The township of MARPLE, or as it was anciently written MERPULL, was granted by deed without a date, by Randle, Earl of Chester, to Robert, son of Robert de Stokeport, and conveyed by the said Robert to his sister Margery, and her husband, WILLIAM VERNON, chief justice of Chester. It remained in the Vernon family until the decease of Sir George Vernon, called the King of the Peak, who left two daughters; one, Dorothy, m. to Sir John Manners, and the other, MARGARET, m. to Thomas Stanley, of Winwick. In the partition of the lands of Sir George, Marple and Wybreslegh, with other estates, devolved upon his daughter, Margaret Stanley, and from the Stanleys Marple came by purchase to the Bradshawes.

HENRY BRADSHAWE, m. Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Eyre, and had, with an elder

son,

HENRY BRADSHAWE, who m. Margaret, daughter of Christopher Clayton, of Cheshire, and left, with other children,

HENRY BRADSHAWE, who purchased, 4th

June, 1606, Marple Hall, and lands in Marple and Wyberslegh, from Sir Edward Stanley, K.B. He m. Dorothy, daughter and co-heiress of George Bagshaw, of Ridge, in the county of Derby, and was s. by his son,

HENRY BRADSHAWE, living at Wyberslegh in 1606. He m. in 1593, Catherine, daughter and co-heiress of Ralph Winnington, esq. of Offerton, and had surviving issue,

HENRY, his successor.

JOHN, serjeant-at-law, the CELEBRATED PRESIDENT of the assumed high court of justice which determined the fate of the unhappy CHARLES. This remarkable person was baptised at Stockport 10th December, 1602. He m. Mary, daughter of Thomas Marbury, esq. of Marbury, in the county of Chester, and d. without legitimate issue, in 1659.

Francis.

Dorothy, m. in 1618, to George Newton, gent.

Anne, d. unmarried in 1669. Henry Bradshawe d. in 1654, and was s. by

James I.

HENRY BRADSHAWE, esq. of Marple, who

m. first, Mary, daughter of Bernard Wells, of Hope, in Derbyshire, by whom he acquired Wyberslegh Hall, and had issue,

HENRY, his successor.

Anne, of Peel, in Lancashire, d. in

1692.

He espoused, secondly, Anne, daughter of George Bowden, esq. of Bowden, in the county of Chester, and had several other children. The name of this Henry Bradshawe is the first to the Cheshire petition, addressed to the two houses of parliament, 6th July, 1646, praying for the establishment of the presbyterian religion. He acted as a magistrate under the parliamentarian government, and had a commission in the army, being major in Colonel Dukenfield's regiment, under the appointment of Lord Fairfax, and he had also a lieutenant-colonel's commission in Colonel Ashton's regiment of foot. At a later period he was nominated to the command of the militia of Macclesfield Hundred, and was at its head at the battle of Worcester, where he was wounded. In 1652, Colonel Bradshawe was one of the court martial which sat on the trial of the Earl of Derby and other royalists at Chester. In 1660, the survivors of the persons who constituted that court, including Bradshawe, were summoned to appear before the lords' committee, appointed to consider of the privileges of the peerage of this kingdom, to whom the petition of the Countess of Derby had been referred. On this occasion it appears that Colonel Henry Bradshawe was confined in the house of Thomas Lee, a messenger of the black rod, from the 17th July to the 14th August, 1660, on which day the said Colonel Bradshawe, Henry Bradshawe, of Gray's-inn, and Cromwell Meverell, of Tideswell, in Derbyshire, were bound in £500 to Alexander Thane, gentleman usher of the black rod, for the said colonel's appearance. There were at Marple several forms for an apology or answer of Colonel Bradshawe to the charge against him, the substance of all which amounted to this:---" that being an officer under General Cromwell, he was by him commanded to be present at a court martial at Chester, for the trial of the Earl of Derby, and that not knowing what danger he might incur if he should absent himself, was sometimes, though not constantly, present at the managing the said trial, but never subscribed any warrant for the earl's execution: that

