Townships: Rixton with Glazebrook

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1907.

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'Townships: Rixton with Glazebrook', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1907), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp334-340 [accessed 25 November 2024].

'Townships: Rixton with Glazebrook', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1907), British History Online, accessed November 25, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp334-340.

"Townships: Rixton with Glazebrook". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1907), , British History Online. Web. 25 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp334-340.

In this section

RIXTON WITH GLAZEBROOK

Rixton, 1212 and commonly; Rickeston, 1259.

Glazebrok, 1259, 1302, &c.; Glaseborke, 1292; Glazebrook, 1389.

This township (fn. 1) is the most easterly one of the hundred. It lies along the course of the Mersey. The Glazebrook, a fair-sized stream, forms the boundary between this and the hundred of Salford; it flows through marshy meadows, its course marked by luxuriant poplar trees, to join the Mersey.

The geological formation is triassic. A fault which traverses the township from north-west to south-east has thrown up the upper mottled sandstone of the bunter series in the south-western part. The same beds occur also in the northern angle from Glazebrook station northward. The remainder of the township, forming a triangle of which the apex extends into Risley to a point between the old and new halls, having the base along the Mersey, consists of the basement beds to the north and the waterstones of the keuper series to the south, the dividing line extending from Moss Side to Hollins Green.

There is a good deal of mossland in the township; in places peat is still cut for fuel and litter. In the south the soil is principally stiff clay with some sand. The land is given over almost entirely to farming and market-gardening, crops of corn and potatoes being the chief general produce. Occasional osier-beds in the low-lying ground by the river and brooks point to the manufacture of baskets and hampers to hold the produce of the fields and gardens. The total area is 2,988 acres, (fn. 2) of which Rixton, the western portion, has 2,213½ acres, and Glazebrook the remainder. Hollinfare or Hollins Green is a hamlet on the boundary of the two portions of the township, and gives its name to the chapelry. The population in 1901 was 998.

The principal road is that from Warrington to Manchester, running not far from the Mersey. The Cheshire Lines Committee's railway between the same places also crosses the township, with a station at Glazebrook, at which point it is joined by the line from Wigan worked by the Great Central Company. At the same point the line to Stockport diverges to the south-east. The Mersey and Irwell Navigation has a short cut through the township, and the Manchester Ship Canal also passes through it. The tremendously elevated iron bridges which span the canal at intervals are noticeable objects in the landscape.

The duke of Cumberland crossed by the ferry and passed through the township in December, 1745, in his pursuit of the Young Pretender.

A bar erected on the road in 1831 to increase the tolls was pulled down by the people. (fn. 3)

The annual fair is held on 12 May, Old St. Philip's day. (fn. 4) A wake was celebrated on the first Sunday in October. (fn. 5)

The township has a parish council.

MANORS

Nothing is known of the manor of RIXTON until the beginning of the thirteenth century, when it formed one of the members of the fee of Warrington, (fn. 6) and in 1212 was held of William le Boteler by Alan de Rixton by knight's service and the payment of 1 mark; the assessment was one plough-land. As nothing is said of the origin of the tenure, which was 'of ancient time,' the Rixton family may have been in possession as early as the beginning of Henry I's reign. (fn. 7) Little can be discovered concerning them; the name Alan de Rixton occurs from 1200 to 1332, so that several successive lords of the manor must have borne it. (fn. 8)

Rixton of Rixton. Argent, on a bend sable three covered cups of the first.

Between 1212 and 1242 a moiety of the adjoining manor of Glazebrook was acquired and remained in the possession of the Rixtons and their successors; the combined holding was called the fifth part of a knight's fee; (fn. 9) and in the later inquisitions the service is variously stated as 20s. or 20s. 1½d., i.e. a mark for Rixton and half a mark for the moiety of Glazebrook. (fn. 10) Suit had to be done to the court of Warrington from three weeks to three weeks, but in 1300 William le Boteler conceded that for the future only one beadle need attend, instead of two. (fn. 11) The enfranchisement of the manor was obtained in 1598.

In the autumn of 1332 Alan de Rixton made a settlement of his manors and lands, his daughters Katherine, Sibyl, Elizabeth, Emma, Maud, Margaret, and Agnes, and their heirs male having the succession in turn. (fn. 12) The first of these about the same time married Hamlet, son of Robert de Mascy of Tatton in Cheshire, (fn. 13) and their descendants continued in possession down to the end of the eighteenth century. Hamlet died about 1360, (fn. 14) and was succeeded by his son Richard, who made a feoffment of the manors of Rixton and Glazebrook in 1384. (fn. 15) Other of Richard de Mascy's charters have been preserved, and he gave evidence in the Scrope v. Grosvenor trial in 1386. (fn. 16) He died before 1406, (fn. 17) leaving two sons, Hamlet and Peter, who married the daughters and coheirs of William de Horton of Hartford in Cheshire. (fn. 18)

Hamlet succeeded his father at Rixton, (fn. 19) and added to his possessions there by purchasing the lands of Richard the Smith. (fn. 20) He had several sons, of whom one, Thomas, became rector of Warrington. (fn. 21) He died 20 June, 1436, holding the manors of Rixton and Glazebrook of the Boteler trustees by knight's service and the rent of 20s.; his son and heir, William, was thirty-one years of age. (fn. 22) Little is known of William de Mascy, but by his marriage with Parnell, daughter and heir of Richard de Warburton of Burges in Cogshall, he increased his Cheshire lands. (fn. 23) Hamlet, his son and heir, was in 1438 married to Joan daughter of Sir Robert Booth, (fn. 24) and succeeded his father in 1448; (fn. 25) three years later the bishop of Lichfield granted him a licence for an oratory at Rixton. (fn. 26) In 1453 Hamlet made a settlement of his estates. (fn. 27) He died in April, 1462, leaving a widow and eight children. (fn. 28)

Mascy of Rixton. Quarterly gules and argent, on the second quarter a mullet sable.

