WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



conveyed to Holcroft twelve messuages, Z20 acres of 

 land, meadow, and pasture here,' part of which pre- 

 mises, including the manor, or rather the moiety of 

 it, passed by the marriage of Alice daughter and heir 

 of John Holcroft, esq., to Sir Edward Fitton, of 

 Gawsworth, knt., who passed them by fine in 1591 to 

 his uncle Francis Fitton,' and the remainder was con- 

 veyed in 1577 by Hamlet Holcroft, third son of 

 Sir John Holcroft the elder, knt., to William Shering- 

 ton, gent., and Gilbert Sherington.' In 1632 

 Thomas Charnock of Astley sold to Richard Blower 

 and Francis Sherington for ^^ 1,000 the 'manor or 

 lordship of Westleigh and Pennington." In 164 1 

 Blower sold to John Sorocold of Lowton, gent., for 

 j^730 one moiety of the reputed manor of Westleigh 

 and Pennington, of which Sorocold and Francis 

 Sherington of Booths made a division in 1643.' 

 Francis Sherington's share was purchased in 1685 by 

 Alexander RadclifFe, esq.,' whose estate in this town- 

 ship was rated that year as of the yearly value oi £zoJ 

 Alexander RadclifFe,* grandson of the last-named, died 

 in 1 71 8, and soon afterwards Helen Radcliffe, his 

 mother and devisee, appears to have sold the estate to 

 Edward Byrom of Manchester, who was assessed to 

 land tax in 1720 for tenements here called the Heylds, 

 the Meadows, and the Brickhill 

 Fields.' His nephew Edward 



Byrom dispersed the estate 



about 1770. 



The Starkeys' part of the 



manor descended from George 



Starkey, who was living in 



1557," to James Starkey, his 



son and heir, who in 1576 

 joined with John, his son and 



heir apparent, in a conveyance 



of the Pennington estates to 



trustees." James the father 



died in 1579, and his son in 



1 597. George, son and heir of John the younger, was 



seventeen years of age at his father's death." Upon 



attaining his majority he alienated his estate to Thomas 



Ireland of Bewsey, esq., afterwards knt. After the 



death of Sir Thomas Ireland " the estate descended to 



Starkey. Argent, a 

 stork sable memhered gules} 

 a mullet for difference. 



LEIGH 



his eldest son Thomas, who conveyed it to his brother 

 George Ireland, at whose death in 1632 it descended 

 to his daughter and sole heir, Margaret the wife of 

 Peniston Whalley, esq." She and her husband joined 

 in 1652 in a conveyance to Richard Bradshaw of 

 Chester and Pennington, esq.," fourth son of Roger 

 Bradshaw, then late of Aspull, esq., of the manor of 

 Pennington, 40 messuages, a horse-mill and dovecote, 

 450 acres of land, meadow and pasture, 9/. dd. free 

 rent in Pennington, Hindley, and Leigh, with markets 

 and fairs in Leigh." 



In 1 70 1 John Bradshaw, grandson of Richard, 

 conveyed the manor to trustees " for the use of his 

 daughter and heiress Margaret, who married in 1 7 1 7 

 George Farington of Worden,"' who with his wife in 

 1723 conveyed it to trustees," by whom Pennington 

 Hall, Bradshaw Leach, and other tenements were sold 

 in 1726 to James Hilton'" of Pennington, mercer, for 

 j^4,55o." His son Samuel Hilton, on his marriage 

 with Miss Mary Clowes of Smedley, daughter of 

 Samuel Clowes, then of Chaddock in Tyldesley, 

 rebuilt the hall." In 1808 Samuel Chetham Hilton, 

 grandson of the last-named Samuel, sold the hall and 

 estate to Benjamin Gaskell, of Thornes House, near 

 Wakefield," grandfather of the present owner, Mr. 

 Charles George Milnes-Gaskell, of Thornes House, 

 Yorkshire, and Wenlock Abbey, Salop. The manor 

 of Pennington was sold by George Farington's trustees 

 about 1726 to Richard Atherton of Atherton, and 

 has descended with the manor of Atherton and 

 other estates to John Powys, fifth baron Lilford. 



No courts have been held for this manor for many 

 years past. 



Apart from the manor the Bradshaghs held a small 

 estate here by knight's service, which did not descend 

 with the manor. Sir William Bradshagh of Blackrod 

 and Westleigh at his death in 141 5 held lands here of 

 the heirs of Sir William Butler, chr., by knight's service 

 and 1 2(/. per annum.^* Sir William Harrington, knt., 

 grandson of the last-named held the same estate at 

 his death in 1440.'' Anne, daughter and coheir 

 of Sir James Harrington, knt., son of the last-named, 

 married Sir William Stanley, knt., of Hooton and 

 Storeton, Chester,'* who was a suitor at the court 



1 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 13, m. 

