West of Aston and Firbeck
Ann More (nee Cresacre), had been married to John More. After his death, she married George West, whose first wife was Jane Trigot. George was nephew of Sir William West, a favourite of King Henry VIII. They were married on the 13th of June, 1559, and in the same year, the only daughter of John More - Ann, became the wife of John West, a son of George by a former marriage.
This double marriage of West and More, appears in the visitation of Yorkshire of 1563, and in the parish register of Barnborough.
George West after the marriage, moved from Aughton, to the More's family seat, at Barnborough, where he was buried on the 12th of June, 1572, a few days before the birth of Cresacre More.
Monumental Brass at Barnburgh Church
Children of John and Ann West:
- Godfrey West
- Ann West
- Jane West
Godfrey West married Catherine Revel, daughter of Thomas Revel, and had a daughter, Anne, who married Godfrey Bradshaw. Source
After John West's death, Anne married (7 June 1580, at Handsworth) Thomas Revel (b. abt. 1529), son of Richard Revel of Brampton-en-le-Morthen in the parish of Treeton, Yorkshire.
William West (1548–1598), of Firbeck, lawyer, whose will was proved in 1598 was the son of Thomas West, of Beeston, Notts and Anne, daughter of William Bradbury of the Peak, Derbyshire. He made a fortune by the practice of the law, and wrote a legal book called Symbolaeographia. In 1583, it is recorded that he was playing an important role in the town of Rotherham's s administration.He was steward of the Manor Court of Sheffield to Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury from 1580 to 1594.In 1594 he built Firbeck Hall.
He married Winifred daughter of Adam Eyre of Offerton, by whom he had five sons and three daughters. Their eldest son, William, who succeeded him, was admitted to the Inner Temple in November 1590. After the death of his first wife in 1596, he married Audrey Mann, they had one son.
In 1597 West became ill and was nursed by Elizabeth Greene, a widow whom he had intended marry. He died the following year and was buried at Firbeck.
Will of William West
15 June, 1598. William West, of Firbeck esq.
To be buryed in Firbecke Church near to the place where
my first wife was buried.
Unto William West, my son,
all my goods, etc., to pay my debts. I will that my mother
and her husband be honestly maintained at his charge
during their lives.
Unto Elizabeth Grene, widow,
whom I intended to have married, ten pounds, and to
Clare her daughter forty shillinges towards recompence
of their great pains they have taken with me during this
my sickness.
I bequeath unto Elizabeth Bolton twenty
shillings yearly after the death of her husband during
her life.
Unto my cousen, Thomas Levett, three pounds,
six shillings, eight pence.
To Fraunces West forty
shillings (husband of Joan Starkye?).
To Henry Tayler, upon making of his accompte,
fort shillings.
To Edmond Howson twent shillings.
To Mr Leake, clarke, ten shillings. To Wenefred Shepper
five shillinges.
To Johan, servant, five shillings, Thomas
Killhare and Richard two shillings besides wages.
To
every poor householder twelve pence, without any further
pomp making at my burial.
I make William West,
my son, sole executor, and to have the tuition of all my
children within age and the custody of their portions
during their infancy, or until they be of full age, or be
married, yielding a true accompte and bringing them up
in learning and godliness.
I will that a grave stone be set
for me and my said wife in Firbeck Church, and ingraven
with our arms and names and some posy, and to be placed
in the side of the wall by my seat there, and our said
arms to be set in the window that Halley hath framed for
that purpose.
Proved 15 Aug., 1598
John West, son of William jnr., died in 1638, leaving a sister and coheir, Elizabeth, who married Lord Darcy, son of Michael Darcy and Margaret Wentworth; and secondly, to Sir Francis Fane, who inherited Firbeck after her death.
Archives:In 1664, the Manor or lordship of Firbeck, and manor house or capital messuage called Firbeck Hall and one dovecote and water corne mill, and all messuages, cottages, lands, tenements, meadows, pastures, closes, woods etc.(late the inheritance of John West esq. deceased in Firbeck) and in Maltby, Yorks; and all messuages, lands, grounds, meadows, pastures etc. late the inheritance of John West in Thwaytes, Letwell, Gidingwells, Tropham, Laughton and Ewes, Maltby, Yorks.; and tenement or farmhold in Firbeck,( late in the tenure of John Sanderson). It was passed to the Hon. Sir Francis Fane the younger, K.B., son and heir apparent on his marriage to Hannah Rushworth, the eldest daughter of John Rushworth of Lincoln's Inn.
The Wests were implicated in the feud between the Wests and the Darcies, which is the subject of a contemporary historical ballad, in which Lewis West, one of the family, lost his life. The 'Symboleography' of William West long continued to be the best book of legal precedents.
Old Ballads: Historical and Narrative, with Some of Modern Date By Thomas Evans
Source:Visitation of Yorkshire, Sir.William Dugdale, A.D. 1665 and 1666
See also Firbeck
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