Lancashire - booth and village timelines

This is a research project, possibly temporay as the information is added to the individual profiles and referenced from the sources given here. Purpose is to try to fill in some gaps in parish records. No need to add profiles, yet if we are certain of a person on the tree matching a record, the link can be added here and will assist navigation in within geni.

Work in progress.....

Forest

• 1341 - In the close of Reedley Hallows there was at Michaelmas 1341 stock consisting of a bull, seventy-eight cows and one heifer. This inclosure of pasture was originally used as a store farm from which to replenish the adjoining vaccaries.
• 1342 - the herbage had been demised to farm for £10.
• 1418 - Roger Flore, chief steward, demised three parts of a meadow called the Reedley Hallows, lately demised to Sir Henry Hoghton at £6 13s. 4d., to James Banastre for the increased rent of £8, and the other part to Richard Folds at £2 10s. rent for ten years.
• 1459 and 1464 was held by Lord Stanley and William Leyland at a rent of £9 6s. 8d., in which was probably included the 50s. 1d. due for a fourth part of the herbage demised.
• 1464 for twelve years to Richard Halstead and Richard Folds, who were required to reserve for the king's deer such amount of pasture as it had been customary to reserve in time past.
• 1474 Lord Stanley held it at the same rent, and at the greatly enhanced rent of £20 2s. 8d. (sic) in 1495.
• 1507 Upon the granting of the forests the vaccary called Reedley Hallows, containing 200 acres by customary measure, was demised by copy of Court Roll to William Winder and his fellows for £10 a year.
• 1517 Christopher Nutter of New Laund was a juror.
• 1527 the heir of William Barcroft held half, the remainder being divided almost equally between Christopher Jackson, Ellis Nutter and George Ormerod. At the same time the heir of Thomas Radcliffe paid 13s. 4d. for (Little) Reedley Hallows, but this tenement appears to be the same as Chamber in Pendle.
• 1537 George Ormerod and Christopher Jackson were the jurors for Reedley Hallows.
• 1549 George Windle of Reedley Hallows was a tenant of Christopher Jackson.
• 1582 Brothers John Nutter and Robert Nutter of Reedley (family lost 2 in witch trials) went over seas to Rheims, where they were ordained priests.
• 12 February 1583 John Nutter Priest was executed at Tyburn https://archive.org/details/a583126603gilluoft/page/264 and here a "Nutter" is the alias of Askew https://archive.org/details/a583126603gilluoft/page/360 John Nutter is mentioned here: https://archive.org/details/a583126602gilluoft/page/244
• 1585 Robert Nutter Priest was banished.
• 1590 John Towneley brought a bill of complaint in the Duchy Chamber against William Barcroft of Lodge and James Hargreaves touching a right of way over Banister Heald in the vaccary of Reedley Hallows, through Filly Close to Fence Gate, and from Byerden Gate to Saxifield Common.
• 1592 a complaint that John Nutter of New Laund had stopped a right of way. John Nutter replied that his grandfather Ellis Nutter made a partition of the lands in the township with Henry Nutter and Christopher Nutter, and it was then agreed that 'a highway should be set out in the portion of the said Christopher.
• 1592 John Nutter, living, was son of John Nutter son of Ellis Nutter, as appears by the right of way trial.
• 1594 The will of Sibyl Nutter of Reedley Hallows, widow, dated 1592 and proved 1594, leaves all her goods to her son John Nutter; she owed £20 to her son-in-law Miles Whitaker.
• 26 July 1600 Robert Nutter Priest was executed at Lancaster.
• 1603 The will of Ellis Nutter, of Reedley Hallows, names his children Henry Nutter (married), John Nutter, Robert Nutter and Ellen Nutter. His wife was living.
• 1609 Robert Barcroft held the Barcroft and Ormerod shares of 1527, while Christopher Jackson and Henry Nutter had the other parts.
• 1631 Thomas Barcroft of Lodge paid £15 for having refused knighthood.
• 1662 Thomas Barcroft, Ellis Nutter, John Jackson and William Robert were tenants, the Jackson estate having been diminished a little to the profit of Nutter and Robert.
• 1666 Hearth Tax shows that Thomas Sagar and Ellis Nutter were each assessed upon seven hearths and Mary Jackson on four.
• 1670 Sarah Barcroft the daughter and co-heir of Thomas Barcroft married Nicholas Townley of Royle, and the Lodge has descended with that estate to Mr. R. A. Tatton of Cuerden.
• 1727 Leonard Clayton, son of Henry Clayton of Pendle Hall, yeoman, was described as 'of Lodge.'
• 1738 Ellis son of Robert Nutter (Preist) of Reedley made a settlement of his estates.
• 1739 Thomas Bradshaw of Marple in Cheshire was the owner of tenements called Haugh Head and Haugh Row.
• 1741 Ellis Nutters' son, Henry Nutter of Colne, surrendered Reedley and Tupholme, copyhold rent 39s., to the use of John Crossley of Hundersfield. The trustees of Col. Holden and Mr. Harry Tunstill now hold a large part of Reedley.

