Lancashire Coat of Arms

By Joel Langton

April 2010

Lancashire Branch

The Langtons of Lancashire originate from Leicestershire. Once in Lancashire there was an early split into two groups, those of the estates of Newton-le-Willows and Walton-le-Dale (both inherited through a Banastre heiress) and those of Lowe, Hindley. Both maintained close links with each other.

Later there were two other groups of Lancashire Langtons, each originating from two Brothers, who were descendants of a off shoot of the Newton-le-Willows and Walton-le-Dale Langtons, who died out in the main branch. These are the Lantons of Broughton Tower, and the Langtons of Kirkham.

The evidence from the coats of arms reinforces that these four Langton families were connected, with each maintaining the three chevrons, as inherited through the early Banastre heiress.

In addition there was at least one other earlier branch from the Langtons of Newton/Walton. These were the Langtons of Herton (or Heeton), Cumberland, who we know only a little about at present.

Newton-le-Willows and Walton-le-Dale

Here are the arms of Robert Banastre, Baron of Newton and Walton, the second and third - showing showing three chevronels - are attached to dated documents and can be assigned to Robert Banaste husband of Clemence de Orreby. The first may also be his, or it may belong to his grandfather, also named Robert.

Robert Banastre, was the grandfather of John Langton's wife Alesia Banastre.

Alesia was Robert Banastre's heiress and was about 6 years old when her grandfather died in 1286, her Father James Banastre having died at some time after her birth, but before 1286. As she was a minor her wardship would have reverted to the crown and would have been sold off to someone to be guardian of her body and estate. This was not uncommon and usually resulted in someone buying the wardship and trying to marry off their own child to the heiress as soon as possible. It seems that John de Byrun was guardian of her wardship at fist and married her to his son John Jr, when she was about 10 or 11 years old. The marriage was later unnulled as she was found to be underage. At this point, her wardship presumably passed back to the crown, and through the Kings Brother, Edmund Crouchback, the Earl of Lancashire was granted to John de Langton; Dodsworth (MS. in Bodleian Library, vol. cxxix. p. 17) records a grant, which must have been made very shortly after Alecia's first void marriage to John de Byron. The grant it seems was made by Edmund Crouchback, who was son of King Henry of England (The first Earl of Lancaster) and Brother to Kind Edward. The grant is recorded as follows: "Dn Johi de Langton amico n'r Karo" of the marriage of this heiress, of the right to assign it to who he would; for which grant the said John gave 250 marcs sterling, himself taking her as his wife in 1295, when Alesia was about 14.

So the question becomes what is the link bettween John Langton of Leicestershire and the young heiress in Lancashire. As my Father, David pointed out at the time one of the most powerful and influencial men in the country, probably second only to the King himself, was Walter Langton, Treasurer of England, himself from Langton in Leicestershire. How should I describe this man? Well, Harry Redknapp springs to mind - Im aware not everyone will understand my point, but I know some will follow my point. It seems Walter Langton was highly likely to be involved in this and arranged for John Langton his relative to get the seat of Newton/Walton.

Robert Banastre's son James Banastre's shield however was recorded in the stained glass windows of Warrington Priory, and was described as Argent, a cross patonce Sable. (see a representation of this below)

So why does his Father Robert have a different shield to his son and which is the true Banastre shield? Well, Jame's shiled is well recorded as the Banastre shiled and was held by other branches that follow, so it seems the Cross Patone is the true Banastre shield. The three chevronels as appear on Robert Banastre's shield are in fact that of his wife's Clemence de Orreby. She is the daughter of Phillip de Orreby and Leuca de Mohut. The Orreby arms are described as Arms: (Baron Orreby) Ermine five chevronels gules on a canton of the 2nd a lion passant or. This can be seen below:

It seems that in 1219 Philip de Orreby obtained the wardship of Robert Banastre when Robert's Father Thurston Banastre died. He married his Daughter of to Robert Banastre as a result. So it is no surprise that we find Robert Banastre adopting the arms of his wife, and indeed his Father in law who presumably brought him up.

So we now know that the adoption of the three red Chevronels by the Langtons, which became and remained their shield furthermore, originated not of Banastre but of Alicia Banastre's Grandmother Clemence de Orreby through her marriage to Robert Banastre under Philip Orresby's wardship.

Here you can see Robert Banastre's shield:

Now we know its origin, lets move on:

John Langton inherited a huge estate as a result of his wife's inheritance, there were however other Banastre's around, who claimed at least part of the estate. It seems the addition of the Orreby/Banastre arms into the Langton arms was to reinforce the view that the Langtons were the genuine article, and worthy of the inheritance.

