Townships: Heaton

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1911.

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'Townships: Heaton', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp9-12 [accessed 25 November 2024].

'Townships: Heaton', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online, accessed November 25, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp9-12.

"Townships: Heaton". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1911), , British History Online. Web. 25 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp9-12.

In this section

HEATON

Heton, 1302; Heyton, xvi cent.

This township is usually known as Heaton-underHorwich to distinguish it from the other Heatons in the neighbourhood. It has an area of 1,743½ acres. The highest point, just over 1,000 ft., is in the north-west corner. The River Croal forms the southern boundary.

Two roads between Bolton and Horwich cross Heaton from east to west. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's railway from Bolton passes along the southern boundary, and has a station called Lostock Junction at the western end, where there is a junction of the Preston and Wigan branches.

The most thickly populated part of the township is the eastern end, it being a suburb of Bolton. In 1901 the population was returned with Halliwell.

Coal and slate-flags are found, but not in great abundance.

A School Board was formed in 1883. (fn. 1)

The township was incorporated with the borough of Bolton in 1898.

Fifty-six hearths were liable to the tax in 1666; the largest house was that of Thomas Lomax, with five hearths. (fn. 2)

Manor

In the 12th century HEATON, assessed as one plough-land, appears to have been held in moieties by knight's service of the barons of Manchester. One moiety was included in the Barton fee, (fn. 3) the Hulton family being the under-tenants; (fn. 4) while the other half was held with Worthington, (fn. 5) but afterwards severed, and held as the tenth part of a knight's fee by a family which assumed the local name.

The earliest known is a Randle de Heaton, (fn. 6) followed in hereditary succession by Ellis, John, and John. (fn. 7) The younger John made a settlement in 1332, from which it appears that he had sons John, Adam, and others. (fn. 8) He or his son John was living in 1355. (fn. 9) The son is said to have married a daughter and co-heir of Robert de Huyton of Billinge, and thus acquired the Birchley estate. (fn. 10) Richard de Heaton was in 1385 appointed a keeper of the peace in Salford Hundred. (fn. 11) Richard's son and heir William married Joan daughter and heir of Gilbert de Billinge, (fn. 12) and thus increased the family estate in Billinge. William and Joan were living in 1422, (fn. 13) but for the succeeding century little is known of the family. (fn. 14) William Heaton was holding the manor in 1473 by the ancient service. (fn. 15)

Heaton of Heaton. Argent on a bend engrailed sable three bulls' heads erased of the field.

The next to occur is Richard Heaton who recorded a pedigree in 1533, from which it appears that he had been twice married. (fn. 16) William, his eldest son, left two daughters, Jane and Alice; and by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter and eventual co-heir of Sir Richard Aughton of North Meols, he had no issue. (fn. 17) He died in 1542, when family disputes, which had already begun, were continued with energy. Miles Gerard of Ince, who had married William's daughter Jane, claimed the manors of Heaton and Birchley, Alice, the other daughter, having died without issue. (fn. 18) The manors, however, passed to the heir male, William Heaton son of Ralph, half-brother of the William named above. A settlement was made in 1552, (fn. 19) but the new owner appears very soon to have fallen into difficulties and mortgaged his possessions. (fn. 20)

Christopher Anderton, said to be descended from the lords of Anderton, obtained an interest in the matter. In 1562 he purchased the adjoining manor of Lostock, with lands in Rumworth and Heaton, (fn. 21) but it was not till 1572 that he actually obtained the manor of Heaton, and many years more elapsed before his estate was secure. (fn. 22) It is stated that the mortgage money was offered to him by the Heatons just after the expiry of the term, and, to the great scandal of the neighbours, he refused it and kept the manors. (fn. 23) Heaton descended in the same way as Lostock to the Blundells of Ince. Henry Blundell, who died in 1810, annoyed that his only son refused to marry, bequeathed the Anderton properties to his two daughters. A division took place, and the manor of Heaton, with lands in Heaton and Rumworth, fell to the share of Elizabeth wife of Stephen Tempest of Broughton near Skipton. By a family arrangement Henry Tempest, a younger son, received this moiety, and his son Charles Robert, on being created a baronet in 1866, gave Heaton as his seat. (fn. 24) Sir Charles died in 1894, leaving a daughter, Mary Ethel, as heir; she married Miles Stapleton, tenth Lord Beaumont, who was accidentally killed in 1895, and has two daughters.

In 1789 the lands of Henry Blundell paid fivesixths of the land tax. Mr. Starkie had a small estate. (fn. 25)

From the old Heaton family descended Martin Heaton, Bishop of Ely from 1599 to 1609. (fn. 26)

In the Subsidy Rolls of 1541 and 1622 Heaton is joined with Halliwell.