Filly Close

• 1324 held by Richard de Whitacre in conjunction with the adjacent Royle in Burnley.
• 1459 John Sotehill rented Filly Close for £9 6s. 8d., obtaining a twenty years' lease of it at the same rent in 1467.
• 1471 Hugh Gartside had it granted to him on lease similarly. Lord Stanley paid the rent in 1495.
• 1507 Filly Close was demised by copy of Court Roll to Lawrence Towneley and Ralph Askew at a rent of £10 13s. 4d.
• 1527 At this rent Sir John Towneley held it, and in his line the ownership nominally descended.
• 1530 Ellis Nutter of Reedley –1 resigned his lease and goodwill in Filly Close to Sir John in consideration of an annuity of 26s. 8d. There were nine tenants in 1536, paying the £10 13s. 4d. copyhold rent and an additional rent of £5 11s. 6d. to Towneley. The chief tenant then was George Grimshaw of Moorhiles, paying £7; he and Thomas Watmough were the only ones exempt from suit to the corn-mill in Burnley.
• 1577 John Towneley brought a bill of complaint against Richard Grimshaw son of George Grimshaw touching the messuage of Moorhiles and lands in Filly Close.
• 1 June 1608 The will of Richard Grimshaw, shows that he had lands in Pendle and in Craven; he left a widow Ellen Grimshaw, and had daughters, Janet Grimshaw (deceased) wife of John Woodroffe of Bank Top, and Elizabeth Grimshaw who married Thomas Walmesley of Coldcoats. Moorhiles became the residence of Christopher Towneley, the transcriber.
• 1668 Christopher Towneley remodeled after death of his wife.
• 1674 Christopher Towneley died.
• 1666 Mr. John Shuttleworth, John Skerrow, Bernard Stuttard and George Spencer were those assessed to the hearth tax for Filly Close.

The New Laund

• 1459 held by Thomas Harrington at a yearly farm of £5 6s. 8d.
• 1462 herbage and pasture there were demised at this rent to William Leyland for a term, and a new lease for seven years was granted him soon afterwards.
• 1471 Hugh Gartside obtained a twenty years' lease at the same rent.
• 1495 Lawrence Towneley was farmer.
• 1507 the commissioners for granting the forest demised New Laund to Robert Nutter to hold by copy of Court Roll for £6 13s. 4d. yearly rent.
• 1527 same rent was held equally by Ellis Nutter of Waterside, John Haliday and John Nowell.
• 1550 Henry Nutter brought a bill of complaint in the Duchy Chamber against his younger brother, John Nutter, touching his title to tenements in New Laund and Reedley Hallows.
• 1609 shows that Ellis Nutter's tenement had descended to John Nutter, those of Haliday and Nowell being held divisibly between John Crombock, John Moor and Margaret Nutter.
• 1662 Another John Nutter held the third part, when the remainder was held by Richard Crombock, John Moore and Bernard Parker (in right of his wife), each paying 29s. 7½d. of copyhold rent.
• 1666 The hearth tax return shows the following assessments: Mr. Anthony Wade nine hearths, Ellis Nutter six and Bernard Parker (for Henry Nutter) four.
• 1612 In the witches' trials it was alleged that Robert Nutter of Greenhead and his father Christopher Nutter had been bewitched to death some eighteen or nineteen years before. Eleanor Nutter daughter of Ellis Nutter of Waterside was the grandmother of Archbishop Tillotson.
• 1648 Edmund Robinson of New Laund was allowed to compound for his 'delinquency' by a fine of £40. He had been in Clitheroe Castle while it was held for the king, but in 1645 had voluntarily submitted to the Parliament and taken the National Covenant.
• Late 1700'ds Montford was towards the end of the 18th century the residence of one Thomas Tipping, who devised it to his gardener. The estate, including New Laund Farm and Waterside, was purchased by the late Robert Tunstill, and is now the property of his nephew, Mr. Harry Tunstill of Reedyford House, Nelson.

