Chapter V-VII the Ancient Lords of the Manor

HISTORICAL MIDDLETON . 45-•

THE ANCIENT LORDS OF THE MANOR.

.In Bainoti' " History of Lancashire," and in other accounts. only two incidents in the early 'history of Middleton are mentioned . FimUly, that in the early part of the reign of Henry III . Roger de Middleton and his son Alan (though elsewhere the canto author gives the date 1290 -to this transaction~, and, ,ccondly, it is noted that about the year 1322 the last Roger de \liddleton died, and his heiress, ~~acid or L1I• atildit, married Joint tie Burton. of Rydale, North York hire, and thus carried the estate= t•o that family . But there is no attempt at aug pedigree or history of these early families either in Baines or in any of the "Heralds' Visita- tions." and, in a search for matter to fill thief vacuity, many other members of these families anti their oumiectious, dating i nore than a century and a half further back than Baittes anti others have given account of, with some •.f their doings in those earlier days, have been brought to light . But before proceeding to complete this deficiency, in the course of which certain erroneous statements relating to the peronalties of these auccient lords -will receive incidental but important correction, it may be convenient to devote a little space to the names .by which they- were known, and which the, derived from their possessionm . The place-name Middleton itself may be rc- ferretl to Saxon times . The termination "tun" meant a settlement within an enclosure, and wa, the original form of the modern word- " town ." As to the derivation of the prefix "~fiddle," their have been various opinions . Some have regarded it as descriptive of the central position that the town occupies in the midst. of so many other towns with 'Saxon place-names . But this derivation has been doubted by others, who suggest that -tile name is more likely' to :have been derived from the hill on which the church stands, and that its original ' form was "Mid-hul-tun," the "ttin" adjacent to the "Mid-Hill ." This second idea of the origin of the name seems the most probable one . Many people know file hill on which the picturesque old church tower stands, overlooking tile high road '

-46 HISTORICAL MIDDLETON.

into Yorkshire, which passes in front of he ancient inn, Old Boar's Head, and the original clearing may have been close by, or on the site of •the old manorial hall 'below . We may be sure that the " tun " would lie built as near to a copious .SUP]?] y of water as ".pcesible, and the river Irk, winch runs within two hundred yards of the hil .i . woul afford this necessary of rife and sanitation 'to the peopIe . -Other requirements, such as warmth and shelter with wood for fuel conveniently obtainable, aril immunity from the flooding of their rude - habitation,& in rainy seasons, these conditions would be most completely attained by fixing upon a site at the foot of the hill on which now stands the old church, and on that ,pot, we 'm'ay assume, . was founded the the Middleton of yore . Iii Watkin's "Roman Lancashire" is mentioned a supposed Roman road leading in a - straight line from Manchester through Black- ley, Middleton, Castleton, and Rochdale to Ltttieborough, and from Middleton to Castk'- ton the present highway and the aforesaid Roman road run close together where not n identicail lines. Another route between Man- ol:ester and Littleborough is suggested and traced on 'the map which appears in Mr. Har- trison'd " Archmological Survey of Lancashire," on the authority of Whitaker, who considers this route to be sufficiently indicated by the place-narges "Street Fold ." "Street Bridge," and " Street Gate ." But to pass through these places necessitates a great bend to the eastward, a deviation which it is quite certain would never have been approved by the road makers who surmounted the elevation at Affet- side ' adjoining the north-west of Middleton parish, or Blackstone edge, on the. Yorkshire borders, rather than ease the gradient by taking a Sweep round its base, without good and obvious reasons, either strategic or topograp'm csi, and none such being conceivable, while the route pointed by Watkin is in close conformity with the usual practice of the Romans in roil snaking, the latter may be accepted as the true route. The would form a convenient halting- place 'RomanRomart troops on the march from Manchester, and Castleton and Littleborough . on to Ilklev, and the still more frequent movements eastward=, in the communications main- tained some three or four hundred years fo* the building and upkeep of the equipment of tha "Great Wall," to repair the waste arising from deaths, and to give occasional changes CE station to the troops fiv movements between the Roman capital at York and the military Strong- hold at Chester. Small communities of Brito- HISTORICAL MIDDLETON . 47 ,[Celts would doubtless he encouraged to gather at such halting-piaces, under the supervision of .their conquerors, for the accumulation of com- missariat stores, &c ., and for the services of tho ."inhabitants in the multifarious kinds of lwbour incident to a military halt . Such I take to :have been the inception of ancient Middleton, ..and the long period of the Roman occupation would afford ample time for development . Turning now from the "tun" to its ancient -lords . I would observe that in attempting to deal with the hietorv of any farnily in the .Salford Hundred, a few words on the original .Norman chief barons and their subfeudatories and the relations existing between the two .classes, may be considered appropriate . When the conquest of England had betas -completed William the Bastard, his favour- ites and military followers had their expecta- tions gratified b~• the greater part of the land being parcelled out amonnat them, while he , dispossessed Saxons were dealt with in various ways, according to their social condition . The lower classes, the working bees, were not seri- . ously disturbed ; they were required for future use ; but those who were possessed of property worth appropriating were driven from their homes, to perish, or to survive to a scarcely better fate, as good or evil fortune determined . though, as we shall see further on, many .,f .the Saxon underlords managed, by propitiating the intruders, or in other ways, to remain ui- disturbed in or be restored to their holdings . The inhabitants of this district, or indeed of this portion of the kingdom, had taken no part in the battle of Hastiii a. The two great. chiefs of Northumberland . Edwin and Mortar, after their defeat at Fulford by Harold Har . drada and Tostig, rendered little, if any . aid to Harold at Stamford Bridge, and held them . selves entirely aloof from him at Senlac, although he had on a very recent occasion sacri- ficed the interests, and thereby incurred the deep resentment, of his brother Tostig, in order to do them justice . He had also married their sister Aldwyth in the further endeavour to con- ciliate them and attach them to his fortunes . but to no purpose. They never moved to help Harold, or to hinder William . until long after the latter had been crowned in London. It would be after William's suppression of the third and last great northern rebellion ; after his atrocious harrying of Northumber land, " When men bowed their necks for bread in the evil days" (an euphemism for selling themselves into slavery) ; after his great march from York . via Leeds, over the hills, and probably through Middleton and Manchester, amid 'the snows of February, 1070 . and onward to

