A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



them.' References to other early suits bearing wit- 

 ness to the same subdivision will be found in the 

 notes.' 



Sir Robert de Lathom, who died in 1324, is said 

 to have given Rainford to his brother Thomas, who 

 settled at MOSSBOROUGH.' 



Richard son of Thomas de Lathom, perhaps acting 

 as trustee, made a grant to Henry de Haysarm in 

 1325—6, and a further one ten years later ; while, as 

 Richard de Lathom, lord of Rainford, he leased four 

 acres to the same Henry de Haysarm and Marger)- his 

 daughter in 1 340.* In the actions for dower brought 

 by Maud widow of William de Rainford, in 1323—4, 

 Richard the son and Joan the widow of Thomas de 

 Lathom were principal defendants.' 



Richard appears to have held the manor for about 

 fifty years. He was twice married ; by his first 

 wife, Margaret, he had a son and heir Thomas, against 

 whom his widow Hawise recovered dower in 1377.° 

 The next to occur is John Lathom, of whom Sir 

 Thomas Gerard held his land in Rainford in 1 41 6.' 



Some change in the tenure seems to have occurred 

 at this time. The lands of Sir Peter Gerard, who 

 died in 1447, were found to be held of Sir Thomas 

 Stanley ; * and in the much later inquisitions of the 

 Lathoms of Mossborough no ' manor of Rainford ' is 

 claimed, but Mossborough is said to be held of the 

 earls of Derby by the old 4J. rent or more.' 



In 1444 Sir Thomas Stanley brought a suit against 

 John Lathom of Rainford for cutting down trees and 

 doing other damage.'" 



For the next century little is known concerning 

 the family." The inquisition after the death of John 

 Lathom of Mossborough, taken in 1558, shows that 

 he held lands also in Prescot, Wigan, Billinge, and 

 Ashton in Makerfield." His son and heir Henry was 

 only seven years old at the time. He appears to 

 have been brought up strictly in the Roman Catholic 

 faith, and suffered much for it in Elizabeth's reign. 

 'On 22 March, 1583, the Council was advised that 

 Henry Lathom of Mossborough had lately fled out 

 of the county of Lancaster, and was supposed to be 

 hiding in the house of Lady Egerton at Ridley in 

 Cheshire. Shortly afterwards Mossborough Hall was 

 visited by the queen's oflicers and ransacked. Not 

 content with carrying off everything of a sacred 

 character, they declared all the goods, mov.ible and 

 immovable, confiscated to the royal exchequer, and 

 put seals on all the doors, chests, &c. Mrs. Lathom, 

 who was in the house at the time, was treated in a 

 most barbarous manner by the miscreants, who tore 

 open her dress even to her under-garments, under 

 pretence of examining her person for medals, rosaries, 

 or other pious objects. At length Mr. Lathom was 

 apprehended and imprisoned at Lancaster, where he 

 W.1S lying in 1590. In November, 1592, he was 

 sent up to London, and brought before Archbishop 

 Whitgift, who committed him to the Fleet. There 

 he lay for some years, but ultimately appears to have 

 obtained his release and to have returned to Moss- 

 borough.'" He died on 11 April, 1620 ; his heir 

 being his son Henry, forty-three years of age." 



' Assize R. 404, m. 4. The plaintiff 

 also made charges of assault ; ibid. m. 19. 

 If each of these free tenants had an aver- 

 age holding of half an oxgang of land, the 

 portion of Rainford held by them would 

 amount to a plough-land and a half. That 

 some of the holdings were much larger 

 than this is shown by references already 

 given, and by a claim put forward by 

 Andrew Scales in 1275, by which he 

 demanded an oxgang and a half of land 

 from Adam de Westleigh, the same from 

 William de Croolchurst and Emma his 

 wife, and half an oxgang from Richard de 

 Barrow ; De Banc. R. 11, m. 75. Two 

 years later William de Lycester (or Ic 

 Teynturer) and Margaret his wife claimed 

 dower in a messuage and half an oxgang 

 of land held by Richard de Barrow j ibid. 

 R. 21, m. 62 J. ; 23, m. 62. 



^ Besides those cited above one may be 

 mentioned which came before the judges 

 frequently for several years. In 1313 

 Margery daughter of Richard de Lough- 

 field, and her sister Christiana, then wife 

 of William de Woodfall, claimed from 

 Robert son of John de Rainford and 

 others certain lands of which they said 

 their uncle Roger, son of Amice de Rain- 

 ford, had been disseised. De Banc. R. 

 199, m. 75 J. ; 206, m. 202, &c., to R. 