Roghlee

• 1323 Rughelegh
• 1324 Rughlegh
• 1324 when Richard de Marsden and Richard de Grenacre were the farmers.
• 1423 Richard Shireburne held the vaccary of Over Roughlee at farm for £4, an increase on the old rent of 5 marks, while Robert Blakay had Nether Roughlee for £4.
• 1459 both of the vaccaries were held together for a rent of £8 as against a former £9 by William Nutter, Thomas Robinson, Christopher Baldwin and Peter Jackson.
• 1462 William Leyland obtained a grant of the herbage and pasture of a number of the vaccaries in Pendle, including the Roughlee Booths; in 1466 he obtained a ten years' lease of them
• 1474 William Nutter held them at £8 rent.
• 1484 7 year lease granted to Hugh Gartside and Nicholas Gartside his son.
• 1495 Thomas Walton was the tenant.
• 1507 the pasture and vaccary called Over Roughlee and Nether Roughlee, otherwise Roughlee Booths, old rent £9, were demised by copy of Court Roll for £13 6s. 8d. a year to Christopher Baldwin, Christopher Smith, Peter Smith, John Smith, John Bibby, Henry Mitton, William Mitton, Richard Nutter, Lawrence Nutter, Piers Robinson, John Robinson, Bertram Robinson and Nicholas Robinson.
• 1527 The five principal copyhold tenants were John Hartley, Miles Nutter, William Baldwin and the wives of Christopher Baldwin and John Baldwin.
• 1600 John Smith of Roughlee was a freeholder. The other tenants were Peter Smith, James Robinson, Nicholas Robinson and Peter Robinson, William Mitton, John Smith, senior and John Smith junior, the wife of Christopher Smith, John Hurst, Miles Robinson and Richard Bibby.
• 1607 John Cunliffe, Christopher Baldwin and Roger Mitton had the largest holdings.
• 1662 Christopher Baldwin (late Henry Baldwin), John Hartley and John Cunliffe had the largest holdings.
• 1612 The most interesting personage connected with Roughlee is Alice Nutter, one of those accused of witchcraft, and hanged at Lancaster in 1612. She was the wife of Richard Nutter son of Miles Nutter, and had a son Miles Nutter and other children; her paternal name does not appear to be known. She stood out from the others accused as being 'a rich woman, [who] had a great estate and children of good hope: in the common opinion of the world, of good temper, free from envy or malice.' The charges against her were that she was present at the witches' meeting at Malkin Tower, and that with old Elizabeth Device she had conspired to kill Henry Mitton of Roughlee because he had refused to give Device a penny. She resolutely denied her guilt; as the recorder says, 'she died very impenitent, insomuch as her own children were never able to move her to confess any particular offence or declare anything, even in articulo mortis.' The estate of Roughlee Hall has been recently acquired by Mr. Henry Bulcock of Burnley.

