WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



being decidedly flat, sparingly timbered, with open 

 fields. The soil is loamy, with clay lying below the 

 surface, the crops raised being principally barley, oats 

 and wheat, with occasional fields of potatoes. The 

 ground by the riverside lies very low, and consists of 

 marshy pastures, jutting out into the numerous bends 

 of the river. The southern portion of the township 

 is not destitute of trees ; the landscape is pleasantly 

 varied by fields of corn and roots. The geological 

 formation here and in Great Sankey is the same. 

 The eastern boundary is partially formed by Whittle 

 Brook. In 1901 the population was 1,735. 



A road from Farnworth to Warrington runs east- 

 wardly through the centre of 

 the township ; along it the 

 village is built. The London 

 and North- Western Company's 

 Liverpool and Warrington line 

 traverses the southern part of 

 the township, having a station 

 near the river side, called 

 Fiddler's Ferry and Penketh 

 it was opened about 1852. On 



the river side of this railway p^^keth of Pen- 

 is the Sankey Navigation Canal kkth. Argent, three 

 between St. Helens and Widnes, kingfishers azure. 

 entering the Mersey below 



Fiddler's Ferry. The Liverpool and Manchester 

 section of the Cheshire Lines Committee's railway 

 crosses the northern corner. 



Forty years ago there were about one hundred 

 acres of waste or common land, called the Greystone 

 Heath and Doe Green. An award for enclosure was 



Iw 



PRESCOT 



being divided among the freeholders, while six acres 

 were reserved for a recreation ground, and five acres 

 for a cemetery for Penketh. 



The township has a parish council of seven 

 members. 



The ancient ferry across the Mersey called Fiddler's 

 Ferry' was owned in 1830 by Mrs. Hughes of 

 Sherdley Hall, Sutton ; there was an acknowledge- 

 ment due to Sir Richard Brooke for permission to 

 pass over his land.' 



PENKETH, originally a hamlet in 

 MJNOR Great Sankey,' was part of the demesne 

 of the lords of Warrington. It is not 

 clear when the manor was first granted out,* but in 

 1242 Roger de Sankey held the twentieth part of a 

 knight's fee here under the heirs of Emery le Boteler.' 

 The descent from Roger is 

 obscure. About 1280 Gilbert 

 de Penketh and Robert de 

 Penketh were joint lords of the 

 manor ; * later records prove 

 that the descendants of the 

 latter held under those of the 

 former. 



Gilbert de Penketh had two 

 sons, Henry and Richard.' 

 The inheritance went to seven 

 daughters, or grand-daughters, 

 upon whom in 1325 the suc- 

 cession was settled.' Margery, 

 the eldest of these, married Richard son of William 

 de Ashton,' and their descendants retained the lord- 

 ship of the manor down to the seventeenth century." 



AsHTON OF Penketh. 

 Argent, a chevron be- 

 t-uieen three mascles gules. 



made in 1868 and confirmed in 1869, ninety acres John Ashton, who died in 1620, had the distinction 



1 Perhaps from Vieleur, the (supposed) 

 original grantee of the manor. 



2 Trans, Hist, Soc, xxii, 21 5. 



^ It was included with Great Sankey 

 in the subsidy collections ; Exch. Lay Subs, 

 (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 23. In an 

 agreement between Sir Richard de Bold 

 and John son of John de Penketh, made 

 in 1371, the former granted John all his 

 rent from ' Penketh, a hamlet of Sankey,' 

 during the life of Margery daughter of 

 Richard de Ashton of Penketh ; Dods. 

 MSS. Mlii, fol. 205, H. 86. 



^ Penketh may be the plough-land 

 granted to Adam le Vieleur by Pain de 

 Vilers, about 1160; in 1212 it was 

 held by knight's service by Robert son of 

 Robert, Lanes. Inq, and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 10. 



'" Ibid. 147. 



^ This appears from the suits brought 

 by Richard de Samlesbury and his son to 

 recover common of pasture in Great 

 Sankey and Penketh. The defendants in 

 1284 were Henry son of Gilbert de Pen- 

 keth, Richard his brother, Margaret de 

 Penketh, and Robert de Penketh ; Assize 

 R. 1268, m. 12. Four years later they 

 were Adam del Bruche and Margaret his 

 wife, Robert de Penketh, Richard son of 

 Jordan de Kenyon, Henry son of Gilbert 

 de Penketh, and Richard his brother ; 

 Assize R. 1277, m. 32a. Margaret was 

 the widow of Gilbert ; Adam del Bruche 

 was son of Dulcia. 



