A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



His eldest son, Richard, succeeded. He was thrice 

 married.' By his second wife, whom he married in 

 1535, he had a son Richard, who succeeded in 1558 ; ' 

 and by his third, another son, William, whose descen- 

 dants came into possession in 161 2. 



The son Richard held the manors for more than 

 forty years. He was a justice of the peace, and in 

 I 590 made 'show of good conformity ' to the eccle- 

 siastical laws, but was ' not greatly forward in the 

 public actions of religion.' ' A few years earlier, 

 according to information furnished by a servant of 

 his, ' neighbours used to come to Bold at such time as 

 other men were at church.' * Richard Bold had no 

 children by his wife,' but made over all his manors to 

 his illegitimate son. Sir Thomas Bold.' The latter 

 died without issue in September, 1612, when Richard 

 Bold, son and heir of the William Bold mentioned 

 above, entered into possession.' 



The new lord married Anne, daughter of Sir Peter 



Legh of Lyme.' He was sheriff in 1630,' and died 

 on 19 February, 1635-6, his heir being his second son, 

 Peter, aged only nine years.'" The heir escaped the 

 most dangerous period of the Civil War, and on 

 attaining his majority accepted the existing order," 

 serving the office of sheriff in 1653-4." He died 

 before the Restoration, leaving an infant son, also 

 named Peter, to succeed. 



The heir was in 1 67 1 entrusted to Adam Mariin- 

 dale to be educated, along with her own son, by Lady 

 Assheton of Middleton, his mother's sister." Soon 

 afterwards he was entered at Lincoln's Inn, and sent 

 to Christ Church, Oxford." At an early age he was 

 elected one of the knights of the shire,'* and in 1690 

 was sheriff.'* He died in 1 69 1, his son Richard 

 being still a minor. 



Soon after coming of age Richard Bold was elected 

 knight of the shire," but he died young on 21 March, 

 1 703-4." His heir was an infant son Peter, who went 



* The marriage covenants for the earlier 

 unions are given in Dods. loc. cit. n. l 50, 

 136. He had married his third wife, 

 Margaret Woodfall, before April, 1553 ; 

 ibid. n. 146. It appears from the 

 Famworth Register that he had married 

 her * at a certain place in Bold called 

 Barrow Heath,' on 28 Nov. 1551 ; Ch. 

 Go'iJi, 1552 (Chet. Soc), 82. In 1553 

 he made a feoffment of his manors, &c., 

 making provision for his daughters Anne 

 and Ellen, and his illegitimate children 

 John, Elizabeth, and Jane ; in default of 

 male issue, his manors were to go to his 

 brothers Francis and John, and Lancelot 

 ion of Arthur Bold, deceased ; Bold D. 

 (Hoghton), n. 335. 



^ The inquisition after his death shows 

 practically no change in the family lands ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, n. 63, 13. 

 For a brief note of his will, dated 20 Oct. 

 155-, see Dods. n. 147. His son Richard 

 was aged twenty at his father's death. 



^ Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 244 j from 

 Dom. Ellz. ccxjcxv, n. 4. He was a sus- 

 pected person in 1584 ; ibid. 226. 



■• Ibid. 221 ; from S.P. Dom. Eliz. 

 cliii, n. 62. The deponent went on : * He 

 never saw the said priest [Richard Smith] 

 but one time, and that was as he came 

 over the dam-head at Bold, and three or 

 four with him, and was cunningly con- 

 veyed in at a back gate into the garden, 

 and so over the drawbridge into the house; 

 and hath seen meat go forth of the kit- 

 chen and forth of the day house into his 

 chamber . . . and these [there] he durst 

 make good upon book he said his masses.' 

 In 1591 it was reported to the queen's 

 ministers that he had ' of late reformed his 

 wife and family' ; ibid. 257 ; from S.P. 

 Dom. Eliz. ccxl, 



' Richard Bold was living in 1601, but 

 dead before Sept. 1603 ; Cat. S.P. Dom. 

 1601-J, p. 125 ; LdTics. Inj. f.m. (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 5. He had been 

 sheriff in 15-5 and 1589 ; P.R.O. Lin, 

 73. A settlement of his manors was 

 made in 1600 (PaL of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 6:, m. 112), and another in the 

 following year ; ibid. bdle. 63, v. 170. 



In the latter fine 'Jane his wife' is 

 mentioned ; her father, WiUiam Mor- 

 daunt, occurs in an earlier Bold fine ; 

 ibid. bdle. 53, m. 106. Jane afterwards 

 married John Edwards of Chirk ; she was 

 in possession of the manor-house and 

 charged with wasting the park ; her hus- 

 band had killed and worried many of the 

 deer ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. Easter, 

 3 Jas. I, bdle. 222. Two-thirds of the 



estate was taken into the king's hands for 

 recusancy in 1612 ; Raines MSS. xxxviii, 

 327. The recusant roll of 1628 gives 

 thirty-one names in this township ; Lay 

 Subs. 1 3 1/3 1 8. 



