Bucklegh (Bulkley) Lancashire 1100-1200

[paul bulkley]

There are some interesting tales of the Bucklegh family in Lancashire during the 1190s that suggest that the Buckleghs and Whalleys were related to the Lascy family.

�Also the Whalley Coucher - some 1000 pages or more -�make many references to these two lines.

Geoffrey, grandson of Geoffrey Dean of Whalley married a daughter of Roger Lascy about 1193, and had four sons Roger, Richard, Robert, and Henry

Geoffrey Bucklegh 1190/1195 is the first individual named Bucklegh in the Whalley Coucher. He was the son of John, son of Robert (Dean of Whalley 1171-1182), son of Henry (Dean of Whalley 1145-1160). It is significant that according to the chapel of St John Pontefract, Robert Lascy senior was Dean of Whalley 1122-1130.

For those who like a good yard "Lords of Clitheroe" is well worth your time. The legend summarised is as follows:

" Legend has it that John Eustace became a hermit living in the cave below the Castle of Clitheroe under the auspices of the Dean of Whalley. This Dean had been a close friend and distant relative of Robert Lascy, and expected to inherit the great lands upon his death; hearing that Aubrey (Robert Lacy's sister) had inherited, he began to plot for his own success by seizing the estates. To do so he needed to obtain the will of Robert Lascy in order to falsify it - this had been placed in the safe keeping of the hermit of the Rock who had no intention of giving the will to the Dean (The Dean at this stage had no idea of the true identity of the hermit.

In the meantime Roger Fitz Eustace had turned up, having escaped his captors in Palestine. He rode with his entourage into Clitheroe in order to obtain the will and claim his inheritance. The Dean summoned the hermit to a meeting with Roger, and managed to switch the original will for a bogus copy. The hermit denounced the Dean, and casting off his cloak revealed the Fitz Eustace coat of arms over his chain mail armour. The younger brother Roger then recognised John who declared that although he had been cured of leprosy, he did not intend to claim his inheritance, and wished to live the devout life that he had become used to.

Roger wanted to hang the Dean there and then, but John dissuaded him as the Dean had been generous to him in his role as a hermit. In fact the hermit advised his brother to arrange a marriage between Geoffrey de Whalley (son of the Dean) and Roger Fitz Eustace's daughter Maud. This marriage healed the rift between the two families.

Roger gave the manors of Towneley, Coldcotes, Snodworth to the young couple as a marriage portion. A line of the Towneley family descend from this union. John Fitz Eustace continued his life as a hermit, and died shortly afterwards. Many people said that his extreme devoutness led him to starving to death after a fast."

Has anyone further information regarding Robert Lascy as Dean of Whalley 1122-1130. Also evidence of the claimed relationship between the Lascy family and the Bucklegh/Whalley lines that presumably developed during the early 1100s.

Paul Bulkley