Person:Peter Stanley (6)

He had (by fine, 1566) settled them upon his second wife Cecily for her life, with remainders to himself and his children Edward, William, Anne, Alice, and Margaret (wife of Henry Stanley), and for default to John son of John Stanley the brother of Peter. He had other lands in Netherton, Ormskirk, and Rainford. The premises in Aughton were held of the earl of Derby in socage by fealty only; a house and some land in Uplitherland of the queen (but not in chief) by the yearly rent of 6d. Edward Stanley, the son and heir, was over thirty years of age; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xvi, n. 1; also Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 28, m. 69. Cecily died before her husband, whose will mentions 'Jane now my wife.' To Edward Stanley and Katherine (Ireland) his wife, and their children Jane and Elizabeth, various bequests were made, including the furnishings of Moor Hall, a chest in the great chamber, 'all armour and furniture for wars and one great stone used for the preservation of swine meat'; Piccope, Wills, ii, 282. For the marriage contract of Edward and Katherine (1579) with its provision for payment 'upon the font at the parish church,' see Newstead's Aughton, 74, 75.

Nicholas Atherton was a younger son of Sir William de Atherton of Atherton. He was a knight in 1401, when he represented the county in Parliament. He died in 1420, and by will desired to be buried at Ormskirk. His son Nicholas Atherton succeeded, but his tenure was brief, as he died at the beginning of 1424. Just before his death he gave his manor of Bickerstaffe to trustees. His son and heir Henry was then aged nine years or more. Little is recorded of Henry Atherton; he had four sons: Hamlet (Hamnet), his successor, William, Henry, and Charles. Hamlet had a son Thomas, whose heir was his daughter Margaret Atherton born about 1486. Margaret, the heiress married James Scarisbrick, a younger son of James Scarisbrick (who died about 1495), lord of Scarisbrick. Margaret Atherton died 18 Jan 1517/18, leaving an infant daughter Elizabeth Scarisbrick as heir to the Bickerstath properties. Elizabeth Scarisbrick, born about the beginning of 1516, married Peter Stanley, a younger son of Sir William Stanley of Hooton, and she died about 1560, leaving an only daughter Margaret Stanley. Peter Stanley retained Bickerstaffe throughout his lifetime. Peter Stanley married again.