48 HISTORICAL MIDDLETON . the capture of Chester ; after his wasting of" Cheshire and the ad,~'oining counties of Derby and Stafford ; and after his return to London on the successful accomplishment and comple- tion of hese acts of brutality. that he found . 'himself 'at leisure to effect the first settlement of the lands of Lancashire . Prior to this . "The lands of Eadwine and Markere and 'Waitheof and Copsige lay in regions to which . William's arms hail not. yett reached, and to which, if lie insisted on such an extreme stretch of severity (a:s confiscation) it might never reach ." And again . " No soldiers of William hal as vet, set foot in Northumberland or northern .Mercia." " The whole of northern England was simply left as it was before ; the old rulers, -the old proprietors. wero undisturbed ; not a single castle had been built to keep Northumberland and northern Mercia in check." "It is not. necessary to suppose that every rood of ground was actually seized, and . either kept by the king, or granted out to his foreign followers . There is distinctt evidence tha6 the actual oceupiers of the soil, here as in other part .: of England, largely retained possession. Sonietimner4 . when a great estate was confiscated . the widow and children of the former owner obtained a grin: of -onto por tio:t of their heritage . In otlu •r cases the widow or daughter of the former owner was . constrained to give herself and her lands .to a foreign 'husband. In some cases Englishmen of high rank contrived to win William's per- sonal favour, and to koep their lands and even their offices. A crowd of smaller thegns anal of well-to-do cluirl . seem to have been left undisturbed ." As to the question whether Middleton WAS one of the places whose owners were left 'n .possession some light is thrown on this sub- : "Though . . . ject b y Mr. Harland, -a- ho says it is impossible to identify the localities or names of the twenty-one bercwicks mentioned in Domesdav as belonging, to the -hundred cf Salford in the time of King Edward the Con- fewer, then hold as Manors by as many Saxon thanes . -we may enumerate various townships of a later time as not unlikely -to -have been these of aueien.t berewicks . There is reason to believe that when Roger do Poictou held the • greater part, of the hundred of Salford ne- aliowed a nunsher of the small Saxon proprietors to retain their estates by the tenure of thanage or drengage, and in the Feodarv and other records of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, we find free tenants, some bearing Saxon names, holding there land antiqua tenura, or in i•h anage or in drengage. Such tltnnes, drenges, or small holders were seated ..

HISTORICAL MIDDLETON. 49 itt the townships of Barton, Clifton, Charlton . (Churlton-cum-hardy), Chetham Eccles, Faile- worth. llulton . Hulme. Wddfeton . Moston, Ncttott or Newton, Pendieburv, Pendleton, Radcliffe t°.t, Salford, Trafford, 11'ithington, and Wor,lev The .e were possihiy the sites cf nineteeu of the twenty-one Saxon berew•i cks." Mr. Harland also ,ays : "Dreugage . is the tenure by which the Dteuges. or Dreu- ches lipid their lands . The (Drengi) were tenants iu capite. who, according to Spe :man . being put out of their estates at tite Norman Coat, nest, were afterwards restored thereunto on their making it appear that they were the owners therof, and neither in auxilio or con- sili,r against • him. i n short, that they had stayed at .home to till their lands, and had not fought -under Harold at the battle of 1lastinge, or otherwise resisted the Cnquereor ." It should be pointed out, however, that the latter part of this disclaimer co Id ht . .e no reference to the landed proprietors of title par of England, as has been shown by the c ..ataona from Freeman . No one knew' better than William himself that these were never in hit -was at Hastings . the story of the ancient Saxon lards of Mid- dleron cannot wel,( be told without giving R short account of the Norman grantees, or Barones Capital's, who, in all eases stood between tile restored or the undisturbed pre- Conquest lords and the king, and, putting aside the transient overlordship of Roger do Poictou, of which little is known . the first of these who. held swag over Middleton . of whom any certain record has yet come to light, were the• alontbcgous . Roger de Montbegon occurs in an exchequer- roll for Lincolnshire of the date of 31 Henry I . (1130). in which he is stated to 'have ipLid thirty harks of Nik'Pr to stay some pleading before the justices itinerant . in that county . Again, on tile grant of she posseesions of Roger de Poictott 'by King Stephen to Ranulph . Earl of Che=ster . Ate lands of this Rower de Mont- begon in Litic9lnshire (and probably in Lanca- shire a)so) are expresly excepted . The next of this family to appear is by moat. authorities called Adam, but Harrison-gives his name as Thomas. Both are agreed, however, as to the- -lads who became the wife of this Monthegon . Shte'was a Saxon lady named 3iaud or Manilla, and of her family and origin we learn mom . particulars from the following extracts :- `' The esatell . town, and lantlt"e w bout Broken- bridge (Pontefract) helonagid afor the Congtucst to pne Richard Aehc'hettald. Richard had ailrick, and he had Swane, of Swane cant Adam, of Whom rain two dausthters, whcreoU

