Chapter 3
The Chorleys in the 16th Century
William Chorley, the son and heir of William and Margaret married Elizabeth the daughter of William Charnock of Charnock, armiger.
A son William was born in 1503. He married Alice the daughter of James Anderton of Euxton Hall and in 1528 a son William was born. He apparently was a keen business man as there was much exchanging of property at this time. In 1562 William Charnock acquired some property in Charnock which had belonged to the Knights of St John of Jerusalem. In 1563 Sir Roger Chorley was instituted to Preston vicarage on the presentation of Thomas Parkes. He was followed by Sir Leonard Chorley on the presentation of William Chorley of Chorley, but resigned in 1572. The above Sir Roger was stipendary chaplain of Thomas Gerrard. The title “Sir” was given to a priest without a degree. It should be remembered that all Roman Catholics were debarred from the universities and therefore could not graduate. Sir Roger was among those alleged to have taken part in a confederacy in 1534-5, unlawfully assembling at Ormskirk in warlike array and threatening the Kings Commission. A William Chorley of Chlorey was also among them.
Sir Roger died in 1566 when Vicar of Preston.
At The General Levy of Arms, Armour and Horses in Lancashire in 1574 William Chorley was ordered to furnish one light horse(man), one harquebut, one longe bowe, one sheffe of arrows and one scull (steel cap). His will is a most interesting document dated 1585. “I William Chorley of Chorley in the Countie of Lancaster, Gent, holle in Bodie etc. To be buryed within the Church of Chorley in the chancel under a stone where my grandfather was buried. I give to William Chorley sonn to my sonn William C. latelie deceased, my clocke chime and bells and all my harness perteynynge to the wars. I doe devise all my oulde ancient rents of all my tenants in Walton nere Lyrpoule, the cheffe rent payed yearlie to the Queenès maiestie wich is xxs only except, ffrom the daye of my decease for the tearms of five years to Alexander Chorley, Marie C. and Alis. C younger children of my sonn William C. latelie deceased. Whereas I have a lease for certen years of Olivere Garrard of Brindell of ground called Denham Banke and alsoe a lease of certen parcells of ground in Adlington called Famer of George Ashall the revercion of wiche said leases I doe give to the said Alexander C. Marie C. and Alis. C. Alsoe my especiall desire and requeste is that my said executors doe fullfyll my sonn William C. his laste will and testament according to the trust he reposed in me and alsoe where it is sette downe in my said Sonn William his will that I should haue the ordering of all his tymbre and stone wherefor and for that I haue well recompensed not onlie Brigett C. my daughter-in-law with certen lands during her life but alsoe haue recompensed the said Alexander, Marie and Alis. C. wherefore William C. eldest sonn of my said sonn William C. shall haue the said tymbre and ston. And whereas I haue a lease of Richard Whittell of certen ground in Chorley called the Lee the revertion of wiche I doe give to Mawde Chorley nowe my servant. All my goods and cattels shalbe devided into three equall parts whereof Alis, nowe my wife to haue one parte according as of right she ought to haue, the second parte I geve to Leonard C. my sonn desyringe and praying him not onlie for Godes cause but alsoe for my sake and at this my requeste that he would be contented to lett William my basterd sonn to haue the half of his second parte with him considering all my gyftes and benefits heretofor bestowed upon him, and the last and third parte I reser to myself for that after my debts etc payed Alis now my wife and all the children of Roger Gelibrond my son-in-lawe shall haue all my said third parte to be equallie devided amongst them.
I make Alis my wyffe, Leonard C. my sonn, Roger Gelibrone my sonn-in-lawe and Hugh Rigby my executors and my cosin James Anderton of Clayton supervisor of this my last will."
From that portion of the will which mentions timber and stone it would appear that following the example of their neighbour Robert Charnock of Astley for instance, the Chorleys rebuilt their ancient Hall. Tootell, Standish, Pilkington, Anderton and local names and each family had an ancestral Hall in the district.
Leonard Chorley, the second son of William Chorley the elder and Alice, was the first recorded lawyer of the family. A student of Grays Inn he attained to the honourable position of Recorder of Liverpool, a town then rapidly making its way towards that eminence amongst our English seaports it has now so long enjoyed. He married Emma daughter of Robert Blundell of Green Co. Lancaster. In the second year of James I 1603 we find her in the List of Recusants. He died in 1608.
Leonard and Emma were married about the year 1594. That fact was ascertained from an indenture dated April 1594 made between Leonard Chorley, on the one part, and Robert Blundell of Ince Blundell and Edmund Mollineux of Melling on the other, by which "in consideration of a marriage then lately solemnised between Leonard Chorley and Emma his wife three messuages in Whittingham, twenty three acres of land in Whittingham and Haighton, and an eighth part of a windmill in Whittingham became the property of the said couple."
William Chorley of Chorley born in 1565 who succeeded his grandfather in 1586 married Elizabeth the daughter of John Crosse of Crosse Hall, Liverpool and Crosse Hall, Chorley, an old friend and neighbour. It is highly probably that William Chorley carried out the design of his father and either re-built or so completely altered Chorley Hall, that it had all the appearance of a new building. The kitchen premises, stables, barn-walls etc. were still standing after World War II and were built of well burnt bricks, two inches thick, and as hard as iron. (The whole estate was demolished by degrees, ending in 1964.)
Approaching Chorley by the main road from the north at a point where the Preston and Park roads unite, there stood a little to the right a farmhouse bearing the name of Chorley Old Hall. This was all that remained of the ancestral home of the Chorleys. Chorley Hall was demolished by Sir Henry Houghton of Astley Hall in 1817 the local explanation being that it obstructed the view from Astley Hall, his mansion, now a museum owned by the local authority. The farm building did not give the impression that formerly the house stood in a large and extensive park of 90 acres. The site of Chorley Hall is now a grass grown piece of land bearing the forest trees planted after the Hall was destroyed. There are persons living who can remember the fish pond which was situated between the Hall and the Preston Road leading to the Hall and Euxton lane. Of the mansion nothing remains except three stones, the largest 5ft long and 2ft in depth and breadth, and two others are near the gate. From the kitchen premises nine stone steps led on to the terrace before the Hall looking towards the fish pond. The old tithe barn is however of special mention. It was a magnificent example of a timbered structure, the roof being as beautiful as many found in a country church. The original Hall has been described as a fine stone gabled edifice. The main entrance to the Hall was probably by a gateway in a field off the present Park Road and close to Astley Hall estate. Few spots could have been chosen more happily for a home. From the upper windows of the Hall a lovely stretch of country could be seen for miles around, beyond Winter Edge and the Beacon on to Rivington Pyke, beyond the little Church of St Lawrence and the houses of the town of Chorley. On the west the fertile Fylde district and the sea in the far distance.
The author has visited this spot and was taken round the farm by the then tenant farmer. He was proud to tell her the story which he said is taught in the Chorley schools. He recounted with all seriousness how Elizabeth Chorley was buried in the Tithe Barn, she had been murdered. Later her body was buried under the pear trees where he has seen her flitting from tree to tree in a long flowing grey gown. When the author’s cousin Mrs. William Miller visited the spot with her mother Mrs. Maud Holt of Preston, whose mother was a Longhope Charley, the farmer gave her a silver spoon engraved E.C. which was found behind the pump trough.
In 1964 the author again visited the spot but the tithe Barn had only a few months previously been demolished to make room for a housing estate. The massive brick foundations were visible and Richard Miller found her a brick which corresponds to the description give above.
