William Crombleholme imprisioned in the Tower of London

William Crombleholme  [Cro0060]   (c.1540 -1618)

Birth & Early life :

c1540 - William Crombleholme [Cro0060] was born the son of Richard Crombleholme  [Cro0056] of  Dutton (c1510-1544) and his wife Margaret (nee Hothersall)  [Cro0057] the daughter of Robert Hothersall.  She had been born c 1515 and was buried on 17th October 1572 at St Laurence Priory, Snaith, East Riding, Yorkshire.  (Source : last sentence  - P Reg of Snaith, Yorkshire part II Burials 1537-1656  Yorkshire PR Soc  Vol 63 p25 pub 1919)

They had married in c1540 and William Crombleholme  [Cro0060] is presumed to be their eldest child, with two younger daughters Alice  [Cro0014]  Anne. [Cro0062] .  All the children were born before 1544 when their father Richard Crombleholme [Cro0056] died young.

The family like many others in Lancashire in the C16th appear to have been Roman Catholic. After Henry VIII's divorces and his split with Rome, religion became a very important issue. The Act of Supremacy was introduced when Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558 and this made it treason to maintain the Pope's authority.

However, wealthy Catholics and especially those living in the remote parts of northern England, seem to have managed to ignore such requirements and as long as they did not openly oppose the government were allow to remain in positions of authority and even as MP's.

The Society of Jesuits had been founded in 1535 and established themselves in Europe and many parts of the New World. When they started to arrive in England during the 1580's, the government viewed them as extreme catholic activists.

In time, persons unable to conform to the new Protestant region were classified as Recusants or non conformists and were gradually fined, forced to be religiously re-educated and even imprisioned. Again, in remoter northern areas, this was not enforced with many local officials turning a blind eye. Many people outwardly attended Church services but held catholic services and masses in private. The authorities had hoped that the long tradition of sons of well to do families taking up orders would continue but with the Roman catholic faith giving way to the Protestant one.

However William Allen (1532 - 94), an Englishman who had attended pro catholic Oxford University founded a seminary college in 1568 with the King of Spain's assistance in Douai (Douay) near the border of France & Belgium. Similar colleges were established throughout Europe with the intention of training seminary priests as opposed to locally ordained ones. 

Young English men were encouraged to leave England to train mostly in Douay. Allen's superiors soon tasked him with getting these priests back into England, the first ones undertaking this dangerous mission in 1574. Six years later in 1580, there were over 100 of these "missionary" priests operating in secret throughout England. 

These priests were regarded as enemies of the state and had to adapt aliases, disguises, secret hiding places (often in "priest holes") and had to communicate using secret signs and codes. This, in turn, lead to the establishment of England's first "secret intelligence service" initially founded and funded privately by Sir Francis Walsingham. 

With the privy purse taking over the financing of this service to an estimated tune of £3000 /4000, it soon expanded to have many agents in the country as well as abroad. William Cecil (later Lord Burghley) took charge of the whole operation and managed to persuade Queen Elizabeth I (reign 1558-1603) to arrest, try and execute many Catholic supporters and ultimately also the Duke of Norfolk & Mary Queen of Scots. Rewards were also offered encouraging informants and many raids took place on known Catholic families and houses.

In addition, there had been the great opportunities offered to acquire lands arising from the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1540's. It is estimated that the Church had owned up to a third of all land and this had been causing growing resentment amongst landowners and the new breed of merchants and businessmen. There was a general fear that if the "Old Faith" returned, these lands may have been reclaimed by the Catholic church.

Strangely perhaps then, William Crombleholme's  [Cro0060]  grandfather Richard Crombleholme  [Cro0013]  had purchased church lands in the Dutton area in 1544 and resold them only 4 days later presumably at a tidy profit ! As noted above, his father, another Richard [Cro0056]  had married into the Hothersall family who were staunch Catholics. With William C [Cro0060]  losing his father Richard C  [Cro0056]  (he died in 1544) as a young boy, he was probably influenced by his mother's family and it would appear may have planned to travel abroad to Douay with his younger cousins and perhaps even to enter the priesthood.

