Pilkington of Lancashire
Encyclopedia
The Pilkington family has its origins in the ancient township
of Pilkington
in the historic county
of Lancashire
, England. After about 1405 the family seat was Stand Old Hall which was built to replace Old Hall in Pilkington. The new hall was built on high land overlooking Pilkington's medieval deer park
. Stand Old Hall was replaced by Stand Hall to the south in 1515 after the Pilkingtons were dispossessed. Stand Old Hall became a barn. It is possible that Sir Thomas Pilkington had permission to “embattle” his manor house in 1470 building a stone tower. It was a ruin by the 1950s and demolished in the early 1960s.
The Pilkington name is taken from the manor of Pilkington in Prestwich
, Lancashire. The Pilkington arms consist of an argent
cross patonce voided gules
. The Pilkington crest has a mower with his scythe
and has a legend that an ancestor of the family, being sought at the time of the Norman Conquest, disguised himself as a mower and escaped. Ye Olde Man & Scythe Inn in Bolton
derives its name from the reaper using a scythe on the family crest. The crest was first recorded on a seal from 1424.
Throughout the county there were a number of branches of the family, including those from Rivington Hall
, Rivington
near Chorley
and from Windle Hall near St Helens
, founders of the Pilkington glass manufacturers.
in Bolton-le-Moors, which became the home of a junior branch of the family.
In 1312 Alexander had settled the manors of Pilkington and Cheetham on his son Roger giving the remainder to a younger son William. Roger married Alice, sister and heir of Henry de Bury and manor of Bury
was acquired by the family. He died about 1347, and was followed by his son, the third Roger in succession. He was made a knight before 1365 and attended John of Gaunt in France in 1359, served as knight of the shire in six Parliaments between 1363 and 1384 and died in 1407. Roger Pilkington and his father, also Roger, were present with Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, at the Battle of Boroughbridge
in 1322. The older Roger was imprisoned and fined, his son secured pardon by undertaking military service abroad. His son Sir Roger Pilkington (1325–1407) served under Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster
in 1355, and under John of Gaunt
in 1359–60 and 1369.
Roger's son Sir John Pilkington (d. 1421) was granted custody of the manors of Prestwich and Alkrington
. He married Margaret (d. 1436), heir of John Verdon of Brixworth
, Northamptonshire, soon after the death of her first husband, Hugh Bradshaw of Leigh
. Margaret's son from her first marriage, William Bradshaw, died in 1415, leaving a daughter, Elizabeth. In 1430 Margaret settled the manors of her inheritance which included Stagenhoe
in Hertfordshire, Clipston, Northamptonshire
and Brixworth in Northamptonshire, and Bressingham
in Norfolk, on her Pilkington sons, John, Edmund (d. about 1451), and Robert (d. 1457). Roger attended the king in the Scottish expedition of 1400 and was one of the Lancashire knights who fought at Agincourt
, he died in 1421. His son Sir John inherited aged twenty-eight years and he too, fought in the French wars. He was knight of the shire in 1416 and 1418, and rewarded for his services by being made escheator in Ireland.
He died without issue in 1451, and the manor descended to Thomas, son of Edmund Pilkington, his nephew. Thomas was the son of Edmund, and enjoyed the favour of Edward IV. The Pilkingtons built a house with a moat at Bury between 1359 and 1400 and were granted a licence to crenellate it in 1469 when it became known as Bury Castle
. He was made a knight of the Bath in 1475, and a baronet at the capture of Berwick in 1481. He fought for Richard III
at Battle of Bosworth Field
and was attainted by the victorious Henry, his manors in Lancashire confiscated and were given to the newlycreated Earl of Derby
.
Sir Thomas Pilkington was granted Royal pardon in 1508.
The Pilkington Knights fought in the Wars of the Roses and in the 15th century three members of the family were High Sheriffs of Lancashire
. Their Pilkington relatives included Sir Charles Pilkington who was appointed High Sheriff of Nottingham
and Derby
in 1480.
