Townships: Clayton-le-Woods

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1911.

This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.

Citation:

'Townships: Clayton-le-Woods', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp29-32 [accessed 25 November 2024].

'Townships: Clayton-le-Woods', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online, accessed November 25, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp29-32.

"Townships: Clayton-le-Woods". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1911), , British History Online. Web. 25 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp29-32.

In this section

CLAYTON-LE-WOODS

Claiton, 1212; Claytun, 1288; Clayton in Laylondschire, 1301.

This township has an area of 1,430½ acres, (fn. 1) with a population of 1,002 in 1901. It is divided by the Lostock, here flowing north through a rich valley between hills rising to over 300 ft. on the east and to 250 ft. on the west.

The principal road is that from Chorley to Preston, which passes along near the eastern border, going through Clayton Green, the chief hamlet, and Clayton Brook; while the road from Wigan to Preston goes north through the western part of the township. These roads are connected by a cross-road through Clayton Green to Brindle and Blackburn.

The soil is a dark loam, with subsoil of sand; grass is the chief crop. There are large bleach and calicoprinting works.

The township is governed by a parish council.

There are remains of an ancient cross. (fn. 2)

In 1666 the only considerable house was that of James Anderton, with fourteen hearths; no other had as many as six. The total number was fifty-five. (fn. 3)

A native of the township was John Clayton (born 1778), a Nonconformist minister of note, being pastor of the Weighhouse Chapel from 1778 to 1826. He died in 1843. (fn. 4)

Manor

The manor of CLAYTON was a member of the fee of Penwortham, and having been about 1160 granted by Richard Bussel to Richard Fitton, (fn. 5) descended through Lea to Hoghton, (fn. 6) the mesne lordship long remaining in the latter family. (fn. 7)

Of the Clayton family, the immediate lords, but an imperfect account can be rendered. The earliest of whom anything is known, Gerald de Clayton, (fn. 8) died in or about 1213, and was succeeded by his son Robert, (fn. 9) who was in possession as late as 1242. (fn. 10) Next occurs John de Clayton, (fn. 11) living in 1288, when it was found that he paid 12d. yearly to the lord of Leylandshire for castle-guard. (fn. 12) His son Warine appears to have succeeded in or about that year (fn. 13); and then followed Robert de Clayton (1302), (fn. 14) and John, (fn. 15) who died in 1312, holding lands, &c., in Clayton of Sir Henry de Lea by knights' service and the payment of 6d. a year in the name of 'sake, bode, and fode,' and 12d. for castle-guard. (fn. 16)

Adam the son and heir of John was only six years of age, and became the ward of Sir Henry. (fn. 17) He lived many years, (fn. 18) and left a son John, who at his death in 1401 held the manor of Clayton of Sir Richard de Hoghton as heir of Sir Henry de Lea by the service of the eighth part of a knight's fee and the above-named payment of 6d. (fn. 19) Ralph the son and heir of John was forty years of age, and died in 1421 holding the manor by the same tenure and leaving as heir his son Adam, thirty years of age. (fn. 20)

Clayton of Clayton. Argent a cross engrailed sable between four torteaux.

The succession is again uncertain until the 16th century. (fn. 21) James Clayton was followed by John Clayton, (fn. 22) who by his wife Elizabeth Langton left two daughters as co-heirs, Isabel and Ellen; the former married William Farington and then Nicholas Butler, leaving daughters Joan by the former and Elizabeth and Ellen by the latter; Ellen, sister of Isabel, married Christopher Lister, and had a son William. Joan Farington first married Henry Beconsaw, leaving a daughter Dorothy, and then Sir Anthony Browne; while Elizabeth Butler married John Orrell of Turton, and her sister Ellen died without issue. (fn. 23)