50 HISTORICAL 11IDDLETON . one of them was married to Galfrid Novile ." Leyland errs is making Galfrid Neville the husband of one of the daughters of Adam Fitz Swans, as will appear from the following ex- tract from a paper on the " Castle of Pomfret," b•- G. T. Clark. 1 .S.A. :- "Adant-Fitz-Sweine had two daughters, one of whom married Alex . de Crevequer, and tha other married Adam de Montbegon ." Again, "Ailrick is a real person end a DomesdayDomesday land- owner, who before. the Conquest held many -manors . Sweine, his son, inherited, and gave a church and chapel to the monks of St .Jobtt the Evangelist . . Ailrick -held his lands, much reduced, under the Norman grantee, as did Sweine and Adam Fitz-Sweine, who founded Bretton Priory, and died about 1158. . Charters by 'both Sweine and Adam a •2 found in the Pomfret Chartulary ." "Ailrick, living at the time of the Conquest, had a son Swain, whose son Adam Fitz Swain, left two daughters and co-heirs (the two sons having died issueless), Maud, the wife of Adam de Montbegon, and Annabel . of whom nothing -snore seems to be known ." (As before shown, :she married Alex . de Crevequer) . The weight of authority against the baptismal name of Thomas . assigned by Harrison to the husband of Maud Fitz Sweine, cannot be ignored, but a social custom noticeable among -the ladies of those early days, one which is still with us, and most likely to prevail in the case -of one of the two daughters and last represen- tatives of an ancient race, whose heritage had become the -spoil of a conquering nation, and --whose natural pride in her own family and desire to perpetuate some memento of it in her descendants, would'almoet irresistibly lead her to bestow the Christian name of her father upon her first-born son . Those considerations .tell strongly in favour of the view that Adam de Montbegon was the grandson slid not the son-in-law of Adam Fitz Swe :••e. and that 'Thomas was the baptismal nam. of tile husband -of Maud . In the present state 'f our informa- tion, however. Adam must be accepted as the husband and successor in the lordship of such share of the residue of the possessions of her 'family as became the portion of Maud, and 'the Thomas of Harrison's pedigree may have been her son. So much uncertainty exists as to the sacces- .sion of the Montbegons and the personalties of the numerous grantors of that name, who .appear in the " Testa de Nevill " and other ancient records, that it would be impossible within the limits permitted to this paper to notice more than will barely suffice to render :sny account of them coherent and intelligible .

Pedigree of the Family of Middleton . Aams or MmDLzrox. w

Alexander de Middleton, descended from the Saxon family of Middleton . Temp. Henry I., or Stephen.

Roger del Middleton, son of Alexander, granted the Manor Avicia, of Ashworth to Geoffrey, afterwards Dean of Whallep, witnessed a deed granting land to a 'le Trafford in company with Jrm de Ashton and other well-known knights. Appears in 1175 to 1180, and again later in the century.

I I Robert de Middlewn, granted two Alan . Pall of six, quit claims of land to Stanlaw Witnessed the two quit claims argent and vert. A hbey . to Stanlaw Abbey . i Note.-This coat, as now I quartered by Mr. Assheton (pronounced Ashton), of finger de Iliddleton Downham,and the Duke of I i Westminster, is argent, three pallets vert . Roger tie Middileton

Roger de Middleton . Died in Aug ,rst, 1322 . Was fined Agnes = John de Barton (2) fined for the settlement of the Middleton estate in John de Malton (3) 1316. Was alive in 1353. She presented to the recto r~ of Middleton in the year 1339 .

I I I I Robert, prior of Stanlaw Abbey, John was presented to the rectory Elinor Alicia which was removed to Khalley of Middleton by his father in Margaret in 1296, died there in 1311 . 1297. lltargerr Johanna

(1) Thomas Barton, of Fryton )laud, or Mathilda de Middleton, John de Ainsworth (2). He was Rydale, county Yorkshire. Had 2nd daughter and co-heir of outlawed . Living in 1382. Jointly with his wife grant of the Roger de Middleton and Agnes, Manor of Middleton from Agnes, his wife. Died in 1366. his wife's mother, circa 1323 . John .

I i a quo liartons of Middleton.

HISTO$ICAL MIDDLETON. 5t Adam de Montbegon appears in the " Fur- -ness Coucher Book," partt ii ., p . 456, in a deed -of date 1152-55. 'He gave to Etacard de Bury four bovases of ]said in Tottington as a marriage portion with Alice, his daughter. Another lady of this house, of s later period and generation, judging by what is known of her husband, and the absence of her name from the same record, Cecilia de Montbegon, lady of Horrrby anal -of Kirkland, became the wife of , illiam -deRadcliffe, who was sheriff of Lancashire (for Theobald Walter) . 1194-5, and one of the lfnrghts of the grand inquest of the county of Lancaster in 1211 . Now it i8 all but certain that Edward de wiry. husband of Alice do Montbegon, lived at a period so much earlier titan is consistent with his being contemporary with the William de Radcliffe of these particulars . as to forbid the -qapposition that his wife, Cecilia, and A-lice . the wife of Edward de Bury, were iter . apart f the disparity of treatment of the two Cby -the absence of ansuch notice of Cecilia as is given of Alice ! *it the "Teeta de ~evill," and these circumstances . with others to follow later, demand a generation of the 'Mont- liegon family between Adam and- the next of }}is successors who appear on record . This pt ember of thet family comes before us as the subject of the following extracts :- " In enumerating the fees of Roger de .-Iont- begon, who died 9 John (1207-8), it is said that Adam Buri holde one knight's fee by ancient tenure," &c., &o.

HISTORICAL .11IDDLETON . 57-1

THE ANCIENT LORDS OF THE MANOR.