Of these the eldest son, Hamlet, succeeded to Rixton. He acquired lands in Warrington and Glazebrook, (fn. 29) and among other acts endowed a chantry in the chapel of Hollinfare in the latter township. (fn. 30) He married Alice, daughter of Sir John le Boteler, (fn. 31) and left two daughters, who had some of the Cheshire lands as their inheritance. (fn. 32) Rixton and the moiety of Glazebrook passed to Hamlet's younger brother John, who in 1500 was contracted in marriage to Anne, daughter of Sir John Booth. (fn. 33) John Mascy made some addition to the estates. (fn. 34) He twice compounded for refusing knighthood, (fn. 35) and was killed at Flodden 9 September, 1513, where also fell his father-in-law. William, his son and heir, then aged nine years, became the ward of Sir Thomas Boteler. (fn. 36)

William Mascy was married in 1518–19 to Anne, daughter of Richard Aston of Aston near Frodsham, (fn. 37) and died in May, 1538. (fn. 38) In the previous month he had made various settlements. (fn. 39) His son and heir Richard was then thirteen years of age, but had been married some years before to Anne, daughter of Thurstan Tyldesley. (fn. 40) He repurchased the confiscated lands of Hollinfare chantry. (fn. 41) Dying 15 July, 1579, he was succeeded by his eldest son William, then twenty-seven years of age, (fn. 42) who had married Dorothy, daughter and heir of Peter Daniell of Over Tabley. (fn. 43)

William Mascy was described in 1590 as 'in some degree of conformity, yet in general note of evil affection in religion, and a non-communicant.' (fn. 44) Two years later it was reported that he had formerly had one Peel, a recusant and an 'old priest' as schoolmaster for his children; then he took James Gardiner, a seminary priest, and afterwards Gale alias Simpson, also a priest, for the same duty, in defiance of the statutes; the informer adding that he had 'a good living, and therefore to be placed among the best.' (fn. 45) At the same time he insisted on his rights in the family chapel in Warrington church. (fn. 46) He died in 1595, (fn. 47) and was succeeded by his son Richard Mascy, who married Anne daughter of Edward Middleton of Middleton in Westmorland. (fn. 48) He purchased the enfranchisement of the manors of Rixton and Glazebrook in 1598 from Thomas Ireland, who had recently become lord of Warrington. (fn. 49) In 1615, on the marriage of his son Hamlet to Dorothy daughter of Richard Bradshagh of Haigh, a settlement of the manors was made, with remainder to uncles and cousins. (fn. 50) On the accession of Charles I he procured a general pardon, (fn. 51) probably on account of his adherence to the old religion, and four years later, as a convicted recusant, made a composition with the crown for himself, his son, and their wives. (fn. 52) His wife and his son Hamlet died about the end of 1636, (fn. 53) but he lived on until 1645, (fn. 54) his estates having been sequestered shortly before that time by the Parliament. (fn. 55) His grandson and heir Richard was then serving the king in Lord Herbert's regiment. (fn. 56) Being both a recusant and a delinquent Richard Mascy's estate—or his life interest in it—was of course sold by those in power. (fn. 57) The purchaser was Gilbert Ireland of Hale and Bewsey; after renewing the leases of most of the tenants and securing the fines, he disposed of his interest to trustees for Richard Mascy, who thus regained possession of his hereditary estates. (fn. 58) In 1662 a settlement of the manors of Rixton and Glazebrook, and lands in Warrington, Poulton, Fearnhead, and Mosscroft was made by Richard Mascy of Rixton and Hamlet, his son and heir apparent, in consideration of the marriage which had taken place between the latter and Margaret, a daughter of Sir Edward Moore, bart., deceased. (fn. 59)

Richard Mascy's chequered career closed in 1667. (fn. 60) By his first wife, Mary Plowden, he had two sons, Hamlet and Francis, and two daughters who became nuns. (fn. 61) Hamlet died before his father, leaving an only daughter Mary, who married George Meynell, of Aldborough; and their grand-daughters nearly a century later inherited the Rixton estates. Francis, the younger son, on succeeding lived quietly at Rixton, but died in 1675, leaving a widow and two young children, Richard and Anne, afterwards a nun. (fn. 62) The estates were by this time much encumbered— the confiscation by the Parliament and family charges being perhaps accountable, in addition to religious disabilities—and the long minority of Richard Mascy does not seem to have helped matters. About 1711 the mortgagee, Nicholas Starkie, entered into possession, and the nominal owner was receiving a small pension to keep him from starving. (fn. 63) He had married Jane, daughter of William Fitzherbert of Norbury, in 1697; she died seven years later, having borne him a son Francis, who in 1724 succeeded to the encumbered estates. He remained unmarried and seems to have endeavoured to pay off his father's debts. He cut off the entail in 1729, and by his will in 1741 bequeathed the manors of Rixton and Glazebrook and other estates to his kinsman George Meynell of Aldborough, son of Mary Mascy. (fn. 64)

Witham of Cliffe. Or, a bend gules between three eagles sable.

Francis Mascy died in 1748, and the last-mentioned George Meynell and his son and heir, George, having already died, the latter George's three sisters became coheirs under the will. They were—Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Thomas Witham of Cliffe, Yorkshire; Anna Clementina, wife of Simon Scrope of Danby; and Frances Olive, wife of Stephen Walter Tempest of Broughton in Craven. The second of these took the Meynell manors to her husband; the other sisters divided the Mascy estates. Half the manors of Rixton and Glazebrook, with the old hall and the Mascy chapel in Warrington church, went to Elizabeth Witham, and were sold to Thomas Patten of Warrington in or about 1785. The other half of the manors, with the Little Hall in Rixton, the free fisheries in the Mersey and Glazebrook, and Hollins Green ferry went to Frances Olive Tempest, and most of this remained in the Tempest family until 1865, when it was sold in accordance with the will of Sir Charles Robert Tempest. (fn. 65)

Tempest of Broughton. Argent, a bend between six storm finches sable.

The manor was held by John Wilson-Patten, Lord Winmarleigh; the present holder, for her life, being his son's widow, the dowager marchioness of Headfort. No courts are held, nor are any manorial rights exercised. (fn. 66)

Little can be said of the manor of GLAZEBROOK. It is not mentioned in 1212. One moiety of it was acquired by the Rixton family in the thirteenth century, but it is not clear whether this was by a grant from the lord of Warrington to Alan de Rixton, who afterwards granted it to a family or families using the local surname, or whether it was by purchase or repurchase from members of the Glazebrook family, whose interest was very much divided. (fn. 67) In 1300, however, it is clear that one moiety had been attached to the manor of Rixton, while the other was held by Robert de Glazebrook, to whom William le Boteler released his claim to more than one beadle to do service at his court at Warrington. (fn. 68)

There are numerous charters regarding the dealings of the Rixton and Mascy families with their portion of the manor, (fn. 69) but no account can be given of the other moiety, except that a branch of the Ashtons held it in the sixteenth century by the service of half a mark. (fn. 70) In 1598 the rights of the lord of Warrington were purchased by Richard Mascy, so that the Ashtons held of him, (fn. 71) but it does not appear what became of the family, or that they claimed any manor.

Richard Mascy and Hamlet Ashton were the only landowners contributing to the subsidy in Mary's reign, (fn. 72) and their successors were the freeholders recorded in 1600. (fn. 73) Richard Mascy alone appears as a landowner contributing to the subsidy of 1628. (fn. 74)

In 1717 the following as 'Papists' registered estates: Thomas Marsh, John Speakman, and Mary Whiteside of Rixton; Martha Clare of Glazebrook. (fn. 75)

CHURCH

As the ferry at Hollinfare—the 'Holly ferry'—was of ancient date (fn. 76) and the road from Warrington to Manchester passed through the place, it is probable that a chapel existed there before Hamlet Mascy built one for the chantry he founded in 1497; (fn. 77) the bishop of Lichfield licensed it in the following year. (fn. 78) It continued to be used according to the founder's wishes down to the suppression of chantries by Henry VIII and Edward VI. (fn. 79) In 1554 the confiscated lands were granted to Sir Thomas Holcroft, (fn. 80) who sold them to Richard Mascy as stated above.

