WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



family of Travers of Ridgate and Hardshaw, which 

 continued down to the beginning of the seventeenth 

 centuiy. In 1284 Roger Travers made complaint 

 that Benedict Gernet, Alan de Halsall, and others had 

 disseised him of the manor of Whiston, except one 

 messuage, and it was decreed that he should recover.' 



Roger was still living in 1 3 1 4,' but his son Robert 

 was in possession in 1324.' He received from William 

 de Dacre a confirmation of the manor of Whiston/ 

 and grants of his as late as 1348 are extant.' 



John son of Robert Travers had in 1353 a dispute 

 with the rector of Prescot as to a messuage and acre 

 of land which the latter claimed as belonging to his 

 church ; ° and there were further disputes in 1 369 

 and 1370.' Early in 1390 he made a general 

 feoffment of his manor of Whiston and lands,' which 

 his feoffees in April, 1394, regranted to John Travers 

 of Whiston and Margaret his wife, with remainder to 

 Richard, son of Thomas Travers and the heirs between 

 him and Cecily his wife, daughter of Thomas de 

 Strangeways.' Richard was probably the grandson 

 of John Traven, and very young at the time ; it is 

 not known whether the marriage then arranged ever 

 took place, but in 1408 Richard was contracted to 



PRESCOT 



Bold." 



marry Katherine, daughter of Sir John de 

 He was still living in 1444." 



John Travers, son ot Richard, appears to have 

 succeeded. By his wife Alice he had a son Thomas, 

 who in 1480 sold the manor of Whiston to Richard 

 Bold of Bold," whose descendants held it throughout 

 the sixteenth century." About 

 1600 it was acquired by the 

 Ogle family, who had long be- 

 fore commenced to purchase 

 parts of the Travers lands." 



The Ogles appear in Lan- 

 cashire in the middle of the 

 fifteenth century as stewards 

 of the manor of Prescot. John 

 Ogle, the earliest known, is 

 said to have been a son of Sir 

 Robert, first Lord Ogle, who 

 died in 1469.'" Early in 1472 

 John Ogle of Prescot purchased 



lands in Rainhill from John, son and heir of Hugh 

 Woodfall." Margaret, widow of John Ogle, and 

 Roger their son purchased lands from John Tra- 

 vers," and the family continued to prosper, becoming 



Ogle of Whiston. 

 Argent^ a jeite betvjeen 

 three crescents gules. 



' Assize R. 1265, m. 5 ; also R. iz68, 

 m. 13. 



Roger, son of Richard Travers, granted 

 to WllUam de Fegherby part of his land 

 in Whiston, called Sutton ClifF and Sour- 

 croft, with common of pasture in the 

 Holt, * which is common pasture belong- 

 ing to the vills of Eccleston, Whiston, and 

 Rainhill, and which shall for ever remain 

 common ' ; Ogle R. as above. Roger 

 also released to Alan le Norreys land in 

 Whiston between the Holt and Churchlee, 

 which had been held by Richard de Pres- 

 cot of Richard, the grantor's father, at a 

 rent of 1 id. ^ ibid. 



^ He occurs as defendant in 1292, 

 juror in 1304, and witness to a charter in 

 1314 ; Assize R. 408, ra. 36 ; R. 419 ; 

 Norris D. (B.M.), n. 52. 



8 Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 33*. 



He was the son of Roger Travers ; De 

 Banc. R. 283, m. 284. 



* Ogle R. as above. The confirmation 

 embraced ' the whole manor ' of Whiston, 

 and the advowson of the church of Pres- 

 cot. William de Dacre died about 13 18. 

 The service was a red rose at midsummer. 

 Robert had also the grant of a windmill 

 in Whiston from Edmund de Nevill ; 

 Bold D. (Warr.), G. 66. 



° In 1377 Robert Travers granted to 

 Roger de Denton, clerk, Anne his wife, 

 and William their son, land in Whiston ; 

 the bounds included Wiglache, the ditch 

 dividing Whiston and Halsnead, and 

 the Oldfield ; Bold D. (Warn), G. 61. 

 In 1348 he gave to Robert, son of Robert 

 de Hurleton lands in Whiston which 

 Richard de Rainhill and others held of 

 him, for a rent of a rose ; it would seem 

 that his daughter Margaret was to marry 

 the younger Hurleton ; ibid. G. 60. 



' Assize R. 435, m. 6d.; Duchy of 

 Lane. Assize R. 3, m. iij, 



' De Banco R. 433, m. 263 ; 4^8, 

 m, 382. As there was at the same time 

 another John Travers, of Whiston or 

 Ridgate, there is some difficulty as to 

 identification occasionally. Thomas de 

 Lathom, who died in 1383, held Brand- 

 erth in Whiston of John Travers ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. ii, n, 7. 



' It included his manor of Whiston, 

 and all other lands, with the homages, 

 rents, and services of William Daniell, 



John de Halsnead, John de Standish, 

 Richard de Aughton, and others ; Ogle R. 

 a> above. ' Bold D. (Warr.), G. 53. 



l» Dods. MSS. cjclii, fol. 202A, n. 66. 