1584 - William Crombleholme is arrested :

Joseph Gillow's Bibliographical Dictionary of English Cathoilcs (p410-411) quotes the following extract (reproduced in full below) which relates how William Crombleholme [Cro0060] came to be imprisioned in the Tower of London. 

Note : This should, however, be read in conjunction with more modern research which is noted after this extract.

p410 ..........................Dr. Bridgewater ("Concertatio Eccl.," ed. 1594, f. 214) gives an interesting narrative of the arrest of George Hothersall, with his cousins, four youths of the family of Worthington, of Blainscough Hall, and William Crumbleholme  [Cro0060]  of Dutton. 

The relationship existed through two daughters of Nicholas Rishton, of Dunkenhalgh, Esq., Agnes and Isabel, marrying respectively Richard Worthington, of Blainscough Hall, and Robert Hothersall of Hothersall Hall. The latter's daughter, Margaret [Cro0057], married Richard Crumbleholme [Cro0056] of Dutton, and had issue the William Crumbleholme  [Cro0060]  referred to by Dr. Bridgewater. 

A pursuivant reported to Sir Edmund Trafford, the sheriff of Lancashire, that Thomas Worthington, priest (afterwards president of Douay College), with his four nephews and their kinsmen, George Hothersall and William Crumbleholme  [Cro0060], were staying with Mr. Sankey, of Great Sankey, near Warrington, and were preparing to start for Douay or some other seminary. 

The under-sheriff and twenty javelin-men were at once despatched to Sankey House, which they surrounded and broke into about three o'clock in the morning of Feb. 12, 1584. Dr. Bridgewater narrates the adventures of the Worthingtons at great length. Where Hothersall was imprisoned and how he escaped is not stated, but William Crumbleholme  [Cro0060]  was first detained in the house of Sir Edmund Trafford, of Trafford, and afterwards committed to the Tower of London. 

Note : Sir Edmund Trafford (1526 - 1590) was related to Queen Elizabeth through the Howards and was known to be "a most bitter enemy of the Catholics". He was commissioned by the Privy Council to question those who had harboured the catholic priest Campion and ordered to search their houses for books and other "superstitious stuff". In 1582, he started to arrest catholic priests the first being John Baxter, followed by Williamson and Hatton. Following a tip off from the Bishop of Chester, he raided Blainscough to arrest Thomas Worthington but missed him and then went to nearby Rossall, a house occupied by Cardinal Allen's widowed sister-in-law where having missed him again seized £500 on the pretext that it was intended for Allen. Trafford was referred to as "that utterly barbarous man" and "the unrighteous sheriff of Lancashire"

In February 1584, it would appear that he nearly caught up with and arrested Thomas Worthington at Sankey House near Warrington but Worthington escaped.  and William Crumbleholme [60] was arrested with him (see above). 

William Crumbleholme [60] was first taken to the house of Sir Edmund Trafford of Trafford.  Very little has been found on either Sankey House or Trafford Manor apart from a comment that Sir Edmund Trafford maintained a retinue at Trafford including huntsmen, a schoolmaster and musicians. He contributed £100 to the Armada fund in 1588 and died in May 1590 but his will and inventory showed no great wealth.            (Source : History of Parliament : The House of Commons 1558-1603 by P W Hasler (on line) Lancashire 1572)

It is recorded in several accounts that Thomas Worthington was intending to convey his four young nephews to Reims. These Worthington boys were :  Thomas (jun) aged16, Robert aged 15, Richard aged 13 and John aged 11.  George Hothersall would have been aged about  **  years and his cousin William Crumbleholme [60] would have been older at about 40 years of age. Thomas Worthington himself managed to elude capture at Sankey in February 1584 but was arrested finally in Islington near London in July of that year after being betrayed by a fellow lodger. 

