Gilbert de Croft

   Another name for Gilbert was Hugh de Croft.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ^157,826
Gilbert appears in a survey of 1212 as holding land in Croft and in Sourthworth, also in Dalton in Lonsdale, Lancashire. Gilbert was the son of Robert (Roger) Croft, and his brother was named Hugh de Croft. Gilbert's estates were confirmed by Thurston Banstre, lord of Makerfield. After this time Gilbert took the surname de Southworth. The two mannors of Croft and Southworth were often classed together. Gilbert had a son also named Gilbert, who had a son William whose name is recorded as a witness in 1292. William had a son who was also named Gilbert who was living about 1330. this Gilbert had a son, Sir Gilbert de Southworth who married sometime before 1332 to Alicia D'Ewyas. He was living in 1334 and his wife Alicia was living in 1363. Through Alicia D'Eways, Sir Gilbert became the lord of Samlesbury.

~The Genealogy of the Southworths, p. 405

~VCH, A History of Lancaster, Vol. 4, pp. 168-170, calls Roger de Croft, Hugh de Croft and notes [Dods. MSS. loc. cit.] that Gilbert de Croft is called son of Roger. It is possible that in the charter the 'manor' was Southworth and the 'land' Croft.

Later Robert Banastre released to Gilbert de Southworth his claim on the land outside his park of Lee by the boundary of Southworth, together with all his land outside the park at Edricshill on the east [Towneley MS. HH, no. 2086].

• Background Information. ⁸²⁶
Of the two manors, Southworth and Croft, held by different tenures of the lords of Makerfield, [V.C.H. Lancs. i, 366 n. for the Makerfield lordship; also Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 138; ibid. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 105] the latter appears to have been the more important, as it gave its name to the lord, who in 1212 was Gilbert de Croft. He held it by the service of falconer, and it was held of him in unequal portions by Hugh de Croft and the heir of Randle, the latter of them discharging the service. [Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), i, 77] Gilbert de Croft also held Southworth by a rent of 20s., but in 1212 it was, for some reason unknown, in the king's hands. [Inq. and Extents, i, 78]

'Townships: Southworth with Croft', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 168-170