WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



PRESCOT 



very soon afterwards found in the possession of Richard 

 de Holland.^ 



The Hollands retained the manor down to the 

 eighteenth century, but very little is known of them.^ 

 The religious changes of the sixteenth century brought 

 Roger Holland to the stake for his persistence in the 

 doctrines of the reformed church,* but the family 

 remained generally constant in the profession of the 

 Roman Catholic faith, and had much to endure in con- 

 , sequence.* The Ven. Thomas Holland, a Jesuit, who 

 suffered as a priest at Tyburn, 12 December, 1642, 

 is supposed to have been of this family.^ Pedigrees 

 were recorded in 1567® and 1664/ 



William Holland was the head of the family in 

 1567. His eldest son was Alexander,® who died 



I April, 1588, holding the hall of Sutton of the 

 queen as duke of Lancaster, and land in Ditton ; his 

 son and heir was Richard, aged thirteen.* Richard 

 Holland made a settlement of his lands in 16 11 in 

 favour of his son William ; the latter succeeded his 

 father, and at his death on 24 February, 1623-4, 

 the Inheritance passed to his son Richard, aged nearly 

 nine years."^ 



The family appears to have been deeply involved in 

 debt ; and after the outbreak of the Civil War 

 Richard Holland's estate was sequestered by the 

 Parliament for his recusancy and delinquency. He 

 died In 1 649, and his wife about the same time, leaving 

 three young children — Edward, born in 1640, 

 Richard, and Anne. A creditor seized the estates, 



R. 408, m. 42. Ithel de Sutton is named 

 in 1324 j Assize R. 426, m. 6. In 15 12 

 Oliver Sutton enfeoffed William son of 

 Edward Sutton and others of all his lands 

 in Sutton for the benefit of his natural 

 children Thomas and Seth, with remain- 

 der to his brother Miles ; Bold D. 

 (Warr.), F. 265. 



^ In the Holland pedigrees this Richard 

 is called the son of Robert, who is said to 

 have bought the manor from John de 

 Sutton and Margery ; he is most probably 

 the Richard son of Robert de Holland 

 who purchased land in Ralnford in 1321 ; 

 Final Cone, ii, 44. Robert is described as 

 cousin of Sir Robert de Holland, being son 

 of Richard son of Robert de Holland. 



^ Richard de Holland was witness to a 

 local charter in 1305 ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, 

 fol. 242. His wife, probably second wife, 

 was the widow of David Blundell of 

 Little Crosby. He, in 1323, made a 

 settlement of lands, &c in Sutton, in- 

 cluding two mills, upon his son William, 

 with remainders to his daughters Avina 

 and Joan ; Final Cone, ii, 50. Jordan 

 de Penketh and Margaret his wife put in 

 their claim. Possibly Margaret was a 

 sister of Richard de Holland ; all that 

 appears is that Robert de Holland, prob- 

 ably the father, had enfeoffed Richard of 

 a quarter of the manor of Sutton for life, 

 with remainder to Margaret and her issue ; 

 Assize R. 425, m. 4 ; 426, m. 6. As 

 there were six oxgangs in the quarter 

 claimed, the Holland manor Is at once 

 identified with the Sutton manor of three 

 plough-lands. 



About the same time Richard de Hol- 

 land was defendant in a claim by Gilbert 

 ■ le Norreys and others ; Assize R. 426, 

 m. 1 d. A grant by Richard de Holland 

 and William his son is in Dods. loc. cit. 

 fol, 245 i. Avina, daughter of Richard de 

 Holland, was a plaintiff in 1350 against 

 Henry and Nicholas de Tyldesley ; Assize 

 R. 444, m. 10. 



In 1334 Jordan de Penketh and Mar- 

 garet his wife claimed a fourth part of the 

 manor of Sutton — six oxgangs of land, 

 1 3 J. 4^/, rent, &c. — against William son 

 of Richard de Holland of Sutton, Godith 

 his wife, Agnes, widow of Richard de 

 Holland, and others. The jury gave a 

 verdict for the plaintiffs, reciting that 

 John de Sutton had granted the tenements 

 to Robert de Holland, who had transferred 

 them to Richard's son Robert and to 

 Margaret, wife of Jordan ; Richard de 

 Holland's grant to his son William came 

 later ; Coram Rege R. 297, m. 64. 



William de Holland was living in 1348, 

 but died in or before 1356, when his 

 widow Godith was defendant ; De Banc. 

 R. 354, m. vj, 150 d, ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 5, m. 3 d. His heir appears to 



have been a granddaughter Margaret, 

 daughter of Richard ; being then a minor, 

 she can scarcely have been a sister. Her 

 wardship was disputed between Sir Robert 

 de Holland and Matthew de Rixton ; she 

 was eight years of age and married, and 

 the next heir was Roger de Holland, also 

 a minor. Sir Robert maintained his right 

 to the guardianship ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 5, m. 6 d. The holding is 

 described as a messuage, ten oxgangs of 

 land, &c. 



