Holt Ancestry – History 1650

1650–1699

This section brings together the recorded appearances of the Holt family in the Victoria History of the County of Lancaster (1906). Each entry is drawn from contemporary legal, manorial, and ecclesiastical documents, tracing the family’s landholding, obligations, disputes, and social roles across the centuries. These chronological notes provide a documentary framework for understanding the Holts’ presence and influence within the evolving landscape of Lancashire.

1650	Richard Holtof Ashworth mentioned re. Horwich church/chapel (p8). Robert Holt of London purchased the old chapel of St Marys at Singleton in Kirkham(vol.7 p187)
1651	Peter Holt’s son Roger heir on his death (p136).
1654	Robert Holt purchased the manor of Adlington with lands in Adlington, Anderton and Blackrod (vol 6).
1657	Leyland Hundred had 2 flagons bearing the arms of Holt of Shevington, dividing a long inscription, “Alexander Holt esq., citizen and Goldsmith of London, gave these 2 flagons of silver to the parish of Standish where he was born …” The second chalice is inscribed “given to the parish church of Standish, … by Edward Holt, late of Shevington, decd. 1677”. Also there were cover patens. The one of 1677, the gift of James Holt, is 9 in. in diameter with the arms of Holt in the centre with a martlet for difference. Around the arms is inscribed “Ex dono Jacobi Holt … Edward Holt …” (vol 6 p187).
1657	Peter Heywood died. His wife had lands in Rochdale and Stidd, the inheritance of her former husband Theophilus Holt (p139).
	CHARLES 1660–1685
1662	John Holt shown on Survey of Deadwenclough as renting land – as in 1609. George Holt appears in survey of Harley Head and Bacup (vol 6).
1664	A pedigree recorded concerning Robert Holt (p224).
1665	Little Mitton in Whalley was purchased by Alexander Holt, goldsmith of London, of the Gristlehurst family. This descended to the Beaumonts who later sold it (vol 6 p389). Pedigree outline: Alexander Holt → Robert → Alexander → William (d.1737) → daughter Elizabeth (d.1791) married to Richard Beaumont.
1666	HEARTH TAX
1666	Heap – Roger Holt had 7 of the largest dwellings at Heywood. All branches of cotton spinning and manufacture, and iron and brass foundries existed there. At Heap Bridge there were paper, woollen and cotton mills (p136). Holt of Gristlehurst held 13 hearths in Burtle with Bamford (p174). At Middleton, Ashworth only had 32 hearths liable to tax, but Richard Holt’s dwelling had 12 of them (p177). Robert Holt had 11 hearths in Wardle and 15 in Castleton (p189). Mr ? Holt at Shevington had 6 hearths – only two others in the township had more (9 and 7) (vol 6). In Whalley, of 22 hearths, 11 were in Alexander Holt’s house (vol 6). Thomas Posthumus Holt and Anne his wife granted the manors of Forton and Spotland to trustees who in 1667 conveyed them to the tenants (vol 8 p107).
1667	Richard Holt died – buried at Middleton. Ashworth left to his son Robert, who died without issue (p179).
1673	Robert Holt died; heir was younger son James (p224).
1674	John Holt of Manchester was a calenderer in the bleaching, finishing and dyeing industry from the earliest records.
1676	Francis Holt exercised the right of patronage at the church of St Saviour at Stidd, but on the decay of the family and apparent extinction of the manor the vicar of Ribchester seems to have become the patron (vol 7 p60). James Holt inherited Castleton in 1676 (brother of Robert Holt who died in 1673). James was a fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford – BA 1667, MA 1670.
1677	James Holt settled manors Naden, Chesham and lands in Hundersfield (p224). Isabel Holt, daughter of Robert of Castleton and Stubley, married Sir Richard Atherton (vol 3).
1678	Thomas Posthumus Holt died in poverty having squandered his whole estate – pedigree 1664–5 (p175). Alexander Holt, a London goldsmith, said to be his cousin.
1682	Roger Holt died and Bridge Hall went to his brother John (p137). James Holt, brother‑in‑law of Sir Richard Atherton, presented at Queens College Cambridge as guardian of John Atherton, a minor (also in 1690 will of Sir Richard – vol 3).
	JAMES II 1685–1688
1685	6 Feb – John Holt of Gray’s Inn, recorder of London (at Whitehall by the king).
1686	Fine recorded: William Daniel v Robert Holt, manors of Little Mitton and Catterall (vol 6 Whalley, vol 7 p322).
	WILLIAM III and MARY 1688–1702
1689	Sir John Holt, Judge and Lord Chief Justice (1642–1710), son of Sir Thomas Holt of Gray’s Inn, descended from Holts of Gristlehurst. Active in inviting William of Orange to England and became Lord Chief Justice in 1689. “The solution found – a bizarre pretence that, by leaving the country as he did, (King) James had by implication abdicated – was eventually put forward by the Whig jurist Sir George Treby, and supported by others of that ilk, like John Somers and Sir John Holt.” (Stuart England, J.P. Kenyon, Penguin Books, 1978, p257–258) He was “an ardent supporter of civil and religious liberty.” Harvard Law Library notes: “In judicial fairness, legal knowledge and ability, clearness of statement and unbending integrity, he has had few if any superiors on the English Bench…”. Sir John Holt repeatedly directed acquittals of suspected witches, helping bring the witchcraft hysteria of the 17th century to an end.
1697	John sold Bridge Hall (p137).
	End of 17th C – Gooden was owned by James Holt of Stubley (p173).