, in thanage, six oxgangs of land at a rent of 10s. Rivington was held by the Pilkingtons of Pilkington until 1290 when Sir Alexander de Pilkington (1225–1291) gave his lands at Rivington to his second son, Richard, as a wedding gift on his marriage to Ellen daughter of William de Anderton, of Rumworth
and Anderton
. Rivington was afterwards held by the junior branch of the family, who became known as the Pilkingtons of Rivington. In 1324 Roger de Pilkington held seven-eighths of the manor at a rent of 8s. 9d while Richard de Hulton held the other eighth for 1s. 3d. p.a. This partition appears again in 1445. Robert Pilkington is mentioned in lay subsidies of 1327 and 1332.
The most notable of the Pilkingtons of Rivington was James Pilkington, first Protestant Bishop of Durham, born about 1518, the son of Richard Pilkington of Rivington Hall and Alice Asshawe. The family are recorded in the Pilkington painting, in Rivington Church
. The Pilkingtons held the Manor of Rivington
until the death of Robert Pilkington in 1605 and his share of the manor was sold on 30 March 1611 to relatives Robert Lever and Thomas Breres for £1730 retaining New Hall, along with the other lands for the benefit of Katherine Pilkington and her heirs.
Township (England)
In England, a township is a local division or district of a large parish containing a village or small town usually having its own church...
of Pilkington
Pilkington (ancient township)
Pilkington was a township in the parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham, hundred of Salford and county of Lancashire, in northern England.-Manor:The Pilkington family can be traced from about 1200. The senior line acquired the manor of Bury when Roger Pilkington who died in about 1347, married Alice Bury...
in the historic county
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England. After about 1405 the family seat was Stand Old Hall which was built to replace Old Hall in Pilkington. The new hall was built on high land overlooking Pilkington's medieval deer park
Medieval deer park
A medieval deer park was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank. The ditch was typically on the inside, thus allowing deer to enter the park but preventing them from leaving.-History:...
. Stand Old Hall was replaced by Stand Hall to the south in 1515 after the Pilkingtons were dispossessed. Stand Old Hall became a barn. It is possible that Sir Thomas Pilkington had permission to “embattle” his manor house in 1470 building a stone tower. It was a ruin by the 1950s and demolished in the early 1960s.
The Pilkington name is taken from the manor of Pilkington in Prestwich
Prestwich
Prestwich is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies close to the River Irwell, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford and south of Bury....
, Lancashire. The Pilkington arms consist of an argent
Argent
In heraldry, argent is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it...
cross patonce voided gules
Gules
In heraldry, gules is the tincture with the colour red, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of vertical lines or else marked with gu. as an abbreviation....
. The Pilkington crest has a mower with his scythe
Scythe
A scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass, or reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia. The Grim Reaper is often depicted carrying or wielding a scythe...
and has a legend that an ancestor of the family, being sought at the time of the Norman Conquest, disguised himself as a mower and escaped. Ye Olde Man & Scythe Inn in Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
derives its name from the reaper using a scythe on the family crest. The crest was first recorded on a seal from 1424.
Throughout the county there were a number of branches of the family, including those from Rivington Hall
Rivington Hall
Rivington Hall is a Grade II* Listed building located in Rivington, Lancashire, England. It was the manor house for the Lords of the Manor of Rivington. The hall is of various builds as successor to a fifteenth-century timber-framed courtyard house that was built near to the present building of...
, Rivington
Rivington
Rivington is a small village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying . It is about southeast of Chorley and about northwest of Bolton. Rivington is situated on the fringe of the West Pennine Moors, at the foot of Rivington Pike...
near Chorley
Chorley
Chorley is a market town in Lancashire, in North West England. It is the largest settlement in the Borough of Chorley. The town's wealth came principally from the cotton industry...
and from Windle Hall near St Helens
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
, founders of the Pilkington glass manufacturers.
