Sir John# Assheton

  Notes:

From http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/pp/plumpton02.htm#dau3

Of Ashton under Lyme.

More backwards here;
http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/aa/assheton1.htm#dau4
not yet entered.


'Wigglesworth Hall' by G.Wigglesworth; "the Asshetons later of Downham Hall".

This Assheton family dates back to the Norman Conquest, and had fought with the Conqueror at Hastings in 1066. They had formed an alliance by marriage with the Hothams. Asshetons and Hothams were to become members in Cromwell's Long Parliament and fought at the Battle of Agincourt. Ralph Assheton knighted by Richard III in 1483 and known as The Black Knight. Later Sir John Assheton was knighted on the battlefield at Northampton by the king. The family acquired many lands throughout Lancashire, Middleton, Whalley, Clitheroe, Rochdale and around Preston, where their new home, Downham Hall was built. Formally lived at Middleton Hall. Lord of the Manor, Ralph Assheton took the title of Lord Clitheroe when knighted in 1955.

Ralph Assheton took the title of Lord Clitheroe when he was made a peer in 1955. Downham Hall, the home of Lord Clitheroe.

Successive generations of the Assheton family have lived at Downham Hall since 1558.

Slightly contradicts;
The village owes much of it's uniformity and style to one family, the Asshetons. This family have watched over, and nurtured the village for centuries, beginning way back in the 13th-century when they built Downham Hall. They cared for the land and for the villagers, many of whom have a long history of family service to the Assetons. Not a great deal altered here until the early part of the 18th-century when when the gererosity of the Assetons caused improvements to the village. More homes where built and a vast sum of money was spent on enhancing St. Leonards Church to which was added a new vicarage. They built a school for the children of the village and to their own home, Downham Hall, they added a grand Regency facade.

After the dissolution of Whalley Abbey, in which the fee vested, it was sold to Richard Assheton; and Downham Hall, existing in 1308, but rebuilt in 1775, became the seat of the Asshetons.

John# married.