WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



Pexhill by Adam the Carpenter of Upton, by an 

 earlier grant from the same Edmund.' Cronton was 

 named in the inquiry of 1 29 1 among the manors of 

 Widnes lordship.' 



The abbot proceeded to make improvements of the 

 waste, and this in 1284 brought him into conflict 

 with one of his tenants, Richard de Shaw.' Forty 

 years later a further agreement was m.ide with 

 Richard de Shaw — either the same person or his 

 heir — by which he resigned his rights in the ease- 

 ments and wastes of Cronton and also in its lanes and 

 roads except two.* 



But little is known of the internal management ot 

 the township.' Towards the middle of the four- 

 teenth century the abbot was involved in various 

 boundary disputes with his neighbours in Rainhill, 

 and after several years appears to have established his 

 rights in the main.^ An inquisition as to the 



PRESCOT 



boundaries between Cronton and Upton in Widnes 

 had been made in 1336.' 



After the suppression it was found that the town 

 had been leased out in 1537 for a rent of j£ 19 o/. id? 

 Cronton was, with other monastic manors, sold to 

 Thomas Holt of Gristlehurst.' Themanoris mentioned 

 in a family settlement of 1 578, as part of the property 

 of Francis Holt,'" by whom it was sold in 1587 to 

 Thomas Brooke." Shortly afterwards it was re-sold 

 to Thomas Ireland," from whom it passed in 1598 

 to James Pemberton of Halsnead in Whiston." 



About this time a number of freeholders in Cron- 

 ton held by knight's service, their tenure probably 

 arising from purchases from the Holt and Pemberton 

 families.'* In 1628 the following paid to the subsidy 

 for lands — ^William Parr, William Wright, Edward 

 Orme, and Thomas Wyke or Whike ; " and fractions 

 of the manor were held by others.'" Of these the 



1 JVhalley Coucher, iii, 812. With the 

 permission to erect the mill was given an 

 assart which William de Cronton, son of 

 Ingrit, formerly held. A rent of iii. 

 covered all dues except pannage. 



ap/ac. de Quo Warr. 381. 



s Whalley Coucher, iii, 813. The com- 

 pensation amounted to 4^ acres situate 

 between the land Richard already held 

 and the hedge of Cockshootleigh and 

 Sikeman Sty, going down towards Tar- 

 bock ; a rent of izd. was payable. 



^ Ibid. The excepted roads were — one 

 by the easement {jter haysiam) or * lidyate ' 

 of Cockshootleigh as far as Cronton ; and 

 the other from the house of Richard's 

 mother, Margery, to the New Outlane, 

 having a width of 30 ft. After Margery's 

 death this road was to be restricted to a 

 sufficient footpath leading to Famworth 

 church through the Roughead. The Shaw 

 family were probably tenants of the 

 Hospitallers. 



* The abbot in 1292 defeated a claim 

 for freedom made by two bondmen ; Assize 

 R. 4.08, m. 33^. Two charters are pre- 

 served among the Norris deeds (B.M.), 

 fl. 932, 933. By the first John de Pex- 

 hill granted 2 acres in the Middlesnape, 

 with housebote and heybote in Cronton, 

 to Maud daughter of Richard de Pilot- 

 halgh ; and this was, in 1332, with her 

 consent granted by her husband Thomas 

 son of Roger Maggeson de Bradley, to 

 John the Clerk, of Cronton. 



Richard the Clerk, of Cronton, had in 

 1246 resisted a claim for an oxgang put 

 forward by Richard son of Richard the 

 Ferryman ; Assize R. 404, m. 8 d. 

 Richard the Clerk, of the Hermitage, was 

 a witness to the two charters of Edmund 

 de Lacy. 



^ Several suits were with John son 

 of John de Lancaster of Rainhill concerning 

 15 acres which the abbot alleged to be 

 in Cronton, and the defendant in Rain- 

 hill ; De Banc. R. 352, m. 537 d. ; 358, 

 m. 95 d. &c. to Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 

 2, m. v d. The abbot lost this case, but 

 immediately made claim for 6 acres, 

 which he recovered by instalments ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 3, m. ix ; 4, 

 m. 16 ; Assize R. 438, m. 141/. 



7 The bounds were declared to begin 

 at Philip's Cross towards Ditton, and to 

 proceed to Waspestub, to the syke, along 

 this to Holywell Brook, and so to the 

 Mill Brook ; thence by the middle of the 

 wood to Combral by Longley, by Longley 

 Brook to Wiglache, following this to the 

 Cartgate (way) going to Ridgate, and along 

 the Cartgate to the Church Shaw, to the 



Mersappletree, and to Richard's Cross ; 

 hence by the road to the Chester Road 

 through Sutton as far as the syke running 

 through the middle of Cranshaw, and so 

 to Sleeper's Green, towards the chapel of 

 Farn worth ; WhalUy Coucher, iii, 815-17. 

 Thus it would appear that Cronton then 

 extended further to the east than the 

 present township. 