The Worthington boys (presumably with George Hothersall and William Crumbleholme [60]) were interrogated about the whereabouts of Thomas Worthington and details of other catholics in the area. It seems that although George Hothersall and William Crumbleholme [60] remained prisoners, the younger boys were freed or escaped. The oldest Thomas (jun) was re-arrested with his uncle in Islington and was held in the Gatehouse of the Tower for 2 years. Thomas Worthington like William Crumbleholme was sent to the Tower of London and spent two months in "the pit" . Whilst William Crumbleholme [60] remained in the Tower until the summer of 1585, George Hothersall and Thomas Worthington were amongst some 20 other priests who were sent to Normandy by the Queen's Warrant of "perpetual banishment".  Thomas Worthington became the President of Douai College in June 1599. Thomas (jun) went abroad and married a niece of Cardinal Allen and died in Lovain in 1619. The younger boys also made it across the channel but Robert and Richard died in 1586. John became a Jesuit and returned to Lancashire as one of the first missioners. He died there in 1652 having no doubt made contact with William Crumbleholme [60] who, it seems, went straight back to Lancashire.     (Source : Oxford DNB; Catholic Encyclopedia Vol VIII; Official Postulator (on line) 

Rishton's account ("Diarium rerum gestarum in Turri Londinensi") says that on Oct. 16, 1584, William Crumlum  [Cro0060]  condemned to the pit for two months and twenty-one days, and on June 7, 1585, he was again subjected to the same punishment for seven days. 

When he was first imprisoned in the Tower he is said to have blessed God for his chains which he kissed, and declared that they "were more to him than a collar of gold". 

The source for William exclaiming this rather dramatic statement is from the History of Goosnargh, Old Halls & families Chapter X p 176 with a further footnote 105 : Concertatio Eccl. Cathol. in Anglia by Joan Aquepontanus (Bridgewater) Treves 1589, 1594. I have yet to see this !

Note : See also Rishton's Rerum in turre Londinensi gestarum wherein he is called "nobilis"   As will be seen below, Rishton did not write the Diarium and it unfortunately does not contain this statement. The original account by Dr Bridgewater however has yet to be seen.  William Crombleholme [Cro0060]'s  father Richard Crombleholme [Cro0056] died in 1544 and therefore William [60] must have been at least 1584-1544 = 40 years old when arrested. 

At length, he seems to have obtained his release, and is the William Crumbleholme [Cro0060]  who died at Euxton in 1618, bequeathing, amongst other legacies, one to his sister Alice, the wife of John Townley, one to his cousin Isabel Hothersall, and another to his cousin Roger Sherburne. (See Will  ref SR 11 - see below)

A few days before the news of Edward Rishton's death reached the English College at Rheims, after his release from the Tower, his kinsman, been released from the Tower in the previous January, placed on board a vessel by Elizabeth's orders, and landed on the coast of Normandy with other exiles.

George Hothersall was probably one of them. He received minor orders at Rheims, Aug. 18, 1590, and on the following Sept. 29th was sent with nine other students to colonize the English College at Valiadolid, where he was admitted on the following Dec. 15. There he was ordained priest, and left the college for the English mission in the beginning of October 1593. 

At Flushing he was arrested, and (according to the speech of Robert Barnes at his arraignment, who was indicted for relieving Mr. Hothersail, July 3, 1598) was ........" sent over violently, committed presently, by the Lords of the Council, to prison to St. Catherine's, after, by Sir Thomas Heneage and other, under their warrants, had liberty to go with his keeper abroad, to get his relief, which he usually did, and returned to his prison. He, coming with this keeper to the gatehouse, and with this lewd fellow [Nicholas Blackwell] he was still in prison ; and, therefore, I demurred in law, if he were a traitor. Besides, we, never relieving him, nor hearing or seeing him do any priestly function, were in no danger of law .Then Topcliffe said, "This Hothursall, my lord, I had in Bridewell, for a Book of Succession, wherein he would have had the puppet of Spain to have had right unto her majesty's crown." 

The book referred to was that published by Fr. Persons in 1594. He appears in Bridgewater's list of those who suffered imprisonment, exile, or death, in the reign of Elizabeth, as a man of gentle birth, first a prisoner and then an exile. This was printed before his ordination and his second imprisonment. He appears to have been again exiled, and on Feb. 15, 1615, he was professed at the English Benedictine monastery at Douay. The date of his death is uncertain, but it is thought to have happened about 1633. 

