Sacred to the Memory of Ralph Assheton, Esq., Lord of Middleton, Devoted to God, His Fatherland, and His Kindred

11EIIORI .E SACRUM s RADVLPBIASSIILTONARMIGERI,DOMINIDEMIDLETON,PIIINDEVM s I'ATRIAM ET SVOS, COPIARVM OMNIV31 IN AGRO LANCASTRINSI ISVI'REMI SENATAS AVTIIORITATE CONSCRIPTARVMI PLEFECTI FORTIS ET FII)ELIS, QVI C1 M E CONJVGE SVA ELIZNETHA!FILIA IOHANNIS

R AT E DE WOODSOM E IN COM . EBORACENS ARM IGERI/ SVSCEPISSET FI- LIOSTRES.RICHARDVM,RADVLPHVM,TO[IANNEM,TOTIDEMQ .FILTAS ELIZABETHAM, MARIAM, ANNAM, OBDORMIVIT IN IENV 17 FEB. ANNO DOMINI 1550, ,ETATISQ. SV.E 45 CVRRENTE. 7

Sacred to the memory of Ralph Assheton, Esq., lord of Middleton, devoted to God, his fatherland, and his kindred . Of all the forces of Lancashire (levied by authority of the supreme Parliament) the valiant and! faithful commander, who, with his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Kay, of Woodsome, in the -county of York. Esq ., had three sons. Richard . Ralph, and John, and the same number of daughters, Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna . He fell asleep in Jesus the 17th of February, in the year of our Lord 1650, and the 45th of his age.

11LSTORIl:AL I'DDLETON . 109'

GENERAL ASSHETON .

Xrll.

The latest of the brasses representing the Assheton family is that to the eldest son of the- sixth and last Richard. Rapho, the seccnul of that name, and in some respects it may clams, to be the o`st important of the corics . ft" was born inn the year 1605, lie took the side of the Parliament in the troubled tines of t'harler the First . and became famous as the Major- General of the Parliamentary forces in Latnca . shire. Ile was elected to Parliament for Clitheroe in 1625, was made made Sheriff of Lancashire in 1633, and represented the county in-the last year of that eventful reign . The time had now arrived when preparations were Vein b• made for the civil strife which raged in the land during the latter part of the reign of Charles I., when the inhabitants of this county experienced more of the horrors -anti. miseries of war than had ever been seen in Lan- cashire before or since . The battlefields of the . Wars of the Roses were for the most part in other put-to of the country, and the ravages- of the Danish and Saxon invaders were more confined to the northern, eastern, and southern . counties, but the prominent and decided course taken by the leading men of Manchester and neighbourhood at the very outset of tho . struggle led to this county being made the scene of many important battles . The causes of the differences between the King and the Parliament are, of course, well known. Richard Ileyricke, the Warden of llauohe,ter, with a number of other leading men were de- puted to present a petition from the freeholders of the C .'ouuty of Lancaster to the King at York intimating a warm desire to see the matters in dispute reconciled . But the breach had grown too wide to be healed by peaceful means. Both sides were ready to draw the sword, and soon afterwards Lord Strange, the . son of the burl of Derby, was sent from York to -Manchester invested with a commission of array, directing him with the aid of other cons- nnssioners to assemble and array those of his subjects in Lancashire and Cheshire as were favourable to the Royal cause . This was in the month of Juuc, 1642 . and it was thott seen- that war with all its attendant horrors, was in- evitable . It wa ., at thi- time that we first hour

