Margaret Bruche

Thomas Bruche [sic: Richard del Bruche] married Margaret Legh, daughter of Piers Legh and Margaret Tildesley, and died shortly after 26 March 1476. Their son was Henry del Bruche, probably died at Bosworth Field (1485), who was the father of Hugh del Bruche, who married Dowse and died in 1504, leaving a son and heir, Hamon Bruche.

'Townships: Poulton with Fearnhead', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1907), pp. 328-331. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp328-331 [accessed 19 June 2023].

Richard his son and heir married Margaret, daughter of Peter Legh of Bradley and Lyme. In 1457 he settled part of his estate upon Dulcia, daughter of Hamlet Mascy of Rixton, upon her marriage to his son and heir apparent, Hugh Bruche. (fn. 41) In 1465, Richard Bruche held of Peter Legh of Bradley one half of the manor of Bruche by knight's service and 12d. yearly, which manor was situated on the south side of a certain heath called the Bruche Heath, and extended to the lane leading from Warrington to Woolston and as far as the water of Mersey, and in width from the Bruche Brook on the west to Woolston Brook on the east. (fn. 42) Richard Bruche was living in 1476 and was the father of Henry Bruche, who is thought to have fallen at Bosworth Field, (fn. 43) and of Hugh, his eldest son and successor, who did homage to Sir Thomas Butler for his lands in Orford and Sankey on 13 January, 1490. (fn. 44) Hugh died before 1504, and was succeeded by Hamlet, his son and heir, who did homage at Bewsey on 11 April, 1507, for his lands in Bruche, Orford, Warrington, and both Sankeys, (fn. 45) but died on 7 April, 1508, Richard his son being six years of age. (fn. 46) The wardship of the heir was in dispute between Sir Thomas Boteler and Hamlet Bruche's feoffees, but the matter was compromised. (fn. 47)

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The Visitation of Lancashire and a Part of Cheshire: Made in the Twenty ... by Thomas Benalt , William Langton , College of Arms (Great Britain) (Publication date 1882) < Archive.Org >

Sir Piers Legh, who wrote an elaborate account of his estates in 1465 mentioned that Richard del Bruche held of him in capite half the manor of Bruche by knight’s service and a yearly chief rent of xij pence.

The interesting monograph on Bruche printed by Mr. Beamont (Warrington Guardian Office, 1878), carries us back to the thirteenth century, and gives information respecting many of the persons bearing the name derived from this estate. He has also given us notices of their tenure of other properties in the barony of Warrington, and of services in which they were engaged. He traces the alliances and later descents of the family down to the beginning of the seventeenth century, when their estate was sold to Sir Peter Legh of Lyme, and the family disappeared from the landed gentry of the county.*

The pedigree of Bruche was again entered at the Visitation of 1567, but does not appear in either of the two held subsequently.

Mr. Beamont draws attention to the circumstance that the fate of small estates being absorbed by their larger neighbours is no infrequent occurrence ; and, in the case of the Bruche family, he ascribes the cause of their decadence to litigation and habits of improvidence, leading to an accumulation of debt. One considerable loan was obtained from a cadet of the family who had become a citizen of London, and had probably been enriched by honourable trade.

The fee simple of the estate of Bruche, acquired by Sir Peter Legh in 1602, was settled by him on his younger sons. Of these, the youngest, Peter, entered into possession on his father's death in 1636. His son, Piers, appears in the Visitation of 1664, and although the descent from the house of Lyme was fully recognised, Sir William Dugdale indulged in his propensity for introducing distinctions, by recording to him a coat in which Corona and Legh of Adlington were amalgamated, viz., azure two bars argent, in chief three ducal coronets or, over all a bend, compony, or and gules. <BR}
This gentleman's daughter, Frances, became an heiress and carried the Bruche estate back into the family of Lyme, by marriage with her kinsman Peter Legh. But, through failure of issue, the estate passed through her aunt (also Frances) to the family of Bankes of Winstanley, and was by them sold to a certain Jonathan Jackson. Later on it became, by purchase, the property of the late Thomas Parr, Esq.

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Bruche: A Monograph : the History of Bruche Hall, Near Warrington, with ... Di William Beamont. Page 18. < GoogleBooks >

References

• https://www.thepeerage.com/p41837.htm cites
  • [S344] Burke's Peerage and Gentry
• RICHARD DEL BRUCHE, who married Margaret, the daughter of Sir Peter Legh, knight, and ofwhose holdin gs under Sir. 72 pages https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/download/Bruche_A_Monograph_The_H... page 22
• Bruche: A Monograph : the History of Bruche Hall, Near Warrington, with ... Di William Beamont. Page 18. < GoogleBooks >
• 'Townships: Poulton with Fearnhead', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1907), pp. 328-331. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp328-331 [accessed 19 June 2023].