V1. At the Siege of Nottingham Castle by King' Richard I., William de Wendeval and Rogm•- de Montabum Monthegon) with twelve others.& left. (the ca tie) on the 26th \larch, 1194, and Nottingham Castle was surrendered to the King next day." "King John, when Earl of Moreton, gave the service, of William de Tatham. in Tateham ant, Ileby, value 18s . 8d ., to Roger de Monthe- gott, Yle seizen of which, in the 17th year -)f" his reign, he commanded to be delivered to him." This Roger was followed by another Roger de Montbegon, presumably his Ron . who appears as under : " In 1202 Roger de llontbegon rendered an account of £200 for having to wife Olive, and in the same year he gave 4) marks for having seizen of his lands of which he (his father?) 'was disseized in 1197. He died before. 1223 (in 1225, as will be shown later), on the 30th March, on which the Sheriff of Nottin~- 'ham was ordered to take into the King's hands . tit, manor of Oswaldbec, which the King had delivered to Olive, who was the wife of Roger .'" In 1215, Roger was engaged among -the re- bellious barons, and we -learn that "In trho- clo.e rolls of John all the lands and goods cf - th,, Earl of Chester and of Roger de Montbe- goa were taken into the king's hands 14th December, 1215." Also that these lands were- .given to Albert de Albini ; but before the end of the year (]larch 31st, 1216) he (Roger) rno- turned to his -loyalty and died 10 Ilenrv III. (1225), when the Sheriff of Lancashire receive :' a writ, elated Bernewell . March 3rd, to take- into the kiug',q hands all the lands which Roger- de Monte Begonia, lately deceased, held in tha' bailiwick, excepting *his wife's inheritance. This Roger. or the preceding one, gave to his- hrcther, John Malherbe, ten carucatea and six -boyates of land in Cro5ton, with their appur- tenances, to be held in knight's service . Other gifts both to private individuals and io religion, too numerous to he reasonably regard,.l as thin benefactions of the same indi- vidual or to receive notice in this paper, appear under the name of Roger de Montbegon : but . a s showing the respect in which this Roger field hi : Saxon auce4tor, .\dart-Fitz-Sweine.

53 HISTORICAL MIDDLls'TON. the f rutrder of Button Priory, ae well as on account, of the names of Adam de Bury an3 Roger do -Middleton appearing, on out-- of these -deeds as witneet~ec, 1 submit the following : .. Roger de .3lontbegou gave to the priory of MonK Bretton, in the county of York, the pasture iii Iloler-ambe, neLaervtug to hiself the wild b asrs aurl pa.turo for his cattiu within u'rtain bound,. . 13v a second charter, about 1236 (before -Shown as sure 1225), he grants all Holecombe, and by a third " total forestalu do Hole- -combs," thereby releasing the reservation of his first grant . By a fourth charter the same grantor conveys to :he said priory three acres • of meadow near Pilgrims-cross-e •ltasse. That there was, at least one generation between this Roger arid Adam de Monthegon will appear from the following :-" Roger de Monte Begonia tenet food viii . milit in oonr . Lames . infra Lyman of extra. Adam de ]lonte Begonia ancestor ej. dedit llonr . y~ d(h-, Roke bpi j .caruc' thr re in Wenig'tuu r .&." I"field eight Kuiehtt,' fees in the county of Lancaster below and above the line . Adam . his aneesstor, gave Henry- de Rokeby two cartwates of land n W.nig'ton for Krtiultt's service, &c ."). Adatn, would not hates: boon styled merely as ancestor if he had been the father of Roger ; arid that there was. more than one generation lx'tween these two is rendered very probable b, the marriage of Cecilia de 11ontlr•gon, "lady of Ifornby and of Kirkland," with William tie Radoliffe, for if slit-, had been the daughter of Adarn she w011141 have been sister to Allies. the w•i f :l of Edward do Bury, and the unlikelihood of this, owing to a disparity in the life periods -{rf the httr•bartd, of these ladies, has already (wen shown. on Lhe aunt" icaiLd . if slit, had been sister to Roger she muse have appeared in a trial which took place in the 15 Henry III . (1230), in which Galfridus de 'evill and MIa- billa, his wife. are plaintiffs in a plea against (lernrncia, who cva:, thet wife of F.ndo de Long . viilars, and who was the sister and co-heir to Roger de 'Montebegon, the said hlabilla being t---r' eldest osier arul co-heir • of theo said Roger . It would fitrtherrnore apne'ar from this that John 3lalherbe had died before this Roger, but whether rhc-v were uncle and nephew, or b rothers. i s uncertain. Roger w•a s succeeded t,Henry de hlorie he- den, for a w•r i : directed 'to the khoriff of Lan- caster, dated 11•i ndelesor («•itiih,or) . September 25th . 10 Henry III. (1225), (Rot. Fin . . hi. 31, states that it appear.: by an inquisition made at Lincoln . before the justices itinerant, that Henry de hlongheden is kinsman and next heir to Roger de Monte Bm'goriis iii the lands which

HISTORICAL MIDDLETON . 54-

ho held of the k :ng, and which fell to Henry by inheritance . By this writ the sheriff was directed to take security for thQ relief of eight knights' fees in Lance. .hire and Lincolnshire, and in the 11 Henry III . (1226), Henry de Monegheden (or Mutt-den) received posreleion of the castle of Horrrby. In the same year (1226) Henry de Nunden sold to Hubert de Burgh, the chief j"Ice (of' England), Hornby -Manor, with the caste &ad honour, Melling, with the advowson of the . church, Wra (Wray) . Argum (Arkholme), Tunstal . Wraton, Wemington, Farlton, and Cancefield . Also in the same year he "sold- or conveyed the fee of Tottingtotr, including the manors of Bury and Midd ;eton, to John de Lacy, and these manors were thereupon in- corporated .iii the honour of Clitheroe ." The foregoing citations sufficiently dispose of Whitaker's description of Tottingtotr as a ineinber of !he honour of Clitheroe at the period of Roger de Montbegon's grants to Monk Bretton before referred to ; as aso the state- meut in Baines that TTottington was held by the Lacier soon after the Conquest ; and supply a correction so the assumption that Ad+ani de Montbegon was " Mesne lord of Tottington under the Lacier," which appears a little lower down oil the same page . As to the family of the De Lacy,-, a brief account of this well-known race, who nest held the overlotdship of Middleton, will suffice . John de Lacy was the son and heir of Roger, seventh baton of H•a iton and constable of Cluster. made heir br his grandmother Albreda de Lacy and took the name of De Lacy in 1194 ; wars walled "Hell" b; the Welsh for his sihame- fili cruelty to his prisoners taken in the wars against that. nation . and died in 1211 . John . his son, married _Margaret de Quinsy, countess of Lincoln in right of her mother. He was admitted to the lands of his father A .D . 1213' on paying to King. John seven thousand marks ; purchased the fee of Tottington (as before . stated) in 1226 ; was. created earl of Lincoln in November 1232 . and died 22nd July 1240 Edmund do Lacv, :on and heir of John, born 1230, succeeded,' and dying in the lifetime of his mother never assumed the title of earl of Lincoln . Henry de Lacy. the son and heir of Edmund . and the last of -his family, which had held the overlord,-hip of 5diddleton during the period of eighty-five years . succeeded, and dying in February, 1310.11, transmitted his infieritance to Thomas Plantagenet, earl of Lancaster, who had married Alice. the only surviving issue of Henry, and wa= beheaded' at Pontefract, for rebelaon, 22nd March, 1321-2.