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

Goldshaw

• 1323–4 Goldiaue
• 1422 Goldea
• 1459 Goldeshagh
• 1296 the vaccaries of Pendle give the names of eleven boothmen or keepers. The names of the stock farms or vaccaries, locally known as booths, are not recorded. In each cattle had died of the murrain; one boothman had a cow allowed to him, one having been stolen by robbers; another had lost an on through the attack of a wolf.
• 1305 the number of boothmen was one less.
• 1323 There were two vaccaries in Goldshaw Booth, yielding a rent of 56s. Richard de Whitaker and John de Whitaker were the farmers or tenants.
• 1418 Roger Flore, chief steward, demised the vaccaries of Over and Nether Goldshaw and Higham Booth, late at £13 1s. 8d. rent, to Sir Richard Radcliffe for ten years at £16; Richard Shireburne had the Craggs in Pendle, near Goldea, at 20s., as against the old rent of 13s. 4d.
• 1443 Families of Blakey, Bulcock, Grimshaw, Hargreaves, Nutter, Tattersall were already settled in the area.
• 1463–4 Rental shows that William Leyland, Richard Robinson, John Nutter and Richard Fielding paid £8 6s. 8d. for Nether Goldshaw and Over Goldshaw with the Craggs, the rent having been reduced from £9 6s. 8d.
• 1474 Richard Robinson, John Nutter and Richard Fielding were still tenants at the rent of £8 6s. 8d.
• 1507 the vaccary in Over Goldshaw and Nether Goldshaw with the Craggs was demised by copy of Court Roll for the increased rent of £13 6s. 8d. to the old farmers or tenants, viz. Robert Nutter, Edmund Nutter, Stephen Nutter and Henry Nutter, Edmund Robinson, Ellis Robinson and Thomas Robinson, William Birkby, Edmund Aspden, Lawrence Aspden and John Aspden and the wife of Roger Aspden. The Nutter and Robinson families appear in the township for long afterwards, but the other families seem to have been quickly replaced by new ones. Hargreaves and Stevenson appearing. The names of their tenements are rarely given.
• 17th-century rental John Stevenson of Heights, Richard Nutter of Hall, John Robinson of Hoarstones and Mr. John Moore of Greenhead occur.
• 1524 In Pendle three persons contributed to the subsidy in respect of their lands: Henry Banister, Simon Blakey and William Barcroft; they lived in Barrowford or Reedley Hallows.
• 1527 the principal tenants were Edmund Stevenson the elder, James Hargreaves, Edmund Robinson the elder, Ellis Robinson, John Halliday and John Nowell; the others were Richard Nutter, John Nutter, Anthony Nutter and Marculph (or Mark) Nutter, the wife of Edmund Nutter, John Robinson, John Stevenson, Sibyl Stevenson and Edmund Stevenson the younger and the wife of James Halliday. The rents as given amount to £13 1s. 7d.
• 1562 Turbary in Red Moss and a parcel of land in Goldshaw, probably part of the Bull Hole estate, were surrendered by Edmund Stevenson for a term of twenty-nine years to Christopher Whittilles, supposed to be a connexion of the above-named Anne Whittle alias Chattox.
• 1562 Giles Parker was curate
• 1564 the following so contributed: Henry Banister and Nicholas Hancock.
• 1597 Henry Banister, William Anderton, William Barcroft, Edmund Robinson, Hugh Moore.
• 1600 James Robinson of Goldshaw Booth was a freeholder.
• 1602 Another John Nutter, of this district, became Dean of Chester and has been noticed as rector of Sefton and of Aughton died. https://archive.org/details/a583126601gilluoft/page/248 He with Sir Richard Molyneux arranged for the release of William Blundell's wife from Cheshter Castle. He was referred to "the golden ass" of Queen Elizabeth.
• 1609 John Crombock and John Moor answered for Nutter's land; the other considerable tenants were Thomas Robinson, Nicholas Duxbury, James Hargreaves, Nicholas Stevenson and William Stevenson. John Nutter and John Nutter of Bull Hole are named; Grimshaw MS. (in possession of W. Farrer),
• 1612. Elizabeth Southerns, 'Old Demdike,' confessed that she had first met Tib, her 'familiar,' some twenty years earlier at a stone pit in Goldshaw; she and her daughter Elizabeth Device (or Devis) and Device's two children Alison Device and James Device were among the most prominent persons in the trial, as accused or as witnesses, while John Hargreaves of Goldshaw Booth was said to have been a victim. Another 'witch' of the immediate neighbourhood was Anne Whittle, 'Old Chattox,' who with her daughter Anne Whittle wife of Thomas Redferne was tried and executed for witchcraft at the same time, she being then eighty years of age.
• 1626 Charles Banister, Isabel Anderton, Thomas Barcroft, Edmund Robinson, Nicholas Duxbury, and John Nutter; Hugh Anderton and Elizabeth Anderton, Mary Ruskin and many others paid as non-communicants.