he knew not by what authority his lordship was removed from Chester, but on the contrary laboured as much as he could to save the earl's life, and at the instance of the succeeding Earl of Derby, he presented a petition to Colonel Macworth, president of the court, for sparing the earl's life, and did earnestly press it, and should not have been present at the last court, but that he had engaged himself to deliver that petition; that being sent for by the late earl he did immediately attend him, and at his lordship's desire wrote to his brother, John Bradshawe, then president of the council of state, to use his utmost endeavours for sparing the earl's life; that he never had any thing which belonged to the said earl, his countess, or any of theirs: that he was a poor man, indebted, with a small estate, and a poor wife and eleven children, all unprovided, to maintain. Wherefore, intending for the future so to demean himself as becomes an obedient subject, he humbly craved the benefit of his majesty's most gracious pardon, and their lordship's favourable construction of the premises, and that his errors might be imputed to his much lamented ignorance and mistake." Henry Bradshawe obtained his release, as appears by a receipt for £40, dated 14th August, 1660, and signed Alexander Thane, being in full of fees due to him as usher of the black rod, from Colonel Henrie Bradshawe during his confinement; and by another signed Cromwell Meverell, dated 23rd February, 1660, for the colonel's pardon suing out, and thirty shillings paid to the master of the black rod as a gratuity on the delivery in of his bail book. On the 15th March following the said Henry Bradshawe was buried at Stockport: and was s. by his son,

HENRY BRADSHAWE, esq. of Marple and Wyberslegh, who purchased Bradshawe Hall, in the county of Lancaster, in 1693. of Thomas Barcroft, esq. of Barcroft, in the He m. Magdalen, daughter and co-heiress same shire, and had issue,

HENRY, his successor.

THOMAS, Successor to his brother.
John, who d. s. p. in 1741.
Anne.

MARY, m. first, to William Pimlot, esq. and had issue,

JOHN PIMLOT, who s. to the Brad

shawe estates under a settlement

WILLIAM RUSSELL, esq. of Brancepeth Castle (which he purchased), b. in 1734, m. first, Mary, daughter and co-heiress (with her sisters, Elizabeth, wife of Robert Allan, esq. of Sunniside, in the county of Durham, and Anne, wife of John Maling, esq. of Bishopwearmouth Grange, in the same shire) of Robert Harrison, of Sunderland, near the sea, a merchant of considerable wealth. By this lady he had (with two daughters, the elder m. to Sir Gordon Drummond, and the younger to Colonel Bunbury) a son,

MATTHEW, his successor.

He espoused secondly, Anne, daughter of Edward Milbanke, esq. Collector of the Customs of the port of Sunderland, and grandaughter of Sir Ralph Milbanke, of Halnaby, county of York, bart. but had no further issue.

perseverance, and great good fortune, acquired immense wealth. He d. in 1817, one of the richest commoners in England. Among numerous other acts of beneficence, he founded and endowed an hospital at Cornsay, Durham, for aged persons of both sexes, to which he annexed a school for the education of the young.

His only son and successor,

MATTHEW RUSSELL, esq. of Brancepeth Castle, m. Miss Tennyson, sister of Charles Tennyson, esq. M.P. and had issue, WILLIAM, present proprietor.

Emma-Maria, m. 9th September, 1828, to the Hon. Gustavus Frederick Hamilton, only son of Gustavus, present Viscount Boyne, and has issue. Mr. Russell stood a severe but unsuccessful lor, esq. for the representation of the city of contest, in 1800, with Michael Angelo TayDurham. He was subsequently member for Saltash in several successive parliaments, and vice-lieutenant for the county of Durham. He d. in London 8th May, 1822, and was s. by his only son, WILLIAM RUSSELL, esq. present representative of the family.

Arms---Arg. on a chevron between three cross crosslets fitchee sa, an escallop or. Crest---A goat passant arg.

Estates---The several manors and estates of Brancepeth, Brandon, Wests Parks, Wellington, Newton Hall, Hardwicke, Blakestone, Shotton, Foxton, Layton Thorpe, Fulthorpe, Thorpe Thewles, &c. in the county of Durham, and at Brysdale Abbey, in the county of York. Mr. Russell is also proprietor of extensive collieries in the

Seats---Brancepeth Castle and Hardwicke, in the county of Durham, and Brysdale Abbey, Yorkshire.