For the next century the chapel was probably used but occasionally; (fn. 81) there was no endowment (fn. 82) and the chief landowner attended the statutory services only on compulsion, so that neither he nor the rector of Warrington had any inducement to keep it open. Under the Commonwealth an additional £40 was granted from the sequestered revenues of Royalists, but this would cease at the Restoration. (fn. 83) The recommendation to make it parochial was not acted upon. The building decayed and became ruinous, but soon after the Revolution the bishop of Chester found means to compel the lord of Rixton, 'a Papist,' to rebuild it and keep it in repair; and Bishop Gastrell about 1718 found that an addition of 30s. had been acquired as the interest of various benefactions. (fn. 84) The church, now called St. Helen's, is a plain brick building, restored in 1882. (fn. 85) The rector of Warrington is patron. Among the incumbents have been:

oc. 1609 Richard Garnet (fn. 86)
c. 1646–50 Henry Atherton (fn. 87)
oc. 1689 George Hatten (fn. 88)
c. 1712 John Collier (fn. 89)
1784 James Hartley (fn. 90)
1798 William Wright (fn. 91)
1829 Peter Steele Dale (fn. 92)
1871 George Farrar Roberts, M.A. (Jesus Coll. Oxf.)
1896 Edmund Peel Wethered, M.A. (Christ Ch. Oxf.)
1905 Arthur Frederic White, M.A. (Dur.)

A mission room at Rixton was built in 1894.

A school was built in Glazebrook in 1713. (fn. 93)

The Primitive Methodists and United Free Methodists have chapels at Glazebrook, and the Wesleyans one at Rixton.

In spite of the Elizabethan persecution there can be no doubt that Roman Catholic worship was continued at Rixton Hall by the priests whom the Mascys employed to teach their children. (fn. 94) No records, however, remain earlier than the middle of the eighteenth century, when a Jesuit father, Henry Smith, was in charge. (fn. 95) The Jesuits, who had charge also of Culcheth and Southworth, probably worked the three together. They continued there until 1825; (fn. 96) and shortly afterwards were succeeded by Benedictines, who built the present church of St. Michael in 1831. (fn. 97) The mission was resigned to the secular clergy in 1874. (fn. 98)