• 1634 An echo of the earlier proceedings against witches occurred and resulted in the indictment at Lancaster of seventeen inhabitants of Pendle Forest charged with witchcraft. At the examination of witnesses previous to the trial it was deposed that witches to the number of thirty or more had met on several occasions at a new house called Hoarstones. The principal accuser, a boy ten years of age named Edmund Robinson, of Newchurch in Pendle, actually described how whilst gathering bullaces a black hound and a grey one had appeared, with which he thought to have coursed a hare. They would not run, and upon his beating the black one there stood up in its place one Dickonson's wife, whom he at once charged with being a witch. Failing to bribe him to silence, she conjured a little boy, who had changed out of her companion grey hound, into a white horse, whereupon she set Robinson and carried him to Hoarstones, distant about a quarter of a mile. There he saw other witches on horseback arriving, to the number of threescore, and presently followed them to an adjoining barn, where six of them kneeling upon the floor pulled at six several ropes fastened to the roof; upon which, into the informer's sight, came smoking flesh, butter in lumps, and milk, as it were, syleing (i.e. straining through a sieve) from the ropes, which fell into basins. And so like these six did others in turn until the witness took fright and fled. He was chased by some of them to a place in the highway called Boggart Hole, where they desisted, on two horsemen being met with, but not before he had identified them. Upon this and similar evidence seven inhabitants of the forest were found guilty of witchcraft and remitted to Bishop Bridgeman of Chester for examination. He reported on 15th June 1634 that of the seven three had died in prison at Lancaster, where another lay sick beyond hope of recovery. Margaret Johnson, alias the penitent witch, a widow sixty years of age, made a formal confession, 'often acknowledging that she was a witch but more often faulting in the particulars of her actions as one having a strong imagination of the former but of too weak a memory to retain or relate the other.' Mary Spencer of Burnley, aged twenty, in her confession utterly denied any knowledge of witchcraft, 'and prays God to forgive Nicholas Cunliffe, who having borne malice to her and her parents these five or six years has lately wrongfully abused them.' Her father and mother had been condemned last assizes for witches and had since died and been buried. Frances Dickonson, wife of John Dickonson, husbandman, also denied all knowledge of witchcraft. She had been wrongfully accused by the son of Edmund Robinson alias Rough, and by Edmund Stevenson of Stainscomb, who maliced her upon bargains of butter, but in the audience of John Nutter, steward of Blackburn Hundred, John Hargreaves of Higham, and John Radcliffe of the Heyhouses in Pendle confessed that he knew nothing of her but well. A month later the boy Edmund Robinson, being examined by a Middlesex justice by command of Chief Secretary Windebank, admitted his evidence before the judges at Lancaster, but confessed that all that tale was false and feigned, being framed out of his own invention from tales and reports about a witches' feast kept at Malkin Tower in Pendle Forest about twenty years before; he wished to cover his own delinquencies in neglecting to bring home his father's kine through staying to play with other children. Having once invented the tale he persisted in it until he came to the king's coachman at Richmond, to whom he declared the truth. He had been with his father at Hoarstones at the time he was building it for Thomas Robinson to dwell in.
• 29 June 1634 the Council directed his Majesty's surgeons to make choice of midwives to inspect and search the bodies of the women sent up by the sheriff of Lancaster as indicted for witchcraft. They were then staying at the Ship Tavern at Greenwich. The king's surgeons with five others and ten midwives returned their certificates on 2 July from Surgeons' Hall, Mugwell Street, London; they stated that they had inspected the bodies of Jenet Hargreaves, Frances Dickonson and Mary Spencer, and had found nothing unnatural nor anything like a teat or mark; there was nothing on the body of Margaret Johnson inconsistent with a well-known disease. Bishop Bridgeman measures the truth of these charges in the following words: 'Conceit and malice are so powerful with many in those parts that they will easily afford an oath to work revenge upon their neighbour.'
• John Nutter of the Bull Hole occurs several times in the witch trials.
• 1640 John Horrocks was curate
• 1662 John Robinson paid the largest rent; the next were Christopher Hartley (in right of his wife), Lawrence Duxbury and Nicholas Stevenson; Honor of Clitheroe MS. (Towneley), in possession of W. Farrer.
• 1666 there were 502 hearths in Pendle liable to the tax, but there were few large houses in the Newchurch portion, that of John Hartley of Rough Lee with six hearths being the largest. There were three houses of four each in Goldshaw Booth; the remainder had three or less.
• 1671 Richard Nutter of the Hall in Sabden was the surviving trustee of Christopher Bulcock of Barley.
• 18th century Stainscomb, standing in a picturesque ravine between two spurs of the Craggs, was formerly the habitation of one of the Stevenson families and was sold by Nicholas Stevenson of Admergill to John Haydock of Heysandforth,
• 1732 John Haydock of Heysandforth, conveyed to James Matthews, curate of Burnley, and his successors as an augmentation for the curacy. The purchase money, £400, was derived half from Queen Anne's Bounty and half from the benefaction of the Rev. Edmund Townley of Royle. Several parcels of the estate were named doles, such as Stainscomb Dole. Right of common upon Whinberry Clough was included in the surrender.
• 1740 A tablet on the outside of the south wall reads thus: John Stephenson George Hartley John Hargreaves Thomas Varley Church Warddens 1740 Richard Broughton John Broughton Robert Wilkinson Matthew Crook Masons