55 HISTORICAL MIDDLETON .

THE MIDDLE TON FAMILY. - The ancient Saxon lords of Middleton, as die- tinguished from the Norman grantees, who have received but' scant notice front previous writers, seem to have held their lands by ancient tenure, as unaltered from the time of King Edward the Confessor. This conclusion is supported bW, evidence afforded b the coat armour of the De Middletou:.' Their arms were pals. of six (later, argent, three pallets vert .) : which was the device on the shields of t is of the old princes of Northumberland, be- grttning with Ella A .D, 547, and', allowing foi differences of tincture, it way one of a pair of the most ancient coats of arms known to Eng- lish heraldry. The question of these arms was thoroughly investigated by :Mr . Assheton,' of Downham, and his relative, Mr. Cokayne,. ('larenceux King of Arms . They examined the drawings of this coat . s o quartered by Assheton, hi the College of Arms and elsewhere, 'and fcund the following variations, viz. : (1) Paly of six, argent and vert . 12) Paly of six . vert and argent . (3) Paly of six, argent and azure . (4) Argen, ., three pallets vert . They concluded that argent, three pallets vert, was the proper- blason, and the arms are now so quartered b ; the Asshetous of Downham, who are the only Asshetons now existing, in direct male descent from the Asrhetoris of Ashton . an' by the Grosvenors . Dukes of Westminster . 7 hese are merely variations of the same coat • and there is nothing ill them that in any way gore contrary :o -their all' -having been borne by the family, or by the several branches of it, viz., the tlopwood=. Langleys, a'sd Ashwortl . because in those early days the laps of heraldry were not so definitely fixed as in succeeding centuries. Attention may now lie directed to this sig- nificant fact . The coat armour of the Mont- begons was " Pal y of six, Ermine and (xules, charged with an Orle of Pellets ." Here we have a Norman family emblazoning on its shield one of the oldest of Saxon devices . This incongruous combination stimulates enquiry . AV,- know that in those days it frequently hap- pened that the husband of a wealthy heiress adopted the arms of his wife's family . more especially when the name of that family had become or was on the point of becoming extinct, in default od male heirs, and, if Adam do Montbegon followed this practice, we conclude that the " Paly of eix " was the device of Ailrick . the Saxon, and this conclusion is not without probability on other grounds : "Er- mine and Gulea" appear as the heraldic charge of the Norman family of Montgomery, which

HISTORICAL \IIDDLETON. 56

would indicate an earlier connection of the, Alontbegona vriih the family of Roger de I'oictou (otherwise \Ioutgomery) . which is also suggested by other circumstances. Thoso who are famitiar with the part . assigned to heraldry in tracing family origin and descent iu the days before surnames had come iit .e use, when written records were ra•i•e and the art of print- ing unknown, wil4 allow that, if ni prelimiuaa•y -ccnclusion as to how and when the Montbegous of Hornby Castle, came to employ the " Paly of six" as the chief component of their heraldic badge of distinctions is well founded, we have reason for the further assumption that a Wood relationship existed beteeon the ancient lords of Pontefract and also of many other manors, inclusive of Horicbv, and Safhill, Co. -Cumberland . and the Saxon lords of \liddleton. Consanguinity, and not the more distant relationship of a mere follower or companion in arms, is here suggested advisedly, a5 the offence of assuming the armorial Bearing . of another would have ensures) certain deteccicn . The first of the lords of Middieton of whom we have record is Alexander do 4liudleton . who is incidentally mentioned in • a charter of his son Roger . fiis deed wi) be found in vol. xvii . . p . 442, Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. and one of the witnesses attesting it is " .Adam c lericus do Midloton" the earliest p arson cf \tid- dleten yet found. The date of the deed is before the 29 Henry II . (1183-4) and by it Roger de Middleton enfeoffed Geoffrey . his kinsman (cognate moo) son of Robert. heredit .i v l.)e~ n of WVhalley, of the townchin of Ashworth . in the parish and manor of Middleton. lie also released to the monks of Staitlaw (afterwards in 1296 transferred to Vi halley) Abbey. his right in land called " Threpfield . between Marland and Thornton (now Thoruhaml Baines gives two dates for this deed, viz ., in the reign of Henry III., and later in his history in *reign of Edward I ., circa 1290 . but it has been shown in, the Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society. volumes xv . . xvi., and xvii., to which volumes those readers who want further details are referred, that the true date is about the end of the reign of King John. circa 1216 . The deed will be found in the Couoher Book of Whalley Abbey . and .among the witnesses attesting it are Pitt • a pctsona and Thomas clericua de \fi3 •t lcstc:,r • This Roger's wife was named Avice . and according to the Testes de Nevill, site was a widow in the latter part of King Johit's reign . The survey of Lancashire, made in the 12-13 John (1212) records that this Roger de \Iiddleton

Z7 IIISTORICAL IIIDDLETON.

