Christopher Leyland inherited Kellamergh and the mansion on the demise of his father, John Leyland, in 1745, and at his own death, some years later, left one child, Elizabeth, who married, as her second husband, the Rev. Edward Whitehead, vicar of Bolton.
LONGWORTH OF ST. MICHAEL’S HALL.
The family of Longworths, inhabiting St. Michael’s Hall until the early part of the eighteenth century, was descended from the Longworths, of Longworth, through Ralph, a younger son of Christopher Longworth, of Longworth, by his wife Alice, the daughter of Thomas Standish, of Duxbury. Ralph Longworth married Anne, the daughter of Thomas Kitchen, and had issue two sons and one daughter. Robert, the younger son, espoused Helen Hudson, whilst Elizabeth, his sister, married Richard Blackburne, and afterwards Thomas Bell, of Kirkland. Richard, the elder son and heir, is the first of the Longworths, described as of St. Michael’s Hall, in Upper Rawcliffe. He married Margaret, the daughter of George Cumming, of Upper Rawcliffe, and had issue—Ralph, Thomas, Lawrence, Christopher, Anne, Elizabeth, and Katherine. Ralph, the eldest son, espoused Jane, the daughter of Richard Cross, of Cross Hall, in Chorley parish, but further than this fact, we have no information concerning him. The family of the Crosses, into which he married, belonged to Liverpool, and their old country seat, Cross Hall, is now converted into cottages and workshops. Thomas Longworth, the second son, born in 1622, resided at St. Michael’s Hall, and married Cicely, the daughter of Nicholas Wilkinson, of Kirkland, by whom he had one son—Richard Longworth. The latter representative, having succeeded in course of time to the Hall and estates, was a justice of the peace for the county of Lancaster, and on terms of intimacy with Thomas Tyldesley, of Fox Hall, Edward Veale, of Whinney Heys, William Hesketh, of Mains Hall, and a number of other leading gentry in the district. He married Fleetwood, the daughter of Edward Shutteworth, of Larbrick, and Thornton Hall, and left at his demise one son—Edward Longworth, who became a doctor of medicine, and resided at St. Michael’s Hall until 1725, about which time he removed to Penrith, in the county of Cumberland.
PARKER OF BRADKIRK HALL.
The Parkers, who inhabited Bradkirk Hall for over a hundred years, were relatives of the Derby family, and came originally from Breightmet Hall, near Bolton, where they had lived for many centuries. William Parker, of Bradkirk Hall, who died in 1609, and was buried at Kirkham, is the first of whom we have any authentic account, and he is stated to have married Margaret, the daughter of Robert Shaw, of Crompton. The children springing from that union were—John, who inherited Bradkirk Hall; Thomas, of Bidstone, in the county of Chester; and Henry, who espoused, in 1609, Alice Threlfall, and became the founder of the family of Parkers of Whittingham. John Parker, of Bradkirk Hall, married Margaret, the daughter and co-heiress of Anthony Parker, of Radham Park, Yorkshire; and after her decease he espoused Alice, the daughter of Richard Mason, of Up-Holland, near Wigan, by whom he had three sons and one daughter—William, Richard, John, and Margaret. The offspring of his first marriage were Anthony, Elizabeth, Jennet, Anne, Alice, and Christopher. Anthony died unmarried, and Christopher, the second son, born in 1625, succeeded to Bradkirk Hall on the demise of his father. He was a justice of the peace for the county of Lancaster, and married Katherine, sister to James Lowde, of Kirkham, and daughter of Ralph Lowde, of Norfolk. His children were Anthony; Alexander, who married Dorothy, the daughter of Thomas Westby, of Mowbreck; John, William, Gerrard, Christopher, Margaret, Mary, and Jane, the last married John Westby, of Mowbreck, at Poulton church, in 1688. Anthony Parker, the eldest son, born in 1657, lived at Bradkirk Hall, and espoused Mary, the daughter of Sir Thomas Stringer, sergeant-at-law, by whom he had issue—Christopher, Catherine, and Rebecca, who died young. Christopher Parker inherited Bradkirk Hall, and was Member of Parliament for Clitheroe in 1708. He died unmarried about 1713, and the Hall and estates passed by will to his sister Catherine, the wife of Thomas Stanley, of Cross Hall, in Ormskirk Parish, conjointly with her uncle Alexander Parker. In 1723 the possessions of the deceased Christopher Parker in Lancashire and Yorkshire were sold by Catherine Stanley and Alexander Parker. The latter, however, resided at Bradkirk Hall for some time after that date with his wife Dorothy, the daughter, as before stated, of Thomas Westby of Mowbreck, by whom he had nine sons and two daughters. The sons appear to have died without issue, and one of the daughters, Dorothy, married ⸺ Cowburn, whilst the other Katherine, became the wife of William Jump, of Hesketh Bank.