110 HISTORICAL MIDDLETON .

of Ralph Assheton, of Middleton, in connec- tion with these deplorable events, and lie showed au amount of decision and force of char- acter at a critical moment which enabled hint to defeat an attempt to rob the town of Man- chester of its means of defence. The high sheriff of Lancashire, Sir John Uirlington, wai, one of the above-named commissioners, and about the middle of this month of June . 1642, he took measures to secure for the royal troops the powder and match which were deposited ui the various town of the country . But he had to deal in 'Manchester with men who were wide awake, and as sharp as himself or more so . The buildings now known as Chetham's Col- lege at that time belonged to Lord Straw nc, afterwards Earl of Derby, and iu • this build- ing were stored ten barrels of pa wder, and some bundles of match . Ralph Assltetwi was one of the county members in the inte- rests of the Parliament, and Alexander Rigby, of Wigan, sent him word of the proceedings of the high sheriff, and he at once repaired to Manchester, and secured all the powder and match, and removed it to a place of safety, thus forestalling Sir Alexander Radcliffe and Thomas Prestwich, Esq ., who were trying to obtain this amunition for the King. These symptoms of approaching war, as Baines says, Induced the inhabitants of Manchester to take up arms under Alexander Rigby, Ralph Assheton, and John Moore, and others of the deputy lieutenants, by whom they were trained to arms, and many men from the adjacent country came voluntarily to their assistance . Lord Strange had in the meantime, assembled a considerable force, and having marched into Lancashire from York . where lie had been in attendance upon the King, lie demanded from the imhabitiants of Manchester that they should surrender to him the magazine, which had recently been collected to defend them against an apprehended massacre by the Pa- pists in Lancashire, similar to that which had taken place in Ireland . To this demand they replied that their arms and ammunition formed their principal safeguard, and that they would defendP =al their lives ." This was described and related in a letter to Par- liament signed by Ralph Assheton . John lloore. and John Rigby. It is further stated by Baines (vol. 2, p. 114.), that "The decided adherence of the people of Manchester to the cause of the Parliament was a theme of general observation amongst their friends, who did not hesitate to declare that had not this town stood very firmly to the King and Parliament (the parliamentary cause) the whole country

HPw TUR1OAL MIDDL•EPON ill would, in all probability, have been brought into subjection to the oppression and violence of the Cavaliers ; but tucy standing firm and constant to the cause they had undertaken, it pleased God to give them many great and marvellous victories over his and their ene- mics ." About this time a small brass cannon was given by Parliament to Ralph Assheton for the defence of ~iiddletou , at the same time that several cannon were rent for the defence of Manchester . No doubt at this tune the ancient defences of the hall were streng- thened . The two sieges of Lathom House, by the Parliamentary forces, and the part which Colonel Ralph Assheton took therein are matters of Lancashire history with which most people must be familiar. Mr. Ormerod dis- tinctly states that :-"(General Ashtott (Ralph, of Middleton) may be considered the decided local leader, either with reference to heredi- tary consequence, ability or energy in the general warfare ." Chet. Society "Civil War Tracts." Preface p. XI . MIannhester had refused to yield to the de- mands of Lord Strange to give up the town t •i the King's forces, and was threatened with bombardment . Delay would now have been fatal . The alarm was sounded all over the country, and amongst many other leading men Ralphe Assheton, of Middleton, hastened to the scene of danger. In the Civil War Tracts tip. 48 . 51) . we read that :-"The late Lord Strange, now Earl of Derby, having strongly besieged the town; of Manchester . . . and U en: before it with his forces, to the number of two thousand foot, and six hundred horse." " About which time there were in town about sn hundred and fifty of the tenants of Master Ashton, of Middleton, in compleat arms, under the command of Contain Bradshaw, who, with the towns tortes under the commanji of Captain Radcliffe, did cheerfully and courageoush . upon the beat- ing of the drumme, repair to the end of the town, resolving to maintain the liberty of their persons and the propriety of their goods with the utmost hazard of their lives ." The fight was first begun by Lord Strange's forces "But God so ordered the matter that the cannons plaid in vain, and therefore they assaid to enter the towne, and to beat our men from their works, which being not able to doe, they sent some of their souldiers to fire two barns, and eight or ten dwelling-houses, about twelve roods from our works, which being effected, tlr enemies with great shouting, (" The town is our own, the town is our own,") renuecl, their