Pilkington of Pilkington
The first known is Alexander de Pilkington, who was recorded in 1200 and held the manor in 1212. In 1212 Pilkingtons held RivingtonRivington
Rivington is a small village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying . It is about southeast of Chorley and about northwest of Bolton. Rivington is situated on the fringe of the West Pennine Moors, at the foot of Rivington Pike...
in Bolton-le-Moors, which became the home of a junior branch of the family.
In 1312 Alexander had settled the manors of Pilkington and Cheetham on his son Roger giving the remainder to a younger son William. Roger married Alice, sister and heir of Henry de Bury and manor of Bury
Bury
Bury is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Irwell, east of Bolton, west-southwest of Rochdale, and north-northwest of the city of Manchester...
was acquired by the family. He died about 1347, and was followed by his son, the third Roger in succession. He was made a knight before 1365 and attended John of Gaunt in France in 1359, served as knight of the shire in six Parliaments between 1363 and 1384 and died in 1407. Roger Pilkington and his father, also Roger, were present with Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, at the Battle of Boroughbridge
Battle of Boroughbridge
The Battle of Boroughbridge was a battle fought on 16 March 1322 between a group of rebellious barons and King Edward II of England, near Boroughbridge, northwest of York. The culmination of a long period of antagonism between the king and Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, his most powerful subject, it...
in 1322. The older Roger was imprisoned and fined, his son secured pardon by undertaking military service abroad. His son Sir Roger Pilkington (1325–1407) served under Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster
Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster
Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, 4th Earl of Leicester and Lancaster, KG , also Earl of Derby, was a member of the English nobility in the 14th century, and a prominent English diplomat, politician, and soldier...
in 1355, and under John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , KG was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...
in 1359–60 and 1369.
Roger's son Sir John Pilkington (d. 1421) was granted custody of the manors of Prestwich and Alkrington
Alkrington
Alkrington Garden Village, more commonly known as Alkrington, is a suburb of Middleton, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England....
. He married Margaret (d. 1436), heir of John Verdon of Brixworth
Brixworth
Brixworth is a village and civil parish in the Daventry district of Northamptonshire, England. The 2001 census recorded a parish population of 5,162. The village is particularly notable for All Saints' Church, Brixworth, its historic Anglo-Saxon church....
, Northamptonshire, soon after the death of her first husband, Hugh Bradshaw of Leigh
Leigh, Greater Manchester
Leigh is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It is southeast of Wigan, and west of Manchester. Leigh is situated on low lying land to the north west of Chat Moss....
. Margaret's son from her first marriage, William Bradshaw, died in 1415, leaving a daughter, Elizabeth. In 1430 Margaret settled the manors of her inheritance which included Stagenhoe
Stagenhoe
Stagenhoe is a Grade II listed stately home and surrounding gardens located in the village of St Paul's Walden in Hertfordshire. Stagenhoe was rebuilt in the 18th century, after a fire in about 1737. It is now used as a Sue Ryder Care nursing home....
in Hertfordshire, Clipston, Northamptonshire
Clipston, Northamptonshire
Clipston is a village and civil parish that is administered as part of the Daventry district of Northamptonshire in England. The town of Market Harborough is much nearer and so the village may be regarded as an economic satellite of that town rather than Daventry. At the time of the 2001 census,...
and Brixworth in Northamptonshire, and Bressingham
Bressingham
Bressingham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 751 in 305 households as of the 2001 census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of South Norfolk....
in Norfolk, on her Pilkington sons, John, Edmund (d. about 1451), and Robert (d. 1457). Roger attended the king in the Scottish expedition of 1400 and was one of the Lancashire knights who fought at Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...
, he died in 1421. His son Sir John inherited aged twenty-eight years and he too, fought in the French wars. He was knight of the shire in 1416 and 1418, and rewarded for his services by being made escheator in Ireland.