Barley with Wheatley Booth

• 1324 Barelegh
• 1323 the herbage of Whithalgh yielded 28s., that of Barley the same, and Haghebothe or Haw Booth 18s. The tenants were Gilbert de la Legh, Robert de Penhille and John de Dinelay respectively.
• 1424 Oliver de Stansfield had the vaccary of Whithagh at £2 13s. 4d. rent, an increase on the old one of 40s.; James Banastre had Barley vaccary at £5 13s. 4d. rent, instead of £4 10s.; and John Manconhelis and Robert Manconhelis had Haghboth vaccary at £3 6s. 8d., instead of the former £3 rent.
• 1459 the following were paid by William Leyland: Barley Booth, £5 13s. 4d., formerly Robert Banastre's; Haw Booth, £2 8s. 4d. (late £2 13s. 4d.); and Whitehough Booth, £2 11s. 8d. (late £2 16s. 8d.)
• 1474 the tenants had changed, but not the rents, Hugh Gartside holding Barley Booth and William Nutter Haw Booth and Whitehough Booth.
• 1495 the tenant of all these was Sir Thomas Walton, at the same rents.
• 1507 Barley Booth and two small parcels adjoining, lately let at £6 0s. 8d. in all, were demised by copy of Court Roll for £10 a year to the old tenants and occupiers, their names being John Robinson the elder, Richard Varley, William Varley, Roger Bowland, John Robinson the younger, James Manknowles, Richard Bollard, James Healey and Margaret Bollard, widow.
• 1527 rentals, however, show a total of £8 only from Barley Booth. The two parcels of pasture called Hawbooth and Whitley-in-Hawbooth, lately 53s. 4d. and 51s. 8d. respectively, were demised by copy of Court Roll for £8 to James Hargreaves, Robert Bulcock, William Holgate, John Robinson the elder, John Robinson the younger, Thomas Varley, Robert Varley, Roger Hartley and John Bulcock. Robert Bulcock was the largest holder in 1527. The other tenants were Agnes Hargreaves and Lawrence Hargreaves, John Robinson, senior and junior, William Hartley and Roger Hartley, Robert Varley and Thomas Varley, John Bulcock and John Manknowles.
• 1593 The present house at Whitehough, according to the inscription on it, was built by Christopher Bulcock and Jenet his wife.
• 1607 Christopher Bulcock and Richard Bulcock and Christopher Bulcock in 1662. In Barley Booth £1 each was paid by the wife of William Robinson, James Hartley, Robert Squire, Richard Bollard and Miles Crabtree, (other tenants were Peter Varley, John Manknowles, James Higgin, James Bollard and the wife of William Varley) and their successors in 1609 were Richard Woodroffe, gent., James Hartley, Christopher Robinson, James Bollard and John Robinson.
• 1652 George Fox, coming from Yorkshire, perhaps by way of Clitheroe, tells of the impression the view from the top of Pendle.
• 1662, the chief copyhold tenants were Edmund Stevenson, William Varley and William Crombock.

'Townships: Barley with Wheatley Booth', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 518-519. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp518-519 [accessed 17 May 2019].

Great Crosby

Crossebi, 1176; Major Grosseby, 1211; Crosseby, 1212; Micle Crosseby, 1292; Much and Great Crosby were both used in the sixteenth century.