Nothing further Is heard of Margery 

 and Roger, but in 1357 Godith, widow of 

 William de Holland, John his son, Robert 

 de Sutton, tailor, and Agnes his wife were 

 charged with having disseised Thomas son 

 of Thomas the Smith's son of his free 

 tenement in Sutton. Godith asserted 

 that the plaintiff^s grandfather had grant- 

 ed the disputed land to her husband and 

 his heirs, but seisin was recovered ; ibid. 

 m. 3 d. 



John de Holland eventually succeeded 

 his father ; see Lanes, Inq, p,m. (Chet, 

 See), i, 31, 35, 40. He was probably 

 father of John de Holland of Sutton, who 

 died in 1402, leaving a son and heir 

 Richard only two years of age, concerning 

 whose wardship some dispute ensued. 

 Ellen, widow of John, married Geoffrey 

 de Standish, and they occupied the manor 

 by the king's grant for many years ; Dep, 

 Keeper's Rep, xxxili, App. 17 ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Chan. R. 8 Hen. V, n. 82 ; 

 Towneley MS. CC. n. 126. In 1420, 

 however, William Daniell of Daresbury 

 made claim to the wardship and suc- 

 ceeded ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 24^. 

 Richard Holland is mentioned about 1435, 

 and Henry Holland in 1476, and these 

 were followed by Richard Holland, living 

 in the reign of Henry VIII ; ibid. fol. 240, 

 240^ ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, n. 25. 



8 Foxe, Aets and Monuments (ed. Catt- 

 ley), viii, 473. He was certainly of this 

 family, for 'Mr. Eccleston' was near of 

 kin to him. His father, whose name is 

 not given, was living. The following is 

 an outline of the story as given by Foxe : 

 Roger Holland had been apprenticed to 

 one Kempton, a merchant tailor in Wat- 

 ling Street, London, and led a reckless, 

 dissipated life, being moreover ' a stubborn 

 and obstinate Papist.* He lost some of 

 his master's money at dice, but was helped 

 in his trouble by a loan from a fellow- 

 servant, * an ancient and discreet maid, 

 whose name was Elizabeth, which pro- 

 fessed the Gospel.' He reformed, em- 

 braced the new doctrines, and went down 

 to Lancashire to his father to teach the 

 same to him and borrow money to begin 

 business ; then in 1553 he married Eliza- 

 beth. Their child was baptized in the 

 house by one Master Rose, who secretly 



357 



ministered in London to the Protestants 

 during the Marian persecution. Though 

 Roger Holland's act was reported to the 

 authorities, he was not taken till May- 

 day morning, 1558. Being brought 

 before Bonner, the bishop and others 

 endeavoured * to allure him to their Baby- 

 lonical church.' At the third examination 

 the *Lord Strange, Sir Thomas Gerard, 

 Master Eccleston esquire, and divers 

 other of worship, both of Cheshire and 

 Lancashire, that were Roger Holland's 

 kinsmen and friends,' were present to 

 plead with the bishop for him, and to 

 persuade him to recant. As he remained 

 steadfast, however, he was burnt at Smith- 

 field for heresy 27 June, 1558, he and his 

 companions being the last to suffer there 

 on that charge in Mary's reign. 



^ Gillow, Bibliog. Diet, of Engl Cath. iii, 



353- 



6 Ibid. ; Foley, Rec. 5. J, i, 542-65 ; 

 vii, 366. He was born in Lancashire in 

 1600, educated at St. Omer's and Valla- 

 dolid, entered the Society of Jesus in Flan- 

 ders, and after ordination was sent on the 

 English mission in 1635. He was arrested 

 in October, 1642, and tried and con- 

 demned for 'taking orders by authority of 

 the see of Rome and returning to England,* 

 this being high treason. No other offence 

 was charged against him. The first step 

 in the process of beatification was allowed 

 by Leo XIII in 1886. 



There were other Jesuits of this family ; 

 Henry, uncle of Thomas, laboured in Eng- 

 land, chiefly in Lancashire, from 1605 till 

 his death in 1656 ; Alexander Holland, 

 born in 1623, was sent on the Lancashire 

 mission in 1653, and died In 1677 ; he 

 * translated pious books for the use of the 

 Catholics' ; see Foley, v, 369 ; vi, 207 5 

 vii, 364, &c. ^ Chet. Soc. Ixxxi, 115. 



"i Ibid. Ixxxv, 147. 



8 Visit, of 1567, as above. Alexander 

 Holland purchased a water-mill in Sutton 

 from John Bold in 1581 ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 43, m. 56. 



3 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, n. 4, 

 Richard and his wife Anne were heavily 

 fined for recusancy in 1597, 1603, and 

 later years, and Anne, as a widow, appears 

 on the recusant roll of 1634 ; Gillow, as 

 above. Mr. Holland of Sutton (i.e. the 

 father) was a suspected person in 1584 ; 

 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 226. 



^0 Lanes, Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), iii, 430. The lands of Richard 

 Holland, recusant, were granted to An- 

 thony Croston in 1623 ; Pat. 21 Jas. I, 

 27 July. Anne and Margaret, widows of 

 Richard and William, were both living. 

 Margaret survived her husband thirteen 

 years, having a house and lands called 

 Mllehouse at Sutton ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Inq, p.m. xxlx, n, 32. 



