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had been settled on Alice Starkie at the time of her marriage.

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In the litigation which arose after Alexander Norris' death,1 some interesting evidence is given, which is still preserved among the Episcopal muniments at Chester. John Okey of Bolton, "linendraper," aged sixty-four, deposes that he was present "one day in April laste" with Mr. Norris at "his house in Bolton." Evidently Hall i' th' Wood was either used as a country residence, or was in the occupation of Mistress Starkie. Norris first sent for Mr. Thomas Lever, the attorney, and gave him instructions for "the drawing and makyng of his will." Mr. Lever committed the instructions to writing, and then took them away, returning in four or five days with the draft of the will, and read it over to the deceased, who heard and approved it, but made some additions and erasures with his own hand, particularly relating to a legacy to "his daughter Starkie." The deceased, Mr. Okey says, was of sound mind and memory, and "published his will in an upper rome or chamber at his house in Bolton about the mid time of the daye and he was sometymes walkynge in the rome, and sometymes

1 Alexander Norris died on the 11th May 1672, and was buried in Bolton Parish Churchyard on 14th May. His gravestone was to be seen until the recent churchyard improvements took place. Mr. Bridson obligingly sends me the following copy of what was left of the inscription as recently as last year (1902)—

[HERE LIETH THE BODY OF]

ALEXANDER NORRES OF BOULTON]
[WHOJE DIED THE II OF MAY [1672]

AGED 68 YEARS AND HERE RESTETH IN THE
GRAVE OF HIS MOTHER ALICE NORRES WHO
DYED IN THE YEARE 1614.

The words within square brackets are conjectural. It is possible that the last date is not correct, as the Register seems to fix the year of death of his mother, Alice Norris, as 1624, not 1614.

2 See Appendix, p. 40.

3 This seems to have been the John Okey whose remarkable epitaph in Bolton Churchyard is so well known. See Scholes' History of Bolton, p. 192.

he sate downe." The deponent considers "the reale estate to be worth about eight score poundes a yeere which the widowe is to have one thirde of duringe her life and this daughter Mistress Starkey is to have the rest according to a settlement made at her marriage." Lawrence Hargreaves of Huntroyd corroborates this evidence, and says he was present at the signing of the will, which took place as described by John Okey, but he defines the "mid time of the daye," to which Okey referred, as "betweene foure and fyve in the afternoone."

In the Inventory attached to the will is a lengthy list of goods at Alexander Norris' Bolton house, and a much briefer list of goods at "Hall of the Wood," as it is called. Evidently he had only left there heavy pieces of furniture that might almost be regarded as fixtures, such as tables, cupboards, dressers, and "greate arkes," a fact which confirms the idea that Mistress Starkie was there at this time. The list of rooms is as follows: The Greene Parlour, the Parlour Chamber, another room the name of which has perished in the document, the Kitchin, the Larder, the Hall, the New Parlour, the New Parlour chamber, the Closet, Granny's Chamber, the Red Chamber, the Seller, the Miller's Room, and the chamber over the Miller's. It is difficult to identify all the rooms named in this list. The Hall is of course the great hall, the room now marked No. 1 on the plan, the New Parlour is No. 2, the New Parlour chamber the room above it, the Miller's room is perhaps No. 9, while the chamber over the Miller's would be the room in which the Brownlow initials and dated stone are to be seen.

After John Starkie's death in 1665, his widow continued to live at the Hall with her young family. Her eldest son John, however, appears to have given her a good deal of trouble. He matriculated

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at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 12th September 1676, aged eighteen,' but does not seem to have made any mark, as he did not proceed with his degree. He came back to Bolton, where he presently earned great notoriety by eloping with the daughter of Mr. Hulton of Hulton, who was engaged to be married in the same week to a Mr. Farrington. The Rev. Oliver Heywood, in his Autobiography, refers to the incident twice.2 He writes in one copy of his Register: "Mr. Starkey stole away Mr. Hilton of Park['s] dau: (was to marry Mr. Farrington that week) married about 12 a clock in the night at Dr. Lows in Bolton. Sept.' [1682], and in the other, "Mr. Starkey of Huntroid stole away Mr. Hulton of Parks dr:-Sept. 1682, a rant." He returned to Bolton and lived for a year or two at Tonge, as we find his daughter Anne baptized at Bolton in July of the following year, and described as "daughter of John Starkie of Tong, Esquire." His mother died in December of the same year, when he probably went to live at Huntroyd; at all events, he did not continue at Bolton. Although he had several children, the male line failed in the next generation, and the property has since descended through the family of his brother Nicholas. Nicholas went up to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1678, and became a barrister of Gray's Inn in 1686, and had a successful legal career. He married in 1689, and came to live at Hall i' th' Wood, remaining there for several years. He left it, however, before 1697, and about this date the house seems to have been leased to a

family of the name of Pimlot. After this it rapidly fell from its high estate, and was ultimately divided

1 Foster's Alumni Oxonienses.

2 Northowram Register, p. 45, and Autobiog., vol. ii. p. 132.

3 Probably Thomas Loe of Bolton, surgeon, whose will was proved at Chester in 1708.

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