WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



LEIGH 



purchased the advowson of the church of ' Westlay In 

 Legh ' from the prioress of Wallingwells.' Richard died 

 before 1305, and in 1 31 5 Siegrith gave six messuages, 

 including the Higher Hall, a mill, 40 acres of land, 

 2 acres of meadow, 40 acres of wood and 3<2'. of free 

 rent to her younger son William,' and the same year 

 gave to Richard, her elder son, the manor of West- 

 leigh and the advowson of the church.' In i 3 1 3 she 

 was associated with John de Urmston, parson of 

 Leigh, and Richard de Bradshagh and Margery his 

 wife in a plea of land brought by Richard de la Lache.* 

 Richard, her elder son, married Alice, one of the 

 daughters and coheirs of Richard de Lathom of Par- 

 bold, and had issue a son Richard,' who died young, 

 and Lucy, who married Henry de Trafford of Prest- 

 wich, son of Robert of the same place. 



In 1350 a fourth part of the manor was settled 

 upon Henry and Lucy and their issue.^ Between 

 1 35 1 and 1353 they were engaged in litigation with 

 Lucy's kinsman Gilbert de Urmston,' son and heir of 

 William, younger son of Siegrith. In July, 1 351, 

 Gilbert recovered twelve messuages, a mill, 80 acres 

 of land, 6 of meadow, 50 of wood, and 5/. of free 

 rent here against Henry and Lucy,' who subsequently 

 complained that some of the recognitors of the assize 

 had delivered to Gilbert much more than the premises 

 put in view, which they sought to recover against him 

 and against Roger de Bradshagh of Westleigh, Robert 

 de Blackburn, and Richard de Sale, free tenants of the 

 manor.' Henry de Trafford died before the Feast of 

 St. Michael, 1359,'° ^'^ widow surviving him. As they 

 had no issue their estate probably descended in accord- 

 ance with the limitations of the settlement made in 

 1350, but the links in the descent cannot be traced until 

 1436, when Isabella widow of Thurstan Urmston died 

 seised of messuages belonging to the Urmston estate 

 and of 4J. of rent issuing out of lands and tenements 

 parcel of the manor, which William Holland of Down- 

 hoUand then held." This estate descended to Piers 

 Holland, who died in 1 5 24 seised of four messuages, 

 160 acres of land, meadow and pasture in this manor 

 held of John Urmston, esq., by service unknown. 

 Edmund his son and heir was then aged forty years." 

 He alienated the estate in 1522" to Sir Henry Hal- 

 sail, knt., who held at his death on 23 June, 1522, the 



mesne manor of Westleigh of John Urmston, esq., in 

 socage by 4/. yearly free rent." Subsequently the 

 estate descended in the Halsall family, and was dis- 

 persed by Sir Cuthbert Halsall, knt. About twenty-six 

 acres of the large measure were sold to James Sorocold 

 of Highhurst in Knowsley, yeoman," and another por- 

 tion to Adam Mort, who held a tenement here at his 

 death in 1631.'" 



After the death of Richard Urmston, brother of 

 Lucy, the superior manor appears to have reverted to 

 the heir male of Siegrith de 

 Urmston in the person of John 

 son of Gilbert, son of her 

 younger son William Urmston." 

 John Urmston was father or 

 grandfather of John Urmston 

 who died seised of the manor 

 in 141 2, Thurstan his brother 

 being his successor, then aged 

 twenty-one years." Thurstan 

 died in 141 5, when the cus- 

 tody of John his son was de- 

 livered to John Butler, esq., 

 one of the ushers of the king's 



chamber." The manor was held of the king as of his 

 duchy of Lancaster by the fourth and twentieth part 

 of a knight's fee and suit to the county of Lancaster 

 and wapentake of West Derby.'" John Urmston was 

 of age and had livery of the manor in March, 143 1." 

 The year following he made a settlement of his estates.'^ 

 There was at that time a coal mine in the manor.'^ 

 He died in March, 1436,** his son Gilbert being aged 

 about ten years." This Gilbert was the father of 

 another Gilbert who died in 1499, his eldest son John 

 being then aged fifty years ;'^ William a younger son 

 was afterwards vicar of Leigh.*' From John Urmston, 

 who died in or soon after I 548,^' the manor descended 

 in the fourth generation to Richard Urmston,*' who 

 died in 1659, aged sixty-nine years, leaving issue four 

 daughters. 