Adam and his wife in 1292 brought 

 suits for dower against Richard son of 

 Gilbert, and others ; Assize R. 408, 

 m. 32(/. 71. 



Richard's portion is described as 2 mes- 

 suages, 40 acres of land, 50 acres of 

 moor, and reasonable estovers in 20 acres 



of wood for housebote and heybote, and 

 acquittance of pannage for his demesne 

 pigs. 



At the same time Henry son of Gilbert 

 was plaintiff, claiming as heir of his 

 father various lands in Penketh from 

 William le Boteler of Warrington. Wil- 

 liam replied that Penketh being a hamlet 

 in Sankey and not a vill by itself, he, as 

 son and heir of Emery, lord of Sankey, 

 had approved from the wastes of the vill 

 and hamlet ; further, Gilbert had common 

 of pasture not solely but together with 

 one Robert de Penketh ; Assize R. 408, 

 m. 22. 



William de Penketh occurs as a witness 

 to several early charters ; e.g. Dods. cxlii, 

 fol. 193^, n, 7, 8 (about 1240). Hugh 

 son of William de Penketh witnessed a 

 charter of about 1270 ; Bold D. (Warr.), 

 F. 350; and as Hugh de Penketh his 

 name occurs more frequently. His son 

 Adam, a cleric, claimed lands in Penketh 

 from Richard and Henry, sons of Gilbert, 

 in 1301 and 1302; Assize R. 1321, m. 9 d,; 

 418, m. I3</. 



7 Henry is usually named first, as if 

 he were the elder, but by an agreement 

 made in 1290 Richard was acknowledged 

 to be lord of the messuage, plough-land, 

 and xos. rent ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 165. See also Cal. 

 Close, 1288-96, p. 283. Henry had a son 

 Richard, whose wife was Agnes, and who 

 was defendant in pleas in 1292 brought 

 by Adam del Bruche, and in 1301 by 

 Richard son of Gilbert ; Assize R. 408, 

 m. 32^.; 419, m. 10. The younger 

 Richard seems to have been living in 

 1323, as a suit was in that year brought 

 against Richard de Penketh, senior ; De 

 Banc. R, 250, m. 171/. 



411 



8 Final Cone, ii, 61. The names of 

 the heiresses were Margery, then married 

 to Richard son of William de Ashton ; 

 Margaret, Cecily, Joan, Christiana, Alice, 

 and Godith. The last-named married 

 John de Dalton, clerk, from whom Richard 

 de Dutton (son of John) claimed a mes- 

 suage and land in 1325-6 ; and who in 

 1329 was one of the defendants in a plea 

 by Henry del Bruche ; De Banc. R. 263, 

 m. 133 ; R. 277, m. 95 i. It does not 

 appear who their father was, but Henry 

 son of Gilbert was living and put in his 

 claim. The deforciant was Thomas son 

 of Adam, son of Alan de Abram, who may 

 have been a trustee ; he claimed a rent of 

 61. 5j</. in Penketh and Great Sankey 

 from Richard son of Gilbert in 1 3 3 1 ; De 

 Banc. R. 286, m. 348. 



" Richard de Ashton of Sankey was one 

 defendant in suits brought in 1328 by 

 Thurstan de Holland ; De Banc. R. 273, 

 m. 45 d., &c. He paid 31. 4.J, to the 

 subsidy in 1332; Exeh, Lay Subs, (Rec. 

 Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 23. Licence 

 for an oratory was granted by the bishop 

 of Lichfield to Richard de Ashton of 

 Penketh in 1361 ; Lich. Reg. v, fol. 4*. 



1" Pedigrees were recorded in the Fisit. of 

 1567 (Chet. Soc), p. 112, and 161 3, p. 20. 

 There is a continuation in Piccope's MS. 

 Pedigrees (Chet. Lib.), ii, 79, bringing it 

 down to Strange Ashton. The succession 

 is given as Richard, Thomas, Hamlet, 

 Thomas, and John. A Thomas de Ashton 

 was witness to Bold charters of 1429 and 

 1438 ; Dods. MSS. cxlii. fol. 205, n. 88 ; 

 fol. 203, n. 70. 



A settlement was made in 1457 by 

 Thomas Ashton and Joan his wife, con- 

 cerning messuages and land in Penketh ; 

 the remainders were to their loni Richard 



