., i.e. a mark 

 for Rixton and half a mark for the moiety of Glaze- 

 brook.* Suit had to be done to the court of War- 

 rington from three weeks to three weeks, but in 1300 

 William le Boteler conceded that for the future only 

 one beadle need attend, instead of two.' The en- 

 franchisement of the manor was obtained in 1598. 



In the autumn of 1332 Alan de Rixton made a 

 settlement of his manors and lands, his daughters 

 Katherine, Sibyl, Elizabeth, Emma, Maud, Margaret, 

 and Agnes, and their heirs male having the succession 



in turn/ The first of these about the same time 

 married Hamlet, son of Robert de Mascy of Tatton 

 in Cheshire,*^ and their descendants continued in 

 possession down to the end of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury. Hamlet died about 1360,** and was succeeded 

 by his son Richard, who made a feoffment of the 

 manors of Rixton and Glazebrook in 1384/ Other 

 of Richard de Mascy's charters have been preserved, 

 and he gave evidence in the Scrope c. Grosvenor trial 

 in 1386.® He died before 1406,° leaving two sons, 

 Hamlet and Peter, who married the daughters and 

 coheirs of William de Horton of Hartford in 

 Cheshire.^" 



Hamlet succeeded his father at Rixton," and added 

 to his possessions there by purchasing the lands of 

 Richard the Smith." He had several sons, of whom 



son of another Alan de Rixton ; Assize R. 

 408^ m. 63 t/. 



From the Mascy of Rixton deeds he 

 se^ms to have lived until 1315 j R> 50. 

 In 1303 he granted lands in Lowton, &c. 

 to Henry son of Richard de Glazebrook, 

 in view (it appears) of the marriage of 

 Henry's son with his daughter Isabel, and 

 this grant was in 1335 confirmed to 

 Henry de Byrom by his son Alan de 

 Rixton ; ibid, R. 63 ; Kuerden fol. MS. 

 364. The latter Alan in 1332 gave to 

 Robert son of Alan de Rixton, as trustee, 

 his manor of Rixton and moiety of Glaze- 

 brook. with the homages of Alan del Shaw 

 in Rixton, and others, at the yearly rent 

 of ;^200 of silver; Mascy D, R, 55. 

 Richard de Rixton attested another deed 

 of this date; R. 57. In the same 

 year Alan de Rixton, William de Rixton, 

 and others contributed to the subsidy ; 

 Exch^ Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), II, 



Various families with this surname 

 appear in later times. The last-named 

 William de Rixton was probably a son of 

 an Alan de Rixton to whom his father 

 granted lands in Glazebrook ; Mascy D. 

 R, 20, A Richard de Rixton who had 

 been accused of the murder of John, son 

 of Henry de Whittle, in 1348 brought an 

 action for false imprisonment ; De Banco 

 R. 355, m, igd. Avina, widow of 

 Richard del Bruche, in 1355 did not pro- 

 secute her suit against Sir William le 

 Boteler and Matthew son of Richard de 

 Rixton ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 4, 

 m. 13. 



William son of Matthew de Rixton in 

 1384 sold all his lands in Rixton and 

 Glazebrook to Richard de Mascy ; Mascy 

 D. R. 83. William de Rixton died in 

 1400, holding lands in Warrington, Sankey, 

 Penketh, Parr, and Sutton, and leaving as 

 next of kin and heir Richard son of John 

 de Townley, thirteen years of age ; 

 Towneley MS. DD, n. 1512 (from which 

 it appears that this William had had 

 brothers, John and Gilbert, who in turn 

 succeeded). Another version of the in- 

 quisition, is given in Lanes, Inq, p. m, 

 (Chet. Soc.), i, 159, showing that Wil- 

 liam's daughter Isabel married John de 

 Townley, 



John de Rixton occurs in 1390 ; Bea- 

 mont, op. cit. p, 213. Nicholas and Wil- 

 liam de Rixton gave evidence at the Scrope 

 V. Grosvenor trial, 1386-9; Ibid, 222 

 (quoting Nicholas, i, 248). Nicholas de 

 Rixton and Isabel widow of Matthew 

 de Rixton occur in a grant by Sir 

 John le Boteler in 1385 ; Mascy D. 

 W. 34, in Trans. Hist, Soc. (New Ser.), 

 iv, 162. The heiress of William de Rix- 



ton is said to have married William de 

 Troutbeck ; she is named as Joan his 

 daughter in the pedigree in Ormerod, C*6m. 

 ii, 41, 42. John de Rixton in 1404 had the 

 king's protection, he being in Picardy in 

 the retinue of the earl of Somerset ; Pal, 

 of Lane, Misc. 1-9, m. 107. 



1 Inq. and Extents^ 147. The service 

 implies that Glazebrook was also a 

 plough-land. 



^ See the Mascy Inq, quoted below. 



^ Mascy D. W. 13, in Trans. Hist. Soc. 

 (New Ser,), iv, 158. Alan's service was 

 to be puture of one beadle, *• bode and 

 witness ' ; he was to be acquitted of all 

 his wastes and clearings, also of stallage 

 and * flortol.' 