• 1194 Robert son of Osbert owed 100s. for having the goodwill of the king; implying that he had shared in the rebellion, or at least in its consequences
• 1212 by Roger Mallot or Malloc, and descended soon afterwards to Robert Mallot.
• 1232 and 1248 The grant altering the tenure was made by a charter of William de Ferrers, earl of Derby, to Adam de Ainsdale.
• 1250 The four oxgangs are named; William de Walton was to pay 10s. of ancient farm and 4d. As Adam de Molyneux and Adam de Ainsdale were witnesses, the charter must be dated before 1250.
• 1285 Dicket of Great Crosby and Amabel his wife had grants of land there in 1285 from Adam son of Gilbert Midia of Great Crosby, and Roger son of Silvester of Great Crosby.
• April 1290 Blundell of Crosby D. K. 119; by this charter Simon granted Nicholas all his lands in the vill, with his house and appurtenances, homages, services.
• 1292 Richard son of Simon Sturmi complained that Simon son of William de Walton held half an oxgang in Great Crosby, of which William had disseised Sturmi; Assize R. 408, m. 35. In another plea the plaintiff is described as Richard, son of Simon son of Wyon; ibid. m. 29. He was non-suited.
• 1294 granted to Richard son of Roger son of Abraham, half an oxgang in Great Crosby
• 1298 Simon de Walton was holding
• 1298 Thomas Banastre held it by charter
• 1323–4 John and William sons of Roger Mallot or Malloc had the same portion.
• 1324 Henry de Walton was holding
• 1346 enters much more minutely into the customs and conditions of the township. The free tenants remained as formerly, but William de Liverpool, clerk, and Nichola his wife, had acquired 6 acres next Balifield by charter of the lord's father. It appears further that Thomas de Molyneux was then bailiff of the wapentake. William Rogerson, a native, had part of an oxgang of the lord's escheat, as of the free holding of Emma daughter of Alan son of Simon, late his wife, and owed 9d. to the free rent of the wapentake; Roger son of Hugh, also a native by blood, had free land of the inheritance of Almar his wife.
• 1346 the tenants of each of the three oxgangs of land which composed the tenement were separately recorded thus: Richard de Wall, paying 1s. 6d.; Robert de Wyresdale, Roger Bolymer, and Margery daughter of Thomas Jordanson, 3s.; and William Rogerson with John del Dale, half; and Henry Woodward, half, 3s. Some fragments can be traced further, and appear to have been acquired by Molyneux of Sefton.
• 1392 Other Croxteth deeds concern lands of the Newhouses family. Henry son of Robert del Newhouses settled his hereditary lands on himself and his wife Alice, with remainders to their children John and Catherine, and then to Robert and William sons of Richard del Newhouses.
• 1393 it was found that Robert Dickson of Great Crosby died seised of a messuage, an oxgang of land, and a sixth, which descended to Roger Robinson as son and heir. This Roger Robinson had a daughter Alice Robinson, wife of William Higginson, but she and her nine sons all died before her husband. This husband married again, and had a son Thomas Wilson, who took possession unjustly, as William Tue son of Agnes daughter of Margery daughter of Simon the Porter, brother of Roger Robinson, was the heir, although Margery's sister Alice had released her right to William Higginson.
• 1414 Edward Blundell, probably a trustee, granted to Nicholas Blundell two messuages and two oxgangs in Mickle Crosby which had belonged to Simon de Walton.
• 1432 William Tue granted his inheritance to John the Cook; he about eighteen months afterwards sold it to John son of John of Great Crosby—i.e. John Johnson —who shortly afterwards settled it on himself and his wife Margaret for life, and then to their son Robert Johnson and his sons Thomas Johnson and Nicholas Johnson.
• 1429 Richard, son of John the Cook, also granted half an oxgang to John son of John de Crosby.
• 1459 Nicholas son of Jenkyn Johnson and Joan his wife and John son of the said Nicholas entered upon a messuage and half an oxgang by demise of John Golding.
• 1474 Henry Nicholason sought entry into a messuage and oxgang by demise of Alice widow of Nicholas Jankinson.
• 1516 the inquisition after the death of Henry Blundell, when it was found that he held various lands in Great Crosby from the king as duke of Lanc.
• 1532 complained that a certain Nicholas Johnson, supported by James Blundell of Ince and about forty companions, had built a house on a new site, in defiance of the other tenants and the constables of the town. Nicholas Johnson was the husband of Margaret Blundell, sister of James; Gibson, Lydiate Hall
• 1552 Richard Newhouse was a reeve of the chapel.
• 1570 Thomas Harrison and other inhabitants of Great Crosby had a dispute with the people of Litherland as to pasture of Great Crosby Marsh
• 1582 Lawrence Johnson, educated at Oxford and Douay, executed in 1582 and declared 'Blessed' by Leo XIII in 1886, was son of Richard Johnson of Great Crosby, and laboured for a short time in Lancashire.
• 1625 Manor sold by Charles I to Lord Mandeville and others.The patent recites that the king, performing his father's intentions, granted to Robert Dixon and William Walley the manor of Great Crosby, in consideration of £12,500 paid by Henry, Viscount Mandeville. The sale included the rents, &c., of free as of bond and customary tenants, court-baron and fines, &c., in all valued at £13 18s. 0¾d., which sum was to be paid annually to the crown.
