Adam
(son of Edward, if we are to believe the ancient pedigrees, or Philip, if
Ormerod is correct) was born about 1275. It is said that he was knighted at the
battle of Falkirk, on 22 July 1293, during Edward I�s Scottish campaign. If so
he probably took part in other military adventures in both Scotland and Wales.
In 1310, he acted as one of the king�s purveyors for the Northwich Hundred in
preparation for an expedition to Scotland.
In
1323 Adam occurs as a witness to a deed relating to the Davenport family, and in
the next year he occurs with John Ward, Randol Merton and others as sureties for
a Richard Warihull. Seven years later, Adam and others, including Hugh
Venables, baron of Kinderton, entered into a recognizance of �52,
to the king for the bailiwick of Northwich, which they took to farm for two
years. On 17 March 1333 he and eight other persons took the profits of the
advowries of the county. An inquisition ad
quod damum held in 1334 found that it was not to the earl�s damage for
Adam to close a highway, some forty feet wi and forty perches long, leading from
Balshagh, through Bostock, to Middlewich, on the understanding that
Adam created another way in lieu.
In
the next year Adam appears again. This time he seems to have been involved in a
number of local feuds for he and a neighbour, Richard Croxton, were bound over
to keep the peace towards a member of the Warburton family; similarly in 1342 he
and William Brereton were bound to keep the peace towards John Wrenbury.
Such disputes probably arose over arguments concerning rights to lands or over
the boundaries between them.
On
3 May 1343 we find Adam Bostock styled the
elder
in a grant to Nicholas, son of Richard Vernon of Whatcroft, of a parcel of
lands in Bostock that lay between Whatcroft Hall and the river Dane, on the
occasion of Nicholas� marriage to Adam�s daughter, Margery. The witnesses
include Sir Hugh Venables and Sir Hugh Vernon. A few years later an indenture
was made out that recited the settlement of a dispute concerning rights at
Bostock mill between Nicholas Vernon's son Ralph and Adam, 'lord of Bostocke'.
It was agreed at a hearing held in Davenham that Adam had granted Ralph free
milling rights forever on the understanding that whenever he visited the mill
Ralph would grind whatever corn was already in the hopper, regardless of who
owned it, before grinding his own. Further it was agreed that if both Adam and
Ralph delivered their grain at the same time then each was to grind a quarter of
their load at a time. The witnesses to this agreement included Sir Ralph Vernon,
Sir Hugh Dutton, Sir Roger Chedle and Sir William Brereton.
Adam occurs many times in deeds relating to
the salt town of Middlewich; in fact a dozen times between the years 1316
and 1343. Adam died at sometime between this latter year and 1350 when his
widow, Matilda, occurs in suit for dower for four messuages and sixty acres of
land in Bostock, against John St. Pierre, her husband�s lord. The St. Pierre
family had obtained the manor of Bostock during the break-up of the barony of
Shipbrook amongst a number of daughters and their husbands as a consequence of
Sir Warren Vernon dying without a male heir.
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Whilst
the manor of Bostock was held by service from the Vernons and then the St.
Pierres, the family held other lands
in the area directly from the earl of Chester. Adam, as a young man add to the
family�s property by obtaining lands in nearby Wharton (known then as Waverton-juxta-Bostok)
from Robert Sudlowe and Michael Merton in 1321/2. The ancient pedigrees state that this Adam married Jane, daughter of Sir William Brereton of Brereton. Adam seems to have had the following children: Adam, William, Ralph, David and Margery. |
 The arms of Brereton of Brereton |
William Bostock
The next lord of the manor of Bostock is usually given as William Bostock. This is to be doubted as the deed of 1343 refers to 'Adam Bostok, senior' and a document which appears in the Black Prince� s Register indicates that in the 1350s an 'Adam son of Adam Bostok' was the lord. In 1354, Hamon le Bret of Davenham, Adam son of Adam son of Philip Bostok, Hugh Ward of Bostock and William Moulton, son of Robert Davenham, complained to Edward, Prince of Wales, in his capacity as earl of Chester, that they had been ordered to pay 6d. an acre for their lands and tenements in Bostock, Davenham and Moulton in the belief that they held directly from him. This was not the case and they argued that they held their lands from Adam son of Adam Bostock, who held the manor from John St. Pierre. An order dated 21 February of that year required the matter to be investigated on the Prince�s behalf, and a further order was made on 11 May requiring further evidence to be heard.
William
was probably Adam�s uncle who had some responsibilities for the estates during
Adam's minority and may be the same as William Bostock of Huntington. In 1354 John
Assheton, parson of Davenham, Randol Roter, William Bostock and Robert Mascy of
Sale, entered into a recognizance as sureties for the profits of lands known as
Chirchemosse should the lands be adjudged to be the earl�s property. On 30
September 1361 William was appointed by the Black Prince as seneschal
(steward) of the manor of Frodsham and was still acting as such in 1363 when he
occurs with a David Bostock, perhaps his brother, in a recognizance of 20
marks (�6 13s 4d) payable to the
Earl, on a fine of �40 payable by
Randol Roter. The following year, there was a dispute between members of the
Venables family of Kinderton and William Bostock (along with a Brereton and a
Wheelock) concerning twenty messuages and nearly nine hundred acres of lands in
Kingsley, Norley, Weaverham, Acton, Crowton, Frodsham and Heswall. This dispute
no doubt arose due to William's position as steward of Frodsham.
On
3 March 1366 William Bostock was a witness at an inquiry, held in
Middlewich, into the lands held by John Ward of Bostock: other witnesses were
Adam Bostock, senior, Adam Bostock, junior, and David Bostock. The
same year William acquired lands in Marlston-cum-Lache through his wife Joan,
for which dower he had to sue the prioress of Chester who was then in possession
of the property. In 1370 William acquired lands in Bradwall, near Sandbach, and
from hereon a branch settled in that township.
Pedigrees
that mention William seem to give him three marriages. The first to a daughter
of Sir Richard Winnington; to Alice, daughter and heiress of William
Moulton; and the third to Joan, daughter of the Norris family of Speke who was
the widow of Sir Thomas Daniers of Tabley, a renowned campaigner of the Hundred
Years War who had died in 1354. William died in 1387 in which year his widow
sued for dower lands in Wimboldsley.
William
seems to have had a son named William as, in 1361 when appointed to the post of
steward of Frodsham he was scribed as senior.
His son may have been the William Bostock who, in 1366 was under-seneschal
to the abbot of Vale Royal. Burke�s Land
Gentry, which lists William as father of Adam also list other children:
Robert Bostock of Warmingham who married and had issue who lived in that area
(i.e. John who occurs in 1435 as deputy for the lord of that manor); Ralph
Bostock, the head of a family which settled in Moulton for many generations;
David Bostock; William Bostock, the under-seneschal, who had sons John Bostock,
lord of Worleston, and Thomas who were both archers in the service of the Crown
in 1398.
William�s brother David, referred to above, occurs in the years 1364 and 1374. He had a son also named David who, in 1398 occurs as an archer of the crown, a member of King Richard II�s bodyguard, and another son, John, similarly scribed. One of these Davids may have settled at Churton in the west of the county, though some pedigrees suggest a David of a later generation. David junior accompanied King Richard to Ireland in 1399 and his letters of protection issued on 8 June that year name Thomas Brett of Davenham as his attorney. Another brother was Ralph de Bostock, who in 1344 was named as the father of William, a monk at Vale Royal Abbey.