8 Whalley Coucher, iv, 121 5. The 

 lessees were Thomas Torbock, John 

 Winington, James Haworth, George 

 Cross, and others of the town of Cron- 

 ton. In 1291 the assised rent of Cronton 

 had been ^'5 1 31. 4</. ; Pofe Nich. Tax. 

 (Rec. Com.), 259. In 1534, when it was 

 worked in conjunction with Aigburth and 

 Garston, the assised rent of the demesne 

 was ,^18 41. ; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v. 

 229. 



9 Pat. 35 Hen. VIII, i Aug. ; and 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, «. 46. For 

 this and Stayning a rent of ^^5 os, ii^d. 

 was payable to the crown 5 this was sold 

 with a number of such rents in 1680 ; 

 R. I, pt. 2. 



" Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 40, 

 m. 137. 



11 Ibid. bdle. 49, m. 1 8. Francis Holt 

 and Ellen his wife and Thomas Holt, son 

 and heir apparent, and Constance his wife 

 were the vendors. The property is de- 

 scribed as the manor of Cronton, with 

 20 messuages, 2 mills, 500 acres land, 

 &c. Thomas Brooke had a year before 

 purchased part of this from Thomas Holt ; 

 ibid. bdle. 48, m. 202. 



1' Ducatus Lane, iii, 377. The Ireland 

 family had held lands here previously and 

 continued to hold some. 



K* Pal. of Lane. Feet, of F. bdle. 60, 

 m. 284. Yet in 161 5 Thomas Sutton is 

 stated to have held his lands in Cronton 

 of Thomas Brooke ; Lanes. Inq, p.m. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 1 8. 



" Sales by the Holts are recorded to 

 Richard Hawarden ; Pal. of Lane. Feet 

 of F. bdle. 43, m. 118 ; to Thomas Parr 

 and others, ibid. bdle. 45, m. 22 ; to 

 John Gleast, ibid. bdle. 46, m. 130; to 

 Robert Burgess and others, ibid. bdle. 

 46, m. 217. In Sept. 1598, James Pem- 

 berton and Katherine his wife, and 

 James Pemberton, junior, the son and 

 heir of the former, sold various lands to 

 George and Hugh Gresse, Richard Wright, 

 Thomas and John Parr, James Lawton, 

 Thomas Parte, William Norman, Edward 

 Deane, and Edward Orme ; ibid. bdle. 60, 

 m. 115. 



Thomas Parte died in 1605 ; it appears 

 that he had had a lease of the premises 



393 



from Francis Holt in 1583 ; at his death 

 he held them of the crown in chief, by the 

 hundredth part of a knight's fee, and his 

 heir was his son John, aged seventeen ; 

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

 Ches.), i, 37. 



John Gleast's land was at his death in 

 1607 found to have been held in the 

 same manner j his heir was his daughter 

 Margaret Lea, aged thirty-five ; ibid, i, 

 102. 



Thomas Whike, Thomas Linacre, John 

 Parr, Francis and John Windle also held 

 lands in chief by similar fractions of a 

 knight's fee; ibid. 1, no; ii, 7, 182, 

 234, 285, John Parr had two mills in 

 Cronton, a windmill and a horse-mill. 



William Stock died in 1596 holding 

 lands in Cronton of the queen by the 

 two-hundredth part of a knight's fee ; his 

 heir was his sister Elizabeth, who in 

 1599 was wife of John Cross, and seven- 

 teen years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. 

 p.m. xvii, n. 64. In 1628 Peter Stock 

 held lands here, leaving as heir a son 

 William, aged twenty-five ; ibid, xxvi, 

 n. 28. 



15 Norris D. (B.M,). William Parr was 

 the son and heir of the John Parr just 

 mentioned ; he was born in Oct. 1608 ; 

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

 Ches,), ii, 184. 



Thomas Wyke was the son and heir 

 of the Thomas Wyke mentioned in the 

 last note, who was the son and heir of 

 Edward Wyke, and aged twelve years in 

 1588. Edward's lands were held in chief 

 by the two-hundredth part of a knight's 

 fee ; Duchy of Lane. Inq, p.m. xiv, n. 38. 

 A claim was made in 1594 by John 

 Wyke, minister of Avington in Hamp- 

 shire, against Thomas and Elizabeth 

 Wyke; Ducatus Lane, iii, 319. The 

 younger Thomas was fourteen years of 

 age at his father's death in July, 1608 ; 

 Lanes, Inq, p.m. (Rec. Soc), i, in. 



ifi James Lawton died in July, 16 16, 

 seised of a fourth part of the manor, held, 

 like the rest, in eapite by the hun- 

 dredth part of a fee. His son and heir 

 was Henry, only two years of age at his 

 father's death ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (ut sup.), 



ii, 34- 



Among the manors of Richard Bold 

 Cronton is enumerated in 1600 ; but 

 it does not appear how it was ac- 

 quired or how lost ; it is not named in 

 the inquisition after the death of Sir 

 Thomas Bold in 1613 ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Feet of F. bdle. 62, m. 112 ; 63, n. 170 ; 

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

 Ches.), i, 254. It was, however, in- 



50 