This the first Langton arms of Lancashire, those of John Langton. Son of Robert Langton of Leicestershire.

There is some suggestion that this Vair coat of John Langton originated from a link with the Marmion family who also held lands in the Langton villages of Leicestershire. This is evidence to support this suggestion; In 1292 there was an inquisition of the year 1292, after the death of Philip Marmion, when it was found that Thomas de Langton held four and a half carcucates of land in Langton of John de Langton, which John de Langton held them of Philip de Marmion..

Whatever the case, it is clear to see from the Langtons of Broughton Tower, many centuries later, that this part of the coat of arms remained, and was passed down in the generations.

Ralph Langton (I cant figure out which of the two it is - either Johns Brother, or his Son.), simply used a coat of three chevrons as can be seen below:

Another Ralph (son of Henry) in 1427 used a different seal, as shown below:

Ralph's grandson, Richard used this seal in 1478:

This ring turned up on the point of a ploughshare, in Brindle, a township contiguous to Walton-le-Dale. It has a legend engraved inside the ring, "DE Box CUER."

Richard's grandson, Sir Thomas Langton, who was High Sheriff of Lancashire, used this crest, which contains his intitials:

His shield was as below:

According to the visitation of Cumberland the following coat of arms was recorded, with a amulet for difference, typically a mark of cadency, to inform that you are the Fifth son. This is therefore almost certainly the arms of his son George who died without issue.

The Langton arms of the Baron of Newton, as shown in the 1567 visitation of Lancashire were as below:

Here is another modern interpretation of this coat of arms, though it does contain an error, showing a cross Moline (two branches at the ends of the cross) instead of a cross Patone (three branches at the ends of the cross), an error which is replicated from other sources which described the cross incorrectly.

There are a couple of other variations a this time, from a variety of sources, with changes to the figure on top, but ultimately the same coat of arms.

A variation of this coat of arms also appears at Wooton Lodge, along with the Fleetwood arms.

The second and third quarters show crosses patonce sable, which is a symbol used by the Banastres of the time. It is not believed to have been borne by the Banastre, Barons of Newton however. Some Banastre families are known to have been tenants of these Langton estates, and it may be that the inclusion of their symbol was a gesture toward them.

The other possibility suggested by some is that the Langtons of the time did not realise there arms of three chevrons also originated from the Banastres (at least it seems this is the case, as explained earlier) and they may have thought to make a reference back to their earlier inheritence from the Banastres by including the crosses on their arms. I do not go along with this explaination myself.

The most likely link seems to be a Banastre marriage into the Langtons in the 16th Century, and we certainly know of one, that of Nicolas Banastre, who married Elizabeth Langton, daughter of Ralph Langton. This marriage it seems was later annuled as Nicolas was a minor, however this may still explain the addition of Banastre symbols on the Langton arms around this time. Certainly it can be said that the two families remained close over the centuries.

We also have a coat of arms for a Christopher Langeton, probably of Newton/Walton though possibly of Lowe, and he has a cadency mark to show that he is the eldest son, this mark is only present while the Father is alive, and is removed when he takes his dead Fathers shield in his place. As our tree does not have a Christopher Langeton in it, this leaves me a little puzzled. I suspect he was the eldest son, but died before his Father, and we havent found any other mention of him.

Lowe, Hindley

note: The Langtons of Lowe, start with Robert, second son of Robert Langton, who himself was the grandson of the earliest Robert Langton of Leicestershire. As well as inheriting the estate of Lowe, with the Manor of Hinley, Robert also inherited the lands in Leicestershire.

The arms below show the three chevrons, but bordering them are the Vair, no longer up in the top left, but surrounding the shield. This is likely a Cadency mark to show that he was not the eldest.

Here is an image which shows this more clearly:

From the first Robert Langton of Lowe, we skip his son (another Robert) and move on to his grandson John.

Below are two crests of John Langton. The first, rather hard to interpret, was recorded as having displayed an Eagle. The second again shows imagery of bird of prey.

Below can be seen the arms of Langton of Lowe, as in Grafton MS Coll. of Arms. As can be seen, the bird of prey (now a two headed spreadeagle) exists as part of the coat of arms. This image, is desceibed in "The General Armory of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland" the same but with the eagles displayed in the 1st and 4th quarter, and the chevronels in teh 2nd and 3rd. No cresent is mentioned, but there is a double headed spread eagle ontop of the shield - this shield is attributed to Robert Langton, first lord of Lowe, though it may in fact belong to later generations.

Below the arms of Langton of Lowe, as entered at the 1644 visitation.

The last Langton of Lowe, was Edward Langton. He used the following seal in his will of 1731.

