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The Loss of the Estates
Legend has it that the Heatons were tricked out of their lands and money by the Andertons, who loaned them money and then refused to accept payment of the debt on the evening when it was due. According to the story, it was past sunset when the Heatons arrived at Lostock Hall to return the money they had borrowed, the Andertons wouldn't accept it and they demanded that the Heatons forfeit their estates.
Lostock Hall - Gatehouse
There are several variations on the legend. One story is as follows:
"The credulous old man ... was a descendant of a family named Heaton, who had owned the neighbouring township of that name, which he affirmed was lost to his family by the knavery of the then owner of Lostock Tower. This person had advanced a considerable sum of money upon the estate and manor of Heaton, which was to be repaid within a specified time, or the estate was to be forfeited. The day came. It was late in the evening before the Heatons were able to collect the money to redeem their property; and what was worse, the Lostock family had retired to bed, and could not be roused that night. Next day the money was refused, and the forfeiture claimed. Our informant was standing by a brook which runs across the road within view of the tower, when he related this tradition; and we well remember the awful face he put on as he added, that after that night the very horses which belonged to the tower always snorted and refused to pass that stream, nor was there any alternative but to lead them into the road another way!"
"The Pictorial History of the County of Lancaster" page 275, published George Routledge, London, 1854
Another variation in which the Andertons become murderers and robbers reads:
"...the estate had been heavily mortgaged but by a supreme effort the money to release it had been raised and a member of the family was dispatched with it to the mortgagee on the last day before foreclosure. Who the mortgagee was the story omits to say, but he was obviously a rogue for, having refused to accept the money on the plea that it was after sun-down, he sent one of his grooms after the departing Heaton to kill and rob him. And so the Heatons lost both lands and money."
Horwich Journal and Guardian c.July 1931
Harland and Wilkinson's Lancashire Legends has the souls of the Andertons doomed forever if the property is not returned to its rightful owners:
"There is a story of wrong connected with one of the early Andertons which has passed into a tradition, and even yet is a source of heart-burning to a family named Heaton, resident in a neighboring township of the same name. This tradition states that one of the Heatons was an improvident man, and wasted much of his patrimony. He became deeply involved in debt and mortgaged his township to Anderton of the Lostock Tower. The day for payment duly arrived, but the Heatons had not raised the money. The evening passed on, and at a somewhat early hour the Andertons retired to bed. They had not lain long before the Heatons were thundering at the doors, for they had raised the amount at the last moment and were ready to pay. The owner of the Tower, however, coveted the property, and refused to let them in because they ought to have been ready before the going down of the sun. On the morrow he said they were too late and declared the mortgage was foreclosed. The wrong done to the Heatons was never forgiven, for the family was utterly ruined, and it is stated that the soul of the wrong-doer is doomed to revisit the scene of his crime until the property is restored. It is also affirmed that no horse from the Tower, so long as it was occupied by any Anderton, could ever be forced to cross the stream into the manor of Heaton. Sir Francis Anderton took part in the Rebellion of 1745, and soon after lost his estates. In 1750 he was reported to be over 60 years of age and childless; his property was held by the Crown under trustees, and eventually passed to the Blundells, he living in retirement untio his death. This gentleman's fate is considered to be an act of retributive justice for the wrong done the Heatons by his successor to the Tower."
Bolton Journal, 1 September 1877
The Bolton Journal also adds an account in which, when James Anderton "rose on the morning after he had refused to admit the Heatons, and accept payment of the debt, he went into his stable and was instantly kicked by his horse, receiving injuries from which he soon afterwards died."
Ibid.
A less sensational account of the events surrounding the loss of the Heaton estate is given by John Heaton Partington in The Heatons of Heaton-under-the-forest....
Page 64 onwards gives a historical account of how Christopher Anderton acquired possession of the Manor of Heaton and other lands in 1570.
Search John Heaton Partington's book, "The Heatons of Heaton-under-the-Forest..." for Anderton references:
Click here to return to Heaton home page
Links
The Andertons of Lancashire - Adrian Philip-Pearson
From the BEN files - January 17 1951 - Lostock Hall
Maps:
Hennet's 1829 map of Lancashire showing Lostock Hall
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Last updated: May 23, 2004