The estate called ROGERSTEAD can be traced back to the time of Edward III. (fn. 27) It was held early in the 15 th century by Roger de 'Walmersley,' (fn. 28) and descended by 1591 to Roger 'Walmesley. (fn. 29) In 1726 it was sold by Roger Walmsley of Bolton to Pierce Starkie of Huntroyde. (fn. 30) It has now become a cemetery belonging to the Bolton Corporation.

For the worship of the Established Church Christ Church was consecrated in 1896; the vicar of Deane is the patron.

Footnotes

  • 1. Land. Gaz. 26 Oct. 1883.
  • 2. Subs. R. bdle. 250. no. 9, Lancs.
  • 3. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 54. By 1241 the four oxgangs of land in Heaton seem to have become separated from Barton and held by Richard son of Christiana de Alreton; Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 88.
  • 4. From the later descent it is probable that the above Richard son of Christiana was the younger Richard de Hulton, who was quickly succeeded by his brothers William and David, the latter continuing the line. Thus in 1256 David de Hulton was holding half a plough-land in Heaton, in which his brother's widow was claiming dower; Final Conc, i, 122. In 1302 Richard de Hulton son of David was holding the tenth part of a fee in Heaton of Thomas Grelley; Inq. and Extents, i, 314.. In 1324 Richard de Hulton was returned as holding half a plough-land in 'Davyd Heton' by a thegnage rent of 6s. 8d.; Duchy of Lanc. Rentals and Surv. 379, m. 13. In the later division of the Hulton lands this probably went to the families of Farnworth and Halliwell; and some part was obtained at a later time by the Hultons of Over Hulton. Thus William Hulton of Farnworth was in 1613 in possession of lands in Heaton; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 266; and Randle Barton of Smithills, who died in 1611, also had lands in Heaton; ibid, i, 208.
  • 5. Inq. and Extents, i, 54. Thomas de Worthington was holding half a knight's fee of Robert Grelley in 1212. In 1282 the manor was called Worthington, Coppull, and the appurtenances; ibid. 250. Later Worthington is called 'half a fee, except the tenth part,' the tenth part being Heaton. It is unlikely that there was only one manor in Heaton and that it was held in succession by the Hultons and Heatons; for Richard de Hulton and John de Heaton are mentioned together in 1320, when, however, only the latter is stated to have held the tenth part of a fee, the former holding by the rent of a pair of spurs or 2d., and puture of the serjeants and foresters; Mamecestre (Chet. Soc), 288, 290.
  • 6. The Heaton family were perhaps the successors in title of Henry de Bolton, who in 1221 offered himself against Robert Grelley in a plea concerning the fixing of boundaries between Henry's ands in Heaton and Robert's in Horwich; Cur. Reg. R. 79, m. 24. Licence of deafforestation in Heaton was in 1225 granted by the king to Robert Grelley for Henry de Bolton; Cal. Pat. 1216–25, p. 576. By fine in 1227 Robert Grelley acknowledged Henry's right to land within the following boundaries: from Yaresworth Brook up by Ridley Syke to the middle point between two brooks falling into the syke towards the west, and so up between the brooks to the great road between Halliwell and Rivington, and to the High Edge, then by the Edge around Helmshead to the boundary of Halliwell; Yorks. Feet of F. file 18, no. 1. Randle de Bolton was plaintiff in 1246 respecting lands in Heaton; Assize R. 404, m. 10 d.
  • 7. In 1278 Adam son of Richard de Heaton was non-suited in a claim for common of pasture brought against Ellis son of Randle de Heaton; ibid. 1238, m. 31 d. Ellis de Heaton appears as plaintiff in 1292, alleging that Randle his father was disseised of two parts of 4 acres of wood and 3 acres of pasture in Heaton by one Roger de Pendlebury, who demised them to William de Pendlebury, from whom they appear to have been acquired by Richard son of David de Hulton; ibid. 408, m. 49. He made a similar claim against Hugh de Halliwell (ibid.), but failed in both cases. In 1301 John son of Ellis de Heaton was defendant in a claim made by John del Shaw for reasonable estovers in Heaton, without view of the foresters, for housebote and heybote; ibid. 1321, m. 9 d. According to the surveys of 1320 and 1322 John de Heaton owed homage and fealty for the tenth part of a fee in Heaton under the Forest, and rendered yearly for sake fee 8d. and for ward of Lancaster Castle 12d., and puture of the serjeants and foresters; Mamecestre, 288, 379. At that time four oxgangs in Heaton contributed proportionally to the maintenance of the foresters of Horwich; ibid. 376, 377.