Although Edward Langton was the last Langton in the main branch of Lowe, it is likely that there were other junior branches, off shoots from the main branch, and some of these may have survived to todays time. We have found Langtons in the 1800s in Ince, just up the road from Lowe, Hindley.

Broughton Tower

The arms of William Langton, Recorder of Liverpool and MP for Preston, clearly shows he was related to the earlier Langtons of Walton-le-Dale and Newton-le-Willows. There is also a clear link with the Langtons of Kirkham, as shown further down this page. We know from other research that William's brother John was the head of the Kirkham branch. We also know that their Grandfather was Edward Langton, a descendant from the main branch of the Newton-le-Willows and Walton-le-Dale Langtons.

William was son of Roger Langton who had bought Broughton Tower, from Thomas Singleton in 1615.

In the commonwealth period, he bore on authority of William Ryley, Norroy, party per pale, argent and or, three chevrons, gules, with the crest of a Talbot sejant regardant, sable, the ears argent. As can be seen below:

However, at the Restoration of the monarchy, all the Acts of the College of Arms during the Commonwealth period were made void, and Dugdale cancelled these arms at the Visitation of 1664, and substituted those in the margin, where the ancient paternal coat is revived in the canton.

In 1664, the arms shown in the visitation are as below. Once again reverting back toward earlier versions of the Langton arms.

A version of the above is in Samlesbury Hall, on a mantelplace, and here are two photos of it.

Kirkham

See the resemblance bettween the coat of arms of Thomas Langton of Kirkham, circa 1800, and the arms of Broughton Tower above.

It is no surprise that these two families bare the same arms, as at the top of the Kirkham branch is John, who married a Anne Singleton. His Brother William, was the eldest son of Roger, who bought Broughton Tower from John Singleton.

There is a clear resemblence also with the Langton arms of Lowe, the use of the double headed spreadeagle.

Many of the Kirkham Langtons emmigrated to Ontario, Canada, however a few Langton's remained and moved to other areas of Lancashire. Therefore three junior branches are known to have continued, as follows:

William Langton of Liverpool (descended through Thomas Langton's brother William)

Skinner Zachary Langton of Barrow House, Derwentwater, Cumberland (descended through Thomas Langton's brother Zachary)

William Langton of Manchester (Thomas Langton's son who remained in England)

All of these branches appear to have maintained the same coat of arms, as shown below. Effectively, the same as Thomas Langton of Kirkham, who had moved to Ontario, Canada in 1837.

Herton (or Heeton), Cumberland

Little is known of this branch, and we know not whether Skinner Zachary Langton above moved to Cumberland, knowing he had distant relatives there, or not.

We have a tree for them from the Cumberland visition, however the dates do not match well, and some generations seem vague. However, we do have two coats of arms for them.

Described as; Ar. three chevronels gu. in dexter chief a fleur-de-lis sa.

The use of a fleur-de-lis is a mark of cadency to show that the arms were of the sixth son, in this case those of Christopher Langton, sixth son of Sir Thomas Langton of Newton/Walton.

Further, there is record of a James Langton of Kingston, London. Gent. Who was fourth in descent from Christopher Langton, brother of the Baron of Newton (the same Christopher as mentioned above). His arms granted 29th Aug 1592 by W Dethick Gart on the testimony of several Cumberians. The source i have does not describe the arms only the grant and original source manuscript. However, it would have been a variation of the three chevrons.

Cockermouth, Cumberland

Little is known of this branch, and we know not whether Skinner Zachary Langton above moved to Cumberland, knowing he had distant relatives there, or not.

The earliest reference we have is John Langton of Cockermouth, who was Father of Issac Langton of Howe, Cumberland, who married in 1708. The Langtons are still in Cockermouth, in the late 1700s at which point, John Langton was Sheriff of Cumberland.

Their arms as below, and match that of M.P. William Langton of Broughton Tower. They are clearly related. The earliprobably one of his sons

We know also that M.P. William Langton had a second son called John, though we knew nothing more about him. It seems highly likely that Williams Son is the first John of Cockermouth that we know about.

Others

There are other Langton arms of Lancashire recorded, mostly with reference to other families who married a Langton female and adopted the arms impaled with their own.

These include the arms of Worthington as below. We have a standalone record of a Worthington/Langton marriage in the database, that of Thomas Worthington and Isabel Langton. It seems likely now that this is the marriage and that Isabel was of Lancashire. The shield is dated about 1610.

These are the arms of Robert Sydney, Earl of Leicester. In the center is a second shield, which displays in quarter 4 the arms of the Langtons of Lancashire (also sometimes displayed in Leicestershire, where the Lancashire Langtons originated).

1570: Arg., 3 chevrons gu. Langton.

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