George Hothersall's father, John Hothersall, married Anne, daughter of John Talbot, of Salesbury and his first wife, Anne, daughter of Hugh Sherburne, of Stonyhurst. In 1576, John Hothersall was reported to the Privy Council by Downham, Bishop ot Chester, as one of those recusants in Lancashire and Cheshire to whose names he appends the remark — ........." Of all the rest theis xij are in o' opinions of longest obstinacy against Religion, & yf by y"" Ld, good wisdomes theye cold be reclaymed, wee think tlie other wold as well foUowe their good example in embarasinge the Quenes Matlmost godly procedinge, as they have followed their evill example in contemprisinge their dutie in that behalf." (end of extract)

Above : General view of the River Thames and the Tower in the 1540's

The Tower of London in 1597

The Pit is thought to be an old well some 20 feet deep located in the cellar of the White Tower (the central building within the walls) and still exists although a plaque there makes no mention of this.

Described elsewhere as "the dungeon among the ratts", William Crombleholme  [Cro0060]  spent a very long time in this morale breaking pit without much light and by himself. This was used as a punishment for any minor infringement of prison rules and could be used by the Lieutenant of the Tower at his own discretion.

There is, thankfully, nothing to suggest that he had been subjected to any of the forms of torture that existed within the prison. 

These tortures included :

Little ease : confinement in a very small cell with no standing room.

The rack to stretch and pull limbs apart 

The scavenger's daughter - a ring that progressively crushed the body

The Gauntlets - manacles that suspended a prisoner with arms above his head.

Any form of torture had strict rules subject to the permissions and use only after other methods of extracting confessions had been exhausted. It could only be used for potential capital offences and various people including aristocrats and members of the established church were exempt.

In his book "A Tudor Journal - The Diary of a Priest in the Tower" (pub St Pauls, 2000) Brian A Harrison relates his detailed research into the original "Diarium rerum gestarum in Turri Londinensi"  - (ie The Diary of a Priest in the Tower) 

He relates how this diary, recording events in the Tower London between June 1580 & June 1585, was in fact not written by Edward Rishton. In addition, earlier inaccurate translations from the original Latin together with errors in typesetting and printing had given rise to errors.

By careful research of actual records, Harrison has established that Rishton was not imprisoned in the Tower and does not appear in the Tower Bills for "diett and fees". He had been born in Lancashire in 1550 and educated at Oxford prior to studying at Douay and being ordained in 1573. He had been arrested and sentenced to death as a catholic priest. However, this was not carried out and he was eventually was certainly among the first batch of priests deported back to France in 1585. His superiors tasked him with writing an attack on the English Reformation and this appears to have later been confused with the "Diarium".

Another priest, John Hart is almost certainly the author of the diary especially given that the period covered exactly matches his imprisonment. Hart had also studied at Oxford and left for France in 1569.  He returned to England in 1580 but was immediately arrested in Dover. He was sent by Walsington to be re-educated in Oxford. However, this failed to alter his faith and he was imprisoned in the Tower in 1580.

Brian Harrison suggests that John Hart did not write up the diary of the events until after his release in 1585. He had been tried as a traitor and condemned to death but unlike many others, refuted the Catholic faith whilst on the way to his execution. It is further suggested that the diary acted as means of him avoiding searching questions from his Catholic masters having recorded the day to day events of the Catholic prisoners in the Tower. At the time, he complied with Walsingham's wishes who, in return, was able to save him from a another potential death sentence. 

It may have been that John Hart was a "double agent" - pretending to be a catholic prisoner and getting others to confide in him enabling him to pass information to William Cecil. This certainly happened in several cases with Cecil employing code breakers and trained inquisitors. He is credited with foiling several serious Catholic plots to assassinate the Queen and potential invasions by the Spanish and French. 

There are only two entries in the Diarium featuring William Cromleholme (Crumlum) [Cro0060]  - the first being his arrival and the others noting him being put in the "the pit". 

1584 - March 22nd & 23rd : William Brumlum  [Cro0060]  and Francis Arden, noted laymen seized. (it would appear that they seized on the 22nd and committed on the next day)

1584 - October 16th : William Crumlum  [Cro0060]  cast in the pit for two months and twenty four days.  (i.e. about 84 days !)