 223, m. 87 i/., when the claim appears to 

 have been decided in their favour. The 

 same plaintiffs appeared in 1324 against 

 Robert de Forshaw and Alan son of Adam 

 de Rainford ; Assize R. 4^5, m. i </. ; 

 426, m. 6. In 1 32 1 William de Wood- 

 fall and Christiana his wife sold some of 

 their land to Richard son of Robert de 

 Holland 5 Final Cone, ii, 44. 



Ralph de Bispham of Billinge had lands 

 here in 1453, and Thomas Bispham and 

 others appear in the time of Elizabeth ; 

 Blundell of Crosby evidences, K. 58 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 20, m. 

 112 ; 35, m. 19 J 45, m. 78. In the 



latter period the Lyon family appear as 

 purchasers; ibid. bdle. 35, m. 133 ; 50, 

 m. 191 ; 55, m. 99. In the seventeenth 

 century the Lyon family had lands here ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 3 5, m. I 3 3 ; 

 50, m. 191 ; 55, m. 99; ExcA. Depos. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 35. 



* There does not seem to be any evi- 

 dence of this grant extant, nor yet of the 

 parentage of Thomas. Ormerod, in his 

 account in the Parrnialia, 67, refers 

 only to the * Lancashire pedigrees.' 



* iCuerden MSS. iii, R. 2. Richard de 

 Lathom is first in the contributors in this 

 township to the subsidy of 1332 ; Exch. 

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

 22. 



' De Banc. R. 248, m. 69 J. From 

 Richard she claimed a third of 12 mes- 

 suages and lands, and from Joan a third 

 of 6 messuages, &c. 



» De Banc. R. 458, m. 51 ; 463, m. 

 67. Thomas de Lathom of Lathom, who 

 died in 1370, was found to have been 

 seised of the service of Richard de 

 Lathom, who held of him the manor of 

 Rainford in socage by a rent of 4J. ; 

 under Richard he himself held a plot of 

 land called the Hurstfield, by a rent of 

 2l</. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ii, n. 7. 



' Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 124. 



8 Towneley'a MS. DD. n. 1465. 



' Possibly there was some breach in the 

 succession. The old pedigree states that 

 John Lathom, son of the last-named 

 John, was killed by Alan Rainford in 

 1437-8 ; Visit, of 1613 (Chet. Soc), 106 

 — the only recorded pedigree. 



" Pal. of Lane Plea R. 6, m. 6 ; 7, 

 m. 2A ; 8, m. 154 ; 9, m. iii. 



^^ John Lathom of Mossborough, gentle- 

 man, was summoned to answer the king 

 on some charge in 1467, and five years 

 afterwards was said to have been outlawed ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Chanc. Misc. bdle. i, file 10, 

 n. 24, 23. Henry Lathom and Elizabeth 



384 



his wife were complainants in 1503 as to 

 trespass in Billinge ; ibid, file 6, n. 33. 

 In the pedigree she is called 'daughter 

 and co-heir of — Eyves de Billinge.' 



" Duchy of Lane Inq. p.m. x, n. 2. 

 The Rainford estate is described as a 

 capital messuage called Mossborough, 

 with II houses, 3 cottages, 100 acres of 

 land, 40 acres of meadow, and 140 acres 

 of pasture, held of Edward earl of Derby 

 by knight's service and a rent of 4J. j the 

 value being estimated at ^13 181. 



" Gillow, Bihl.og. Diet, of Engl. Cath. 

 iv, 146, quoting Bridgewater's Conuriatio 

 Ecd. Cath. (ed. 1594), fol. 223,415; 

 Crosby Rec. (Chet. Soc. new ser.), 22, 

 23 ; Gibson, Lydiase Hall, 234, 246, 261, 

 262. In 1599 Bishop Vaughan reported 

 Henry Lathom as one of the chief har- 

 bourers of seminary priests, and desired 

 that he and others might be ' bridled from 

 above and brought in with a strong 

 hand'; Foley, Ree. S.J. i, 641 (quot- 

 ing S.P. Dom. Eliz. cclxxiv, n. 25). 



" Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 205. The rent is this time 

 given as e,s. 41/. Of the 586 acres stated 

 to be included in the Rainford portion, it 

 is noticeable that 380 are described as 

 moor, moss, heath, and briar. Besides 

 the heir he had six other sons, all of 

 whom became Benedictine monks, some 

 returning to England to serve on the 

 mission. In consequence of the practice 

 of taking a fresh name on entering the 

 order it is not always possible to be cer- 

 tain of the identity of the persons. John, 

 Thomas, William, and George were men- 

 tioned in a settlement made in IS97, and 

 there were two others, Vincent and 

 Gabriel ; all of them had died, un- 

 married, before 1652 ; Royalist Comf. P. 

 (Rec Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iv, 66. 

 Thomas became a monk at CompostelU 

 before 1585 and died at Douay in 1624; 

 William, after education at Douay, joined 