Numerous disputes between the heirs occurred from 1550 to 1600. William Lister in 1557 sold his moiety of the manor to Hugh Anderton of Euxton, (fn. 24) and it descended to his eldest son James, (fn. 25) who is described as 'of Clayton' in 1573 and later, (fn. 26) and had a long and active career as an official and magistrate. (fn. 27) As to the other moiety John Orrell contended that it should be divided into three parts, and that his wife should have two of them, one as her own share and the other as sole heir of her sister Ellen. (fn. 28) This claim was rejected, and the Orrell fourth part of the manor was in 1598 sold to James son of James Anderton, (fn. 29) but the sale was rescinded or redeemed by William Orrell in 1600, (fn. 30) and James Anderton the father purchased it from John Orrell, son of William, in 1610. (fn. 31) This sale was confirmed in 1613. James Anderton the son in 1608 acquired Dorothy Huddleston's portion, (fn. 32) becoming sole lord in 1630 when he succeeded his father. (fn. 33)

In religion the Andertons in Elizabeth's reign were temporizers, (fn. 34) but eventually openly avowed their Catholicism. (fn. 35) They took the king's side in the Civil War, and James Anderton, who seems to have been in command, was captured at Preston in 1643, (fn. 36) his lands being sequestered and at last sold by the Parliament to Richard Bell. (fn. 37) Practically the whole was recovered by 1661, (fn. 38) but at the cost of a great burden of debt necessitating sales and mortgages. Eventually in 1683 the manor and estates were acquired by Lord Molyneux, (fn. 39) and in 1717 were sold to John Wright. (fn. 40) The manor was afterwards acquired by the Bootles of Lathom, (fn. 41) and has descended in the same way as Lathom to the present lord, the Earl of Lathom.

Clayton Hall, now a farm-house, is a picturesque 17th-century two-story brick building on a high stone base with low mullioned windows and stone slated roof. The front, which faces east, is 50 ft. in length with a wide gable at the north end projecting 5 ft. 9 in. and a gabled porch going up the height of both stories in the middle of the main wing projecting 8 ft. 9 in. The south end of the house appears to have been rebuilt, the windows being modern with wood frames and brick heads, and there being no stone quoins as in the rest of the house. The hall window is of six lights with hood mould over, and the other windows are of four and two lights, the lower one at the north end being placed out of the centre. The old windows have all round chamfered mullions and hood moulds. The bricks are 2¼ in. thick and have weathered a warm dark red, and the greater part of the front being covered with ivy the colour effect is very good. The windows are glazed with square quarries and the porch has a four-centred arched doorway with hood mould and old oak nail-studded door.

Bootle of Lathom. Gules on a cheveron engrailed between three combs argent as many crosses formy fitchy of the field.

The Hospitallers had land in Clayton in 1292. (fn. 42) The names of few of the ancient freeholders of Clayton are known. Robert Werden or Warden in 1580 held a messuage in Clayton of Sir Edmund Huddleston and Dorothy his wife (fn. 43); and a few other names occur. (fn. 44) Under the Commonwealth the estates of Matthew Martin (fn. 45) and John Critchlow of Clayton were sequestered. (fn. 46) Henry Harrison, Thomas Hoghton, and several Woodcocks in 1717 registered estates as 'Papists.' (fn. 47) In 1788 the chief landowner was Wilbraham Bootle, contributing nearly a third of the land tax. (fn. 48)

There was formerly a Methodist chapel, built in 1830. (fn. 49)

The Roman Catholic church of St. Bede, Clayton Green, opened in 1822, is an offshoot of Brownedge. It is served by the Benedictines. (fn. 50)