1585 - January 4th : Patrick Addy, Scots priest, cast into the pit for four days and William Crumlum  [Cro0060]  for seven days.

1585 - January 21st : John Hart, together with twenty others were deported and put ashore on the coast of Normandy, he was not therefore able to record William Cromleholme's  [Cro0060]  release from the tower.

Brian Harrison makes a very interesting point in that Hart must have had an understanding with one of the warders as all prisoners were kept in solitary confinement and he would have had little or no way of gaining news and information relating to his fellow prisoners. It appears that he must have committed all the information to memory and only recorded it on paper (in Latin) after his release and enforced move to France. The 

The Tower Bills : 

There are fortunately official records that record William Cromleholme [Cro0060]'s time spent imprisoned in the Tower of London. "The Tower Bills" which have been transcribed by The Catholic Record Society - Volume 3 Miscellanea (III) [p17 - 20] are accounts that were submitted every quarter day by the Lieutenant of the Tower to reclaim his costs or fees for prisoners he had to maintain at the Crown's expense. The costs are for dyett (food), fewell (fuel for keeping warm etc) and wicks (candles for light).

Note : Candles for common use would have been made of tallow in the C16th - fat from cows or sheep and burnt with an unpleasant odour due to the glycerine in them. Candles were made by "chandlers" who collected kitchen fats and either made them on site or sold them from small candle shops. Wicks were made from 2 or 3 twisted threads of cotton, flax or hemp and did not burn as well as modern wicks. 

"Trimming" of the wicks was required to avoid "candle snuffs" and was a constant chore in order to keep the candle burning well. Failure to maintain the candle meant that it got too hot, melted too much tallow which then streamed down the sides - known as "guttering". Candle snuffers were not only used for extinguishing candles to were used like scissors to cut off excess sooty wick. The sharp point was used to remove any scraps of wick from the hot tallow and the box on the tool caught these "snuffs". The costs of "wicks" for candles does seem rather expensive ! The prison warders were often on the make and of course there was no choice of supplier. 

Wealthy prisoners had to fund their own expenses (for fuel and candles / wicks) whilst most priests and layman such as William Crombleholme were state funded although by 1585, William Crombleholme  [Cro0060]  was pleading that he had nothing to live on (see 1585 below)

Bills for Prisioners in the Tower of London 1575-89 :

XX Midsummer 1584 (No 35)

The demaunds of Sir Owyn Hopton

William Bromlum (Infra No XXI called Cromlome ie Crombleholme) : Item for the dyett and chardgs of William Bromlum beginninge the xxiij th of ffebruarie 1583 and endynge the xxj th of June 1584, next folowinge,   beinge xvij  tin wicks, at vjs viijd ye wicke - vli xiijs iiijd. Fewell and candell at ijs vjd ye wicke xlijs  vjd. 

Amountinge to the Some of - vijli  xvs  xd

(period - 23/2/1583 to 21/6/1584. 17 wicks @ 6s 8d ye wicke = £5 13s 4d; Fuel & candle @ 2s 6d ye wicke = 32s 6d  Total £7 15s 10d)  

XXI Christmas1584 (No 36)

The demaunds of Sir Owyn Hopton

William Cromlome.  Item & c     beginninge j Octr &c, xijwks - xiijli  viijs

(period 1/10/1584 - 24/12/1584. 12 wicks = £13 8s 0d)

XX11 Midsummer1585 (No 38)    

The demaunds of Sir Owyn Hopton

William Cromlome.  Item & c     beginninge xxv March &c, xiijwks - xiiijli  xs viijs

XXIII Michaelmas1585 (No 39)

The demaunds of Sir Owyn Hopton

William Cromlome.  Item & c     beginninge xxiiij June &c, xiiijwks - xvli  xiijs  viijd .

This is the last entry and record relating to William Crombleholme's [Cro0060] imprisonment in the Tower and it is presumed that as a "noted layman", he was released but there is no further records relating to him apart from his will some 30 years later (see below).

Another account suggests that William Crombleholme [Cro0060] like members of the Hothersall family, had also become a Jesuit and returned to Lancashire to undertake the rather dangerous practice of preaching the Catholic faith.