Mary married Robert Heaton of Westleigh, gent. ; 

 Frances married, first, Richard Shuttleworth of Bed- 

 ford, gent., who died in 1650, and secondly, George 

 Bradshaw of Greenacre, gent. ; Eleanor was never 

 married ; and Anne, the youngest, married Thomas 



Urmston. Sable, a 

 chevron betvjeen three 

 spear-heads argent. 



^ Finai Cone. (Rec. Soc. xxxix), i, 169. 



* Ibid, ii, 20 ; Leigh Cbron, Scrap Bk. 



^ Baines, Hist, of Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 

 589, quoting an eighteenth-centurj' sche- 

 dule of Westleigh deeds. See also Worsley, 

 Leigh Par. Ch. App. ii. 



^ Assize R. 424, m. 5. 



* Ibid. 1435, m. 9. 



* Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. xlvi), ii, 127. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i (iii), m. 

 3 d, \ Assize R. 436, m. 32 d. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2 (ii), m. 4 d. 



' Ibid. 2 (i), m. 10. 



>» Ibid. 7 (ii), m. I. 



^ Duchy of Lane. Chan. R. Dep. Keeper's 

 Rep. xxxiii, App. 37. Probably he acquired 

 it through Isabel his wife. Her parentage 

 is unknown. 



^^ Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, n. 30. 

 Richard Liptrot, Richard Mather, and 

 Christopher Strange were the tenants of 

 the land in 1504 ; Dodsworth's MSS. 

 Ixi, 91. 



^ By deed enrolled at Lancaster. Dods- 

 wortih's MSS. cxxxix, 139^ (8). James, 

 brother of Edmund, joined in the aliena- 

 tion (ibid. 141, n. 35), and William son 

 and heir of Edmund released his right to 



Sir Thomas Halsall, knt., in 1533-4; 

 ibid. n. 34. 



i"" Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, n. 50. 



15 Wills at Chester, 1622. 



1^ Inq. p.m. XXV, n. 33. 



V In Easter term, 1356, Henry de Traf- 

 ford and Lucy his wife were suing John 

 de Urmston for two messuages, 17 acres 

 of land, meadow and wood, and 4^. of 

 rent. John de Urmston was under age, 

 and appeared by his custodee. Duchy of 

 Lane, Assize R. 5, m. 25. 



18 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc. xcv), 98. 



1" Dodsworth's MSS. cxlix, 43. 



2" Ibid, cxxxi, 97^. 



''I Duchy of Lane. Chan. R. Dep. Keeper's 

 Rep. xxxiii, App. 32. ^'^ Ibid. 37. 



«8 Ibid. 24 Ibid. 36. ^^ Ibid. 37. 



26 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, n. 54. 



27 Duchy of Lane. Plead. Rec. Soc. xxxii, 

 182-6 ; XXXV, 75-82. 



28 In April, 155 1, custody of the manor 

 was granted to Thurstan Rawson, gent., 

 during the minority of Richard Urmston, 

 kinsman and heir of John Urmston, esq., 

 deceased, viz. son and heir of Richard, son 

 and heir of the said John Urmston, who 

 held the manor of the king by knight's 



service ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. xxiii, 

 6y. The son and heir of Richard Urms- 

 ton, the minor in 1551, who was buried 

 at Leigh 6 Jan. 1623-4, was John Urms- 

 ton, who, describing himself as of the 

 ' Harr Hale (Higher Hall) in Westleigh,' 

 gent., made his will 18 Jan. 1621-2, de- 

 siring to be buried *in the Chancel att 

 Leighe amongst my ancestors.' He died 

 1622. Will at Chester. 



29 His estates were sequestered for re- 

 cusancy and delinquency. In 1650 Mary 

 Urmston and her four sisters petitioned 

 for one-fifth of their father's estate, which 

 was granted. In 1655 the vicar Bradley 

 Hayhurst and nine parishioners of West- 

 leigh lodged a petition alleging that, 

 through the machinations of John, brother 

 of Richard Urmston — who declared that 

 he had purchased the rectory and many of 

 the vicarage lands — and of the daughters of 

 Richard Urmston — who were married to 

 papists and malignants — there was no 

 maintenance for a minister. In 1653 the 

 manor was discharged from sequestration 

 upon a purchase from the trustees for 

 compounding by John Urmston ; Cal. of 

 Com. for Comp. iv, 2628-30. 