RIGBY OF LAYTON HALL.
The Rigbys, of Layton, were descended from Adam Rigby, of Wigan, who married Alice, the daughter of ⸺ Middleton, of Leighton, and had issue—John, Alexander, and Ellen. John Rigby, of Wigan, married Joanna, the daughter of Gilbert Molyneux, of Hawkley, and became the founder of the family of Rigby of Middleton. Ellen became the wife of Hugh Forth; and Alexander Rigby, of Burgh Hall, in the township of Duxbury, espoused Joanna, the daughter of William Lathbroke, by whom he had three sons and one daughter—Edward, Roger, Alexander, and Anne. Edward Rigby, of Burgh, who purchased the estate of Woodenshaw from William, earl of Derby, in 1595, was the first of the family, as far as can be ascertained, who held property in the Fylde, and from his Inq. post mortem, dated 1629-30, we find that he possessed Laiton, Great Laiton, Little Laiton, Warbrecke, Blackepool, and Marton, besides other estates in Broughton in Furness, Lancaster, Chorley, etc. This gentleman married Dorothy, the daughter of Hugh Anderton, of Euxton, and had issue—Alexander, Hugh, Alice, Jane, and Dorothy. Alexander Rigby, who was born in 1583, succeeded to Layton Hall, and Burgh, on the death of his father, and afterwards married Katherine, the daughter of Sir Edward Brabazon, of Nether Whitacre, in the county of Warwick. In 1641, during the time of Charles I., he was a colonel in the king’s forces, and was, somewhere about that period, removed from the commission of the peace for this county by command of Parliament on account of certain charges made against him of favouring the royal party. In 1646 he compounded for his sequestrated estates by paying £381 3s. 4d. His offspring were Edward, of Burgh, and Layton Hall; Thomas, rector of St. Mary’s, Dublin; William, a merchant; Mary, wife of John Moore, of Bank Hall; Elizabeth, wife of Edward Chisenhall, of Chisenhall; Jane, the wife of the Rev. Paul Lathome, rector of Standish; and Alexander, who died in infancy. Edward, the eldest son, who died before his father, married Mary, the daughter of Edward Hyde, of Norbury, and left issue—Alexander, William, Hamlet, Robert, Richard, Mary, and Dorothy. Alexander Rigby, the heir, who was born in 1634, was also an officer in the royalist army, and erected a monument to Sir Thomas Tyldesley near the spot where he was slain at Wigan-lane, at which battle “the grateful erector” fought as cornet. He was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1677 and 1678, and married Alena, the daughter of George Birch, of Birch Hall, near Manchester. His children were Edward, Alexander, Mary, Alice, Eleanor, and Elizabeth. Of Edward we have no account beyond the fact that he was born in 1658, and consequently must conclude that he died young. Alexander, the second son, succeeded to the estates, and was knighted for some reason, which cannot be discovered. He was High Sheriff of the county in 1691-2. Mary, the eldest daughter, married Thomas Tyldesley, of Fox Hall, and was co-heiress with Elizabeth, wife, and subsequently, in 1720, widow of ⸺ Colley, to her brother, Sir Alexander Rigby, of Layton Hall and Burgh, who married Alice, the daughter of Thomas Clifton, of Clifton, Westby, and Lytham, but left no surviving offspring. Sir Alexander Rigby is reputed to have been a gambler, and to have so impoverished his estates, already seriously injured by the attachment of his family to the fortunes of Charles I. and II., that he was compelled to dispose of his possessions in Poulton and Layton for the benefit of his creditors. He also appears to have been imprisoned for debt until released by an act of Parliament, passed in the first year of George I., and his property vested in trustees. His estates in Layton and Poulton were sold for £19,200. After his liberation he resided in Poulton at his house on the south side of the Market-place, where the family arms, bearing the date 1693, may still be seen fixed on the outer wall. The pew of the Rigbys is still in existence in the parish church of that town, and has carved on its door the initials A. R., and the date 1636, separated by a goat’s head, the crest of the family.