...........William Crombleholme  [Cro0060]  of Dutton was arrested in 1584 on his way to the Continent to be educated for the priesthood and was imprisoned in the Tower for some time 5 years.  (Source : Cath. Rec. Soc, iii, 17; Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. iii, 410 (quoting Bridgewater's Concertatio). He is supposed to have become a missionary priest in Lancashire.

Yet another account  in "A procession of Lancashire Martyrs and Confessors"  by J A Myerocough (Preston CRO)  p18  - gives further detail (as yet original source not known) 

....."It is only possible in this brief review to select a few examples of Lancashire recusancy and Catholic constancy and William Crombleholme  [Cro0060]  of Stidd, Ribchester was a worthy member of a steadfast Catholic family of the Crombleholmes of Dutton and Ribchester. Every effort was made to induce William to conform but the sufferings that had overwhelmed many found no weakness in his faith and constancy.

From recusant lists dated 8th March 1585, he was a prisoner for the Faith in the Marshalsea along with Robert Holland of Clifton and John Williams of Dutton. William Crombleholme  [Cro0060]  moved about from one prison to another until he was incarcerated in the "clink along with another recusant prisoner William Higham, a member of an Essex family and brother of Catholic lady and martyr at Tyburn, the blessed Ann Line.  (Source : Lancashire Martyrs and Confessors - p18)

Another Catholic nobleman of the times was Sir Richard Shireburn who built, but did not live to complete, the palatial mansion of Stoneyhurst. He had been granted a special exemption by the Queen herself without having to suffer any jeopardy either to his faith or conscience. He made full use of them by promoting Masses at centres at Chipping, Chaigley and Bailey and elsewhere".

(Note - further mention of William Cromwell's arrest at Sankey House on 12 Feb 1584 is given on p54 - RC did not record this !!)

1585 - 17th February : Crombleholme William   [Cro0060]  yom"  (yeoman ?) of Southwark, Surrey (prisoner) - 4 months recusancy ending 17th Feb 1585/6 when convicted (vi 49v)   (Source : Catholic Record Society Vol 71 1986 Recuscants 1581-92)

1585 -   A note of such recusants now remaining in several gaols of the White Lion, the Marsh, the Bench and the Clink in the county of Surrey as by their own declaration have neither living nor goods .....hath nothing to live on Wm Crombleholme  [Cro0060]  of Stidd parish in the county of Lancashire yeoman.  (Source : A century of Persecution under Tudor & Stuart Sovereigns from contemporary records - by Rev St George Kieran Hyland Vol 5 No 29 App 404)

From an account by Venerable Philip Howard (p132) for 1585 :

For 1585 he is listed :  William Cromblehome  [Cro0060]  your honours Ire (??) . 

Along with William Price, he is noted as "laymen never examined sithens (sic = since) their coming". A footnote further comments : William Cromblehome [Cro0060] though "never examined" had been frequently tortured. He had been sent to the Tower in company with Francis Arden.

Comment : More research required here - the time in Marshalsea prison would seem to conflict with the Tower records above and no mention is made of the Tower of London. There may be some confusion with the "clink" here ? The Crumbleholme family had married into the Shireburn family as well as the Hothersall families and were presumably therefore reasonably well connected with these county families. It is not unreasonable to suggest that William Crombleholme may have continued practising his faith under the security of the Shireburn family's exemption from prosecution. 

It appears that William Crombleholme [Cro0060]  was about 40 years old when arrested and it seems that the group were on their way to cross the channel to Douay - whether this was for the first time is not clear. If it was for the first time, William had not actually started his Catholic priest training and this may be a factor why he was imprisioned rather than suffering execution as many Catholic priests did.

1586 - William is released from the Tower of London:

From the Tower Bills above, his last bill was accounted at Michaelmas (29th September) 1585 and therefore he was finally released sometime after this - probably in the last three months of 1585.

