History of the Fife Pitcairns

LIFE OF JAMES PELHAM PITCAIRN. 273
one-fourth part of the Church of Eccles (to wit, that part
which was his father's) for life, in pure and perpetual alms,
for the souls of my father and mother, of myself, my wife
and children, and of all our ancestors."
By the third deed, Gilbert de Notton " and Edith my
wife and our heir, give to God and the Church of St Mary
at Eccles, and the clerks of that Church, and the men
dwelling in that vill, free common of our manor of Barton
— to wit, to have their estovers in wood and plain. We
grant to these clerks that we will carry as far as the barn
(or granary) of our granges (or farms) the tithes of our
grass, which the men of the said clerks may receive
there." Amongst the witnesses is Thomas, chaplain of
Eccles, who probably was the chantry priest of one of the
ancient chapels or chantries within the parish church.
Gilbert de Notton and Edith de Barton his wife had
two sons, called William de Notton and Roger de Notton.
William, the eldest, named his eldest son Gilbert, after the
grandfather, and when this young Gilbert became heir to
his grandmother's great estates, he ceased to be called
" de Notton " (the name of his father and grandfather),
and took the name of his grandmother's family " de Bar-
ton." Gilbert de Barton (who died before 1277) left two
children — a son, John, who seems to have died unmarried,
or at least without surviving children, and a daughter
Agnes, who thus became heiress of Barton. This Agnes
in time married and left but one child, a daughter named
Loretta, who became, like her mother, the sole heiress
of Barton. Loretta married, about the year 1292, John
del Bothe — that is, John of the Booth, a place in Worsley,
of which the name still remains in Booth Hall and Booths-
town. This John del Bothe thus became Lord of the
Manor of Barton in right of his wife — in other words,
that Manor passed by distaff from the Bartons (by failure
of male heirs) to the Booths. This little bit of family
history is necessary to the right understanding of the
grants of various members of the Barton family to, or
concerning, Eccles Church.
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