LYME PARK

Grid Ref: SJ 964 823 and SJ 974 813 for Bowstones
Date 14 August 2003 & 13 Aug 2009 for house; 1 Jul 2006 for Bowstones; 17 Aug 2009 for Winwick

Gate to the house on the north side		The courtyard
The South Front		Door to entrance hall
The west side on an August evening		The north front on an August evening
The Walled Garden		The East face
The Bowstones		Stones in West Park Macclesfield
St. Oswald's, Winwick		St. Oswald's, Winwick

Lyme Park near Disley is a National Trust Property and now provides a CD with an introduction to the property to visitors at the main gate from the A6. The property has an excellent brochure and helpful guides. Photographs of the Bow Stones are included because they are near Lyme. From the top of the hill by the stones one can see parts of Cheshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Clwyd, Yorkshire, Shropshire and Lancashire The Bow Stones are similar to stones now in West Park in Macclesfield which were moved there from a farm in Sutton in the late 19th century. It is believed that they were formerly in Wincle or Wildboar Clough and may have had a connection with monastic lands such as boundary stones.

On this page I provide just a handful of photographs to share with those that have not yet visited and then focus on the genealogy of the Legh family below. Many published sources are confused or incorrect on the early stages of the family history including The House of Lyme from its foundation to the end of the 18th century, by The Lady Newton, published by William Heinemann in London in 1917.

The following account of the early generations is taken from Earwaker's East Cheshire, from the section on Lyme Hanley, augmented with information from Lady Newton's The Leghs of Lyme and the National Trust Handbook which is the only one that is correct in placing Margaret Danyers as the granddaughter of Sir Thomas Danyers of Crécy fame. I use the numbering system from the latter to denote the numerous family members who owned the property who were called Piers or Peter.

Sir Thomas Danyers and the Battle of Crécy

There have been various accounts of the manner in which the Legh family acquired the property at Lyme.  Earwaker is often considered the most reliable source of information in the late 19th century. He related that Sir Thomas Danyers of Bradley and Appleton had fought at the Battle of Crécy on 25 August 1346 where he had distinguished himself by rescuing the Black Prince's Standard when nearly captured by the French and in taking prisoner the Count de Tankerville, chamberlain of the French King. This is essentially the story on the brass plaque in the church at Grappenhall, erected in 1876. However, the capture of the Count de Tankerville took place at the seige of Caen in July 1346. He was the chamberlain of Normandy and Danyers received a ransom of 10,000 Nobles for him. The surname Danyers had various forms including Danvers and ultimately Daniel, Daniell and Daniels.

In recognition of his services, Sir Thomas Danyers was given 40 marks a year out of the royal manor of Frodsham until such time as he should receive land worth £20 a year for himself and his heirs forever. According to Earwaker, Sir Thomas died before this happened and in 1398 his daughter, Margaret and her husband Piers or Peter Legh obtained Lyme Handley from Richard II. It is easy to see how Earwaker would draw this conclusion as he quotes the letters patent to Piers Legh and Margaret is wife in which she is described as daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Danyers, Knight, deceased. The letters patent granting the land reserved to the king and his heirs all the oaks growing there and also required that pasture be made available for the deer. At the time of Crécy, the land that was eventually given to Margaret Danyers and her husband was in the possession of the Black Prince's mother, Queen Philippa.

More modern scholarship, as shown in the National Trust handbook, shows that Sir Thomas Danyers had a son, also called Sir Thomas, and it was his daughter, Margaret, who married Peter de Legh. Hence she was granddaughter of the hero of Crécy. Yet other accounts have Piers Legh himself as the hero, although it is known that he was born about 1361, some 17 years after the battle. This erroneous version was given credence by William Flower, Norroy King of Arms in the reign of Elizabeth I, when he gave an augmentation to the arms to the then Sir Peter Legh, in which the deeds of Sir Thomas Danyers were wrongly attributed to the first Peter Legh.

Sir Thomas Danyers senior, was born in about 1294 and in about 1312 he married Margaret of Tabley. They had a son, also called Thomas, in 1313. Thomas senior was aged 52 at the Battle of Crécy. On his return to England, Sir Thomas became Sheriff of Cheshire for the second time in 1349. However, in 1353 he was accused of bribery and theft and was dismissed from his office. Among the charges was that he broke into the treasure house to steal a bond recording a debt he owed to the Black Prince, who was Earl of Chester. He pleaded guilty and was fined but did not lose his property. However, he died the following year.