Footnotes

  • 1. 1,431 acres, including 14 of inland water; Census Rep. 1901.
  • 2. Lancs. and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xvii, 27.
  • 3. Subs. R. 250, no. 9 (hearth tax).
  • 4. Dict. Nat. Biog. He was born at Wood End Farm.
  • 5. It was part of a grant of eight ploughlands which were to be held by the fourth part of a knight's fee; Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 374.
  • 6. See the account of Hoghton.
  • 7. The lordship is recorded in the Clayton inquisitions, and in 1422 was regarded as part of the Hoghton lordship; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 145. It is not named in later Hoghton inquests. Later John Fitton's plough-land in Clayton appears to have been considered distinct from the eight plough-lands in Hoghton, &c.; Lansdowne MS. 559, fol. 33, quoted in Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1870), ii, 692. Perhaps for this reason it has been identified with a plough-land given to Robert Hickeling; Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 31.
  • 8. Gerald de Clayton occurs in the Pipe Roll of 1194–5 as owing 5 marks for himself and his esquires, 'because he was with Count John,' i.e. in the latter's rebellion against Richard I; Lancs. Pipe R. 90, &c. He had received the serjeanty of the hundred of Leyland from Count John, and this grant was confirmed to him in 1199, when John had become king; Cal. Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), 27. Gerald had also been seneschal for Albert Bussel, lord of Penwortham (1164–90), and held 4 oxgangs of land there as recompense; Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 33. Gerald de Clayton was a benefactor to Cockersand Abbey, giving part of his land within bounds beginning at the clough under Scalecroft (on the east side of the king's street) and going by the waingate to the clough dividing Leyland and Clayton, and by Blacklache to the starting-point; Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 498. From later notices Gerald de Clayton's land seems to have been one plough-land in Clayton; as his successors held Clayton of Lea and Hoghton their manor must have been included in the grant to Richard Fitton, though in some ways it is regarded as held directly of the lord of Penwortham. On the other hand in 1346–55 Sir Adam de Hoghton was found to hold three parts of a knight's fee, formerly held by Robert de Clayton and Richard Fitton; Feud. Aids, iii, 86.
  • 9. Robert de Clayton in 1215 owed 12½ marks and a palfrey on succeeding to the office of bailiff of Leylandshire; Lancs. Pipe R. 252; Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 132. He afterwards sold this office to William de Ferrers. Robert confirmed the grant made by his father Gerald to the canons of Cockersand, and added further portions of land; from the bounds it appears that Werden brook fell into the above-named clough dividing Clayton and Leyland; Cockersand Chartul. ii, 499, 500.
  • 10. Of the heir of the Earl of Lincoln (as lord of Penwortham) Robert de Clayton in 1242 held the tenth part and the twentieth part of a knight's fee in Clayton and Penwortham; Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 149. The 'twentieth part' in Penwortham being the 4 oxgangs named in a preceding note, it seems to follow that the 'tenth part' in Clayton was a ploughland.
  • 11. Mentioned simultaneously in 1242; ibid. His name also occurs among the jurors at inquisitions and the witnesses to charters. Richard son of Robert (son of) Gerald de Clayton was defendant in 1270; Curia Regis R. 199, m. 15.
  • 12. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 270; the date is February 1287–8.
  • 13. Ibid. 273; December 1288. John de Clayton and Warine his son attested a local charter; Add. MS. 32109, fol. 22. The homage of John de Clayton was included in the grant by Edmund Fitton to Henry de Lea; Dods. MS. cxlii, fol. 12b.
  • 14. Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 315; Robert held of the Earl of Lancaster the tenth part of a fee in Clayton and the twentieth part in Penwortham. In the same year Agnes and Mabel, daughters of William de Crook, with William Cuckoo and Alice his wife, did not prosecute their claim against Robert son of Warine de Clayton touching land in Clayton; Assize R. 418, m. 2. From later pleadings it appears that Alice was a Clayton. She was plaintiff in 1315 and later against Gilbert de Swiney; De Banco R. 208, m. 118 d.; 261, m. 227 d.; 296, m. 364.
  • 15. Perhaps a brother of Robert.
  • 16. Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 3.