Footnotes

  • 1. For the ancient levy called the fifteenth, Rixton and Glazebrook were assessed independently as if separate townships.
  • 2. 2,994, including 54 of inland water, according to the census of 1901.
  • 3. Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1836), iii, 686.
  • 4. Beamont, Warr. Ch. Notes, 205.
  • 5. Baines, loc. cit.
  • 6. V.C.H. Lancs. i, 340. Rixton continued to be mentioned in the Boteler inquisitions down to the enfranchisement; see Beamont, Lords of Warr. (Chet. Soc.), 488.
  • 7. Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 9.
  • 8. In 1200–1 Alan de Rixton is mentioned together with Henry de Culcheth, and three years later he owed half a mark to the scutage; Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 131, 180. He had also lands in Lowton in 1212; Inq. and Extents, 73. Alan, son of Alan de Rixton had a further grant in the same township from William de Lawton; Mascy D. R. 63. In 1258–9 Alan de Rixton gave half a mark for an assize taken before Peter de Percy; Orig. 43 Hen. III, m. 6. It was probably the same Alan who came to an agreement with Sir Geoffrey de Dutton respecting weirs on the Mersey between Rixton and Warburton; Mascy of Rixton D. R. 1. For Sir Geoffrey see Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 569. Alan de Rixton was fined for contempt in 1292, 'because he stood in the hall for pleas of the Crown without warrant, and being solemnly called, would not come'; Assize R. 408, m. 34d. He was the son of another Alan de Rixton; Assize R. 408, m. 63 d. From the Mascy of Rixton deeds he seems to have lived until 1315; R. 50. In 1303 he granted lands in Lowton, &c. to Henry son of Richard de Glazebrook, in view (it appears) of the marriage of Henry's son with his daughter Isabel, and this grant was in 1335 confirmed to Henry de Byrom by his son Alan de Rixton; ibid, R. 63; Kuerden fol. MS. 364. The latter Alan in 1332 gave to Robert son of Alan de Rixton, as trustee, his manor of Rixton and moiety of Glazebrook with the homages of Alan del Shaw in Rixton, and others, at the yearly rent of £200 of silver; Mascy D. R. 55. Richard de Rixton attested another deed of this date; R. 57. In the same year Alan de Rixton, William de Rixton, and others contributed to the subsidy; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 11. Various families with this surname appear in later times. The last-named William de Rixton was probably a son of an Alan de Rixton to whom his father granted lands in Glazebrook; Mascy D. R. 20. A Richard de Rixton who had been accused of the murder of John, son of Henry de Whittle, in 1348 brought an action for false imprisonment; De Banco R. 355, m. 19d. Avina, widow of Richard del Bruche, in 1355 did not prosecute her suit against Sir William le Boteler and Matthew son of Richard de Rixton; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 4, m. 13. William son of Matthew de Rixton in 1384 sold all his lands in Rixton and Glazebrook to Richard de Mascy; Mascy D. R. 83. William de Rixton died in 1400, holding lands in Warrington, Sankey, Penketh, Parr, and Sutton, and leaving as next of kin and heir Richard son of John de Townley, thirteen years of age; Towneley MS. DD, n. 1512 (from which it appears that this William had had brothers, John and Gilbert, who in turn succeeded). Another version of the inquisition is given in Lancs. Inq. p. m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 159, showing that William's daughter Isabel married John de Townley. John de Rixton occurs in 1390; Beamont, op. cit. p. 213. Nicholas and William de Rixton gave evidence at the Scrope v. Grosvenor trial, 1386–9; ibid. 222 (quoting Nicholas, i, 248). Nicholas de Rixton and Isabel widow of Matthew de Rixton occur in a grant by Sir John le Boteler in 1385; Mascy D. W. 34, in Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), iv, 162. The heiress of William de Rixton is said to have married William de Troutbeck; she is named as Joan his daughter in the pedigree in Ormerod, Ches. ii, 41, 42. John de Rixton in 1404 had the king's protection, he being in Picardy in the retinue of the earl of Somerset; Pal. of Lanc. Misc. 1–9, m. 107.
  • 9. Inq. and Extents, 147. The service implies that Glazebrook was also a plough-land.
  • 10. See the Mascy Inq. quoted below.
  • 11. Mascy D. W. 13, in Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), iv, 158. Alan's service was to be puture of one beadle, 'bode and witness'; he was to be acquitted of all his wastes and clearings, also of stallage and 'flortol.'
  • 12. Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), ii, 86; after Alan's daughters the remainder was to Richard de Rixton.
  • 13. In the following account full use has been made of the carefully compiled essay by Mrs. Arthur Cecil Tempest on the 'Descent of the Mascys of Rixton,' in Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), iii, 59–158, and of the Mascy D. ibid. iv, 156–76 (W. 1–119), as also of other family deeds. The marriage covenant is dated 18 Jan. 1332–3; Hamlet was to pay £40 and Alan was to grant the moiety of the manor of Glazebrook to his daughter and her husband, receiving it back as their tenant at a rent of four marks a year; Mascy D. R. 60. The seal bears a shield having a bend charged with three cups, and the legend SIG' ALANI DE RIXTVN. Hamlet and Katherine were probably married the same day, the grant of the moiety of the manor speaking of them as man and wife; ibid. R. 57. The lease to Alan de Rixton was made about a month later; ibid. R. 57b. Alan de Rixton had previously granted the same moiety of Glazebrook to his son Alan in view of his marriage with Elizabeth, apparently a Radcliffe, but the younger Alan having died, an agreement was made in May, 1333, with John son of Richard de Radcliffe to secure Hamlet and Katherine from interference; ibid. R. 59. Elizabeth or Isabel was living in 1364, when she demised to John de Mascy all her messuages, lands, rents and services in Rixton and Glazebrook; ibid. R. 66. Alan de Rixton, the father of Katherine, in 1335 made an agreement with Henry de Byrom respecting lands in Lowton, &c.; ibid. R. 63. This seems to be the latest occurrence of his name.
  • 14. In 1341 Hamlet, son of Robert de Mascy of Tatton, with others entered into a recognizance touching the farm of the manor of Frodsham; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 463. His widow Katherine is named in 1360; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 340. See also Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 441. De Mascy appears to be the correct form of the surname, though le Mascy became common. The old spelling of Mascy has been retained throughout, but Massey or Massie became the rule in the sixteenth century.
  • 15. Mascy D. R. 77. Various releases to Richard de Mascy were made in 1386, and in December he made a feoffment of the lands in Rixton and Glazebrook he had acquired from William son of Matthew de Rixton; ibid. R. 78–83. The trustee in 1395 regranted to him the manor of Rixton and lands in Glazebrook, Bowdon, and Rostherne. In 1385 Richard de Mascy of Rixton was to have taken part in John of Gaunt's Spanish expedition, but refused to go; Visit. of 1533 (Chet. Soc.), 221 n.; Beamont, Halton Rec. 22. His substitutes seem to have been Thomas de Torbock of Melling, and William de Bredbury, receipts for wages due being given in 1390; Mascy D. R. 84, W. 35.
  • 16. Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), iii, 63; he was then thirty-eight years of age.
  • 17. He was living in 1400 when he granted lands in Cheshire to his son Peter pending the division of the estate of William de Horton between daughters Ellen and Margaret, who were already married to Richard's sons Hamlet and Peter; Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), iii, 68, quoting Dods. MSS. xli, fol. 91. In this he names Maud his wife. In 1403 Hamlet son of Richard de Mascy of Rixton and Maud de Oulton, heirs of John de Oulton, lately deceased, appointed proctors to act for them; Mascy D. R. 89. An attempt was unsuccessfully made about that time to prove John de Oulton's daughters illegitimate; and Maud de Oulton was probably the widow of Richard de Mascy and mother of Hamlet; see Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), ii, 187, 190. Maud, widow of Richard, was living in 1414; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App. ii, 801.
