A History of the Castle of Halton and the Priory or Abbey of Norton; With an Account of the Barons of Halton, the Priors and Abbots of Norton, and an Account of Rock Savage and Daresbury Church. with Notices of the Historic Events of the (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1873 edition. Excerpt: ...confined to the humbler classes, as they are now, when there has grown up amongst sportsmen a sort of game code of honour, and Thomas Butler, by his suit, was perhaps only asserting his sovereign's right, or his own, to the four-footed denizens of the forest at Halton. Two years afterwards, in 12 Henry VIII. (1520), Thomas Aston, as was not unusual in those times, retaliated upon Thomas Butler, and sued him and John Ffarington in a cross action for a trespass on the herbage and pannage of the park at Halton.3 But other officers besides the park-keeper were vigilant in the discharge of their offices at Halton at this time, for in 18 Henry VIII. (1526) William Brereton, the seneschal, prosecuted two persons for invading and trespassing upon the Halton fishery in the river Mersey. On the 10th June, 22 Henry VIII. (1530), an inquisition being then taken as to the manor of Weston, William Brereton, who was still seneschal of Halton, was one of those who witnessed it.4 Who appointed William Brereton to his office, and how long he continued to hold it, are points which have not yet been ascertained. In 1536, when the dawn of the Reformation was reddening the horizon, and the religious houses were beginning to nod to their fall, the royal visitors came to Norton to take an inventory of the abbey plate and valuables. They had already inventoried and packed up such 1 Weaver's Funeral Monuments, p. 286. 2 Duchy Records, 127. 3 Ibid. 128. Report on the Manor of Weston, p. 9. O articles as they meant to take away, and were about to take their leave when, the day growing late, and the weather foul, they determined to remain and pass the night in the abbey. But they were no welcome guests, and, in thus concluding to stay where they were, they were reckoning...