John de Heley

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁸²⁷
The first thegn of Salesbury upon record was Ulfkil, living in the time of Stephen and Henry II, who was the father of Gilbert and Waldeve. Between the two brothers the township appears to have been equally divided, but Waldeve held his lands of Gilbert, who is variously styled as of Salesbury or of 'Heley,' the latter being the name of one of the village fields. As Gilbert son of Ulfkil he, with the consent of his heir and his homagers, gave to Sawley land in Elresbaru and Uchtrede's Greave to obtain sepulture for himself and wife at the abbey church; he also confirmed his brother's gifts to the same house [Sawley Reg. (Harl. MS. 112), fol. 80-1; Whitaker, Whalley (ed. 1876), ii, 371.]. His son Adam de Heley, son of Gilbert de Salesbury, gave all the dead wood in his woodland lying between Heley Brook and Weteley Brook and all the iron ore within his land of Salesbury [Ibid. 81b]. Gilbert and Hugh, sons of Adam de Heley, were also benefactors to Sawley [Sawley Reg. 81]. Before 1241 Gilbert acquired lands from his cousin Richard son of Ralph, who had no male heir [Towneley MS. HH, no. 178], and was living in 1257, when he and his brother Hugh served as jurors. John eldest son of Gilbert was the last of his line, and in 1288 gave his messuage with 3 oxgangs of land to Hugh de Clitheroe, whose father had married the heiress of the younger line of the family of Salesbury [Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 165; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1959.].

~History of the County of Lancaster, Volume VI, pp. 252-257