  • 17. Ibid. In 1313 Adam claimed two parts of two parts of the manor against Henry de Lea (who said he was guardian in chivalry), Robert son of Adam Banastre, and William son of Richard Banastre, asserting that his father John de Clayton held the manor by a rent of 18d. yearly and not by knights' service. The jury, however, found that John had held it by the eighth part of a knight's fee; Assize R. 424, m. 7 d. The increase of service from the tenth part to the eighth part will be noticed.
  • 18. In 1332 Adam de Clayton and Hawise his wife made a settlement of the manor of Clayton; Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 88. The same year Adam and Robert de Clayton contributed to the subsidy; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 44. In 1345 Adam de Clayton claimed 20 acres of moor against John son of Adam de Charnock, it being uncertain whether the land was in Clayton or in Cuerden. The jury divided it between them; Assize R. 1435, m. 36. Warine son of Thomas son of Warine de Clayton in 1341 released to Adam son of John de Clayton land in Whittle held of Warin; Kuerden MSS. iii, C 25.
  • 19. Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 77. It is stated that Sir Richard de Hoghton held the manor of the king as duke as of his fee of Penwortham. The clear value was 20 marks. Ralph son of John son of Adam de Clayton was in 1367 contracted to marry Margaret daughter of William Farington; Kuerden MSS. iii, C 25.
  • 20. Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 143. Adam son of Ralph Clayton was in 1404 contracted to marry Katherine daughter of William Charnock; Kuerden MSS. iii, C 25.
  • 21. In 1448 a jury of the view of frankpledge of Clayton was summoned to recognize if 50 acres of land, &c., had been settled on Robert son of Adam de Clayton and his issue; John, Thomas and Alice were the children of Robert; Pal. of Lanc. Writs of Assize, 4 Mar. 26 Hen. VI.
  • 22. A pedigree printed in the Visit. of 1613 (Chet. Soc.), 47, gives the descent as follows: Ralph -s. Adam -s. Thomas bro. James -s. William (d.v.p.) -s. John. Adam Clayton attested a charter in 1440–1; Add. MS. 32109, fol. 79b. Thomas Clayton appears down to 1464; ibid. fol. 87. John Clayton attested in 1498–9; ibid. fol. 91. Thomas son of Adam Clayton married Blanche sister of Sir Peter Legh; Kuerden, ut sup. But see Earwaker's East. Ches. ii, 303.
  • 23. The pedigree is set out in a petition for a division of Clayton made in 1555; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 196, m. 3; 200, m. 6 d. Anthony Browne, Joan his wife, and William Lister were summoned to answer John Orrell and Elizabeth his wife regarding the capital messuage called Clayton Hall, &c. A feoffment made by John Clayton in 1527 is cited, and John is described as kinsman and heir of James Clayton. Anthony and Joan Browne in 1549 made a settlement of their moiety of the manor of Clayton; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 13, m. 21. Elizabeth widow of John Clayton was an out-burgess of Preston in 1542; Preston Guild R. (Lancs. and Ches. Rec. Soc.), 19, xxv–vi.
  • 24. Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 17, m. 48. The estate was described as a moiety of the manor of Clayton, and of fifty messuages, dovecote, water-mill, 800 acres of land, &c. Hugh Anderton about the same time purchased lands in Clayton belonging to Richard Starkie of Appleton in Cheshire; Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 239. The deforciants to the fine (1557) were Richard Starkie, Elizabeth his wife, John Clayton and Maud his wife; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 19, m. 77.
  • 25. See the pedigree in Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 6. Hugh Anderton of Euxton died in 1566 holding a moiety of the manor of Clayton, &c., of the Earl of Derby, Lord Mounteagle, and Sir Richard Shireburne by a rent of 6d.; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xi, no. 31. According to this the mesne lordship of Hoghton had been replaced by that of the lords of Leylandshire. James the son and heir of Hugh was twenty-four years of age at his father's death. His child marriage with Elizabeth daughter and heir of Richard Elston of Brockholes had been dissolved in 1561; Register Bk. at Chester Dioc. Reg. i, fol. 246. Elizabeth was married to Ralph Holden of Holden before the sentence of divorce; Duchy of Lanc. Plead. xliv, A 5. James Anderton was admitted to Gray's Inn in 1562. He married Dorothy Bardsey about 1576; she died in 1627.
  • 26. a Duchy of Lanc. Draft Decrees 15 Eliz. no. 21; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1935. Depositions made in April 1586 state that Roger Crook and others went to Clayton Hall, being James Anderton's dwelling-place, in the previous month; Duchy of Lanc. Dep. (ser. 2), bdle. 28, 28 Eliz., no. 30.
