WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



PRESCOT 



ECCLESTON OF EcCLES- 



TON. Argetttf a cross 

 and in dexter chiefajlcur- 

 de~Us sable. 



Henry Eccleston, on coming of age, married 

 Eleanor, daughter of Robert Blundell of Ince Blundell. 

 Their son and heir Thomas, educated at St. Omer's 

 and at Rome, when only a few 

 years of age succeeded to the 

 estates, and remaining loyal to 

 James II took service in Ire- 

 land in 1688, receiving a cap- 

 tain's commission. Afterwards 

 in a duel he killed his antago- 

 nist, which so affected him 

 that he relinquished a secular 

 career, became a Jesuit, and so 

 ministered, chiefly in England, 

 for about forty years, dying 

 at the end of 1743. He 

 was the last of his family, 

 and reserving ^^300 a year 



from the estates for the use of the Society of Jesus 

 he entailed them on his second cousin, John Gor- 

 such of Scarisbrick, with remainder to Basil Thomas 

 Scarisbrick, a cousin by his mother. Hitchmough, 

 a priest who turned informer, told the Govern- 

 ment of the arrangement as to the ^^300, and the 

 estates were confiscated as being devoted to 'super- 

 stitious uses.' ' John Gorsuch was, however, able to 

 obtain possession, and assumed the name of Eccleston ; 

 at his death without issue in 1742 the estates passed to 

 Basil Thomas Scarisbrick, who also took Eccleston as a 

 surname.' On the death of his brother Joseph with- 

 out issue he became heir to the Scarisbrick estate, but 

 resided at Eccleston till his death in May, 1789. 



His son, Thomas Eccleston Scarisbrick, succeeded 

 almost simultaneously to the combined estates of 

 Scarisbrick and Eccleston, but resided at the former, 

 oifering the latter for sale in 1795.' It was, how- 



ever, his son Thomas who disposed of it in 1 8 12 to 

 Samuel Taylor of Moston.' From the latter the 

 lordship of the manor descended to his son Samuel 

 Taylor of Windermere, who died in 1 88 1, being 

 succeeded by his grandson (son of his son Samuel), 

 Mr. Samuel Taylor, of Birkdault in Haverthwaite.' 

 The heir in 1892 sold the 

 manor and estate to Sir Gil- 

 bert Greenall, of Walton near 

 Warrington, whose son and 

 heir, Sir Gilbert Greenall, bart., 

 is the present lord of the 

 manor. No manor courts have 

 been held for about sixty 

 years.* 



In 1835 a lease of mining 

 rights in Thatto Heath for 

 twenty-one years was granted 

 by the crown to Samuel Taylor.' 



Robert de Beauchamp granted 

 10 acres of his demesne in 

 SCHOLES to the canons of 



Cockersand. In 1268 the tenants under the abbey 

 were Peter de Burnhull and Roger de Molyneux.' 



Scholes was towards the end of the thirteenth cen- 

 tury held, with Eccleston, by Robert de Eccleston, 

 who granted it to Richard de Molyneux, son of the 

 above-named Roger, and Beatrice his wife.' Their 

 eldest son Thomas had a daughter and heir Agnes, 

 who married Henry de Atherton, and she and her 

 husband afterwards claimed Scholes and other 

 properties ; '° during life, however, it was held by 

 Sir John de Molyneux, a younger son of Richard 

 and Beatrice." Afterwards it was held by Ralph de 

 Standish, whose descendants retained it until the 

 seventeenth century.'^ In 1630 Oliver Lyme was 



Greenall of Wal- 

 ton. Or, on a bend ne- 

 buly, plain cotised vert, 

 three bugle-horns stringed 

 ofthejirst. 



educated Protestants. If he do this he 

 may have the rents of their estates to 

 provide for their expenses.' Also iii, 

 2038. 



Thomas Eccleston, the younger son, 

 became a Jesuit in 1668, and was sent 

 lo the Lancashire mission, becoming rector 

 in 1696. He died at Fazakerley in 1698 ; 

 Gillow as above ; Foley, R£C. S. J. vii, 220 . 



' Gillow, op. cit. 155; Foley, loc. cit. 

 Fr. Eccleston was the author of a treatise 

 on The JVay to Happiness, published in 

 1726, A settlement of the estates, 

 described as the manor and park of Eccles- 

 ton, lands in Burtonhead, Sec, was made 

 early in 1686, the deforciants being 

 Thomas Eccleston, esq, and Thomas 

 Eccleston, gentleman, the latter, no 

 doubt, the Jesuit uncle ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 218, m. 35. Ten years 

 later a further arrangement was made ; 

 ibid. bdle. 237, m. 31. 