Sir Thomas junior died in 1353, the year before his father. He had married Isabel Baggiley, heir of William Baggiley by Clemence his wife, who was the daughter and coheir of Sir Roger Dutton of Cheadle (commonly known as Sir Roger de Chedhill) and his wife Matilda. Sir Roger Dutton and Matilda had no male heirs and the estates were split between their two daughters.  Agnes, the younger of the two married Richard de Bulkelegh and inherited the northern part, known as Cheadle Bulkeley.  Clemence, the elder daughter, married William de Baggiley, inherited the southern half and it was passed eventually to their daughter Isabel Baggiley.  Sir Thomas and Isabel Danyers had a daughter Margaret and she had three husbands, John Radcliffe, John Savage and Piers Legh.  The latter was a younger son of the Leghs of Adlington.  Margaret was at length granted the land that became Lyme Park as the reward for her grandfather's service to the Black Prince and thus it passed into the Legh family.

Margaret Danyers was an heiress in her own right before the grant of the land at Lyme. She inherited all her mother's lands but her father's lands were settled on the male heirs of the Danyers. She was said to be aged 80 when she died in 1428 so would have inherited from her grandfather at the age of 6.  With two men called Thomas Danyers dying so close together, and Margaret succeeding her grandfather, it is easy to see how there could be confusion later about the family relationships.

It was common practice at this time that orphan heiresses were taken into wardship and lodged with neighbouring noble families. They were given in marriage by the king to his supporters as a way of rewarding them with land. Margaret was married first to Sir John Radcliffe, who died without issue, then to Sir John Savage of Clifton with whom she had a son, John, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Blanche. She became a widow for a second time and then married Piers de Legh. The family tree shown in Earwaker's work indicates that a dispensation for the marriage was given on 4 January 1388, by which time Piers was 28 and Margaret would have been 40 if indeed she was 80 in 1428. It is possible that she was a little younger than than but given that her father died in 1353 she would have been at the least in her late 30s on marrying Piers Legh.

Piers or Peter Legh I (c1360 to 1399) acquired Lyme and was executed at Chester

Piers de Legh was the eldest son of Robert de Legh of Adlington by his second wife, Matilda, daughter of Adam de Norley of Norley in Lancashire. Matilda survived her husband and in 1375 was indicted for making a forged settlement on land near Lymm for the benefit of her younger son, John. From the indictment we learn that Robert de Legh had two sons, Hugh and Thomas, by his first wife, and three sons, Peter or Piers, John and Hamo, by Matilda. Piers de Legh, was born about 1360 or 1361 and in 1388 married Margaret, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Danyers of Bradley and Appleton. They are known to have had three children, Peter, John and Margaret and although the birth dates are not known, given Margaret's age, they must have been born in fairly quick succession after the marriage.  So, depending on whether Margaret was the eldest child, Peter was born roughly in the period 1389 to 1391.

Piers Legh was a supporter of Richard II and on his usurpation by Henry IV, Piers was executed at Chester on 10 August 1399. Margaret survived until 24 June 1427 and there was an inquisition post mortem the following year, as she was an heiress in her own right. This reveals that she had half the manor of Cheadle, the manors of Clifton and Bradley in Appleton, lands at Thelwall, Hale near Bowdon, Lymm, Over Knutsford & Runcorn. She also had a parcel of land at Rainow in the Forest of Macclesfield called Thorneshede, held of the Lady Katherine, Queen of England in socage, as well as four burgages in Stockport and one and a half in Macclesfield. The inquisition papers state that Sir John Savage was her son and heir to these lands and at the time was aged 50 or more. In addition, Margaret had half the manor of Grappenhall during her life which would go to her son Peter, the son of Peter Legh, now deceased. It went therefore to her grandson, yet another Peter, who was then 13. The inquistion also recounted how Richard II had given Margaret and Peter Legh the land at Lyme Handley for them and their male heirs forever and that it was held in socage from Katherine, the Queen, for a rent of 6 pence per annum. It was said at the time to be worth 20 marks per annum. Socage was a form of land tenure in which the tenant lived on his lord's land and in return rendered to the lord a certain agricultural service or money rent. At the death of a tenant, the land went to his heir after a payment to the lord of a sum of money, known as a relief, which in time became fixed at an amount equal to a year's rent on the land.