SINGLETON OF STAINING HALL.
There is every reason to suppose that the Singletons who resided at Staining Hall during the greater part of two centuries were a branch of the family founded in the Fylde by Alan de Singleton, of Singleton. George, the son of Robert Singleton by his wife Helen, the daughter of John Westby, of Mowbreck, purchased the hamlet and manor of Staining from Sir Thomas Holt, of Grislehurst, and was the first of the name to occupy the Hall. He married Mary Osbaldeston, and left issue at his death, in 1552, William, the eldest; Hugh, who espoused Mary, sister of William Carleton, of Carleton, and left a son, William, who died without issue; Richard; Lawrence; and Margaret, the wife of Lawrence Carleton, heir and subsequently successor to his brother William. William Singleton, of Staining, became allied to Alice, the daughter and heiress of Thomas ffarington, by whom he had Thomas, John, George, Richard, Helen, and Margaret. On the demise of his father in 1556, Thomas, the heir, came into possession of the estate; he married Alice, the daughter of James Massey, and had one child, a daughter, Ellen, who espoused John Massey, of Layton. Thomas Singleton died in 1563, and was succeeded by his brother John, who had married Thomasine, the daughter of Robert Anderton, and had issue two daughters, the elder of whom, Alice, became the wife of Henry Huxley, of Birkenhead, and the younger, Elizabeth, of James Massey, of Strangeways. John Singleton died in 1590, and was in his turn succeeded by the next male representative, his brother George, who had issue by his wife Mary, the daughter of John Houghton, of Penwortham or Pendleton, two sons and a daughter—Thomas, George, and Anne, the wife of Robert Parkinson, of Fairsnape. Thomas Singleton, the heir, became lord of Staining in 1597, previously to which he had espoused Cicely, the daughter of William Gerard, of Ince, and had issue Thomas, John, Mary, Grace, Alice, the last of whom married John Leckonby, of Great Eccleston, and Anne, the wife of Richard Bamber, of the Moor, near Poulton. Thomas Singleton, the eldest son, succeeded to the lordship in the natural course of events, and formed an alliance with Dorothy, the daughter of James Anderton, of Clayton, who was left a widow in 1643, when her husband was slain at Newbury Fight in command of a company of royalists. The offspring of Thomas and Dorothy Singleton were John, born in 1635 and died in 1668, who espoused Jane, the daughter of Edmund Fleetwood, of Rossall; Thomas, who died childless; George; James; Anne, of Bardsea, a spinster, living in 1690; Mary, the wife of John Mayfield; and Dorothy, the wife of Alexander Butler, of Todderstaff Hall. John Singleton, of Staining, whose widow married Thomas Cole, of Beaumont, near Lancaster, justice of the peace, and deputy-lieutenant, had no progeny, and the manor passed, either at once, or after the death of the next brother, Thomas, to George Singleton, who had possession in 1679, but was dead in 1690, never having been married. He held Staining, Hardhorne, Todderstaff, and Carleton manors or estates. The whole of the property descended to John Mayfield, the son and heir of his sister Mary, whose husband, John Mayfield, was dead. John Mayfield, of Staining, etc., ultimately died without issue, and was succeeded by his nephew and heir-at-law, William Blackburn, of Great Eccleston, whose offspring were James, and Gabriel, under age in 1755.