  • 18. See last note and compare Ormerod, Ches. ii, 198; from this it appears that Peter de Mascy afterwards married an Ellen, who in 1435 was the wife of John de Parr, and that he left a daughter and heir Isabel.
  • 19. In 1407 and 1409 the different feoffees restored to Hamlet all the lands in Rixton, Glazebrook, and elsewhere which they held by the grant of his father Richard and himself; Mascy D. R. 91, 92.
  • 20. Ibid. R. 96, 97.
  • 21. Mascy D. R. 95; a deed of release dated 1452 to Hamlet Mascy of Rixton, by Richard son of Hamlet Mascy, Thomas Mascy, rector of Warrington, and others, concerning lands which they held by the feoffment of William Mascy of Rixton; one of the seals shows a pelican feeding her young, with the legend THOMAS MASCY. In the following year Hamlet Mascy granted all his manors, lands, &c. to the above-named Thomas Mascy, Richard Mascy brother of Thomas, and others, and they in turn granted them to Master John Booth and other trustees in 1461; ibid. R. 106. The three generations are shown by these deeds—Hamlet, William, Hamlet; Thomas and Richard being sons of the former Hamlet and uncles of the latter. William Mascy in 1436 confirmed a grant of lands in Cheshire recently made to his brother Richard by their father Hamlet; ibid. R. 101.
  • 22. Towneley MS. DD. n. 1495. The service of 20s. is clearly made up of the mark for Rixton and the half mark for the moiety of Glazebrook. The value of the manors was forty marks a year.
  • 23. See Ormerod, Ches. i, 655, 656. The dispensation for the marriage of William, son of Hamlet de Mascy, and Parnell, daughter of Richard de Warburton, related within the fourth degree, was granted by John XXIII in 1415; ibid. i, 571 (quoting Lich. Epis. Reg. vii–viii, fol. 22). Two of William Mascy's deeds are printed in Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), iv, 164, 165 (W. 45, 46). He was a trustee of Geoffrey Warburton of Arley in 1447.
  • 24. Mascy D. W. 47.
  • 25. In 1444 William Mascy of Rixton was one of the Boteler trustees, but in 1448 Hamlet Mascy had taken his place; Beamont, Lords of Warr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 263, 264.
  • 26. Mascy D. R. 102; masses and other divine services might be said in a low voice by fit chaplains in the presence of Hamlet and Joan and their family.
  • 27. Ibid. W. 50, R. 103. The trustees were changed in 1461, and regranted the manors to Hamlet; ibid. R. 108, 107. At the same time provision was made for Joan, in case she should survive her husband, that she might be able to 'marry and help' their children and to find priests 'to do divine services for the soul of the said Hamlet and his ancestors, and for the good prosperity and soul-heal of the said Joan and of the said children, and for all Christian souls'; ibid. R. 109.
  • 28. The will is dated 9 April, 1462, and was proved on 26 April; ibid. R. 110. He bequeathed his soul to God Almighty, to Blessed Mary and all the saints, and his body to be buried in the parish church of Warrington (no doubt in the Mascy chapel); to the rector he left his best beast as a mortuary; a proper chaplain was to celebrate for his soul for a year in his chapel at Rixton, receiving seven marks of silver. To Joan his wife he bequeathed the lease of lands in the parish of Bowdon and of the tithes there. In 1465 grants of tenements in Rixton were made to John and William, sons of Hamlet Mascy, and an agreement as to disputes between them and Joan, the widow, was arrived at; ibid. R. 115–120.
  • 29. Mascy D. W. 65, &c.; R. 124, &c.; the dates range from 1474 to 1497.
  • 30. Ibid. R. 151b; see further below.
  • 31. Ibid. R. 114; by this deed, of 27 Feb. 1463–4, the Mascy feoffees granted for her life to Alice, daughter of Sir John Boteler, lands in Thelwall and Rixton, those in the latter including the ten-acre in Swallesegh, the Stramard, the Branderth, the Netherfields, &c.; the reversion being to Hamlet, son and heir of Hamlet Mascy deceased. Hamlet's wife is named as Alice in a settlement made in 1497; ibid. R. 151.
  • 32. The settlement referred to provided that Hamlet's lands in Bowdon, Hale, Altrincham, and Yarwood should descend with Rixton and Glazebrook to his heirs male, with remainder to his brother John, while the lands in Cogshall, Over and Nether Whitley, Thelwall, and Comberbach should, with those in Pennington in Lancashire descend to his heirs general, 'which as yet were his daughters.'
  • 33. Ibid. R. 142; Hamlet Mascy agreed to make an estate of 12 marks a year for his brother John and heirs male, and Sir John Booth to pay a sum of 20 marks. Hamlet Mascy probably died shortly afterwards. His daughters were—Margaret who married John Holcroft, and Alice who married Robert Worsley of the Booths; Ormerod, Ches. ii, 198; Visit. of 1567 (Chet. Soc.), 131.
  • 34. John Mascy paid to the lord of Warrington 20s. 10d. as relief on 7 March, 1501–2, and did homage about three years later; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 13, 14. He did not pay the relief for his Cheshire lands until 1507; Mascy D. W. 88. He purchased lands in Warrington and in Glazebrook; ibid. W. 93, R. 147, 148.
  • 35. The first occasion was on 'the creation' of Prince Henry as Prince of Wales in 1503; ibid. R. 146, 146b; the second probably at the coronation of the same as Henry VIII; R. 145. He paid 10 marks on the former refusal and 53s. 4d. on the latter.
  • 36. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. v, n. 9; the manor of Rixton and lands in Rixton and Glazebrook were held of Sir Thomas Boteler as of his manor of Warrington by the fifth part of a knight's fee and the yearly rent of 24s. 5½d. made up thus:— For the manor and lands in Rixton 20s. 1½d.; for soke and ward 20d.; for the lands in Glazebrook 12d.; and for soke and ward 20d.; also by suit at the court at Warrington every three weeks. The clear annual value was 20 marks. Lands in Pennington and Warrington were also held of Sir Thomas Boteler by the seventh part of a knight's fee and a rent of 3s. 10d.; and lands in Poulton of Thomas Langton of Newton by fealty only. It will be noticed that the moiety of the manor of Glazebrook is not expressly mentioned.
  • 37. Ormerod, Ches. i, 723.
  • 38. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. viii, n. 17; the rent payable to the lord of Warrington was recorded as 21s. 0½d. His will, dated the day before his death, is printed in Piccope's Wills (Chet. Soc.), ii, 201; he desired to be buried in the Rixton chapel in the parish church, and among other bequests left a calf to Hollins Green chapel to maintain divine service there. In 1533 he recorded his arms, the quarterings being Rixton, Mascy, Pennington, and Horton; Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 220.
  • 39. Mascy D. R. 156–9.
  • 40. The marriage was recorded by the herald in 1533; he remarked that 'the elder of them passeth not seven years.' In 1538, at the request of Thurstan Tyldesley, William Mascy had made a settlement of his 'capital messuage in Rixton called Rixton hall,' with his various lands in Lancashire and Cheshire; the remainder being to his son Richard and Anne his wife and their male heirs; Mascy D. R. 159.
  • 41. This purchase took place in 1556; the price paid to Sir Thomas Holcroft was £200; Mascy D. R. 160–2; W. 100; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle 17, m. 189. In 1563 he bound himself to pay 20d. yearly to the lord of Warrington for his homage and fealty; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 39.