112 'FI1ISTd)Rid1AL MIDDLETON .

assault, but by the valour and courage of Captain Bradahaw and his souldiers were beaten back, and niany of them slain . The wind at the first blew the flame and smoke nto the faces of our souldiers, to their great annoy . anee, and the endangering of the town . But Uod that rides on the wings of the wind, did vet;c seasonably turn the wind, till the rage -if tlir fire was abated." Front this it would appear that the snc •c esi of the defence of Manchester was largely dua to the fighting qualities of the. 150 tenants of Master Ashton, of Middleton . though they were then under the coinrnand of Captain Bredshaw Their conduct ou this occasion gave them great distinction . and Aslituii himself was rapidly promoted, being first captain, then colonel, and finally major-general . and principal leader of lie. Lancashire I'arliametitarv forces . The re- ttntion of Uatichester for the Parliament bad far-teaching consequencx'a. It was never afterwards in any real danger . but was a great stronghold of the cause. The Manchester regiment. of Colonel Ashton became fantottl throughout the war, and owing to his energy tut .i activity the Royalist forces in Lancashire were oblilted to act mostly on the defensive It. was his regiment that decided the fate of the battle of , Preston in a desperate hand to hand encounter, of which the following is a description by an eye-witness . Captain IIod-- -r :u of Coley IIal•1 , near Halifax . (Civil War Tracts, p . 261 . Foot note .) "I met Major-General Lambert, and com- ing to him I told him where his danger lay . on his left iviiig chiefly . He ordered me to fetch up the Lancashire regiment, and God brought me off, both horse and myself . The bullets flew freely, then was the heat of the battle that day . I cane clown to the muir, where I, met with Major Jackson that be- ,longed to Ashton's regiment. and above three hundred men were come up, and I ordered him to march, but lie wsid lie would not till his men were come up. A serjeant baiong- ing to them asked me where they should march. -1 showed him the party lie was to fight, and he, like a trite-bred Englishman . marched, and I caused the souldiers to follow bin, which presently fell upon the enemy, anti losing that wing, the whole army gage ground and fled . "The Lancashire men were as stout men .is warn in the world, and as brave firemen- I have often- told them they were as good tigliters. and as great plunderers as ever went to a field ."

H'1$TOO.F( L M'IDDLETO`. -15. Ashton himself was a brave soldier as well as a skilful commander, and it was chiefly owing to the bravery of his men, assisted by fled Manchester, that Wigan was captured.. On the alarm being given of the Royalist at- tack on Bolton, which had been placed in the keeping of Colonel Ashton and other officers, there came to the aid of the garrison a'll the clubmen in Middleton, Oldham, and : Rochdale, and "old Captain Radcliffe" with two hundred soldiers from Manchester be- sides other troops ; but it was too late when they arrived, for the enemy had been beaten off and retired to Wigan, which was the headquarters of the Lancashire Royalists . In this fight at Bolton we read that Ashton himself fought "very valourously and shot with, his own hands as fast as he was able ." He showed such an example to his men that it was no wonder that they were invincible . On page 95 of the Civil War Tracts occurs "A .tree relation of a great and wonderful victor' obtained by Captain Ashton and the- Parliament's forces against the Earl of Derby at Whalley ." This battle was fought on the 20th April, 1643. and it is stated that it seems to have completely turned Lord Derby's temporary success in Lancashire . After this it almost appeared that the terror of his (Ashton's)- name was sufficient to put his enemies to flight for on page 98 we find the following account of his proceedings at Wigan in the same month of April, 1643. "Certain intelligence came agafin out of Lancashire that the noble and renowned Man- chesterians under the command of colonel Ashton with about. 2,200 horse and foot, marched towards Wiggan . where Colonel Tils ley commanded for the Earl of Derbie, with nine troops of horse and 700 foot. But when brave and victorious Colonel Asliton appeared' before the town, the enemies were immediately smitten with astonishment of heart, durst not stand to it, but fled away from thence to. Latham . leaving Wiggan to their possession . whereupon the noble Collonell dcmolisht all the outworks and fortifications, burnt the new gates and posts that had bon get up, took an oath of the townsmen never to bear arms against the King and Parliament, and then, this brave Colonel pursued the enemie on their flight to Latham" The writer goes on to describe how he drove- the Royalists before him from pillar to post, making them fly to Preston .