  • 27. b He was steward of the royal manor of Muchland in Furness from 1591; Pat. 33 Eliz. pt. iii, m. 40. He was receiver for the possessions of Furness Abbey from 1579; Duchy of Lanc. Misc. Bks. xliv, fol. 452b–454. He was also a farmer of the goods of felons and outlaws; ibid. fol. 369–71b. He was a magistrate; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 279, m. 11–13 d. He was one of the magistrates who at Wigan in 1612 signed the order for disarming recusants; Chet. Soc. Publ. 1, 259.
  • 28. Anthony Browne and John his wife in 1550 complained that John Orrell had entered into the whole of Ellen Butler's share of the manor as having descended to Elizabeth his wife, whereas a moiety of it should be given to Joan; Duchy of Lanc. Plead. Edw. VI, xxv, B 21. John Charnock, the tenant of the Brownes, complained in 1553 that he had been disturbed by John Orrell and others, who had entered armed into his moiety of the manor-house of Clayton, broken open a chest, and taken goods away; ibid. Mary, xxxiii, C 5; also xxxvii (n.d.), B 18. Hugh Anderton of Euxton in 1557–8, being seised of a moiety of the manor of Clayton in common with Anthony Browne, Joan his wife, and John Orrell of Turton, owners of the other moiety, complained that his cattle had been driven away, and that he had not been able to take the profits of his moiety, owing to an incursion by Orrell; ibid. xxxv, A 2. This disturbance was due to the dispute as to the third part of the moiety. The rival claims are set out in pleadings of 1560; ibid. Eliz. xliv, B 31. Elizabeth Orrell in 1564, asserting her claim to the two-thirds, prayed that her defence might be made through her husband; ibid. lvi, O 3.
  • 29. Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 61, no. 214. The vendor was William son of John and Elizabeth Orrell. James Anderton the younger soon complained that though he had paid for the Orrell part of the manor he could not obtain possession, William having no good title; Duchy of Lanc. Plead. Eliz. clxxxvii, A 26. William Orrell replied that Anderton, who held a moiety of the manor, and had bought up much of the freeholders' lands in the township, was now endeavouring to conceal what belonged to the Orrell quarter, pretending that this or that parcel belonged to one of the freeholders' estates, and had altered the boundaries. As the land was to be paid for at the rate of £6 13s. 4d. an acre Orrell desired an investigation; ibid. clxxxix, O 2.
  • 30. a Close, 42 Eliz. pt. xiii (1657).
  • 31. b Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 78, no. 24; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 306, m. 1 d.
  • 32. The following fines relate to the manor and its divisions:— 1602—James Anderton and Dorothy his wife deforciants of a moiety of the manor of Clayton and a fourth part of the manor of Whittle-le-Woods; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 64, no. 233. The Orrell part had not then been purchased. 1606—Sir Robert and Sir John Dormer v. Sir Edmund Huddleston, Dorothy his wife and Henry their son and heirapparent; manors, including a fourth part of the manor of Clayton; ibid. bdle. 70, no. 84. From the account of Hesketh it will be seen that Dorothy was the daughter and heir of Henry Beconsaw, above-named. 1608—James Anderton the younger v. Sir John Cotton and others, a fourth part of the manor of Clayton, &c.; ibid. bdle. 73, no. 65.
  • 33. James Anderton died 8 Nov. 1630, at Clayton, holding a moiety of the manor, also a fourth part of the manor, &c., purchased of John Orrell, and other lands in Clayton, Charnock Richard, Whittle-leWoods, Ulnes Walton, Cuerden, Farington, &c. The jury did not know of whom the manor of Clayton was held; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, no. 56. James Anderton, the son and heir, was fifty-five years of age. Dorothy the wife of the elder James brought him the manor of Bardsea; Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 16, 17. 1631—James Anderton, Anne his wife and James son and heir-apparent, deforciants of the manors of Clayton and Whittle-le-Woods, &c.; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 120, no. 27.