held Middleton by the service of one knight by ancient feoffment*. (Testa do Nevill) . He died during the period of disturbance which existed in the last years of King John's reign, the marriage of the widow falling to that sove- reign, in respect of the thongs estate of Chet- ham, which Roger held in chief of the King. He was succeeded by his son Robert . " According to Air. Farrer, this Rob(,-t. d o Midcleton (eon of Roger), made an agreement before the justice; in eyre at Lancaster in November, 1241, with Geoffrey de Middleton touching the third part of four earu- eates of land in Middleton . He (lied within a year after and in the 27-28 Floury 111 . (1243) his son Roger de \tiddleton (son of Robert) was engaged in litigating the sank suit at \\'estminater, afterwards terminated by au agrernent made by Roger de 'hirkvley an'l his associates at Len- caster in October, 1246. At the levying of time Gasson scutage in 1242 "th heir of Robert de ilidleton holds one Knight's fee in 'Mulk,ton of the said fee (of the Earl of Lincoln's heir) and it belongs to the dower of the Cuuntess" (Testa de Nevill IT . f.791 .) Roger do Midleton III. probably the son of the last named Roger, occurs in 1275, when Guichard do Charran and William de Northburgh, were appointed by letters patent .to take the assize of Novel diaseisin arraigned by Robert de Stakele against Roger de Mil- dleton touching a tenement in Middleton (Dods- worth's M .S, cxiii f 1296.) In an extent taken in 1282 lie appears as mesne lord of Cheetham . which he held of Edmund . Earl of Lancaster. by the nearly service of 13s . 4d . In 1297 ho presenteil his' son John de \tiddleton clerk, to the church of Middleton, in the arch-dcac•onry of Chester, who was duly instituted. (Lichfield 'Registers .) (From Lancashire and Cheshire An- tiquarian Society's Transactions. a, paper by W . Ferrer, in vol . XS'll.i . Robert, son of the said Roger. gave all his lands in Middleton io Roger do Middleton . his lord, by charter . dated 24 Edward I (1296) (Dodsworth's M .S .) This Robert was Prior of Stanlaw abbey, which abbey in this same year !12961 was removed to Whalley, where he died in the year 1311 . Shortly after the year 1302 this Roger (lied, and was succeeded by his son Roger. Roger de Middleton IV. died at Middleton . on the 16th August, 1322. An inquest was held after his death . on the 13th September, 1322, by which it was found that at the time of his death. he hold jointly with Agnes . his wife, to them and to their heirs in tail male. lawfully begotten between them . rise Manor -of Middleton, which he held in chief

HISTORICAL MIDDLETON . 58

of the King, by reason of the lands and tenements, which formerly belonged to Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, being then in the King's hands . In default. of a male heii - it had been covenanted between them, and their trustee, by fine levied at Westminster, in Michaelmas Term . 7 Edward II. (1313) that the said manor should remain to Matilda daughter of the said Roger and Agnes, and thee heirs of her body, with other remainders over to the rce- pec•t ive sisters of Matilda . (Escheats 16 Edward' II . No. 49 : Final Concords Lane. 7 Edward 11 . No. 54.) At the date of the inquest, Matilda was aged eighteen years, and she had four surviving sisters, viz., Ellen, aged twenty, Alioe aged' sixteen, Margaret, aged twelve, and Margery, . aged nine, Joan, the youngest, died before the date of the inquest . Upon the death of Roger do 'Middleton, on, the 16th August, 1322, the limitations of two special settlements, created by fines levied in the seventh and tenth years of Edward II., immediately began to take effect . By the first of these, viz ., by that levied at Westminster on the quindene of St. Michael, 7 Edward II ., two thirds of the Manor of Middleton had been, settled upon Roger and Agnes jointly for the terms of their lives, and upon any heir* male begotten between them, in default of such male issue, and (as I understand it) after the death of Agnee the reversion to be to Matilda, daughter of Roger and Agues, and the heirs of her hod- in default to remain to each of her sisters ani the heirs of the body of each successively in tail. Evidently at the time this fine was levied the remaining third part of the Planer and the advowson of the church were held in dower by the mother of Roger de Middleton . But this life interest terminated with the death of the relict before the octave of Holy Trinity 10, Edward II ., on which day a second fine was levied which created a life interest in the third part of the Manor. and the advowson of the church, of the said Manor, in favour of Roger and Agnes for the term of their lives, and of the issue male of the bodies of the said Roger and Agnes, in default to remain to Matilda, the daughter &c., as above . It' seems certain that Roger lived in the hope of a heir male being born, even posthumously . As, however, no male heir was forthcoming, it seems tg me that a life estate in the manor and advowson, immediately vested in Agnes . the widow . There is nothing to show why Maud . the second di,ughters, took precedence of her eider sister, Ellen, in the succession, but the two younger daughters . Margaret and Margery, appear to.

59 HISTORICAL MIDDLETON.

have died without issue, as in 1350, Maud Ellen, and Alice, were described as the co-heirs, and the last named seems to have resigned her- rieht to her sister, Maud. The question now arises who was the successor of Roger de Middleton. and how did the I3artons . become possessed of the Manor? It has been generally thought that Roger's successor was his . daughter Matilda, and that she by marrying John de Barton of Fryton in Rydale, Yorkshire . " Carried the estates to him." But Mr. Farrer (see Lancashire and Cheshire Anti quarian Society's Transactions" Volume xvii. . . pp . 39 and 40, where the curious may find many other particulars on this subject) shows that "As a matter of fact the manor passed after Roger's death to his widow Agnes, and it was apparently she who married John de Barton, and not her daughter Matilda . Thus we find her with her husband . John de Barton, and others of his relations, at Lancaster Assizes in 1329 . as defendants in a suit brought by Richard de Whitelegh and Alice, his wife, touching tenements in Middleton, from which, however, the plaintiffs withdrew." Mr. Farrer goes on to show that Agnes had' been widowed a second time before August 1329, and had married John de Malton, and that she joined her third husband " ire a demise to John de Teford and Robert de Weiwyke, leotlees . of the lands and tenements which the said John and Agnes had in the name of the (lower of the said Agnes after the death of John de Bartonof Frvton, in I-lolthorp, for the term of the life of the said Agnes " With regard to Mand de Middleton. we learn from the forthcoming "Victoria History or Lauc•a shire ." by Mr . Brownbill, who has very kindly allowed me to see his •3I .S . (written as h •t says, under QMr . Farrer), that she married first . Thomas do Barton . •by whom she had five• sons. named John, Thomas, Roger, Adam . and 'William . Her second husband was John de Ainsworth, who was afterwards outlawed for the death of Adam, soil of Ellis dc : Knowles, ar. .1 the manor was taken into the Dt .ke of Lancaster's brands, as appears from au enquiri• helot in 1366. "•! rough this was rho fl - .w of the er..;uiry . i t w'll, be seen fr .'rr the list rf leer tor, that the Duke presented to th .• r.tctory in 1361, by reason of the roe t . .r•.• •, f Jc,tmc d-- Ainsworth . %fter Ow Joath (t• 1 •e r in ll . •r Agnes . circa 1353 . the right of Maid pissed to her soil John do Barton, followed by Wil learn, soil of ,John . William married Isabel . . daughter of William do Radcliffe. by whom he • had a son Ralph. William de Barton went

