Bradkirk Hall – The Parker Connection (1653–1723)

Bradkirk History

BRADKIRK, though [recently] accounted as part of Medlar, seems always to have belonged to the lords of Wesham.  It gave a surname to a family of long continuance in the district.  Adam de Bradkirk died in September 1349 holding in conjunction with Ismania his wife the manor of Bradkirk of Edmund de Heaton by fealty and the service of 4s. yearly. John his son and heir was only two years of age.  Later the estate was held on lease of the Earl of Derby by the Parkers, (fn. 1) and in 1653 was purchased by Christopher Parker. (fn. 2) It did not continue much longer in his family, being sold in 1723. After passing through several changes it was again sold in 1797 to Joseph Hornby of Ribby, and has since descended with his estates.

1: John Parker of Bradkirk held by lease of the Earl of Derby in 1625. He was a recusant, and his estate was sequestered by the Parliament and put in the act of sale, 1652, but as he was dead his infant grandson and heir William Parker (son of William) petitioned for discharge in 1652; Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 2445; Index of Royalists (Index Soc), 43. It was perhaps the same John Parker of Radholme Laund in Yorkshire whose estate was sequestered for delinquency and recusancy in 1643.  His son Christopher was in 1650 described as ‘of Bradkirk’; Cal. Com. for Comp. loc. cit. He was son of John by a wife Margaret, daughter of Anthony Parker, and had come of age in 1649, and, his father being dead, claimed relief.  A pedigree was recorded by Christopher Parker of Bradkirk in 1664. It shows: William Parker, d.c. 1612 -s. John, d. 1649 -s. (by second wife) Christopher -s. Anthony, aged seven; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), 227.

2: This, like Mythop, Swarbreck and other lands in the neighbourhood, formed part of the forfeited estates of the seventh earl sold by the Parliament; Cal. Com. for Comp. ii, 1117. The purchaser agreed with Charles Earl of Derby to receive from him an absolute conveyance on paying three years’ value to him; Piccope MSS. iii, 126. From other deeds in the same volume (114–32) it appears that Christopher Parker made his will in 1693, and that the estate descended by 1710 to a son of the same name, who made a settlement of Bradkirk in that year. His sister and heir Catherine wife of Thomas Stanley of Cross Hall in Lathom in or about 1723 sold to Townley Rigby of Middleton in Goosnargh, and he, though a Quaker, claimed a seat in Kirkham Church in 1726 in right of Bradkirk.

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 (fn. 3?) 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 (fn. 4?), 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.

3?: It would seem that William Parker married twice, and from the first marriage with Margaret Shaw, only had two children: Alice and John. Margaret died in 1583 (buried August 7th, Kirkham) and William went on to marry Margery Bamber on February 10th, 1585 at St. Michael’s church, Kirkham.  Margery’s will notes the connections with the children:

Margery’s will dated 11 Oct 1616 of Bradkirke in parish of Kirkeham, Lanc, Widdow; buried at Kirkeham near to William her late husband; John Parker her stepson; Thomas Parker her son; Margaret and Bridget Parker her daus; Henry Parker her son; Elizabeth Thompson her dau; John Crane her son; James Butler her son; Richard Butler her son, Ann her dau, wife of Richard; Ann Crane her grandchild; James son of her brother Richard Bauter; Jenet dau of her brother Thomas Bauter; Thomas and Henry exec.; Inventory 263. 6. 6.

4?: I can’t believe that John married Alice Mason after the death of Margaret Parker (who died in 1626) as by this time, John would have been 45 and Alice a similar age. To then have 3 children would have been quite unusual. I cannot find any evidence of the marriage of John and Alice, nor the baptisms of their 3 children (Margaret, William and Richard).

However,  from an A2A document dated 10 Mar. 1627/8 – “Assignment of Lease: for £100”: John Parker of Bradkirk in Wessame, gent. to Henry Holme of Lathome, yeoman — messuage in Lathome late in tenure of Richard Makyn [presume “Mason”], decd., father-in-law of J.P. — leased 16 Jul. 1610 by William, Earl of Derby, to J.P. his servant for lives of J.P. and William and Richard his sons, at 15/7 rent. Recites assignment of 5 years made 2 Feb. 1626/7 to Edward Gill, blacksmith, and James Berry, butcher, both of Lathome. Witn. William Haworth, James Berry, Thomas Bowker, Edwarde Gill, James Walthewe. Seal.

Bradkirk Hall Farmhouse Today

Bradkirk Hall (Farmhouse), which is now a farm, is situated on Weeton Road, near Wesham, Lancashire. You can see that Corner Row, home to my Parker’s for much of the early 19th century, is located not far from Bradkirk Hall – just 1.2 miles on the current roads.

The farmhouse is a grade II listed building (listed 11th June 1986) and is described as:

Farmhouse, dated 1764 on lintel of door. Brick with stone dressings, slate
roof. Double-depth 3-bay 4-room plan. Two storeys, symmetrical; central
doorway with large lintel bearing a prominent keystone lettered “E:H
1764” (=Edward Hurst), set in a round-headed recess; 4 windows at ground floor and 5 above, all 12-pane sashes with stone sills and gauged brick heads; coved cornice, stone gable copings with small kneelers, gable chimneys. Left return wall has one window at ground floor, 2 above, (and one at least covered by ivy), and a simplified Venetian attic window (outer lights blocked). Rear wall stepped, the 1st bay set back and probably blind (but covered by creeper) a door in the re-entrant, but otherwise has 3-light windows with chamfered flush mullions: 3 vertically-aligned stairlights in the centre, and one on each floor of the 3rd bay; the latter partly covered by overlapping lower 2-storey service extension. Interior: brick-vaulted cellar; original fireplaces in 3rd bay with corbelled jambs, deep lintels and moulded cornices; doors and doorcases throughout with fielded panels; full-height staircase with open string, three balusters per tread, ramped handrail; attic with slatted door for ventilation of storage room, unusual roof trusses with elbowed struts.

As to Bradkirk Hall Estate in Medlar with Wesham. Freed from tithes except Moduses of 8s., 4s., 24s. Purchased from MARGARET ANN and MARY ALICE HORNBY in 1888.  DDK/908 [n.d.]

Parties Names: Edward Hirst and John Rothwell the heirs of W. Richardson. Richard Rothwell and Thomas Marsh.  DDK/908/22 & 21 1747: 28th and 29th Aug

Lease and Release in trust (inter alia) of messuage called Bradkirk with the demesne lands in Medlar with Wesham, with liberty to fish in the River Ribble within the Boundaries of Freckleton, all of which were formerly the inheritance of Christopher Parker.