As 'Thomas Eccleston, of Eccleston- 

 juxta-Knowsley, esquire,* he registered 

 his estate in 17 17 as of the value of 

 ^341 51. lod. ; it was subject to annui- 

 ties of ^100 to his mother Eleonora, to 

 whom the hall was let for ^f 60, and of ^4 

 to his sister Anne. His mother's annuity 

 was also registered ; Engl. Cath. Non-jurors, 

 117- His petition on the forfeiture 

 brought about by Hitchmough'a dis- 

 closures is printed, with illustrative mat- 

 ter, in Payne's Rec. of Engl. Cath. 149- 

 151. 



^ An indenture enrolled at Preston in 

 1749 recites the settlement made by 

 Thomas Eccleston in 1725 ; Piccope 

 MSS. (Chet. Lib.), iii, 356 (from R. of 

 23 Geo. n at Preston). 



' W. A. Abram, Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. 

 Notes, ii, 242-50. The advertisement of 

 sale describes the property as * the manor 

 or lordship or reputed manor or lordship 

 of Eccleston,' with mansion house, farms, 

 &c., mines of coal, beds of valuable potter's 

 clay, and timber. There was a recovery 

 of the manors of Eccleston and Burton- 

 head, &c. in 1777 ; Com. Pleas Recov. R. 

 Trin. 17 Geo. HI, m. 60, 70, 129 d. 



■* Baines, J[.i2«a. (ed. 1836), iii, 709. 



* Burke, Landed Gentry ; Taylor of 

 Birkdault. 



^ Ex inform. Mr. Samuel Taylor. 



7 Duchy of Lane. Returns (blue book), 

 1858, p. 6. 



^ Cockersand Cbartul. (Chet. Soc), ii, 

 599. Roger de Beauchamp was lord of 

 Little Croglin and Staffbl in Cumber- 

 land about 1200—30 ; his heirs were his 

 sisters Alice and Amabel, living in 1240 ; 

 Reg. of fVetherhal (Cumb. and Westmld. 

 Arch. Soc), 256, 281. His connexion 

 with this part of Lancashire is illustrated 

 by a grant of land in StafFol, possibly 

 made by him, to Alan le Norreys of 

 Sutton ; Final Cone. \, 106. 



9 Dods. MSS. xxxii, fol. 7. The bounds 

 are fully described. Beginning at the 

 corner of Richard's field in Bold they ex- 

 tended to a butt by the land of Richard 

 de Wolfcroftshead, followed a ditch to the 

 boundary of Rainhill, went along this 

 boundary to the Chestergate — not the 

 same road to Chester as that mentioned 

 under Burtonhead ; passing the road 

 leading from Sutton to Prescot church, 

 the limit coincided with the Chestergate 

 as far as the corner of the field of Scholes, 

 and followed the edge of this field to the 



Starting point. Forty shillings a year was 

 to be paid for all services. 



Richard de Molyneux made a complaint 

 of disseisin in 1 30 1 ; Assize R. 1 3 2 1, m. 8. 



1'' Assize R. 426, m. 9, <^d.\ 1425, 

 m. 5. It is here called the 'manor' of 

 Scholes ; Beatrice held it after her hus- 

 band's death, in accordance with the 

 original grant. About 1344 the 40J. rent 

 had fallen into arrears ; and Alan de 

 Eccleston distrained, and a rescue was 

 made by Sir John de Molyneux and his 

 men, the damages being assessed by the 

 jury at £(> ; Assize R. 1435, m. 361/. 



1^ The manor of Scholes in the vIU of 

 Eccleston was included by Sir John in a 

 grant of his lands made in 1349 ; Blun- 

 dell of Crosby evidences, K. 258 (original 

 at Little Crosby). 



12 The reason of Standish's succession 

 does not appear. 



In 1366 John de Lancaster of Rainhill, as 

 heir of a daughter of Richard de Molyneux, 

 claimed a messuage, five oxgangs of land, 

 &c. in Eccleston [i.e. Scholes], from Ralph 

 de Standish ; but the case was deferred be- 

 cause Ralph was then serving the king in 

 Aquitaine in the retinue of the Black 

 Prince, and had the usual protection ; De 

 Banc. R. 422, m. 371^. Ralph de 

 Standish was holding Scholes in 1373, 

 paying the 40J. rent ; and Henry Standish 

 about 1520, according to the rentals, but 

 the last name is erased. The Cockersand 

 rentals show that Ralph Standish was 

 tenant of the abbey's lands at Scholes in 

 1451 and 1461, and Henry Standish in 

 1501 ; Cockersand Chartul. iv, 1248-9. 



The inquisition taken after the death 

 of George Standish gives many particulars 