He died without issue in 1451, and the manor descended to Thomas, son of Edmund Pilkington, his nephew. Thomas was the son of Edmund, and enjoyed the favour of Edward IV. The Pilkingtons built a house with a moat at Bury between 1359 and 1400 and were granted a licence to crenellate it in 1469 when it became known as Bury Castle
Bury Castle
Bury Castle is an early medieval moated manor house in Bury, Greater Manchester . It is listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The manor house was built by Sir Thomas Pilkington – lord of the manors of Bury and Pilkington, and an influential member of Lancashire's gentry – in 1469...
. He was made a knight of the Bath in 1475, and a baronet at the capture of Berwick in 1481. He fought for Richard III
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
at Battle of Bosworth Field
Battle of Bosworth Field
The Battle of Bosworth Field was the penultimate battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the House of Lancaster and the House of York that raged across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 August 1485, the battle was won by the Lancastrians...
and was attainted by the victorious Henry, his manors in Lancashire confiscated and were given to the newlycreated Earl of Derby
Earl of Derby
Earl of Derby is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the end of the reign of Henry III and died in 1279...
.
Sir Thomas Pilkington was granted Royal pardon in 1508.
The Pilkington Knights fought in the Wars of the Roses and in the 15th century three members of the family were High Sheriffs of Lancashire
High Sheriff of Lancashire
The High Sheriff of Lancashire is an ancient officer, now largely ceremonial, granted to Lancashire, a county in North West England. High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown, in England and Wales...
. Their Pilkington relatives included Sir Charles Pilkington who was appointed High Sheriff of Nottingham
High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire
’The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere or are now defunct, so that its functions...
and Derby
High Sheriff of Derbyshire
This is a list of High Sheriffs of Derbyshire from 1568.The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been...
in 1480.
Pilkingtons of Rivington
The early Pilkingtons were step brothers of the Rivingtons and a grant of land was made to them in 1202. In 1212 the Pilkingtons held of King John of EnglandJohn of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
, in thanage, six oxgangs of land at a rent of 10s. Rivington was held by the Pilkingtons of Pilkington until 1290 when Sir Alexander de Pilkington (1225–1291) gave his lands at Rivington to his second son, Richard, as a wedding gift on his marriage to Ellen daughter of William de Anderton, of Rumworth
Rumworth
Rumworth is an electoral ward of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically it was part of the hundred of Salford in Lancashire and centre of the Parish of Deane which once covered roughly half of the present Metropolitan Borough of Bolton...
and Anderton
Anderton, Lancashire
Anderton is civil parish in the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England. It is now a suburb of Adlington. 5 miles northwest of Bolton, Its east boundary is in the Rivington Reservoir. Grimeford Village is in the parish...
. Rivington was afterwards held by the junior branch of the family, who became known as the Pilkingtons of Rivington. In 1324 Roger de Pilkington held seven-eighths of the manor at a rent of 8s. 9d while Richard de Hulton held the other eighth for 1s. 3d. p.a. This partition appears again in 1445. Robert Pilkington is mentioned in lay subsidies of 1327 and 1332.
The most notable of the Pilkingtons of Rivington was James Pilkington, first Protestant Bishop of Durham, born about 1518, the son of Richard Pilkington of Rivington Hall and Alice Asshawe. The family are recorded in the Pilkington painting, in Rivington Church
Rivington Church
Rivington Church is an active Church of England parish church in Rivington, Lancashire, England. The Church has been designated as a Grade II Listed building. The Church has no patron saint and is not named after a saint or martyr. It has been variously called St. Lawrence, St. George, Holy...
. The Pilkingtons held the Manor of Rivington
Manor of Rivington
The Manor of Rivington was a medieval manor estate in Rivington, Lancashire, England. Before 1212 the Pilkington family owned six oxgangs of land. Over time it became separated in moieties and by the 16th century the Pilkingtons of Rivington Hall owned a 5/8 share. In 1605 the Lathoms of Irlam...
until the death of Robert Pilkington in 1605 and his share of the manor was sold on 30 March 1611 to relatives Robert Lever and Thomas Breres for £1730 retaining New Hall, along with the other lands for the benefit of Katherine Pilkington and her heirs.