114 HiISTORJC AL MIDDLETON. " Whither also the \lauchester forces, giving -neither themselves nor their e .emies any rest followed them close . still driving the Earl thence also, and made hint fly either to Hornby Castle or else to the Queen into the nurth . his forces being driven at least eight miles from Preston, and pursued by Colonel Ashton, whose forces ninth iucrcac,ed by these his so rosperous proceedings, and many of thc, Ears souldlers corning in willingly and cheerfully to serve him ." When they were at Hornby the Manchester men made themselves remembered by a feat of arms, which is related as follows :- "One memorable exploit was acted by the forces of Colonel Ashton before they came from Hornby Castle, the Lord \yorley's house . It was then possessed by a moan-, (7) of cavaliers who would not yeald it up when they were summoned, upon presumption it could not be taken by any assault . which it is like it could not, considering Me situation of it upon a hill falling both wail and ryseth by degrees as the Castle stands along . It is lowest at the Gate House, and ever longer the Castle goes the higher it riseth, soe that it is impregnable anywhere but before the Gates, and that in probabilitie made them within feare no danger in any other part of it, neyther very watchful! . But some willy venturous souldiera of Colonell Ashton's . taking speciall notice of the Castle, espying upon the East part of it furthest from the Castle Gate House, very great Gjasso windows, such that, if pos- sible they could get to them they could enter . Thereupon provided such instruments to make triall what they could doe eytirer to take the house or loose their lives and watching their opportunity they entered the Castle b~ those windows. What number they were that entered or how the assault in particular was car- ried when they came in, or whether many or fewe were slain I never hard . But the Castle was delivered, and in the Parliament's hands . When the siege was against Thurlum Castle I was in those Roomes, and saw the windows they came in at. It was a great adventure, the windows being very high from the ground." "The Earl of Derbie shortly after sent to Collonel Ashton to desire him not to fire his house at Latham . promising him £300 if be would spars it . But the iroble Collonel sent him word that lie scorned his money oor the firing of his house, and desired noth- ing more of him than to meet with him and to give him battell ; but he, ay I said, ran

1PLLTORhOAJL IIIDDLETU\ . ; :5

quite away out of the ceuntie, and durst nbt . stay to accept that motion." (Civil War Tracts, page 99 .) The end was not long in corning, and - the issue which Lord Derby himx'lt aiticipat(d, woe soon realised . 'lhe ams .iun oil Larhoni House was led by Colonel Asliton, it was taken and plundered, and completely- de- molished, leaving scarcely one atone upon another, and the materials were sold by Parliament . Lord Derby vies evetitual•;y taken prisoner, condemned to death, slid executed at Bolton on October 15, 1651, and as if to add to the bitterness of death, the scaffold on which he was beheaded is said to have been partly constructed of mater .als from hie despoiled and ruined ancestral man- sion. Charles I . had already been beheaded . . The following epitome, faun the index 1e Ormerod's History of General Asaheton's . . . vices to the Parliamentary cause, uirt 'be usf>- ful and interesting. Deputy Lieutenant, 1642 .-Preveuteji the King's Commissioners from seizing the tiow to in Manchester, June, 1642. Sent 150 of his Middleton tenants in complete arms to defend Manchester, where they behaved very steadily September . 1642. Allowed (sic) a "small brass piece" for the defence of his house . Novembei, 1642. Colonel in command of the 500 troops who guarded Bolton against the attacks of Lord Derby's troops, Feb. 1642-3 Appointed -,)u the committee for "sequestering notorious dcliti- riuenta estates ." 1st April, 1643 . Defeated Lord Derby at Whallev . April, 164.3. The brave and victorious Colonel Ashton drove the Royalists out of Wigan ; 22 April, 1643 . Captured Liver- pool, Hornby. and Throuland ; May and June . 164.3. Was surprised and overpowered by Lord Byron, near Middlewich' December . 1643 . Took part a few days later in the relief of Natitwich . being particularly nraised by Fairfax . Took part in the first seige of Lathom ; Februar-- to Mav. 1644. Commanded the Lancashire forces against the Duke of Hamilton ; June . 1648. He and his men bighly praised by Cromnell -for their gallantry in the fight at Preston : August, 164g . Relieved Coekormouth and took Appleby 'October, 1648 . His disbanded troops mutinic,t at Clitheroe March, 1649 . Colonel Ashton is frequently mentioned in the Lancashire Civil War Tracts ; in particular is described his .activity and success in clearing the county of Lord Derby and his men in the Spring of Some of Iris letters, dated 1645 . are printed in Whitaker's W''halley ii . 153-154 . One sen- tonco is not very complimentary to the ether