 77. » Ibid. bdle. 53, m. 303. 



8 Ibid. bdle. 39, m. 68. 



■• Clowes D. Box ii, 67, now in Lord 

 Ellesmere's possession. 



5 Ibid. 71. « Ibid. 18, 19. 



'1 Rose, Leigh in the Eighteenth Cent. 15. 



' The Radcliffes of Leigh recorded a 

 pedigree in 1664 ; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. 

 Soc), 238. The family had a consider- 

 able estate in this parish, and in 1680 

 Alexander Radcliffe purchased an estate 

 in Radcliife. 



5 Rose, Leigh in the Eighteenth Cent, 58. 



l» Culcheth D. Hist, and Gen. Notes. 

 He married Helen, daughter of Oliver 

 Culcheth of Culcheth. 



^ Local Gleanings, 482, 



^ Leigh Par. Reg. 



'Sin 1628 Sir Thomas Ireland, knt. 

 held at his death the manor of Penning- 

 ton with Leigh, 100 messuages, 50 cot- 

 tages, a dovecote, a horse-mill, 100 gardens, 

 100 orchards, 80 acres of land, meadow, 

 and pasture, 50 acres of moor and furze 

 in Pennington with Leigh, and 1 51. o^d. 

 rent in the same places and in South- 

 worth with Croft, also a market and three 

 fairs at Pennington with Leigh ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvi, «. 58. Part of 



this estate was that which Sir Thomas 

 had purchased of George Starkey in 160 1. 



" See the account of Southworth. 



15 Duchy of Lane. Plea. bdle. 396, 

 Mich. 1661 i Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 151, m. 131. George Starkey, son 

 of George, son of George, son of Roger, 

 younger brother of George Starkey of 

 Pennington, sued Richard Bradshaw, 

 Thomas Ashton, and others in 1661 

 for these estates, apparently without 

 success, for he is said to have ruined 

 himself thereby; MS. c. 1725 penes 

 W. Farrer. He was killed in 1685 at 

 the battle of Sedgemoor in the army of 

 the duke of Monmouth ; ibid. His 

 grandson John Starkey of Heywood (son 

 of John of Pennington in 1689) had a 

 large family who settled at Prestwich, 

 Heywood, Redwals, and elsewhere. 

 Another grandson, James Starkey of Pen- 

 nington, gent, had property here in 1730 

 and was the founder of the Free School 

 at Whitworth. The later descents of 

 this family will be found in Hist, and Gen. 

 Notes iii, 422, 434. John Starkey, senior, 

 held lands here in 1689 of the yearly 

 value of ^2 131. 4</., and John Starkey 

 the younger of the value of £n ; Rose, 

 op. cit. 15, 16, 



429 



" Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 151, 

 m. 131. '' Ibid. bdle. 246, m. 130. 



18 Farington Pap. (Chet. Soc. wtxix), 157. 



19 Feet of F. bdle. 289, m. 46. 



^ John Hilton (d. 1698) was a con- 

 siderable landowner in 1689, owning a 

 house in Leigh, Twiss House, Lansdales 

 and Blaekfields in Pennington, of the 

 yearly value of j^8 los. ; Rose, Leigh in 

 Eighteenth Century, 15. 



21 Baines, Hist, of Lanes, (ed. 1836), 

 iii, 598 ; Rose, op. cit. 74-5. 



'"^ Ibid. The hall has been greatly added 

 to and enlarged by the present tenant, 

 Mr. George Shaw, J.P. late mayor of 

 Leigh. »» Ibid. 



*• Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc. xcv), 1 10. 



'* Inq. p.m. Towneley's MS. DD. 15 10. 



26 Ormerod, Hist, of Ches. (ed. Helsby), 

 ii, 416. At the division of Sir James 

 Harrington's estates in 15 17 Sir William 

 Stanley and Dame Anne his wife received 

 messuages in this township in the occu- 

 pation of James Archbald, James Starkey, 

 Gilbert Taylor, John Atwyn, Nicholas 

 Ranacres, Charles Smyth, and Ralph 

 Gregory, whose rents amounted to 

 67J. (jd., twelve hens i%d., two capons 4</., 

 and average 31. ^d. less the chief rent 

 41. lod. i Norris D. (B.M.). 



