Sir William Radcliffe "The Great William"

  General Notes:

~Towneley & Dodsworth, Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Chetham Society, 1876, pg. 95
~Visitation of Lancashire and Part of Cheshire, 1533, pg. 26

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁷⁴⁵
William de Radclyffe was called "The Great William," likely because of his physical strength. He was born at Radclyffe Tower about 1280, and in 1303 married Margaret, the daughter and heir of Adam de Peasurlong and Elizabeth, who was the daughter of Gilbert de Culcheth. By 1309, his father Richard had settled William and his heirs on the manors of Radclyffe, Oswaldtwistle, and Quarlton. William gained his inheritance while his father was still alive.

This era of British History was a troubled time with feuds and lawlessness rampant. William and his brothers played an active part in the lawlessness, and were keen supporters of the Earl of Lancaster. William and his brothers John and Roger, cousin Richard, and others, were charged with breaking into the manors of Richard de Hulton of Ordsall at Ordsall, Hulton and Flixton. They were also involved with assaulting William de Butterwyck.

These attacks were all part of the brutal feuds which were prevalent during this period. They all had connection with the political disturbances of the reign as well as being part of family rivalries, and the jealousy of one manor against another in the quest for power. As the riches of the Radclyffe Tower family rose, they had encountered interminable feuds as they fought for the right to have and to hold which sons and daughter brought to increase the patrimonial power. William Radclyffe married his family with a shrewd eye to the main chance, and when he died in 1333, the Radclyffes owned sway over a very considerable part of Lancaster's fair shire. His children were:

• Richard, eldest son and heir, who married Isabel, daughter and heiress of Robert de Pleasing, and co-heir of Michael de Harcla.

• Adam, who married a daughter of Thomas de Arderne, and who in 1340, was holding lands in Wiswall, near Whalley.

• William, who married Ellen, heiress of Henry de Langfield, and was the founder of the Radclyffes of Todmorden.

• Alice, eldest daughter, was married to Henry de Worsley of Booths.

• Agnes, second daughter, married to Henry de Shackerley, lord of a mesne manor of Tyldesley

• Elizabeth, third daughter, married Richard de Ince of Ince.

• Margaret, fourth daughter, married John de Banastre of Bank.

Joan, fifth daughter, married Ralph de Langton of Walton.

• Maud, sixth daughter, was married to John de Harrington of Cartmel.

~The book of the Radclyffes, pages 18-19

William married Margaret de Peasfurlong, daughter of Adam Peasfurlong and Elizabeth de Culcheth, in 1306 in Radcliffe, Lancashire, England. (Margaret de Peasfurlong was born in 1288 in Warrington, Lancashire, England.)