John Oldfield (abt. 1483)

Born about 1483 in Sutton, Cheshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

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Biography

John probably was born in about 1490, the third son of Robert Oldfield of Oldfield, Cheshire and his wife, Katherine Broughton, the daughter of Sir James Broughton.^[1] His wife is not known, but he was the father of Elizabeth Oldfield.^[2]

John was a tenant of the lordship of Sutton in Cheshire in the middle of the 16th Century,^[3] and he was embroiled in a controversy from 1540 until at least 1543 with the tenants of Bosley, a manor in Cheshire held by Edward Stanley, the Earl of Derby.^[3]

John and several of his fellow tenants were accused in the Court of the Star Chamber on 14 February 1540 by tenants of Bosley of the unlawful grazing of cattle on lands to which they had sole right of usage. The tenants of Bosley grazed their own cattle and sheep on this land, but they also cut peat from its bogs and dried the turves there as well. Their claim was that the illegal use of the land by John and his colleagues harmed them because of over use. They further claimed that the actions of the Sutton tenants was malicious because they had legal access to more than 3,000 acres for grazing on the manors of Sutton and Wynchull [sic]. They further claimed that John had illegally cut wood from the manor of Bosley on or about 1 March 1543. The inquisition states:^[3]

And whyche John Oldfeld in accomplyshement of his further evyll mynde upon the fyrst day of Marche last past or there aboutes hath wrongfully cutt downe & caryed away certeyn holleyns and underwood in the woodes of Bosley aforeseyd to the nomber of iij or iiij wayne lodes, contrary to the law, right and good conscience.

Nothing is known about the time or place of his death at this time.

Research Notes

Information about his marriage, other children, and his death are needed.

Sources

1. ↑ Burke, J. and Burke, J. J. Heraldic Illustrations ...,,. London, England: E. Cherton, 1845. Plate LXXXI, p. 2. [[1]]
2. ↑ Armytage, G. J. and Ryland, J. P. (Editors). Pedigrees Made at the Visitation of Cheshire, 1613. 1909. p. 233.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Stewart-Brown, R. Lancashire and Cheshire Cases in the Court of the Star Chamber. 1916. The Record Society, Part I, pp. 43-45.