  • 42. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xiv, n. 83; Mascy D. R. 169. He died seised of the manor of Rixton with its appurtenances, twenty messuages, water-mill, windmill, fifty acres of land &c., in Rixton, the manor of Glazebrook and lands there, and a fishery in the Mersey, held of Thomas Butler by knight's service and a rent of 22s. 1½d., the clear value being £16 a year, also of the lands of the dissolved chantry of Hollinfare, held of the queen by knight's service and a rent of 30s.; also of two burgages in Warrington, &c. Livery was granted 16 May, 1580, to William Mascy; ibid. R. 170.
  • 43. Ibid. R. 164; an indenture dated 19 Dec. 1571, by which Richard Mascy of Rixton granted to trustees for Dorothy, daughter and heir apparent of Peter Daniell, deceased, and then wife of William Mascy, son and heir apparent of Richard, certain lands of the annual value of £20 0s. 1d. in fulfilment of the marriage covenant made five days before between Richard Mascy and Thomas Daniell of Over Tabley. See Ormerod, Ches. i, 475. About three years afterwards William Mascy and his wife granted the £20 to his father and uncle on condition that sufficient lodging and maintenance be provided for them, including a man servant and maid servant; Mascy D. R. 167.
  • 44. Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 245, quoting S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, n. 4.
  • 45. Ibid. 259, quoting S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxv. His widow Dorothy in 1598 was as a recusant called upon to pay £7 10s for the queen's service in Ireland; ibid 262.
  • 46. Some alterations in the parish church had necessitated an encroachment upon the Mascy chapel. On William Mascy complaining, the bishop's chancellor allowed him £5, which he agreed to accept as compensation; Mascy D. R. 171.
  • 47. In August, 1595, a settlement of the manors of Rixton and Glazebrook was made by William Mascy and Richard his son and heir apparent; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 57, m. 68.
  • 48. Dugdale, Visit. of Westmorland (ed. Foster), 1664, p. 90. In July, 1597, Edward Norris of Speke, Henry Stanley of Bickerstaffe, and Richard Mascy of Rixton agreed to pay £12 to Miles Gerard of Ince, who undertook to furnish a demi-lance for the queen's service, and a further payment of £2 each in case he should be called out for active service; Mascy D. W. 106.
  • 49. Ibid. R. 173, 173 B. The old tenure is described as knight's service, suit to the court-baron at Warrington from three weeks to three weeks, suit to the queen's court-leet held twice yearly at Warrington, and rents of 22s. 1½d. for Rixton, 12d. for Glazebrook, and 5s. 4d. for premises in Warrington. Claims for ward, marriage, &c., were given up; the new tenure was socage, a rent of 1d. being paid to the lord of Warrington and appearance being made thrice a year at the court-leet. By a second deed Thomas Ireland relinquished all his manorial rights in Rixton and Glazebrook, including the 6s. 8d. chief rent due from John Ashton of Glazebrook.
  • 50. Ibid. R. 174; after Hamlet's sons in tail male the remainders were to Richard Mascy, uncle to Richard Mascy, father of Hamlet; to James Mascy, another uncle; to John Mascy of Layton; and to William Mascy of Cadishead and Thomas his brother. A further settlement was made in 1620; ibid. R. 176.
  • 51. Mascy D. R. 177.
  • 52. Ibid. R. 178.
  • 53. Warr. Reg. Hamlet Mascy left several children besides Richard his heir. A younger son, Thomas, desiring the priesthood, entered the English College at Rome in 1642, when twenty years of age, under the alias of Middleton. He stated: 'I was born and brought up near Warrington in Lancashire. My father is (? was) a gentleman and a Catholic, as all my friends likewise are, and possess sufficient incomes. I studied to the end of poetry at St. Omers College, and was always a Catholic.' He was ordained in 1647 and next year sent on the English mission; Foley, Rec. S.J. v, 408; vi, 356.
  • 54. Warr. Reg. An inventory of his goods was taken 19 Jan. 1645–6. The rooms in Rixton Hall were the great and little parlours, closet, hall, kitchens, storehouse and cellar, and numerous 'chambers' called chapel, bride's, great, green, kitchen, stairhead, Isabel's, Mr. Thomas's, Mrs. Eltonhead's, Mr. Mascy's, and Richard Robinson's. The 'chapel chamber' contained a meal-chest and other miscellaneous articles. The total valuation was £347 10s. 4d.; Mascy D. R. 189.
  • 55. Royalist Comp. P. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), iv, 125. He had married a second wife, Alice, daughter of Sir Cuthbert Clifton, and her petition in 1651 mentioned that her late husband's estate had been sequestered for his recusancy, and that a fifth had been allowed her in 1647, which was afterwards stopped.
  • 56. His commission is dated 18 Aug. 1643; Mascy D. R. 188. His will, made the following February, provided for his son and heir apparent, for his wife Anne and such younger child or children as he might have at the time of his death, and for the payment of his debts; ibid. R. 187. The agreement for his marriage with Mary, daughter of Francis Plowden the younger of Plowden in Shropshire, was made in May, 1640; ibid. R. 183. A settlement was made in the following March, after the marriage, by which the Rixton estates were settled on Richard Mascy the younger and heirs male, with successive remainders to his brothers Thomas, George, and William, to Thomas and Hamlet, sons of William Mascy, deceased (son of Richard Mascy the elder), to Thurstan Mascy of Southwark and Thomas Mascy of Rixton, sons of Richard Mascy (uncle of Richard Mascy the elder), to Robert Blundell of Ince and his male heirs by Joan wife of William Bayldon, and then lastly to Edmund Veale of Whinny Heys and his heirs by Joan wife of William Westwood; ibid. R. 183 B.; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 138, m. 34.
  • 57. Index of Royalists (Index Soc.), 30; Royalist Comp. P. loc. cit. John Peers or Pearse had a lease of the estate for seven years granted 1 Jan. 1651–2, at a rent of £158; the ferry at Hollinfare was likewise leased to him at a rent of 50s., he building the boats and leaving them in sufficient repair at the end of the term. Two-thirds of the estate of Dorothy, widow of Hamlet Mascy, was under sequestration 'for recusancy only'; she was allowed to contract for it in 1654; ibid. iv, 124.
  • 58. Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), iii, 132–4; Mascy D. R. 196. The price was £1,722 10s. 2½d.; the lands excepted were those charged with various jointures and annuities; ibid. R. 194, 195. Richard Mascy was living at Rixton Hall in April, 1658, when he pledged his effects for the payment of certain debts; Mascy D. R. 197; a list of these effects is given, including bedsteads and other furniture, a dozen and a half silver spoons, horses, cows, and other farm stock, valued in all at about £350. On 3 Feb., 1658–9, Gilbert Ireland for 40s. sold to three trustees his right in the Rixton estates; ibid. R. 199.
  • 59. Ibid. R. 200–1. In consideration of £2,000, the marriage portion of Margaret Moore, a settlement was made to secure it to her younger children or daughters, the manors of Rixton and Glazebrook, and lands in Warrington, Poulton, Fearnhead, and Mosscroft being entailed that they might 'remain as long as it pleases Almighty God to keep in the name, blood, and kindred of the Mascys.' See also Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 169, m. 102.
  • 60. He was buried 21 Dec. 1667 at Warrington church.
  • 61. He recorded a pedigree in 1665; Dugdale Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 194. Francis the younger son is omitted, he being no doubt the Francis Mascy of Lancashire who in that year entered the Jesuit novitiate, but left soon afterwards; Foley, op. cit. vii, 492. The apparent desertion is explained by the death of his elder brother without male issue.
  • 62. Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), iii, 139– 140.
  • 63. Ibid. iii, 140–6, quoting family papers. There was a recovery of the manors of Rixton and Glazebrook, &c., in 1697, Richard Mascy being called to vouch; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 465, m. 7. In 1717 as a 'Papist' he registered his estate in the manors, the value being given at £315 11s. 3d.; Engl. Cath. Non-jurors, 122.