• 1667 John Johnson of Great Crosby, the representative of the family, married Jane daughter of John Molyneux of New Hall was dead.
• 1717 Papists registered their estates—Henry Aspinwall of Croxteth, Richard Cartwright, Edward Hatton, John Hunt, John Johnson, Robert Johnson, John Lurting, Thomas Syers and Mary his wife, Thomas Thelwall, and Richard Westhead.
• 1798 Manor was sold, the purchaser being a trustee of the Blundells of Little Crosby. The present lord of the manor is Mr. William Joseph Blundell.
• 9 Feb 1799 A deed shows Thomas Ryan was the purchaser for the Blundells.
• 1802 death of T. Ryan his trustees or executors conveyed the estate to Clementina Blundell, widow of the late lord of Little Crosby.
• April, 1809, it was conveyed to their son and heir William Blundell.
• sixteenth and seventeenth centuries The Johnson family appear to have been among the principal tenants, but it is difficult to trace the family back with certainty owing to the use of the christian name as surname in the precise sense, as 'son of John,' so that the surname varied from generation to generation.
• Footnote: Some mention of them has been made above, with examples of the change of surname. It is noticeable that B. Lawrence Johnson was also known as Richardson, his father being Richard. 'The family was of considerable antiquity, and suffered greatly for its religion. . . . About the middle of the seventeenth century John Johnson of Great Crosby, the representative of the family, married Jane daughter of John Molyneux of New Hall. She was a widow in 1667, and was then paying her fines for recusancy;' Gillow, l.s.c. In 1459 Nicholas son of Jenkyn Johnson and Joan his wife and John son of the said Nicholas entered upon a messuage and half an oxgang by demise of John Golding; and in 1474 Henry Nicholason sought entry into a messuage and oxgang by demise of Alice widow of Nicholas Jankinson; Court R. at Croxteth. An interesting document among the Moore charters (n. 744) is a record of the descent of the property of Tomlin Wilson, who in the presence of Nicholas Blundell, the father of Harry Blundell lately deceased, had declared that his heirs were his daughter, the wife of Richard Johnson, and his grandson Thomas Linacre, son of another daughter. The former had a son, John Richardson, and the latter a daughter married to Wilkin Holt, and in 1470 Richard Johnson and William Holt were sworn before William Blundell of Ince and Robin Holt of the same to claim one half each and no more; and Thomas Linacre was to make no alienation. Feoffments by Richard Johnson of Little Crosby in 1447–8 mention lands there and in Ince Blundell; part he held in right of his wife Emma, then deceased, daughter of Thomas Wilson of Ince; Kuerden MSS. iii, C. 34, n. 437, 439. His son was John; ibid. n. 438. Nicholas Johnson of Crosby, aged sixty-six, gave evidence in a Downholland dispute in 1558; Duchy of Lanc. Depos. Phil. and Mary, lxxv, H. 3. The will of Nicholas Johnson, dated 24 April, 1610, and proved at Chester the same year, mentions his wife Elizabeth, his eldest son John, and other children—Richard, Nicholas, and Margery; also his grandchild Nicholas Johnson. This inventory, made 11 May, shows goods of the value of £234. The will of Jane Johnson, of the Moorside within Great Crosby, widow, dated 16 March, 1702–3, names her brother and sister Edward and Margaret Molyneux and other relations and friends, including Robert Breres of Walton Hall. She was a daughter of John Molyneux of Alt Grange. Her executors were to dispose of the residue of her estate according to a schedule annexed to the will. She devised £300 towards the maintenance of two youths, Edward son of Edward Molyneux of Altcar and Richard Smith son of Margaret Smith (who married a second husband, Thomas Widdowson of Bootle), and in 1716 this money was 'being paid to some Popish College beyond seas to make the said youths priests'; Payne, Rec. of Engl. Cath. 151, 126; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 203. Her house, still standing, was in 1666 the largest in Crosby, yet it had only four hearths; Lay Subs. Lancs. 250/9.

'Townships: Great Crosby', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1907), pp. 91-95. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp91-95 [accessed 15 May 2019].

Twiston

'Townships: Twiston', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 558-560. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp558-560 [accessed 17 May 2019].

Burnley

'Townships: Burnley', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 441-454. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp441-454 [accessed 16 May 2019].

Clayton-le-Moors

'Townships: Clayton-le-Moors', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 417-423. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp417-423 [accessed 16 May 2019].

Colne

'Townships: Colne', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 522-536. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp522-536 [accessed 17 May 2019].

Elizabethan Era 17 November 1558 – 24 March 1603