marks to Henry III. at that date for having married Margaret, the daughter and heiress of William de Winewick, without the royal assent, and for marrying whom Baldewinus Blundus had formerly paid twenty marks to King John.[1]
In 1258, Margaret de Carleton still retained her lands in Thornton in her maiden name of Winewick,[2] and it is probable from that circumstance that her second husband was then dead, for the writ cited above expressly commanded that her inheritance should be handed over to Michael de Carleton, the penalty of ten marks for his disobedience having been received.
According to the Testa de Nevil, Matilda de Thorneton, a spinster, whose marriage also lay in the king's gift, held lands in Thornton, of the annual value of twenty shillings; and later, about 1323, a moiety of Thornton was held by Lawrence, the son of Robert de Thorneton, a member of the same family. In 1346, John, son of Lawrence de Thorneton, held one carucate of land in Thornton and Staynolfe, lately of Robert Windewike, in thanage, paying yearly at four terms thirteen shillings relief, and suit to the county and wapentake.[3] In 1421 John de Thornton died, possessed of half the manor of Thornton and the Holmes, which descended to his son, William de Thornton, who died in 1429, aged thirty years, leaving four daughters—Agnes, afterwards the wife of William Wodey; Katherine, who married William Carleton; Elizabeth, the wife of Robert Adlington; and Johanna, who espoused Christopher Worthington.[4] Much as it is to be regretted, no more than the scanty information here given can be discovered concerning the Thorntons, of Thornton; even tradition is silent on the matter of their residence or local associations, although it is very likely they occupied Thornton Hall, a mansion long since converted into a farm house, and consequently we are obliged to dismiss with this brief notice what under more favourable auspices would probably have proved one of the most interesting subjects in the township, In 1292 the king's attorney sued Thomas de Singleton for the manor of Thornton, etc., but the defendant pleaded successfully, that he only held a portion of the manor, Thomas de Clifton and Katherine, his wife, holding the third of two parts of twelve