  • 64. Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), iii, 146–8. A recovery of the manors was suffered in 1730, Francis Mascy being called to vouch; Pal. of Lanc. Docquet R. 530, m. 3.
  • 65. Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), iii, 149–50. In 1749 a settlement was made of the manors of Rixton and Glazebrook, with lands there, a dovehouse, water cornmill, free fishery, &c.; by Thomas Witham, M.D., and Elizabeth his wife; Anne Meynell, spinster; and Stephen Walter Tempest and Frances Olive his wife; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 340, m. 219. A further arrangement as to a moiety of the manors was made in 1772, the deforciants being Sir Henry Lawson and the three sisters and their husbands, Anne Clementia being now the wife of Simon Scrope; ibid. bdle. 388, m. 139.
  • 66. Information of the marchioness through Messrs. John White & Co., her agents.
  • 67. It has been pointed out in the account of Rixton that while the Alan de Rixton of 1212 held one-tenth of a knight's fee his namesake thirty years later held the fifth part; from which it might be inferred that he had had the whole of Glazebrook granted to him; Inq. and Extents, 9, 147. On the other hand the rent was increased from a mark to a mark and a half, while the family holding a moiety of Glazebrook paid half a mark. The moiety purchased or repurchased by the Rixton family appears to have been held at one time by a Geoffrey de Glazebrook, but it had become much subdivided. Geoffrey de Glazebrook was living in 1246, when he failed in a suit of novel disseisin against Gilbert de Culcheth, Richard son of Basil, and William son of this Richard; Assize R. 404, m. 1d. It is possible he was the Geoffrey de Glazebrook who with his wife Edith had lands in Billsborough in 1227; Final Conc. i, 47. If so, there may have been two Geoffreys in succession. A Henry de Glazebrook appears later in the Fylde district; Inq. and Extents, 277, 280. In 1328 and later years Henry son of Henry, son of Richard, son of Geoffrey de Glazebrook, claimed a messuage and three oxgangs of which Geoffrey had been seised in the time of Henry III, and which had come into the possession of Richard son of Richard de Moston, and Isabel his wife; De Banco R. 275, m. 17; R. 279, m. 256d. In a somewhat earlier suit a different pedigree is given—Henry, son of Henry, son of Richard, son of Richard de Glazebrook; De Banco. R. 251, m. 41d. Possibly there were two families. It has already been noted that the plaintiff in the latter is better known as Henry de Byrom of Byrom in Lowton. His father, Henry de Glazebrook, had sold all his possessions in the township to Alan de Rixton, with the homage and services of Henry son of Beatrice (Betocson), and of Maud daughter of Grimbald; Mascy D. R. 13. Henry son of Beatrice, otherwise Henry son of Richard de Glazebrook, son of Simon de Houghton also sold his lands to Alan de Rixton; and Beatrice, described as daughter of Geoffrey de Glazebrook, in her widowhood similarly released her rights to Alan; ibid. R. 14–17. William son of Maud de Glazebrook also granted Alan lands by way of exchange; ibid. R. 18. Margery the daughter of Henry, William the son of Maud, and Robert de Moston (for life) were homagers in the Rixton moiety of Glazebrook in 1332; ibid. R. 55. In 1292 Richard son of Geoffrey de Glazebrook was non-suited in a claim against Beatrice widow of Richard son of Simon de Houghton concerning the customs and services due from her free tenement in Glazebrook; Assize R. 408, m. 57d. William son of Geoffrey de Glazebrook, also known as William del Hollins, made various claims for lands, common of pasture, &c. against Henry son of Richard de Glazebrook in 1301 and 1302, but did not prosecute them; Assize R. 1321, m. 10d.; R. 418, m. 2, 13. About the same time he sold a messuage and land in Glazebrook to William de Holcroft; Final Conc., i, 193. Two years later William de Glazebrook and William de Holcroft severally released to Alan de Rixton all their lands in Glazebrook; Mascy D. R. 40–1. Alan granted these to his son William; ibid. R. 20. Henry son of Geoffrey de Glazebrook (probably the Henry de Glazebrook of the Fylde) in 1302 granted to the same Alan all his lands and goods in Glazebrook; and Richard, another son of Geoffrey's, released all his claim upon them; ibid. R. 37, 39. Richard de Glazebrook and Henry his son had in 1294 granted certain lands and common rights to Alan de Rixton; ibid. R. 29, 32, 33. In return Alan granted to Richard a lease for thirty years of two oxgangs of land and a moiety of the waste and common in Glazebrook, the oxgangs being one held by Alice, widow of Geoffrey de Glazebrook, as dower, and another formerly held by Maud de Glazebrook; ibid. R. 21. The grant of Henry son of Richard, recorded above, completed the Rixton family's acquisition of this moiety. At the beginning of 1329 John son of Gilbert de Glazebrook claimed a messuage and half an oxgang of land from Henry son of Beatrice; De Banco R. 276, m. 64. Half an oxgang of land in Glazebrook was the subject of a suit between several coheirs—Ellen, wife of John del Dene; Denise, wife of John de Barrow; Agnes, wife of Richard de Glazebrook; and Alice, daughter of Henry de Glazebrook. The defendants were William, son of John de Ravenshaw and Margaret his wife, and it seems that Margaret, wife of another William de Ravenshaw, was also a coheiress; Assize R. 435, m. 6.
  • 68. Mascy D. W. 13; the release is similar to that granted at the same time to Alan de Rixton. Robert de Glazebrook in 1258–9 gave half a mark for a brief; Orig. 43 Hen. III, m. 3. Robert son of Robert de Glazebrook made a grant of certain lands in the township to Alan de Rixton; but Robert was to be 'hopper free' at the mill; Mascy D. R. 19. He granted the Hollins to William de Holcroft; ibid. W. 6. In 1294 Robert de Glazebrook released all claim to certain tenements, perhaps those which Alan de Rixton had just acquired from the descendants of Geoffrey de Glazebrook; ibid. R. 30. In 1307 William le Boteler, lord of Warrington, Robert de Glazebrook, Henry son of Beatrice, and William son of Maud de Glazebrook united in giving a warranty of tenements which William le Boteler had granted to Alan de Rixton and Alan his son; ibid. R. 44. Henry son of Henry de Glazebrook in 1320 claimed a messuage and two oxgangs against Robert de Glazebrook, and an oxgang against Henry de Woodhouses and Agnes his wife; De Banc. R. 236, m. 43. Other suits following this have been mentioned above.
  • 69. Some of these have been quoted in the previous note. The Mascys continued to increase their holding in the township.
  • 70. They are supposed to have been a branch of the Ashtons of Penketh. A Humphrey Ashton attested a Mascy purchase in Rixton and Glazebrook in 1479; he may have been of the latter township; Mascy D. R. 129. In 1507 Hamlet Ashton of Glazebrook did homage to the lord of Warrington and paid 6s. as his relief; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 20. In 1523 he appeared at the lord's court; Lords of Warr. ii, 432. Hamlet Ashton of Gray's Inn, son and heir of Hamlet Ashton of Glazebrook, deceased, complained in 1576 that though his father died seised of certain lands in Glazebrook which should have descended to him, John Mascy of Hollins Green, by colour of some deeds of which he had obtained possession, had during plaintiff's minority taken marl to the quantity of 6,000 loads; he further declared himself to be lawfully seised of a third part of the manor and moss of Glazebrook, he and his ancestors having enjoyed the waste in common with Richard Mascy, lord of the other two-thirds, on which the latter had made encroachments; Duchy of Lanc. Pleadings, Eliz. lix, A. 13, xcv. A. 46, as quoted in Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), iii, 106, 107. Hamlet Ashton died in Oct. 1590, seised of a tenement in Glazebrook held of the lord of Warrington by knight's service and the rent of 6s. 8d.; his son and heir was John, then seven years of age; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xv, n. 35. By his second wife, Christiana, a daughter and coheir of John Ashton of Penketh, he had a son Thomas who succeeded to Penketh, as shown in the account of that township.