  • 8. Final Conc. ii, 89. The children of John son of John de Heaton named in the remainders are John, Adam, Roger, Robert, Richard, Joan, and Agnes. The estate was the 'manor' of Heaton-underHorwich; no other estate there seems to have been so described. In 1362 Richard Langtree and Margaret his wife brought a suit against Henry son of Adam de Heaton for waste, &c., in Heaton by Horwich; De Banco R. 411, m. 217 d.
  • 9. Hugh de Worthington and John de Heaton held of John La Warre half a knight's fee in Worthington and Heatonunder-Horwich, which William de Worthington formerly held; Feud. Aids, iii, 89.
  • 10. There does not seem to be any direct proof of this marriage, but it agrees with the descent of the estate. Thomas son of Roger Banastre of Wrightington in or before 1361 married Aline daughter of John de Heaton; John was a witness to the grant of lands then made; Piccope's MSS. iii, 2 (communicated by Mr. J. H. Partington).
  • 11. Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 523. Richard de Heaton and Isolda his wife held a fourth part of Billinge in 1374; De Banco R. 454, m. 141.
  • 12. Raines MSS. xxxvii B, 61. Dispensation granted in 1398.
  • 13. Final Conc. iii, 81.
  • 14. a A petition addressed to the Lord Chancellor in 1440 seems to refer to this family. In it Richard Barton of Middleton alleged that he had purchased the marriage of William son of Richard son of William Heaton, intending to wed him to his daughter Agnes. The younger William, under fourteen years of age, had been hidden away by Alexander Standish and his sister Isolda Heaton, who desired to procure a divorce between him and Agnes; Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 9, no. 204. Richard is described as 'the heir of Heaton' in a document of 1461 relating to a corrody in the priory of Marrick on Swale, granted by Richard to his cousins William and Oliver Entwisle successively, and then by William son of Richard Heaton to his uncle Robert Heaton; Ch. Gds. (Chet. Soc), 29 (from the Weld Blundell D.).
  • 15. Mamecestre, 480. It was held by 'the service of the tenth part of a knight's fee and puture, and the rent of 8d. a year, with 12d. for ward of the castle.' Katherine daughter of William Heaton married Henry son of Nicholas Blundell of Little Crosby in 1488–9; Kuerden, iii, C, 34, no. 580.
  • 16. Visit. of 1533 (Chet. Soc), p. 194; the arms seem to be those of Billinge and Heaton quarterly. In 1530 Richard Heaton of Heaton gave to feoffees his manor of Billinge with lands, &c., in Billinge, Birchley, Rumworth, Lostock, and Ulverston. His will mentions his son William and Joan his wife and their children Alice and Jane; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 151, m. 8. He died after the Statute of Uses (1536), and his will was held to be void; Duchy of Lanc. Dep. xxxiv, G, 1a. For pleadings regarding the woods in Horwich, between two of the younger sons, Richard and Bryan, see Ducky Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 119; ii, 219; the former seems to be wrongly dated.
  • 17. Duchy of Lanc. Dep. liv, H, 1; it was alleged that the feoffees of Richard Heaton the father of William in 1532 conveyed the manor of Heaton, with mill and messuages in Heaton and Horwich, to the use of Richard for life, and then to the use of William his son and heir for life, and then of Ralph Heaton and heirs male. (This feoffment is among the Anderton D. no. 4.) On behalf of Elizabeth daughter of Sir Richard Aughton, widow of William Heaton, and before 1549 remarried to John Bold, it was stated that William was seised in his demesne as of fee, and therefore she claimed as jointure.
  • 18. Ibid. xxxiv, G, 1. Miles Gerard son and heir of Thomas Gerard of Ince alleged that by his marriage settlement it was arranged that if William Heaton died without male issue one half of all the manors, &c, in Billinge, Birchley, Rumworth, Lostock, Horwich, and Ulverston, was to go to the said Jane; and if Alice, the other daughter of William Heaton, should die without issue, the other half should also be Jane's. Heaton was otherwise settled. The disputes began before William's death, which took place on 25 November 1542, for his answer to some of the pleadings is preserved. His widow Elizabeth immediately after his death complained that the Gerards had expelled her from Birchley. Humphrey Winstanley, who had married Jane, in 1560 complained that Christopher Anderton, William Heaton, and Ralph Heaton had entered his wife's inheritance. William Heaton claimed as heir male, under a settlement made in 1540 by William the father of Jane, apparently on his marriage with Elizabeth Aughton; Duchy of Lanc. Plead, xlvii, W, 13.
