Sir Randle Brereton’s second and ninth sons were founders respectively of the Tatton and the Handford branches of the Breretons. His seventh son succeeded his father as Chamberlain of Chester, and was Groom of the Chamber to King Henry VIII. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Earl of Worcester, widow of Sir John Savage, and was beheaded, upon a most questionable charge of criminal intercourse with Queen Anne Boleyn, in 1536, when he was twenty-eight years of age, and a young married man. It may be noticed incidentally that Queen Anne Boleyn’s favourite lap-dog (an Italian greyhound) was named Urian, the name of a brother of the Groom of the Chamber, and a family name in the Malpas Hall branch of the Brereton family, derived from the early Barons of Malpas. “Trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of Holy Writ.”
Sir Urian Brereton, the ninth son of Sir Randle Brereton, of the Shocklach and Malpas Hall branch, married Margaret, the daughter and sole heiress of William Handford, Esq., of Handford. His son, grandson, and great-grandson, were all of the name of William; and it was the latter (Sir William Brereton, Bart.), who was the distinguished Parliamentarian general, [270a] and whose achievements are so well known to persons who have devoted their attention to the unhappy war between Charles I. and the Parliament, in which—now that the excess of party-heat has long ago subsided, and the history of those times can be dispassionately considered—there is too much reason to believe that both parties were in the wrong. His notorious aversion to church government, noticed by Clarendon, was probably heightened by circumstances; but he appears, by his early travels, to have been always of a sober, serious, and religious turn of mind, with a penchant for spicy sermons. He married a daughter of Sir George Booth, who was considered the cornerstone of the Presbyterian interest in Cheshire, and is described by writers of the day as “free, grave, godly, brave Booth, the flower of Cheshire.” Sir William Brereton was also the friend and neighbour of Henry Bradshaw, of Colonel Duckinfield, and of Lenthall; the latter of whom afterwards married his daughter. The cruel and unjust execution of the Groom of the Chamber, by Henry VIII., rankled in the breasts of his family and connections; the imposition of ship-money had led Sir William Brereton into collision with the citizens of Chester; and he had disputes with the church and corporation of that city, about exemptions from tolls, and for murage, on account of his lands of St. Mary’s Nunnery in Chester, granted by the Crown to his family.
The before-mentioned William Brereton, of Handford, was created a Baronet in 1626–7, and the title became extinct on the death of Sir Thomas Brereton, Bart., in 1673. [271a]
A copy of the principal portion of the Pedigree of the Breretons, of Handford, [271b] so far as is necessary to elucidate the subject, will be given afterwards.
Another branch of this ancient family was that of the Breretons, of Brereton Hall, Cheshire. It is, however, foreign to the purpose to go into any particulars with respect to that branch, here, further than to mention, that that branch was ennobled; and, as a proof of the divisions which existed in some of the principal families during the disastrous period of the civil war, Lord Brereton, of the latter branch, eminently distinguished himself by his devotion to the opposite cause, and raised troops and ventured his life and property on the part of King Charles I. Lord Brereton was taken prisoner, with his wife and son; he suffered sequestration of his estates, and was ultimately reduced to compound for them, and to pay a composition for his son. After the restoration, Lord Brereton was associated with the Earl of Derby, in the Lord Lieutenancy of the county of Chester; he was also member for the county in the first Parliament ensuing, as many of the members of his family had been in prior Parliaments. [271c]
The old hall at Handford, formerly the residence of the Breretons, lies nearly half a mile from and on the south-eastward side of the village, and is approached, after crossing the bridge built over the railway before mentioned, by a lane lending from thence into a pleasant and picturesque valley, through which a small brook runs, and after crossing it we arrive at the old hall.
This mansion, like many others situated in various parts of Cheshire, is principally built of timber and plaster, the timber being disposed in squares, which are filled up with plaster. At the front or main door is a porch, the entrance to which is under a beam of oak, supported at each end by a very large beam, of that wood. On the transverse beam, which forms what may be considered a kind of arch, at the entrance, the following inscription is carved, in Old English characters:—
“This haulle was buylded in the yeare of oure Lord God MCCCCCLXII by Uryan Breretoun Knight whom maryed Margaret daughter and heyre of Wyllyam Handforth of Handforthe Esquye and had issue III sonnes and II daughters”
Underneath the inscription, and on each side of the arch of the porch, are as follows:—On one side the letter V (for Urian), and on the other the letter B (for Brereton), and between them, on a border running along the arch, is carved a tun or cask (in the centre), and also a brier, the stem and foliage of which extend, on each side, from the tun to the before-mentioned letters; evidently a rebus punning upon the word “Brereton” (or “Brier-tun”). At the upper part of the door-post of the porch, on the left-hand side, is an escutcheon with the arms of Brereton impaling those of Handford. Ormerod calls it “the coat of arms of Brereton quartering Ipstones, and impaling Handford,” and adds, “Brereton has for difference a cross crosslet between the bars, and a crescent on the first bar.” [272a] The last time that I visited the hall was on the 11th January, 1849, and then, possibly in consequence of the wearing effects of time and weather on the coat of arms, I was not able to discover any crescent, but I did distinguish the cross crosslet. I could discern that there were some quarterings on the dexter side, but they were so impaired by time, that except those of Brereton proper, I could not clearly distinguish them. [272b] The arms of Brereton are “Argent two bars sable, a crescent gules” [273a] (on the first bar); crest, “a bear’s head and neck, erased sable, muzzled gules.” [a/][273a] The arms of Handford (which are impaled with those of Brereton), are first and fourth, sable, a star argent pierced of the field, for Handford proper; second and third, gules, a scythe argent, for Praers; [273b] with which family the Handfords had formerly intermarried. The wife’s arms are nearly perfect, and are plain to the sight, the sinister side of the carved escutcheon having suffered less than the dexter side: both sides are, however, too much worn to enable me to distinguish the metals or colours, even if the marks of discrimination were then used, or to decide whether the star (for Handford) was “pierced of the field.”
At the upper part of the corresponding or right door-post is the crest of the Breretons, a bear’s head and neck erased muzzled. [273c] The fronts of the door-posts of the porch have also been ornamented with carving; and the before-mentioned border with the brier is also continued down to the ground, on each of the door-posts.