A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



of being one of the very few who were ' soundly 

 affected in religion ' in 1 590.* He left five daughters, 

 coheiresses ; but Christiana, who seems to have been 

 the eldest, married Hamlet Ashton of Glazebrook, 

 and thus the succession continued in a line bearing 

 the old name.* 



Their son Thomas, who died in 1645,' had a 

 numerous family. The eldest son, John, was killed 

 at Bolton in 1643, on the Royalist side ;* Thomas, 

 who succeeded to the manor, also bore arms for the 

 same cause, but very quickly surrendered, took the 

 National Covenant, and compounded for his estates.* 



He was succeeded by his son Colonel John Ashton, 

 who was buried at Ormskirk in 1707.* As he docs 

 not appear to have had any connexion with Penkcth, 

 the manor had probably been alienated before his time. 



It was subsequently in the possession of the Ather- 

 tons, and has descended, in the same manner as Great 

 Sankey, to Lord Lilford/ 



The manor held of the Ashtons by the Penketh 

 family descended from Robert de Penketh, living in 

 I 284,^ to his son Jordan,* his grandson Richard," and 

 his great-grandson Roger.*^ The Penkeths recorded 

 pedigrees in 1567 and 161 3,'* but afterwards seem to 



and Robert for life, and then to their 

 grandson Thomas son of Hamlet, and his 

 heirs ; In default to Joan and A^es, 

 daughters of Hamlet, with further re- 

 mainders ; PaL of Lane Feet of F. bdlc. 

 6, m. 12. 



John Ashton of Penketh did homage 

 and service to the lord of Warrington in 

 April, 1507, paying 101. for relief j Misc. 

 (Rec. See. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 20. John 

 Ashton was living in 1533 j Ducatus Lane. 

 (Rec. Com.), i, 142. He was succeeded 

 by his son Thomas, who married Douce, 

 daughter of William Mascy of Rixton 

 before 1538 5 Trans. Hist. S'-jc. (New Ser.), 

 iii, 106. In August, 1558, a settlement 

 was made by Thomas Ashton, the re- 

 mainders being to his sons William and 

 John, his uncle Richard, Christopher 

 Andcrton, and the male heirs of his father 

 John ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 20, 

 ro. 16. A later one was made in 1563 ; 

 ibid. bdle. 25, m. 81. The inquisition 

 taken after his death (1573) states that 

 Thomas held the manor of Penketh and 

 lands in Warrington and Martinscroft by 

 the fourth part of a knight's fee, suit of 

 court at Warrington from three weeks to 

 three weeks, and a rent of 2 it/, j his heir 

 was his son William, then thirty years of 

 age ; Duchy of Lane. incj. p.m. xiii, 



r.. 1. 



William seems to have died soon after 

 his father, being succeeded by his brother 

 John, who in 1^71 had married Juliana, 

 daughter of John Grimsditch ; Pal. of 

 Lane, Plea R. 229, m. 4 ; see also will of 

 John Grimsditch in fVHIs (Chet. See New 

 Ser.), i, 211. John Ashton had various 

 suits against his neighbours from 1572 

 onwards ; James Ryve and Henry Rigby 

 he accused of diverting a watercourse j Du- 

 catus Lanc.'vWj 2, 51,120. He was among 

 the freeholders in 1600 ; Misc. (ibid,), 

 239. He and Richard Penketh sold the 

 fishery in the Mersey to Francis Bold in 

 1585, and he purchased land in Great 

 Sankey in 1597 ; Pal. of Lane Feet of F. 

 bdle. 47, m. 167 ; 58, m. 215. 



^ Gibson, L\diate Hall, 245 (quoting 

 S.P. Dom. Ehz. ccxxxv, n. 4). There 

 were only three names of recusants in 

 the roll of 1628 in Penketh and eight 

 in Sankey j Lay Subs. 131/318. 



* Lanes. Ir.j. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 303. He died 6 July, 1620; 

 his daughters being Christiana, mother of 

 Thomas Ashton, the heir, who was then 

 o.er thirty years of age \ Timothea, wife 

 of John Crosby, aged forty-six ; Margaret, 

 wife of Robert Heywood, aged thirty- 

 seven ; Anne, wife of Andrew Main- 

 waring, aged thirty-nine 5 and Elizabeth, 

 widow of Peter Harrison, whose son John 

 was eight years old. Thomas Ashton, 

 the grandson, was then in possession, the 

 property including water-mill, windmill, 

 dovecote, fishery in the Mersey, and com- 

 mon of pasture in Penketh, Great Sankey, 

 Warrington, and Martinscroft Penketh, 



which is not called a manor, is said to be 

 held In socage by fealty and the rent of a 

 silver penny, showing a commutation of 

 the old services. From a deed recited in 

 the inquisition it appears that Thomas 

 Ashton had been married as early as 161 2 

 to Katherine Brook, of Chester. 



For Hamlet, the father of Thomas, see 

 the account of Glazebrook. His widow 

 Christiana married Sir Arthur, second son 

 of Sir Thomas Aston of Aston in Che- 

 shire, by whom she had two sons j Funeral 

 Certs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 9. 



8 He was buried at Farnworth in July, 

 1645 \ Trans. Hist. Soc, (New Ser.), ii, 9. 



■• Ci-vil fVar Tracts (Chet Soc), 47, 

 51, 83. 



* Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), i, 112. He surren- 

 dered as early as November, 1644. The 

 value of the estate appears to have been 

 about ;^2io a year; he claimed reduc- 

 tions in respect of the annuities of younger 

 brothers, Andrew and William, and a 

 sister. Christian ; the fine was fixed at 

 ^^192 8j. 4(/. It is added : *As for his 

 personal estate he hath nothing but the 

 clothes to his back.* His mother, Kathe- 

 rine, was still living in 1646. He had 

 been admitted to Gray's Inn in Novem- 

 ber, 1634 ; Tram. Hist. Soc, (New Ser.), 

 ii, II. He was buried at Farnworth 

 18 Feb. 1675-6 ; ibid. 9. 



The hearth-tax return of 1666 shows 

 Mr. Ashton paying for 6 hearths, and 

 Mrs. Ashton for 3 ; Lay Subs. 250-9. 

 The will of his brother William, proved 

 in 1669, is printed in fVi/ls (Chet. Soc. 

 New Ser.), i, 166. The will of Andrew 

 Ashton, of Liverpool, was proved in 1679 ; 

 it mentions his son John, who is believed 

 to be the John Ashton described as * late 

 of Penketh in Lancashire,' who took part 

 in the Jacobite plot in 1690, and was 

 executed for it ; see the paper, already 

 quoted, by Dr. John Venn in Trans, Hist. 

 Soc. (New Ser.), ii, 1-14. 



® Ibid, 10 ; for his will, 7. He had a 

 son Strange, buried at Ormskirk in 1756, 

 and three daughters, Anne, Elizabeth, and 

 Catherine ; ibid. 8, lo- 



' This * manor ' may, however, be the 

 superior lordship, and may have been ac- 

 quired, with Bewsey, by Sir Thomas 

 Ireland. In the inquisition after his death 

 in 1625 he ia said to have held the 

 * manor of Penketh' with its appurte- 

 nances ; Duchy of Lane Inq. p.m. xxvi, 

 n. 58. 



^ See the references given above. In 

 Assize R. 1268, m. 11, there is also a 

 complaint by Robert de Penketh that 

 William le Boteler and others had dis- 

 seised him of his free tenement in Pen- 

 keth, viz. half of 100 acres of moor, but 

 he failed to prove his case. 



' Robert was still living in 1301, when 

 he and his son Jordan made a settlement 

 by fine concerning two ozgangs in Pen- 

 keth ; Final Cone, i, 193, In a Great 



412 



Sankey case m 1308-9 Richard sod of 

 Gilbert de Penketh, Jordan de Penketh, 

 and Agnes widow of Robert, held part of 

 the lands in dispute ; Assize R. 432, m. z. 

 Jordan's name occurs among the witnesses 

 to local charters down to 1346. He and 

 Robert son of Henry de Wetshaw, in 

 1339 made an exchange of land, de- 

 scribed as lying on the Broomhill, on the 

 north side of Jordan's windmill, for land 

 in the Brandearth in Penketh, Robert 

 being bound also to pay a grain of pepper 

 yearly; Kuerden, fol. MS. 315, n. 473. 

 Among the witnesses to this were Richard 

 de Ashton and William de Penketh. 

 Jordan de Penketh and Margaret his wife 

 claimed the reversion of the Holland 

 manor in Sutton in 1323 ; Final Cone, 

 ii, 51. 



^" The above-recited exchange was rati- 

 fied in 1339 by Richard son of Jordan j 

 Kuerden, loc. cit. n. 415. William, son 

 of Richard de Penketh, and Amice his 

 wife occur m 1348 ; De Banc. R. 355, 

 m. 226. Jordan had another son, Robert, 

 to whom he granted certain lands, which 

 Robert granted to his son John in July, 

 1359 ; ibid. n. 414, 416 ; also Duchy of 

 Lane. Assize R. 7, m. i. 



^^ Roger being a minor, his wardship 

 was claimed by Richard de Ashton, in 

 right of his wife Margery; but the jury 

 decided that Richard de Penketh had held 

 this moiety of the manor in socage, and 

 not by knight's service, so that Roger 

 succeeded without wardship j Duchy of 

 Lane. Assize R. 3, m. j d. 



William de Penketh and John his son 

 occur in July, 1359; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 7, m. i. In 1374 there was a 

 dispute between Alice widow of William 

 de Penketh and John his son concerning 

 land in Sankey ; De Banc, R. 454, m. 

 iT^zd. The poll tax of 1381 shows John 

 de Penketh among the contributors ; Lay 

 Subs. 130-24. 



Thomas Penketh, an Austin friar, a 

 zealous upholder of Richard III, is sup- 

 posed to have been a member of this 

 family ; for an account of his career see 

 fVarr. in 1465 (Chet. Soc), xxxix ; Diet. 

 Nat. Biog. and Cat. of Pat. 1476-85, 



P- 543- 



Hamlet de Penketh occurs in 1490 ; 

 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches,), i, 14. 

 Also in the list of the gentry of the hun- 

 dred, compiled about 1512. 



12 Viiit. (Chet. Soc) of 1567, p. 124, 

 and of 1613, p. 132, Giilow, in Bibliog. 

 Diet, of Engl. Cath. v, 258, mentions that 

 a pedigree, * copious, but very incorrect 

 and unreliable,* was printed at Man- 

 chester in 1896. 



From the Hamlet or Hamon Penketh 

 of the preceding note the 1567 pedigree 

 traces the succession through Richard, 

 Thomas, and Richard, to the Richard 

 Penketh living at the time. This 

 Richard had sons Richard and Thomas, 

 and the latter, who succeeded, had a son 