  • 34. This is shown by the account which Hugh Anderton gave of himself and his family on entering the English College at Rome in 1600, as follows: 'I am second son of James Anderton, esq., of Lancashire, and was born at my father's house called Clayton, and educated in neighbouring grammar schools till my fourteenth year. I am now 22 or 23 years of age. My parents are of the higher class. I have three brothers and two sisters; all these and most of my relatives are schismatics, but a few are Catholics. I studied at Oxford for about seventeen months . . . I was then sent to Gray's Inn, London, to study the law, but after staying there for six entire years I made little or no progress. I was always a schismatic until the feast of St. George of the present year of jubilee, when by the grace of God and assistance of Fr. Blount I became a Catholic. By his advice and that of Fr. Gilbert Gerard, and of my own will, I left England and came to Rome for the sake of religion and study about four months ago, and it is my great desire to embrace the ecclesiastical state of life'; Foley, Rec. S. J. iii, 489. He died during his college course in 1603. As to the father James Anderton's disposition in 1595 see Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 585. In a dispute between William Farington of Worden and James Anderton in 1596 concerning the Constableship of Lancaster Castle the former sent to Lord Burghley a long statement about the obstinate recusancy of most of the Clayton household, alleging in particular that in the last Passion Week (1595) James Anderton himself had sent for one Peter Makinson, 'being a massing priest made in Queen Mary's time,' and very early in the morning received communion from him with wafer bread, although 'there was at that time a very sufficient minister of his the said Master Anderton's parish church of Leyland, who was no priest but only a minister made in the queen's majesty's time that now is.' Anderton warmly repudiated all the charges, and the jury found against Farington, assessing the damages at 100 marks; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 279, m. 11–13 d.
  • 35. In 1628 James Anderton (i.e. the son of the squire), Anne his wife and Thurstan Anderton were recusants; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 182, where the list for the township is printed. James Anderton and his brother Hugh had both been sent to Gray's Inn in 1593; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 279, m. 13 d. James Anderton in 1631 paid £13 6s. 8d. as composition on declining knighthood; ibid. i, 214.
  • 36. 'Old Master Anderton of Clayton, their great popish commander, is taken,' says the report ordered by the House of Commons to be printed; Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 75. In another report he is described as 'one of the most considerable men for estate and activity in the country'; ibid. 72. Three sons of James Anderton lost their lives in the king's cause: Matthew, at Sheriff Hutton, 1642; Nicholas, at Greenhalgh Castle, 1645; and Thomas, 1646; Gillow, Bibl. Dict. of Engl. Cath. i, 38, 42; Towneley MS. C 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), fol. 45; Castlemain, Cath. Apology.
  • 37. The estate was sequestered in 1643, and James Anderton sent in his petition for an allowance from it in 1650, and Ann his wife had before that had a fifth part allowed her, which was stopped. The estates included Clayton Hall, Bardsea Hall, and the tithes of Euxton. James Anderton was in 1655 described as 'very old and infirm.' See Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 81–4; Index of Royalists (Index Soc.), 41. In 1654 Richard Bell was plaintiff and James Anderton of Clayton and James his son and heir-apparent deforciants in a fine respecting the manors of Clayton, Whittle and Bardsea; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 156, m. 182; Close, 1655, pt. xiv (3844), no. 23. In the following year Bell purchased the entire Anderton inheritance from the Parliamentary trustees; Lathom House D. James Anderton was buried at Leyland, 31 May 1658; Parish Reg.
  • 38. a This appears from a settlement of 1661 by James Anderton in favour of his half-brothers Thurstan, Christopher and William; Lathom House D.
  • 39. From a statement drawn up by Isaac Greene, now at Lathom House. The third James Anderton is said to have 'mortgaged the lordship to Dicconson of Wrightington, esq. After several years it was redeemed by Caryll Molyneux, Viscount Maryborough, on behalf of Thurstan, Christopher and William Anderton, who were all living in 1672. The two latter, after the death of Thurstan, sold their right in the lordship to Viscount Maryborough, and retired to another lordship of theirs in the north, called Bardsea'; Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1836), iii, 466, from Kuerden's account in Harl. MS. 7386, fol. 212b. The statement requires some correction, for Thurstan Anderton appears to have joined in the sale to Lord Molyneux just before his death; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 437, m. I. See also the account of Bardsea. James Anderton and Jane his wife were in possession in 1674; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 192, m. 82. James is said (in a document at Lathom) to have died in London about 1676 intestate and insolvent; he is probably the James Anderton buried at Westminster Abbey 11 July 1676; Reg. of Westm. (Harl. Soc.), 189. His widow, as Jane Anderton of Bardsea, occurs in 1679; Duchy of Lanc. Plead. bdle. 438, Anderton v. Douglas (note by Mr. Anderton). Thurstan Anderton was buried at Leyland 29 Aug. 1683; Parish Reg.