Peter Legh II, knight (c.1390 to 1422) fought at Agincourt and married the Haydock heiress

Piers and Margaret de Legh's son Sir Peter Legh, probably born about 1389 or soon thereafter, died before his mother but from a deed dated 26 July 1411, it is known that he had a piece of land called Heghleghfield in the Forest of Macclesfield and had the office of Forester. He fought at Agincourt in 1415, and was knighted for his services. He died in Paris on 16 June 1422 but was buried at Macclesfield. The Legh Chapel in St. Michael's church Macclesfield was built in 1422 for his burial.. He and his father are commemorated by a brass plaque on the wall of the chapel. He married Joan, daughter and heiress of Sir Gilbert de Haydock of Haydock, thus acquiring large estates in South Lancashire. On his death, Joan married Sir Richard Molineux of Sefton in Lancashire and she lived until 1439.

Peter's brother, John de Legh, married Alice the daughter and heiress of John Alcock of Ridge near Macclesfield and they became the ancestors of the Leghs of Ridge and Stoneleigh. Peter's sister, Margaret de Legh, married Sir John Ashton.

Peter Legh III, knight (1415 to 1478) left an account of his lands and founded a chantry chapel

Sir Peter's heir was another Peter, who was seven when his father died, and as indicated above, 13 on the death of his grandmother. He came of age in 1436. He was knighted at the Battle of Wakefield during the Wars of the Roses, on 31 December 1460. He was married about 1432, before coming of age, to Margaret, daughter of Sir Richard Molineux of Sefton, i.e. to the daughter of his step-father by his first marriage. In 1461, he became keeper of Rhudlan Castle and in 1463, escheator (chief of finance) of Flint. He prepared a list of his properties in Cheshire and Lancashire in 1465/6 from which we learn that there was a house at Lyme.

...the said Sir Peter holds the aforesaid manor of Lyme in the County of Chester, to him, his heirs and assigns forever; that is to say, one fair hall with a high chamber, a kitchen, bakehouse, and a brewhouse, with a granary, stable and bailiff's house, and a fair Park surrounded by palings and divers fields and hays contained in the same park, with the woods, underwoods, meadows, feedings and pastures thereto belonging, which are worth to the said Peter, £10 a year.

It would appear from this account that almost half a century after the land was granted it was not worth the £20 a year first promised to Sir Thomas Danyers. Earwaker noted that the description of the Legh lands relating to the Warrington area was pubished by the Chetham Society.

Sir Peter's first wife died and he married a second time, to Elizabeth daughter of Sir Edmund Trafford of Trafford and widow of Sir John Pilkington. She died without issue on 4 April 1474 at Bradley near Warrington. In 1478, Sir Peter endowed a chantry chapel at Winwick, the church north of Warrington, which had been founded by Sir Gilbert de Haydock his maternal grandfather. Sir Peter died in November that year and was buried at the church. From the inquisition post mortem we learn that he held half the manor of Grappenhall, 40 acres and a Forester's place at Sutton in the Forest of Macclesfield and the manor of Lyme Handley and that Piers Legh his grandson, was his heir.

Earwaker notes that according to an old pedigree, Peter III had three sisters, Margery married Adam de Clayton, Margaret married Nicholas Blundell and Blanche married John Ireland.

Peter Legh 4th (died in 1468 before his father)

Peter Legh III's only son was another another Peter. He married Mabel, daughter and co-heiress of James Croft of Dalton in Lonsdale in Lancashire. Peter died in 1468, roughly ten years before his father, and left a son, another Peter. Mabel lived until 1474 or 1475. In her will dated 8 July 1474, which has been printed by the Chetham Society, she mentioned her sons Piers, Hamond, James and John but not Robert. The latter is mentioned in the will of his brother, Sir Peter in 1527.

Peter Legh 5th, the knight and priest (1455 to 1527) founded chantry at Disley

The fifth Peter was born about 1455 as he was said to be 23 on succeeding his grandfather. Earwaker reports that he married in 1467, then aged about 12. The practice of forming dynastic alliances through the marriages of teenage brides and grooms was common at this period. Peter's wife was Ellen, daughter of Sir John Savage of Clifton, by his wife, Katherine, the sister of the 1st Earl of Derby (surname Stanley). She was the great great granddaughter of Margaret Danyers, whose second husband had been the John Savage who died in 1386.

Peter was knighed at Hutton Field near Berwick on Tweed on 22 August 1482. From 1505 to 1511 he was seneschal (principal administrator) of Blackburnshire. Soon afterwards he took holy orders and thereafter described himself as a knight and priest. His wife, Katherine had died in 1499 and his brother-in-law, Thomas Savage, was then Archbishop of York. Sir Peter then founded and endowed the chantry chapel at Disley. He died at Lyme on 11 August 1527, aged 72, and was buried at Winwick, where an elaborate brass was erected to commemorate him and his wife.