Richard's monument stands in Fam- 

 worth church : a man in armour, his 

 hands clasped in prayer and holding a 

 book ; a sword is by his side. The in- 

 scription has disappeared. Trans. Hist. 

 Soc. (New Ser.), xiv, 214. 



« In the risit. of 161 3 (Chet. Soc), 15, 

 Sir Thomas is regarded as legitimate, and 

 his mother's name is given as Margaret 

 daughter to Henry Battersby. In 1574 

 certain lands were by Richard Bold, esq., 

 settled on Thomas Bold, gentleman, and 

 Elizabeth his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of 

 F. bdle. 36, m. 19 ; see also m. 237. This 

 was probably a child marriage ; the wife 

 Elizabeth is not named in the pedigrees. 



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

 Ches.), i, 254. Sir Thomas held the 

 manors of Bold, Burtonwood, Sutton, 

 Great Sankey, and North Meols, and 

 wide lands besides, by his father's gift. 

 The remainders stated are very numerous. 

 His widow, Bridget, daughter of Sir 

 William Norris of Speke, was living at 

 North Meols. For the settlement on 

 their marriage see Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 73, n. 41. 



s Funeral Certs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 124. Over the doorway of the 

 Old Hall at Bold are the initials RB 

 16 1 6 AB. The marriage took place soon 

 after he came into the inheritance ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 83, n. 37. 



9 P.R.O. List, 73. In 1632 he paid a 

 fine of ^30 on refusing knighthood ; Misc. 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 222. 



" Lanes. Funeral Certs. (Chet. Soc), 58 ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. 12 Chas. I, 

 xxvW, n. 58. The inquisition recites the 

 provision made for his intended wife, 

 18 Dec. 1612; it affords a number of 

 field names, as — Harwood, Pillough, 

 Fleam Meadow, Bandy Field, Comlowe 

 Wood, and Blackhall Ground. The 

 monument in Famworth church gives his 

 age as forty-seven ; Gent. Mag. Sept. 1 824. 



^ He was added to the lieutenancy of 

 the county in 1648 ; Ciiiil War Tracts 

 (Chet. Soc), 252. A letter of congratu- 

 lation from Henry Bradshaw of Marple, 

 on his taking the Parliamentary side, may 

 be seen in Ormerod's Ches. (ed. Helsby), 

 iii, 845. He married a daughter of Sir 

 R. Assheton, an active Parliamentarian. 



'2 P.R.O. List. 73. 



" Adam Martindale (Chet. Soc), 1 96 ; 



406 



and Exch. Dep, (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), 65-6. 



•< Foster, Alumni Oxon.; matriculated 

 I Oct. 1674, aged eighteen. 



" 'On Monday, 24 Feb. 1678-9, was 

 the election of knights of the shire of 

 Lancashire, and it's thought there was 

 30,000 men at Lancaster. Two men 

 were trodden to death ; one was a Papist, 

 some say both. Lord Gerard's son was 

 clearly and without much contradiction 

 chosen, though none of the best. Mr. 

 Bold of Bold and Mr. Spencer stood in 

 competition. The matter could not be 

 decided ; they came to Preston to poll ; 

 they polled above a week, viz. till the 

 Thursday se'nnight. The country came 

 in all that time. Both sides bore the 

 charges of their party ; it cost them two 

 or three thousand pounds apiece. Mad 

 work there was, yet left at uncertainties. 

 The writs were out ; Spencer rides to 

 London, leaves them polling. The carl 

 of Derby was for Spencer ; the High 

 Sheriff [Sir Roger Bradshaw] for Bold, 

 who on the Friday went to Lancaster to 

 proclaim Bold knight for the shire, carried 

 in a chair to the Castle, durst not come 

 into the town for they threatened to stone 

 him, and then the matter to be decided by 

 Committeeof Elections'; Oliver Heywood, 

 Diaries, ii, 259. Peter Bold was a Tory ; 

 Pink and Beavan, Pari. Rep. of Lanes. 78. 



" P.R.O. List, 73. 



In 1676 he had married Anne daughter 

 of Adam Beaumont, eldest son of Sir 

 Thomas Beaumont of Whitley Beaumont 

 in Yorkshire ; Whitaker, Loidii and 

 Elmete, 338. 



^7 He was a Tory ; Pink and Beavan, 

 op. cit. 81 ; Kenyon MSS. 428 — from 

 Richard Bold to George Kenyon : ' 1702, 

 April 2. London. — Having served for 

 the county of Lancaster in the two last 

 Parliaments, makes me venture a third 

 time to offer myself.* 



He married Elizabeth, daughter and co- 

 heir of Thomas Horton of Barkisland, 

 Yorkshire ; Burke, Commoners, i, 283. 



A settlement of the estates was made 

 early in 1700; the manors were Bold, 

 Burtonwood, Sutton, and North Meols ; 

 Pal. of Lane Docquet R. 471, m.id.; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 244, m. 4. 

 The inscription on his monument in 

 Famworth church states that he had two 

 sons and four daughters, of whom only 

 the younger son survived him. 



1* Shortly afterwards a private Act was 

 passed, vesting the estate in trustees ; 

 4 and 5 Anne, cap. 26. 