  • 19. Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 142; and ibid. m. 103. The deforciants in the latter were John Bold and Elizabeth his wife, William Heaton, and Lambert Heaton. The fine concerned two messuages, &c., 60 acres of land, with meadow, pasture, wood, moor, and moss in Heaton. An annuity of 54s. for life was granted to Elizabeth Bold, with ultimate reversion to William Heaton; the messuages, &c., being given to Lambert Heaton and Katherine his wife and their male issue; in default to Fernando Heaton and Richard, Geoffrey, Bryan, and Vane Heaton.
  • 20. Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 50. In 1560 Roger Heaton as son and devisee of Richard Heaton, one of the younger sons of the Richard Heaton of 1533, claimed the manor of Heaton against William Heaton and Mary his wife by virtue of a lease; and later Alice the mother of Roger, who had married Thomas Aughton, was joined in the suit; Duchy of Lanc. Plead. lxiii, H, 9a; cxvii, H, 16. William Heaton was plaintiff or defendant in other suits in the early part of Elizabeth's reign; Ducatus, ii, 243, 311, 323, 363. Ralph the son and heir of William Heaton of Birchley occurs several times from 1568 to 1574; ibid, ii, 363; iii, 13. William Heaton, merchant tailor of London, of the parish of St. Martin Orgar, acquired an interest, by purchase or mortgage, from the above William Heaton, in the lands and manor of Heaton; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdles. 24, m. 158; 27, m. 145; Duchy of Lanc. Plead, lxiii, H, 9; Anderton D. no. 20, 24, 35.
  • 21. Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 24, m. 96; and further in the account of Lostock.
  • 22. Lydiate Hall, 55. As early as 1572 an agreement was made for the sale of the manors and lands between Christopher Anderton, William Heaton of London, and Ralph son and heir of William Heaton; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 232, m. 5. Two years afterwards Christopher Anderton procured Heaton from Humphrey Winstanley and Jane his wife and William Gerard—probably only their reversionary rights in it; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 38, m. 80. In 1583 he made a settlement of the manor; ibid. bdle. 45, m. 25; while in 1589 he and his sons James and Thurstan seem to have made a further agreement or new purchase; ibid. bdle. 51, no. 25. Christopher Anderton died in 1592, holding the manor of Heaton under Horwich, &c, of the lord of Manchester; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xvi, no. 41. The bargain, however, was not even then secure, for three years later his son and heir, James Anderton, procured the manor (or reversionary rights in it), from Richard the son and heir apparent of Fernando Heaton, late of London; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 59, m. 17. Besides the manor the estate embraced eighty messuages, two water-mills, &c. Katherine widow of Lambert Heaton and Fernando their son surrendered land in Heaton in 1581; in 1593 Richard Heaton son of Fernando, described as 'of Alone in Westmeath,' sold his claim on the manors to James Anderton; Anderton D. no. 43, 67, 68.
  • 23. Harland and Wilkinson, Lancs. Legends, 44; some evidence in its favour is printed in Lydiate Hall, 56.
  • 24. Lydiate Hall, 134, 135. In Baines' Dir. of 1825, 'Henry Tempest, coal proprietor, of Broughton Hall, Yorkshire,' occurs under Heaton.
  • 25. Land Tax Ret. at Preston.
  • 26. He was the son of George Heaton, of London, whose kinship to the parent stock has not been ascertained. His mother Joan daughter of Sir Martin Bowes, lord mayor in 1545, died in giving him birth, having dedicated him 'to God and the Reformed Church.' He was educated at Westminster and Oxford, held various preferments, and was in 1599 promoted to the see of Ely in order to make certain alienations of its lands. He was the 'proud prelate' whom Elizabeth threatened to 'unfrock,' according to the story. He made the alienations; see Local Glean. Lancs, and Ches. ii, 171 (from Strype's Annals, iv, 490); Foster, Alumni; White, Elizabethan Bishops, 401; Cooper, Athen. Cantab. i, 442.
  • 27. a In 1364 Hugh Thirlewinde and Katherine his wife, daughter of Alice daughter of Stephen de Cockerham, mortgaged a tenement in Heaton; Starkie of Huntroyde D.
  • 28. b He had it in 1419, when it was called Rogersted; ibid.
  • 29. See Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 16, &c. Roger Walmesley died 31 May 1624 holding two messuages, &c., in Heaton of Christopher Anderton; Towneley MS. C, 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), p. 1287.
  • 30. Huntroyde D.; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 295, m. 89. It descended with Huntroyde till 1879, when it was sold to the Bolton Corporation.
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