The Family of Legh of Lyme

In the early 14th century, John Legh of Booths near Knutsford married Ellen Corona, whose family had held Adlington manor since soon after the Norman Conquest. Their son, Robert de Legh was the ancestor of the Leghs of both Adlington and Lyme. The following tree is simplified from that shown in Earwaker's History of East Cheshire.  As there are so many Peter Leghs, those who succeed to the estate have been given Roman Numerals.

• 1. Peter de Legh (1), second son of Robert de Legh of Adlington by Maude de Norley his second wife, born c. 1360, dispensation for marriage dated 26 Nov 1388, granted Lyme about 1398, executed at Chester 10 Aug 1399. 
  + Margaret, dau. and heiress of Sir Thomas Danyers and widow of Sir John Radcliffe and Sir John Savage.  She died 24 Jun 1428.   (I follow below the eldest son Peter, but this couple's second son, John de Legh was the ancestor of the lines of Legh of Ridge and Stoneleigh.   He married Alice, dau and heiress of John Alcock of Ridge near Macclesfield.)
  • 2.  Sir Peter de Legh II of Lyme, fought at Agincourt in 1415, died in Paris 16 June 1422
    +   Joan, dau of Sir Gilbert Haydock by whom Sir Peter obtained large estates in Lancashire.  She survived her husband and married Sir Richard Molyneux of Sefton, Lancashire. This couple had one son and three daugthers, Margery, Margaret and Blanche.
    • 3.  Sir Peter Legh III of Lyme, born 4 Jun 1415 at Clifton near Halton Castle, knighted after the Battle of Wakefield, 31 Dec 1460, died at Bradley, 27 Nov 1468 aged 63 and buried at Winwick.  His second wife, by whom he had no issue was Elizabeth, dau of Sir Edmond Trafford of Trafford and widow of Sir John Pilkington, whom he married in 1451.  She died in 1474.
    • + 1st wife, Margaret, dau of Sir Richard Molyneux of Sefton, married c. 1432.  She died at Bradley on 13 May 1460.  In addition to their son, Peter, they had two daughters, Margaret and Jane.
      • 4. Peter Legh IV, died a Macclesfield, before his father, in 2 Aug 1468 and buried at Winwick.
        + Mabel, dau and coheiress of James Croft of Dalton in Lonsdale, Lancashire, married c. 1455.  She died in 1474 or 1475.  This couple had in addition to their eldest son Peter, sons Hamo, James, John, and Robert and daughters Elizabeth and Margey.
        • 5. Sir Piers Legh V of Lyme born c. 1455, succeeded his grandfather, knighted at Berwick in 1482.  He built Disley Church.  Died at Lyme, 11 Aug 1527, buried at Winwick where a brass memorial was erected. 
          + Ellen, dau of Sir John Savage of Clifton, by his wife Catherine Stanley.  Marriage dispensation dated 1467.  She died in Sussex on 17 May 1492.  This couple, in addition to their son Piers, had sons James, John, Gowther (who founded Winwick Grammar School) and Richard; there was also a daughter, Margaret who married Laurence Warren of Poynton about 1494.
          • 6. Piers Legh VI of Lyme, born c. 1479, died 4 Dec 1541
          • +1st wife Jane, dau of Sir Thomas Gerard of Bryn Lancashire.  She died 5 May 1510.  She had two daughters, Cicely and Anne.
          •  +2nd wife Margaret, dau of Nicholas Tyldesley of Tyldesley in Lancashire.  In addition to their son Peter they had sons, George and Robert and daughters Joan, Katherine, Margaret, Ellen, Elizabeth, Alice and Mary.
            • 7.  Sir Peter Legh VII of Lyme, born 23 Apr 1514, knighted at Leith in 1544, High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1551 and of Cheshire 1544.  Died 6 Dec 1589 and buried at Winwick.
              + Margaret, dau of Sir Thomas Gerard of Bryn, Lancashire, dispensation for marriage dated 27 Aug 1518.  Earwaker mentions that there was a portrait of her at Lyme when aged about 80 in 1595. In addition to their son Peter, they had James, Robert, Thomas, John and daughters Ellen and Margery.
              • 8.  Peter Legh VIII of Lyme, died 1570, before his father.
                + Katherine, dau of Sir Thomas Venables, Baron of Kinderton, Cheshire.  In addition to their son Peter, they had Edward and Thomas, who died without issue and Elizabeth, who married Richard son of Thomas Lathom of Parbold, Lancashire.
                • 9.  Sir Peter Legh IX of Lyme, succeeded his grandfather.  Born c. 1563, High Sheriff of Cheshire 1595, MP for Cheshire, knighted at Greenwich  2 Jul 1598, died Lyme 17 Feb 1635 (Julian Calendar), buried Winwick.  Peter's second wife was Dorothy dau of Sir Richard Egerton of Ridley and widow of Richard Brereton of Tatton and Worsley; they married 1604 and she died 4 Apr 1639 when a monument was erected to her memory at Eccles.