116 IHISTORIC :1L MIDDL,bTON . lik•~ must be applauded and chiefly observed- I will nut only stay here, but send for m- son to cunre to nit', for I scorn that he shall ree§ivee orders fruin them ." The .same consciousness of his own import- an-c. ii very significant in the spirited brass in the church . Arid if, as Baines states (vol . 11 . . p . 1.101, it. was tlio example of Manchester this saved the Parliamentary c ause . it is quite coy teiu that Ralph Asshcton's successes la•c el-- con- tributed to bring about that result. Colonel Ashworth had many honours showered' upoii trim for his splendid services . He was raised t,i the rank of Maior-General and was made Corrtrnander-iii 'hief of all the forces raised in Lancashire, and received many valu- able privileges. Had this mane's career been passed in foreign warfare, figliting the enemies of his country, instead cf being spent in civil fratricidal strife, there cannot be a doubt that lie would have- disririgiliared himself at least as greatly as any of his krciglitly ancestors and to us it must seem a strange and unaccountable phase of huma : : clcaracter that such a valiant soldier as- he wa; -hould have been subject to one of the sillicar and grossest superstitious that ever- cursed lurmanity, under which hundreds of' helplc= ; and innocent women have been cruelly done to death . E ; 4i first son, Richard, died in infancy, from some infantile complaint, robably, as one writer has suggested teething convulsions . But that sort of a .reason was not sufficient for his re'arioris, or for the doctors of that age, and a man named Utrley was accused of having beii-itched him . and the poor fellow was actually tried, condemned, and executed for this incaginarv offence . Ge ; .eral Ashton was during his minority con- tracted; to . and in 1623, at the age of eighteen, he married Elizabeth, only daughter of John hay . cF Voodsome. county York, Esq.. by whom sie lead three sons acid tired daughters. Dvii:s in 1650, lie was buried in the riyate• chapel cf his ancestors, at ''Middleton Church, according to the resigter of burials, in the 45th year of his age . Ile v. as buried on the south side of the chapel and tb, . place was up to the year 1889 marked b,' his memorial brasses, but in that year they were e , moved, for better preservation, to with:: the railings of the sacrarium . On the back uiarble slab are two of these memorials in ex-ra lent preservation, containing the effigies of tlit- General and leis wife, and on the same storm are two smaller brasses representing their six chi'dren.

HLS'POR .LCAL MIDD'LE'IY)\. 117 He is represented as being cinthed :n cotrM plete armour, with a truncheon hr ita right hand. while the iadv is in the flowing eosfume of the period . On a shield over his head are - tlw arms of _lshton, quartering Rartoa and MLiddlet.on. Over -lie lady's head is a s :uold with these arms : Quarterly, 1 amI 4 a^gent, 2 bends sable, for Kaye . 2 and 3, on a chevron, -or, three rooks.