  • 40. Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 280, m. 66; Lathom House D, Clayton boxes. Wright purchased the larger part, but not the whole of Clayton.
  • 41. From a deed at Lathom it appears that in 1739 Anne widow of John Wright, linen-draper, of London, and Francis Wright their son and heir conveyed the manor of Clayton to Thomas Bootle; note by Mr. H. Ince Anderton. The land tax return of 1788 shows that the Bootle family had then the largest estate in the township; and in 1815 Edward Wilbraham Bootle purchased (a moiety of) the manor of Clayton, &c., from Isaac George Manley, William Cunliffe Shawe and their wives; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. Aug. 55 Geo. III, m. 31. The origin of their title does not appear, but the wives were daughters and co-heirs of Charles Pole; Burke, Commoners, iv, 708; Brooke, Liverpool as it was, 295.
  • 42. Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 375.
  • 43. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xiv, no. 71. He also held land in Coppull and Leyland. His son and heir William was eleven years old in 1584, when the inquisition was taken, and appears in the 1600 list of freeholders; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 244. The Werden family was of old standing. Richard de Bosco son of Robert de Clayton granted land to Robert son of William de Werden in marriage with Richard's daughter Margery; Kuerden MSS. iii, C 25. In 1451 the Cockersand lands in the township were held by Henry Werden, but Thomas Farington was the holder in 1501; Cockersand Chartul. iii, 1260–1.
  • 44. Of these the principal seem to have been the owners of the adjoining Crook estate; see Whittle. Their land in Clayton was perhaps that previously held by Gilbert Swiney, who contributed to the subsidy in 1327 and 1332; Lay Subs. R. 130, no. 5; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 44. In 1338 William de Crook claimed two messuages, &c., in Clayton against Gilbert de Swiney and Richard his son; Assize R. 1425, m. 4; 1435, m. 48. See also De Banco R. 434, m. 188. Adam del Crook contributed to the subsidy in 1327; Lay Subs. R. 130, no. 5. In 1506 William Crook's lands there were held of John Clayton by a rent of 6d.; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 32. In 1591, however, Thomas Clayton's were said to be held of the lord of Clayton by services unknown; ibid. xv, no. 3. In later inquisitions of the owners of Crook the tenements in Clayton were found to be held of James Anderton; e.g. Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 23. In the time of Richard II William Brereworth the elder and Katherine his wife held a moiety of certain messuages and land in Clayton, which was to descend to Ralph son of Roger Banastre; Final Conc. iii, 51. A John de Brereworth was also named, and may have been the ancestor of James Brereworth who in 1556 sold three messuages, 30 acres of land, &c., to Hugh Anderton; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 16, m. 86. Ralph Banastre in 1518 held lands in Clayton of John Clayton by a rent of 6d. and left a son and heir Francis, aged about eleven; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. v, no. 29. Henry Banastre of Bank in 1641 held land of James Anderton; ibid. xxix, no. 15. Hugh Swansey in 1566 held lands of the heir of John Clayton by a rent of 6d.; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xi, no. 29.
  • 45. Two-thirds of his estate were sequestered for recusancy only. He seems to have died in 1649; Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), iv, 120.
  • 46. His offence also was 'recusancy only'; ibid. ii, 42.
  • 47. Estcourt and Payne; Engl. Cath. Non-jurors, 131, 151, 137.
  • 48. Land tax returns at Preston. Thomas Townley Parker contributed nearly a tenth, and Mr. Anderton, John Cowban and Christopher Crook were 'double assessed' for religion.
  • 49. Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1870), ii, 145.
  • 50. Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiii, 161. It is affiliated to St. Gregory's, Downside.
PreviousTable of contentsNext