                  + 1st wife, Margaret, dau of Sir Gilbert Gerard, Master of the Rolls, married 19 Sep 1585 died aged 33 on 23 July 1603.   In addition to their son Piers, Francis, Thomas  and Peter they had Radcliffe, Gilbert, and John and daughters Katherine, and Anne. Peter Legh of Bruche in Lancashire was MP for Newton in Lancashire and died in 1641; his son Piers born c. 1636 had with his second wife a daughter, Frances Legh, born 9 June 1670
                  • 10.  Piers Legh X, eldest son, born about 1587, married without his father's consent and died in 1624.
                    + Anne, the dau of Sir John Savile of Howley, Lord Savile of Pontefract, about 1619.  They had one son and three daughters, Frances, Margaret and Elizabeth.
                    • 11.  Peter Legh XI (known as "Little Peter") born 12 Aug 1623, wounded in a duel in London in 27 Jan and died 2 Feb 1641 (Julian Calendar).  He is buried at Winwick. He died without issue.
                  • 10.  Francis Legh of Lyme, 2nd son, born c. 1590 succeeded his nephew in 1641 but died 2 Feb 1643 (Julian Calendar) and buried at Winwick.   He married Anne the dau and heir of Sir Edward Fenner of Hampton in Oxfordshire but had no issue.
                  • 10.  Thomas Legh DD, 3rd son Rector of Sefton and Walton in Lancashire, born 1594, died 1639 (i.e. before his brother Francis).
                  • +  Lettice, dau and co-heiress of Sir George Calverley of Lea in Cheshire, died 1648 aged 38, buried at Macclesfield.  This couple had sons Peter, Richard and Thomas and four daughters, Margaret, Francisca, Lettice and Dorothy. Thomas lived c. 1636 to 1697 but died without issue. Margaret married Sir John Ardern of Harden Hall and Francisca married Sir Richard Brooke of Norton.
                    • 11.  Peter Legh, died in infancy
                    • 11.  Richard Legh, of Lyme, succeeded his uncle, Francis.  He was born 7 May 1634, MP for Cheshire, 1656 & 1659,  died at Lyme, buried Winwick 6 Sep 1687. (note that during the period of the Civil War, Richard was a child and so the family took no part in military activity)
                      + Elizabeth, dau of Sir Thomas Chicheley of Wimpole, Cambridgeshire married 1 Jan 1660 (Julian Calendar), buried at Winwick 4 Jun 1728.   This couple had six sons whom I mention below.  The later Leghs of Lyme were descended from the second son Thomas . There were also seven daughters, Lettice, Elizabeth, Frances, Sarah, Anne, Margaret & Isabella Catherine.
                      • 12.  Peter Legh XII of Lyme, born 22 Aug, 1669, buried Winwick 16 Jan 1743 (Julian Calendar)
                      • + Frances, dau and heiress of Piers Legh of Bruche, baptised at Warrington, 30 June 1670, married March 1686 (Julian Calendar) died 17 Feb 1727 (Julian Calendar).  Frances was Peter's second cousin as shown below
                        • 13.   Piers Legh, only child, buried at Warrington 14 June 1725, no issue.
                      • 12.  Thomas Legh, second son, see new tree below
                      • 12.  Richard Legh, third son, of Little Wolton Lancashire, born 26 Mar 1679, a captain in the Horse Guards, buried at Disley 10 Jan 1741 (Julian Calendar), married Elizabeth dau of William Banks of Winstanley and had one son, Peter, buried at Disley on 19 Sep 1735
                      • 12.  Calveley Legh, born 28 Aug 1682, of All Souls College Oxford, MA 1710, MD 1720
                      • 12.  John Legh, born 10 Oct 1683, drowned near Lyme Hall in 1688
                      • 12.  Francis Legh, born 6 Mar 1685 (Julian Calendar).  Known to be living in 1725
                  • 10. Peter Legh XII of Bruche in Lancashire, fourth son, MP for Newton in Lancashire, buried Warrington 18 Dec 1641
                  • +   1st wife Frances, dau of Edward Bellot of Great Moreton near Congleton
                    • 11.  Peter Legh, buried Warrington 15 June 1639
                  • +   2nd wife Anne dau of Henry Birkenhead of Backford, Chester, buried at Warrington, 11 June 1688. In addition to Pieres and Thomas shown below, this couple had Henry and Frances.
                    • 11.  Piers Legh of Bruche, born c. 1636, MP for Newton.  Fought at Winnington Bridge in 1659, buried Warrington 13 October 1671
                    • + 1st wife Margaret dau of Edward Hyde of Hyde, married Feb 1659 (Julian Calendar) buried at Stockport 17 Dec 1661
                      • 12.  Piers Legh of Bruch, MP for Newton in Lancashire, buried Warrington 24 Oct 1685, had no issue
                    • + 2nd wife Abigail, dau of John Chetwode, married c 1668
                      • 12.   Frances, who married her second cousin Peter Legh of Lyme
                      • 12.   Margaret Legh, died young
                    • 11.  Thomas Legh, bapt Warrington 31 Oct 1639, killed at Winnington Bridge buried Warrington 22 Aug 1659 and had no issue.
                      