JIISTORICAL MTIDDLETON . 60 with the expedition to Spain with John of 'Gaunt in the year 1379. Died in 1384. 7sobel . hi,, wife survived her husband, and was said to be living in 1413-19 . Ralph was successor to William . He was living in 1352, succeeded in 1384. presented to the rectory of Middloton in 1380, supposed to have built, or to have been commemorated by the building of thr, south chantry in the -church. Died 22. Richard 11. (1398) . 31is In- , quisitinn post mortem was taken in 1406-7 . Ralph do Barton was succeeded -by Richard . his son, who was born in 1336, and was there- faro a minor at the death of his father in 1398. and in wardship of James do Radcliffe until 10. Henry I4 . (1,M9.) He will come into view later on, in connection with the marriage o°. his niece. Margaret Barton . with Ralph Ahshetnn, the Black Knight, the first . Assheton of Middleton .

BARTON OF MIDDLETON .

. BARTON IMPALING MiDnLeTua.

(1) Thomas de Barton, of Frytou, Rydsle, North = Maud, or Matilda, de bfiddleton, 2nd daughter and co heir Ermine,-on (2) John de Ainsworth Manor Yorkshire, had, jointly with his wife, grant of the I of Af=ely Roger and Middleton. Supposed original was outlawed, of Midd et on from Agnes de Middleton, of brass efAp,y on the north side of bfiddleton living in 1382• h e wife's mother, circa 1323 . Church. Died in 1366 .

John

I I John de Barton, held a Knight's fee in Middleton and Roger Thomas Adam William Mowbray from the Duchy of Lancaster . Died before 1373.

William de Barton, went to hpain with John of Gaunt in the = Isabella . daughter of William de Radcliffe . Survived her expedition of 1379, (lied 1384, I husband, and was said to be living in 1418 . a tease gules, 1 three annulets or, for Barton Ralph de Barton, living in 1352, succeeded in 1384, presented to the rectory of = Isabel impalingpa ly of six, argent and Middleton on 4th of September, 1386, supposed t3 have built, or to have been vert, for Middleton. commemorated bt• the building of the south chantry in the church . Died 22 Richard II . (13$B) His Inquisition Post Mortenl was taken in 1406-7 .

1 Richard de Barton, baptised at Middleton 9th Richard IL Alice, daughter of . de John de Barton appears with his = Margaret, daughter (1386', placed under the guardianship of ,farces de Radcliffe Kadclife (?), named with her brother Richard and his of Mr Nicholas 8th. May, 1400. Made contract for the marriage of husband and 18 children on nephew Richard as a trustee Byron . Margaret, daughter of his brn ;',er John, with Ralph, a I a monument formerly in of Richard de Bamford . younger son of Sir John Assheton, 15th April . 14385a I Middleton Church. freeholder of Clitheroe in 1443, died 5th November, 1451 . 1 I Richard de Barton, born circa 1421, appears with his brother Alice, daughter of John Byron, of William John de Barton rc -eived a grant of and uncle as a trustee of Richard (is Bamford in 1446. I , Cla3•ton, a widow, 17th February, land from Henry do Holt, of co-partnership with his son Ralph renews the lease of a 1465.6, and on that date was Balderstone, 21 Edward IV. (1481), inessuage with a vaccary in Rossendale, 9th November, assigned by •' Raute Assheton, Rector of Middleton from circa 5 Edward IV. 11465), diet, before 17 February, 1465-6. Knt•," and"' Dame Margery, his 1477 to his death, circa 1493 . wife," certain refits for her dower of Fryton and in Middleton.

Itidlard de Barton . first witness to a grant of lands to his uncle, John de Ralph de l Barton, named, jointly with his brother Thomas, died V.P. Barton, rector of ltliddleton 1481 . Named with an implied life i ,serest in Richard, in the lease of Sir Ralph Assheton, the twenty years' lease of the • annr of Middleton, given by Sir Ralph Knt ., of 1483.4, co-lessee with his uncle Assleton Knight, to his eldest son R.chard 1 Richar,i ill . (14$3-0). William Bi,rton of a pasture in Rossendale, 22 June, 1467.

i Ralph de Asshetou, page of honour to King Henry Vl ., Knight Marshal of Margaret de Barton, married (according to Mr. W. Fairer, when under 14 England and Lieutenant of the Tower, Sheriff of Yorkshire 12 and 13 years of age) circa 1438, named in deed of 1465 .6, then living. Fdward IV. (1472.3), made Knight Banneret at Hutton Field 23 Edward IV. (1483), Vice onstable of England 1 Richard 111, (1483), had grant of the township and principal part of the parish of Middleton from King Richard 111. in 1483. The Black Knight (or Black Lad) of Ashton .

litI a quo Assheton of Middleton.

HISTORICAL MIDDLETON. 61 .

THE ANCIENT LORDS OF THE MANOR.