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

 Ches.), ii, 86 ; after Alan's daughters the 

 remainder was to Richard de Rixton. 



^ In the following account full use has 

 been made of the carefully compiled essay 

 by Mrs. Arthur Cecil Tempest on the 

 ' Descent of the Mascys of Rixton,* in 

 Tram. Hist. Soc, (New Ser.), iii, 59-158, 

 and of the Mascy D. ibid, iv, 156-76 

 (W. 1-119), as also of other family deeds. 



The marriage covenant is dated 18 Jan. 

 1332-3 ; Hamlet was to pay ^^40 and 

 Alan was to grant the moiety of the 

 manor of Glazebrook to his daughter and 

 her husband, receiving it back as their 

 tenant at a rent of four marks a year ; 

 Mascy D. R, 60, The seal bears a shield 

 having a bend charged with three cups, 

 and the legend sig* alani de rixtvn. 



Hamlet and Katherine were probably 

 married the same day, the grant of the 

 moiety of the manor speaking of them as 

 man and wife ; ibid. R. 57. The lease to 

 Alan de Rixton was made about a month 

 later ; ibid, R. 57^. 



Alan de Rixton had previously granted 

 the same moiety of Glazebrook to his son 

 Alan in view of his marriage with Eliza- 

 beth, apparently a Radcliffc, but the 

 younger Alan having died, an agreement 

 was made in May, 1333, with John son 

 of Richard de Radcliffe to secure Hamlet 

 and Katherine from interference ; ibid. 

 R. 59. Elizabeth or Isabel was living in 

 1364, when she demised to John de Mascy 

 all her messuages, lands, rents and ser- 

 vices in Rixton and Glazebrook ; ibid. 

 R. 66. 



Alan de Rixton, the father of Katherine, 

 in 1335 made an agreement with Henry 

 de Byrom respecting lands in Lowton, &c.; 

 ibid. R. 63. This seems to be the latest 

 occurrence of his name. 



6 In 1 341 Hamlet, son of Robert de 

 Mascy of Tatton, with others entered into 

 a recognizance touching the farm of the 

 manor of Frodsham ; Dep, Keeper's Rep. 



335 



xxxvi, App. 463. His widow Katherine 

 is named in 1360; Dep, Keeper* 5 Rep, 

 xxxii, App. 340. 



See also Ormerod, Ches, (ed, Helsby), 

 i, 441. De Mascy appears to be the cor- 

 rect form of the surname, though le Mascy 

 became common. The old spelling of 

 Mascy has been retained throughout, but 

 Massey or Massie became the rule in the 

 sixteenth century, 



7 Mascy D. R, 77. Various releases 

 to Richard de Mascy were made in 1386, 

 and in December he made a feoffment of 

 the lands in Rixton and Glazebrook he 

 had acquired from William son of Mat- 

 thew de Rixton ; ibid. R. 78-83. The 

 trustee in 1395 regranted to him the 

 manor of Rixton and lands in Glazebrook, 

 Bowdon, and Rostherne. 



In 1385 Richard de Mascy of Rixton 

 was to have taken part in John of Gaunt's 

 Spanish expedition, but refused to go ; 

 yisie. of 1533 (Chet. Soc), 221 «. ; Bea- 

 mont, Halton Rec. 22, His substitutes 

 seem to have been Thomas de Torbock 

 of Melling, and William de Bredbury, re- 

 ceipts for wages due being given in 1390 ; 

 Mascy D. R. 84, W. 35, 



8 Trans. Hist, Soc. (New Ser.), iii, 63 ; 

 he was then thirty-eight years of age. 



8 He was living In 1400 when he 

 granted lands in Cheshire to his son Peter 

 pending the division of the estate of Wil- 

 liam de Horton between daughters Ellen 

 and Margaret, who were already married 

 to Richard's sons Hamlet and Peter ; 

 Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), iii, 68, quot- 

 ing Dods. MSS. xli, fol. 91, In this he 

 names Maud his wife. In 1403 Hamlet 

 son of Richard de Mascy of Rixton and 

 Maud de Oulton, heirs of John de Oulton, 

 lately deceased, appointed proctors to act 

 for them ; Mascy D, R. 89. An attempt 

 was unsuccessfully made about that time 

 to prove John de Oulton's daughters ille- 

 gitimate ; and Maud de Oulton was prob- 

 ably the widow of Richard de Mascy and 

 mother of Hamlet ; see Ormerod, Ches. 

 (ed, Helsby), ii, 187, 190, Maud, widow 

 of Richard, was living in 1414 ; Dep, 

 Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App, II, 8oi. 



10 See last note and compare Ormerod, 

 Ches. ii, 1 9 8 ; from this it appears that Peter 

 de Mascy afterwards married an Ellen, 

 who in 1435 was the wife of John de 

 Parr, and that he left a daughter and heir 

 Isabel, 



11 In 1407 and 1409 the different 

 feoffees restored to Hamlet all the lands 

 in Rixton, Glazebrook, and elsewhere 

 which they held by the grant of his father 

 Richard and himself; Mascy D. R. 91, 

 92. 



12 Ibid. R. 96, 97. 