We pick up the story again with Thomas Legh from generation 12 above:

• 12.  Thomas Legh of Bank (from his wife), born 13 Jun 1675, MP for Newton 1698-1710.  Died 1715. 
• + Henrietta Maria, dau and heiress of Thomas Fleetwood of Bank Hall, Bretherton in Lancashire.  This couple had sons Fleetwood, Peter, Piers, Ashburnham and Henry (died young) and daughters Elizabeth, Margaret, Ann, Sarah and Mary.  I follow below the first four sons, the later Leghs of Lyme descend from the fourth son, Ashburnham Legh.
  • 13.  Fleetwood Legh of Bank Hall in Bretherton, born 11 Jan 1701 (Julian Calendar) married 24 Nov 1723 and died 21 Jan 1725 (Julian Calendar)
  • + Meriel Leicester, sole heiress of Sir Francis Leicester of Nether Tabley, born 25 Nov 1705.
    • 14.  Ann Meriel Legh, born 5 Sep 1726, married Peter Brooke of Mere and died in 1 April 1746 aged 21 without issue.
    • 14.  Frances Legh, born 13 Aug 1725 and died the following August.  
  • 13.  Peter Legh XIII of Lyme, succeeded his uncle Peter XII in generation 12 on his death in 1744.  He was baptised atg Aughton in Lancashire, 7 Jan 1707 (Julian Calendar).  He died 20 May 1792 and was buried at Disley.
  • + Martha, only child of Thmas Benet of Salthrop in Wiltshire, marreid settlement 20 Dec 1737, died at Lyme 21 Jun 1787.  In addition to two sons, there were three daughters, Henrietta Maria, Elizabeth & Ester.
    • 14.  Peter Benet Legh, born 18 October 1741, died in infancy.
    • 14.  Benet Legh, born 1748 died 1756
  • 13.   Piers Legh, a Liverpool Merchant, died without issue in May 1774
  • 13.   Ashburnham Legh of Golborne Park in Lancashire, Rector of Davenham in Cheshire, baptised Ormskirk, 2 Aug 1716 and died 1775.
  • +      Elizabeth Charlotte, dau of Sir Holland Egerton, of Heaton, Lancashire, buried Winwick, 12 Feb 1801 aged 80.  This couple, in addition to their heir Thomas Peter, had a son Cholmondley Leyburn Legh, of Trinity College Oxford, BA 1777 who died in Lisbon in 1784 unmarried.  There was also a daughter, Martha Ann.
    • 14.   Thomas Peter Legh succeeded his uncle, Peter Legh XIII on his death in 1792.  He was born c. 1753, became a Colonel of the 3rd Light Dragoons and MP for Newton.  He died aged 44 at Edinburgh on 7 August 1797 and was buried at Winwick.    Thomas Peter had seven illegitimate children by seven different women.  They were Thomas; William; Peter, born 1796 who became incumbent of St. Peter's in Newton; Maria; Margaret; Emma and Mary.  The first three daughters all married men given the appellation Esquire in Earwaker's family tree, indicating that they must have been brought up as "ladies".

Lady Newton in her book The House of Lyme, diplomatically ends her story just as Thomas Peter Legh succeeds to the estate. The later Leghs, are all descended from his second illegitimate son, William.