VII. It seems that we o ught. t o have been able to learn more particulars concerning the pubic and eoeial doings of these early lords of the manur than tltoe(% before given, which would have enabled us to bring into fuller view what manner of inen they were, and what part they played in the turbulent and eventful Times- through which we have traced then. It may -be shown by mariv reference ; to Freeman that ehoea invidious distinctions of race ''between the Norman and the Englishman, which came in with the Conquest, had wholly disappeared long before the period 11339) at which we have now arrived ; but it is, nevertheless, quite certain that the disqualification of 'axon lineage still field good in regard to situations of high public tru>t or honour. and that with very few exception,; every office, place, or post, civil. military, or ecolesiastioal, in this country, as- in others, which would either confer distinction upon the occupant or place him in the way ~ f earning honourable ntentiou or notoriety by the exercise of his own talents, was still held by a reran of Norman descent, or in the enjoy- ment of Norman $tfluonce or patronage . 2lence- to those whose sympathies are with the earlier- -branch of their Saxon and Scandinavian pro- genitors . and would gladly know more of them, acme consolation may come from the reflection that the paucity of detail before mentioned is . largely due to the honourable spirit of the men -who preferred to live and die in obscurity rather htan court or seek the favour of their more highly placed despoilers. We may now introduce the first of the ancient memorials which form a part of the subject of this paper, which has also '-been the subject of much vain speculation, and of which nothing cyan he said to be positively known. In the north aisle of the church there is a very interesting remnant of antiquity in the shape of a flat sepulchral lab in an arched recess in the wall, on which is incised a rudely shaped cross . This slab is referred to in Baincs's history, and the writer says that it is "said to indicate the sepulchre of a family of the name of Maud ." Tho slub is covered with it flattened arch of the debased kind that was in vogue in the six- teenth century . which without doubt fillet have

,62 HISTORICAL MIDDLETON,

been placed over it by Sir Richard %ssheton when he rebuilt the nave in 1524 . \ow, it may b : taken as certain that a monument so con- spicuous as this one is must have been intended to commemorate some person or family that was well known and of ," eat importance . At the time of Richard Assheton it was probably remembered who this person or family was . and hence the care that was taken, when the aisle was extended northwards, to place it in a recess and arch it over, so as to prevent • it• being trampled on and effaced . But in all the genealogies or pedigress, not merely of the lords of Middleton . but of any c• : the Lamilies in the neighbourhood, or with whom they intermarried, there has never been a family of the surname of 1\Iaud . For many years I was unable to imagine how a statement so ridiculous could have found its ,ray into a professedly historical work . and it is only within the last three or four ~ ears that I have found a clue to the origin of the statement. An important monument like this, which wan -so well cared for by the early lords who sue ceeded must have been intended as a memorial to some person of dignity and influence . All .antiquaries . whose reputation entitle them to respect . have given as the most probable ex- p lanation that the stone marks the grave of the founder . This was the opinion of Bishop Durnford, who, in writing to me on the subject,Fags that it "probably marked the tomb -ot some ancient founder . who built the aisle or the church, and of course the debased arch would be placed over it later, at the rebuild- ing ." \qw . this question is confirmed, and a solution of the puzzle suggested -by a tradition mentioned in some notes that had been col- lected by an old 13iddletonian many years deceased whose papers have come to light -since pr . Durnford was consecrated bishop of Chichester in 1870. This tradition says that "The north aisle of :Middleton Church was built by Maud Middleton, a lady of Saxon family in the early part of the fourteenth century, and she is buried under the north wall." At this point I wish to say that two of the -stones in the wall just above this recess supply us with an instance of how an interesting relic may exist for many years before people's eyes, vnnotiwd, until the practised eye of some antiquary points it out . 'It then -becomes an object of absorbing interest, and people a .re amazed that they have not noticed it before. On the face of the stone, just above the recess, . there is to be seen what was evidently a matrix, in which was formerly fixed a small monu-

HISTORICAL MIDDLETON . 63

mental brass . The lower part is a horizontal -eblong. and the upper part seems to have been filled with an upright figure. 'Ihe bottom part must have contained the inscription, and the .upright portion would appear from its outline to have contained the effigy of a hooded feina .e figure. This upright portion is about half (f it on one atone, and the other half cute across the joint on to the stone above, and this fact, when we remember that the wall was rebuilt in 1524 proves that this matrix must have been made and the brass placed in it after the re- building of the church. The brass may have been engraved by the orders of Sir Richard assheton as a record of the lady's name and family ; but more probably it would be tile -original brass made at th e* time of her death and refixed on the wall after its re-erection. This lends support to the above-named tradition, and it is further confirmed by the fact tha; the name tziven to the axon lady who to .said to brave built the north side of the churca is that of Maud, the daughter of the last Roger -do Middleton, and she is the only lady of that name oft record in the archives of Middleton . It also appears that her widowed mother con- tinued to reside at the manor house anti Ishe -died about the year 1353 ; and Maud h erself . as we shall find in a later paper, became a widow in or before the year 133), so that for a long period of years she had dwelt .a period of eome nineteen years she had dwelt in close companionship and for the greater part of that period in the still unore sytnp a- thetic bonds of a common widowhood, with her aged mother, the last sad remnant of an ancient name and ancestry, of whom no sound of voice -or footfall was ever again to be beard within tht•. precincts of their old home at Middleton. Is tt not natural that afaud, the widow, in this, her latest, bereavement, and in the greater w olitudi following upon it, should desire to perpetuate the memory of her parents and of be . ancestry in the manner before suggested? At all events . this supplies by far the most likely explanation of the origin' and purpose cf this memorial stone : and it. also in some mea- sifte accounts for the origin of the error .n Baines' history . The writer may have heard only a partial or garbled version of the legend, and have used the Christian name of the lady . whose parents and extinct ancestry were really intended to be commemorated, as the surname of a fictitious family. Be that as it may, an explanation is wanted, and this one fits the case It is the only complete attempt to ex- plain the meaning and purpose of this niche and cross that I have seen . If it be correct,

64 HISTORICAL MIDDLETON. Bitihop Durnford was right in his opinion, and woo have here the monument of Roger and Agnes de 1Tiddleton, and the brass above mentioned was the effigy of Maud, the heiress of the chat of the ancient Saxon honFe of Mid- dleton.