Events
Date of Birth: unknown.
Place of Birth: unknown.
Date of Death: about 1363.
Place of Death: unknown.
Margaret made her will in 1363.
Relationships
Father: Robert de Shoresworth.
This relationship is given by the Lancashire VCH (4:sub Denton fn. 11).
Mother: unknown.
Spouse: Sir William de Holland.
This relationship is given by the Lancashire VCH (4:sub Denton fn. 11), which notes that her relationship with William is not clear: they might have been invalidly married.
Spouse: Henry de Worsley. Married by 1299.
This relationship is given by the Lancashire VCH (4:sub Denton fn. 11). Henry died in or before 1304.
Spouse: Robert de Radcliffe of Radcliffe Tower. Married in or before 1305.
This relationship is given by Hampson, by Baines, by Whitaker, and by the Lancashire VCH (4:sub Denton fn. 11).
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
Thurstan de Holland (before 1300 - after 1376).
John de Holland.
Robert de Worsley (born by 1299).
William Radcliffe married Katherine de Norleigh.
John Radcliffe, rector of Bury, married Margaret.
Richard Radcliffe.
Robert Radcliffe.
Evidence
Evidence concerning Margaret taken from the VCH (v. 4, sub Worsley, Denton, Pendleton; v. 5 sub Sharples, sub Great and Little Heaton). I have arranged it chronologically, so I will put the place of the VCH article in square brackets after the pieces of evidence.
[Henry de Worsley’s] first wife Joan was dead in 1293, when he granted a pound of wax for the service of the high altar of Eccles Church for her soul and the souls of his father, ancestors, &c., Whalley Coucher, iii, 923. [Worsley]
[Henry de Worsley] then married Margaret, who survived him (1304) and became the wife of Robert son of Richard de Radcliffe in or before 1305; De Banco R. 149, m. 41; 153, m. 315 d. [Worsley]
In 1307 Richard [de Worsley] assigned dower to Margaret his father's widow in two granges &c. outside the hall gate on the eastern side by the road to Manchester, in the demesne lands, in the holdings of certain under-tenants, together with the mill of Worsley and its appurtenances; De Banco R. 151. [Worsley]
Three days later Margaret and her husband Robert de Radcliffe demised these dower lands to Richard at a rent of £10, payable in Manchester Church; De Banco R.152; also no. 157 (1317). [Worsley]
In 1314–15 land in Pleasington had been settled upon Sir William de Holland and Joan his wife, with remainder in default of issue to Thurstan son of Sir William; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 158b/ 194b. [Denton]
Thurstan is described as son of Sir William in other deeds; e.g. ibid. fol. 156/192. [Denton]
Sir Robert de Holland in 1319 granted to Thurstan de Holland son of Margaret de Shoresworth all his lands and tenements in demesne and lordship in Heaton on Fallowfield, and the services of all the free tenants and others, rendering 5 marks a year for ten years and then only 1d., and rendering to the chief lords the services due; Lord Wilton's D. [Great and Little Heaton]
In 1322 Margaret, formerly wife of Henry [de Worsley], sold and released to Robert her son all her goods in Worsley, movable and immovable, for £40 sterling which he had paid her; Ellesmere D. no. 140. [Worsley]
(1) A grant by Thurstan son of Sir William de Holland to William de Halliwell; (2) Re-grant by William son of Richard de Halliwell to Thurstan. Thurstan [de Holland] son of Margaret de Shoresworth, holding two-thirds of a tenement in Harwood, Joan widow of John de Belowe of Sharples, holding one third, and others were defendants to a claim made by William de Halliwell in 1325; Assize R. 426, m. 6. [Sharples]
The claim was renewed in 1331, when Thurstan's mother was called Margaret del Booth; Assize R. 1404, m. 19. The claim was for common of pasture in 300 acres of moor and pasture in Harwood and Great Bolton. [Sharples]
In 1330 Alexander de Shoresworth granted all his lands, &c., in Denton to Margaret daughter of Robert de Shoresworth, and she at once granted to Thurstan her son all her messuages and lands in Denton under Doneshagh in the vill of Withington, with remainders to William son of Robert de Radcliffe, to John brother of Robert, and to Robert son of Henry de Worsley; Lord Wilton's D. Five years later Thurstan regranted the same to his mother; ibid. [Denton]
Beatrice, a third daughter [of Ellis de Pendlebury], in 1331 released all her right in Sharples in the vills of Great Bolton and Harwood to Thurstan son of Margaret de Shoresworth; Harl. MS. 2112 fol. 145b/181b. [Sharples]
In 1332 Henry son of Richard de Bolton was plaintiff in a suit respecting four messuages and 30 acres in Pendleton, Thurstan son of Margaret de Worsley being defendant; De Banco R. 288, m. 55 d. Thurstan is no doubt Thurstan de Holland, ancestor of the Denton family. Richard de Bolton in 1319–20 had granted to Thurstan son of Margaret de Shoresworth a part of his land in Bolton in Pendleton; and Thomas, the grantor's son, quitclaimed Thurstan in 1339; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 146/182. [Pendleton]
[In] (1338) John son of John de Prestwich gave a rent of 40s., charged on his lands in Salford and Heaton, to Margaret, who had been the wife of Henry de Worsley; ibid. fol 146b 182b. [Great and Little Heaton]
This was followed in 1343 by a grant to her of all his lands in Heaton; ibid. fol. 148/184. [Great and Little Heaton]
Margaret de Shoresworth was still living in 1348, when she recovered seisin of her lands in Bolton, Manchester, Pendleton, Wardley, Barton, Myerscough, Heaton, and Denton against Thurstan son of Sir William de Holland and Richard son of Thurstan; Assize R. 1444, m. 7 d. [Denton]
About 1348 Margaret de Shoresworth recovered seisin of her free tenement in Heaton, Denton, &c., of which she alleged that Thurstan son of Sir William de Holland (and her son also) had disseised her; Assize R. 1444, m. 7 d. [Great and Little Heaton]
Henry's [de Worsley’s] widow Margaret lived on until about 1363, when her will was made; Ellesmere D no. 271. [Worsley]
In the same year she gave her son Thurstan de Holland all her goods movable and immovable; Ellesmere D no. 270. [Worsley]
References
Baines, Edward. The History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster. (Volume II, 1889)
Hampson, Charles P. The Book of the Radclyffes: Being an Account of the Main Descents of this Illustrious Family from its Origin to the Present Day (privately printed, 1940).
Holland, Bernard. The Lancashire Hollands. (London, 1917).
Holland, Edgar Swinton. A History of the Family of Holland of Mobberley and Knutsford in the County of Chester. (privately printed, 1902).
“Townships: Denton” in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4 (Victoria County History, London, 1911).
“Townships: Worsley” A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4 (Victoria County History, London, 1911).
Whitaker, Thomas Dunham. An History of the Original Parish of Whalley and Honor of Clitheroe. v. 2 (4th ed., 1876).