Return to Lancashire : 

Nothing is known of the rest of his life although as he had lived before his arrest in Lancashire and died there, it is presumed that he returned and then kept a very low profile !  He may have become a lay priest and practised within a large catholic household.  His Will of 1618 gives him as "of Euxton" - the staunch Roman Catholic Anderton family held the manor and lived at Euxton Hall which dates from the early C16th. An early member of this family was also a Douay priest who was executed on the Isle of Wight in 1586.  From his will below it appears that William never married and has no descendants.

1618 - William's Death and Will :

William's will was made on the 6th April 1618 and it is presumed that he died shortly after this aged about 74.

1618 - William Crombleholme's  [Cro0060]  Will - (RC ref  SR 11). (name spelt - "Crombleholme") 

This will was made in April 1618 when William Crombleholme [60] notes that he is "sicke in body yet of good .......? ....and  remembrance"  indicating that being approximately 74 years old, he was probably near the end of his life. The will is indexed as William Crombleholme  [Cro0060]  of Euxton although no mention of this location is made in the will itself. Euxton is to the west of Chorley in Lancashire and some considerable way south of Dutton where he was born. 

Euxton was however a strong Catholic area with the the Anderson family being an important local catholic family. Like many old chapels, the chapel at Euxton is thought to have been used by Catholics for some years before 1700. (Source : Paper by Rev C A Newdigate "The chantry of St John Baptist at bailey" Nov 1915). The Rishton family is also recorded and these two facts may have been the reason why William settled in this area. If he did become a priest after his release from the Tower, he probably operated in a very secret manner and this may explain why no other records relating to his later life have been found.  Unfortunately, William did not sign his will so we do not have his signature.

Below : transcription by Mike Murtha (April 2021)

In the name of God amen. The 17th day of April in the year of our Lord God 1618. I William Crombleholme [60] being sick in body yet of good and perfect remembrance do here make my last will and testament.

Firstly I give and bequeath my soul into the hands of almighty God my maker and redeemer. 

Next my body to be buried where my friends pleaseth.

Next I give to my cousin Isabel Hothersall all that is in her hand (Note Hothersall was his mother's family)

I give to my sister Alice [14] one bed and all that is belonging to it

I give to my sister Alice [14] a cloak, a savegard*, a waistcoat, a band, a __ of tocking [?]

I give to John Townley his wife eleven [?] yards [?] of cambrai *[?] which is in her keeping

I give to John Townley a trunk and to his children two cousins [??] and a yard [?] of white cloth which is in the trunk

I give to Raph Radcliff a chisln [? chisel?] which is there and my sardle [saddle?] and all belongings thereunto

I give to my brother in law William Pinrock all my best apparel [? abbrev.]  (Note : married to Ann C [62])

I give to Raph Fletcher four shillings

I give to my sister Alice [14] 20 shillings

I give to my sister Ann [62] and daughter [ ??] 38 shillings

I give to my cousin Roger Sherburn of Wolfhouse [his] children equally amongst them 20 shillings

I give five pounds which Raph Radcliff hath in his hand to teale [??] for me

I give to Thomas Sharples 20 shillings and to all his children 2 shillings a piece

And to my burial 6 shillings

And I make the said Raph Radcliff and John Townley my executors of this my last will and testament

Debts owing to me the said William Crombleholme [60] :

Raph Radcliff £18 12s 6d

Henry Radcliff £6

John Townley £3

__ Birtwhistle £30

Henry Gross £3

Witnesses hereof:

Thomas Sharples

Raph Fletcher

John Stirzaker

.* Note : 

savegard : an outer skirt or petticoat worn by women to protect their dress when riding. Presumably men wore similar protection when riding ?

cambrai : "cambric was a kind of fine white linen originally made at Cambrai in France, although the term was also applied to a hard spun cotton yarn imitation.

John Townley : In William C's [60] will above, his sister Alice [14] is noted several times but it appears that she was not married and by 1618 must have been in her 50/60's ?? I had misread the will originally and had Alice [14] down as the wife of John Townley. This was compounded by Smith's account below where he also records this. 

The following information appears in Smith's History of Ribchester (p229-230) : His mother was Lucy Sherburn, the daughter of Edmund Sherburn. His father was Henry Townley of Dutton. They had 4 sons - Richard, John (married Alice Crombleholme) wrong ! ; Henry; Lawrence; & Edmund.  

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