  • 71. As already stated, the services and rent of 6s. 8d. due from John Ashton of Glazebrook were in 1598 included in the sale by Thomas Ireland to Richard Mascy of Rixton; Mascy D. R. 173 B. John Ashton died in Aug. 1623, seised of a fourth part of the manor of Glazebrook, held of the lord of Warrington by knight's service—the sale to Mascy being apparently ignored—and left a son and heir Hamlet, aged two years; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), iii, 453. Hamlet Ashton was buried at Warrington 10 Sept. 1663, and his widow Alice in the following year. A son John had died 1654.
  • 72. Mascy D.
  • 73. Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 238, 240.
  • 74. Norris D. (B.M.)
  • 75. Engl. Cath. Non-jurors, 116, 123, 150. Martha Clare was lessee of the ferry; her son Thomas, who also registered, was described as 'of Clifton, Notts, gent.' Charles Speakman of Rixton had contributed to the subsidy in Mary's reign. William Speakman was a tenant in the time of James I; Mascy D. W. 107b.
  • 76. 'Le Fery del Holyns' in Rixton is named in a murder case in 1352; Assize R. 453, m. 1.
  • 77. Mascy D. R. 151; Hamlet Mascy's feoffees were to stand seised of tenements in Glazebrook and Rixton of the clear annual value of £5, from the issues providing an honest priest and chaplain to say mass and do divine service in the chapel of Hollinfare Green late by the donor edified, and buying necessaries and ornaments. There is an account of the chapel by Mrs. A. C. Tempest in Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), v, 77–97.
  • 78. Mascy D. R. 151 B. In 1527 William Mascy and John Ashley granted a lease of the messuage in Glazebrook held by George Clark and Lettice his wife, paying the rent of 13s. 4d. to Lawrence Langshaw, priest at Hollinfare chapel, also the accustomed 'average'; Mascy D. R. 155. In the previous year William Mascy, as patron of the chantry, had recommended his feoffees to present his chaplain, Randle Woodward, at the next vacancy; Risley D. at Hale, n. 110. It is not known that this was acted on, as in 1535 the cantarist was William Mastyn (? Mascy); Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 219.
  • 79. At the suppression William Mascy was the priest in charge; he celebrated, kept the obit, and distributed 5s. a year to the poor, according to his trust. There was no plate, and the endowment was the 100s. a year at first granted; Raines, Chant. (Chet. Soc.), 61. He was thirtyfour years of age.
  • 80. By patent dated at Winchester, 23 July, 2 Mary, at the time of the queen's marriage to Philip of Spain; Mascy D. R. 160 B.; Pat. 2 Mary, pt. ii. Edward VI had granted a 21 years' lease of the chantry property to Sir William Norris in 1548, at a rent of £5; Mascy D. R. 160c. Licence to alienate the chantry lands to Richard Mascy was granted by Philip and Mary to Sir Thomas Holcroft in 1556; ibid. R. 163. The rent of £5 is not named, but would no doubt be payable by the new grantee.
  • 81. In 1590 there was 'no preacher' there; Lydiate Hall, 248. Hamlet Persival is named as curate in 1594; Scholes and Pimblett, Bolton, 249. It had 'no certain curate' about 1612; Kenyon MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 12.
  • 82. Possibly in consequence of the reports quoted in the last note an allowance of £4 12s., the net receipt from the chantry lands, was granted from the duchy funds towards the stipend of 'a preaching minister'; Commonwealth Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 53.
  • 83. Ibid. also Plund. Mins. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, passim.
  • 84. Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 239; Gastrell notes that the building was believed to have been consecrated. Baptism was administered in it.
  • 85. No dedication was known to Canon Raines, the editor of Gastrell; St. Helen may have been suggested by the name Hollinfare, or by the dedication of Warrington church. The chapelry was formed in 1874; Lond. Gaz. 20 March, 1874. For an account of endowment see Warr. End. Char. Rep. 1899, p. 74.
  • 86. Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxii, 298. Buried at Warrington 1629, as 'minister at Hollinfare.'
  • 87. He was there on the formation of the classis in 1646. He was a 'man of good life and conversation and a godly, painful minister,' but had not kept the fast recently appointed by Parliament; Commonwealth Ch. Surv. (1650), loc. cit.
  • 88. He is called 'curate' and 'conformable' in 1689; Kenyon MSS. 229. He was not present at the Visit. of 1691.
  • 89. Father of 'Tim Bobbin.' For particulars of this and later curates see Beamont, Warr. Ch. Notes, 209, from which the list here given is mainly derived. Mr. Beamont states that 'at the beginning of the eighteenth century many lay persons in our northern counties officiated in the country curacies in poor districts, without being admitted to holy orders; but in the reign of George I the bishops determined that this state of things ought no longer to continue; yet in order that the change might be no hardship to those who were already serving in such cures, it was arranged that all such persons should be admitted to holy orders without undergoing any examination; and it was evidently in compliance with this arrangement that Mr. Collier was now (1725) admitted to the priesthood.'
  • 90. Also vicar of Leigh.
  • 91. Suspended from 1813 onwards; died 1829.
  • 92. Curate in charge from 1813; 'a most zealous and active minister.'
  • 93. Gastrell, Notitia.
  • 94. See above, in the account of Richard Mascy, 1590–2. In Foley, Rec. S.J. i, 664, is an account of the trial and execution of Fr. John Smith, the Jesuit chaplain at Rixton in 1650, taken from Dodd, Ch. Hist. iii, 312. His real name is supposed to have been Thomas Harrison; he was born near Liverpool, and sent on the Lancashire mission in 1648. It is said that 'several gentlemen who had served in King Charles I's army entered into a combination in the year 1650 to plunder the parsonage of Winwick'—perhaps in frolic, or more probably in retaliation for its former capture and spoliation by the Parliamentary forces. 'The persons following rifled the parsonage, viz. Mr. Catteral, Mr. Mascy (a younger brother) of Rixton, a French gentleman, and some others.' The Frenchman was the only one captured, and as he named Rixton a search was made there; Fr. Smith was found in his chamber, and in the room was found a red cap belonging to Mr. Herle, the rector of Winwick, and no doubt part of the plunder. The priest was charged as an accomplice and executed at Lancaster, as the secrecy necessitated by his office prevented his giving any satisfactory account of the matter. The occurrence of course gave rise to some scandal, but Dodd remarks that 'most people lamented Mr. Smith's hard fate; but such were the circumstances of his person, his religion, and the humour of those times, that no favourable construction would be admitted. The particulars of this story I have not only read in a well - attested manuscript, but also received them by word of mouth from a gentleman who was well acquainted with Mr. Smith and had a great opinion of him for his many excellent qualities.' Only two names appear in the recusant roll of 1641; Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xiv, 244.
  • 95. Foley, op. cit. v, 322; his income was £18 16s. 6d. the number of general confessions ten, and of 'customers' 100. In 1784 seventeen persons were confirmed at Rixton, and there were thirty communicants at Easter; ibid. 324. The bishop of Chester's return in 1767 gave the number of 'papists' in Hollinfare as 41; Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xviii, 215.
  • 96. Foley, op. cit. i, 664.
  • 97. Gillow in Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xiii, 158; a list of the missioners from 1831 is given.
  • 98. Liverpool Cath. Ann. 1901, where it is stated that the Franciscans were at one time in charge; this seems to be an error.