^^ In June, 1438, there was an arbi- 

 tration between Richard Praty, rector of 

 Prescot, and Richard Travers touching 

 lands called the Pirwall ; it went against 

 the rector ; Bold D. (Warr.), G. 62. 

 In 1443-4 Richard Travers and John 

 his son surrendered Whiston mill, in 

 Aughton's lands, to Thomas Boteler, lord 

 of Warrington ; ibid. G. 58. 



" Bold D. (Warn), G. 64. The 

 manor of Whiston and lands there were 

 held of the lord of Dacre by fealty and 

 answering for him at the court of West 

 Derby. A grant, in connexion with the 

 sale, made by Thomas son and heir of 

 John Travers, mentions the Barfurlong, 

 Kilngrove, Gubbie Croft, Copped Holt, 

 Spital Meadow, &c., some of them being 

 held by Alice, the grantor's mother, as 

 jointure. There were free rents of 41. 

 payable by Lord Stanley for Akilshaw 

 House, i6d. by Nicholas Aughton for 

 Aughton Delf, izd. from John Bellerby 

 for Tottill House, and various others, the 

 tenants' names including John Blundell, 

 John Standish, James Ellom, Nicholas 

 Harrington of Huyton, John Garnett, 

 Thomas Atherton of Bickerstath, Roger 

 Ogle, and Thomas Lathom. The sale 

 appears to have been concluded by a fine 

 in Aug. 1482. See Ogle R. 



1' This appears from the inquisitions of 

 several of the tenants ; e.g. of Thomas 

 Atherton, taken in 1 5 1 5, and of Percival 

 Harrington, taken in 1535-6 ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, n. 68 ; vili, n. 41. 

 On the other hand those of the Lathoms 

 of Wolfall in Huyton declare their lands 

 in Whiston to be held of Thomas Travers 

 or his heirs, as late as 1547; ibid, vii, 

 H. 6 ; ix, «. 10. 



That after the death of Richard Bold 

 in 1559 says that Whiston was held by 

 him of the heir of Thomas Dacre, Lord 

 Dacre, by the rent of a red rose ; ibid, xi, 

 n. 63. The last Thomas Lord Dacre had 

 died in 1525. This was Dacre of the 

 North, heir male of the Foresters. On 

 the other hand Whiston was said to be 

 held by Richard Bold of Lord Dacre of 

 the South i Harl. MS. 21 12, fol. 21. 



349 



'■'* The manor appears to have been sold 

 by Sir Thomas Bold to John Ogle about 

 1608, though it is not mentioned in the 

 list of his possessions in 1613; Lanes, and 

 Ches, Rec. (Rec, Soc Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 32 ; Lanes, Inq. p.m. (same aoc), i, 254.. 

 Henry Ogle was lord of Whiston in 

 1619 ; ibid, ii, 140. 



1^ John Ogle and Katherine his wife in 

 1457 purchased lands in Upton and in 

 Widnes from Robert de Ditton, with 

 reversion of those in the tenure of Cecily 

 widow of William de Ditton ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Ct. R. bdle, 5, n. 69. The descent 

 from Lord Ogle is supported by the fact 

 that two deeds of his family appear among 

 the Ogle of Whiston deeds in Harl. MS. 

 2042, fol. 79. ^^ Ibid, 



^7 Ibid.; a deed of confirmation, dated 

 1506, by which Thomas son and heir of 

 John Travers confirmed the sales of cer- 

 tain messuages, lands, and services In 

 Whiston made by his father and himself 

 to Margaret relict of John Ogle, and to 

 Roger son and heir of the latter. This is 

 the last mention of the main line of 

 Travers of Whiston. The deed just quoted 

 is followed (loc. cit.) by another, dated 

 1515, by which John Ogle of Prescot, 

 probably the son of Roger, enfeoffed Sir 

 William Leyland, Humphrey Ogle, M.A., 

 and William Ogle, chaplain, of all his 

 lands in England. This Humphrey Ogle, 

 perhaps an uncle, was afterwards a pre- 

 bendary of Hereford and benefactor of 

 Brasenose College, Oxford, founding two 

 scholarships, with preference to candi- 

 dates from Prescot. William Ogle was 

 a brother of John j he was rector of 

 Credenhill in 1536 ; L, and P. Hen, VIll^ 

 X, 532. The will of John Ogle was 

 proved in 1525 ; he desired to be buried 

 in Prescot church, bequeathed his gold 

 seal to his son and heir John, mentioned 

 his daughters Alice, Margaret, Anne, and 

 Maud, his brother William, and his kins- 

 man Sir William Leyland ; Wills (Chet. 

 Soc. New Ser.), I, 224. 



The Inquisition taken in 1563 shows 

 that John Ogle had held lands in Whiston 

 of Richard Bold by the rent of a rose, in 

 Sutton of William Holland, and in 

 Huyton and Roby of John Harrington, 

 Nicholas Tyldesley, and the earl of Derby ; 

 Edward Ogle, twenty-one years of age, 



