John de Radclyffe, the actual founder of the line of Radclyffes of Ordsall, was the youngest son of Richard the Seneschal. His family's attachment to the cause of insurgent barons under the Earl of Lancaster, led John eventually into the service of the Queen's party, where he was rewarded with the favour of Queen Isabella and the warm friendship of the young Prince Edward, to whose personal service he was attached. In this capacity he was accompanied the Queen and the Prince during their sojourn on the Continent, where they sought the protection of Count William of Hainault, to whose daughter, Phillipa, the boy Prince was contracted by marriage. In September 1325 Isabella landed with her son at Orwell in Suffolk, supported by a force of two thousand men, which the Count of Hainault had placed at her disposal. She was joined by the great nobles who hated the Despensers, and Edward the Second fled with his favourites to the Welsh Marches. Here he was captured by his cousin, Henry, Earl of Lancaster, and taken prisoner to Kenilworth. The elder Despenser was executed at Bristol, and the younger at Hereford. Thomas of Lancaster was avenged. The King was deposed and Prince Edward proclaimed in his stead. A few months later in the midnight secrecy of Berkeley Castle the supplanted monarch came to his untimely end
The following spring Sir John Radclyffe was despatched to Hainault,, to conduct the Lady Philippa to England for her marriage to King Edward the Third, and to act as King's Proxy in the preliminaries concerning the marriage. As soon as Edward was firmly established on the throne, having proved his quality by his courage against the Scots in his first expedition of a military nature, the Queen-mother's star began to set. A new confederacy against her influence, and that of Roger Mortimer, her paramour, was organised by Henry, Earl of Lancaster. It proved abortive, Lancaster suffered a heavy fine, and the Earl of Kent was executed on a flimsy charge of treason. The young King was now decided to assert his own authority, and Mortimer was brought to the scaffold on 29th November 1330. Queen Isabella was banished for the remainder of her life to the seclusion of Castle Rising. During the next five years Sir John Radclyffe was engaged with the King against the Scots, and in 1337 was sent to Flanders to open negotiations for a treaty between the English King and the Flemish trading cities, which were anxious to secure the support of the powerful King of England against their oppressor, the King of France. Edward, on his side, was desirous of establishing a commercial alliance with the rich and prosperous burghers of the Low Countries, as a means of improving the economic state of his own impoverished people. For several years John Radclyffe remained in Flanders, rendering valiant service in counsel and in arms to Jacob van Artevelde and his associates in Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres. So much so, that when he was asked to name his reward he immediately requested that a number of the Flemish craftsmen should be permitted to return to England, there to teach their arts of manufacture to his own people. The request was readily granted, and he thereupon conducted these men and their families to England, settling them in Lancashire, of which county he had been appointed a Knight of the Shire in 1340
In 1346 King Edward began his great attempt to establish his claim to the Crown of France, and supported by a great concourse of English archers and men-at-arms, commanded by trusty barons and knights, he landed on the coast of Normandy. On Saturday, the 26th of August, was fought the memorable Battle of Crecy, when the English forces routed the assembled might of France. Five days later Edward began his 12 months' siege of the fortress of Calais, which finally capitulated on 4th August 1347. During this campaign Sir John Radclyffe was in constant attendance on the King, with a personal entourage of two knights, twelve esquires, and fourteen archers, and so nobly did he distinguish himself throughout the engagements, that the King granted him the right to use what has been described as the proudest family motto in all the nobility of England, the superscription 'Caen, Crecy, Calais,' which has been borne by his lineal descendents from that time to the present day
After the surrender of Calais Philip of France agreed to a temporary truce with England, and Sir John Radclyffe now returned to establish his possession of Ordsall manor, against Sir John Blount and the De Leghs, who had assumed the estate after the death of Sir Robert, his cousin. In the intervals of the lengthy litigation that challenged his occupation until 1359, when his rights in Ordsall lands were finally conceded, he busied himself with public duties, particularly in fostering the new industries his proteges from Flanders had introduced into the district. A century before, the town of Salford had been made a free borough, but its commercial development had been slow. Sir John set to work to enrich the chartered liberties of the town with the life blood derived from the new manufactures. He built houses for the Flemings in the town, made the free burghers, awoke a new spirit of commercial enterprise amongst the yeomen of the neighbourhood, and succeeded in gaining the interest of Queen Philippa in his experiment. From a quiet country village the ancient town grew under Sir John's direction into a thriving centre of commercial intercourse, and to him belongs the credit of firmly establishing in Lancashire the textile industry which has been the main strength of English trade throughout the centuries since his day. There still stands in the older part of Salford the half timbered, many gabled inn of the Bulls Head, a portion of which is contemporary with Sir John, at which period it was changed from the private dwelling of a leading family in the town to an inn, where the merchants could be lodged. Fit it's sign was chosen the 'Bulls Head,' the Radclyffe crest, out of compliment to the Ordsall knight who had set the feet of his fellow burghers on the high road towards a greater prosperity.
Sir John married Lady Joan de Holland, the widow of Sir Hugh Dutton. Her father was Sir Robert Holland, the particular favourite of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and his foremost lieutenant. When Lancaster became chief minister of the realm in 1314, he caused Sir Robert to be summoned to Parliament as Lord Holland, which title he retained until the execution of Earl Thomas in 1322. Holland took part in the rebellion of the Earl, and forfeited all his lands. This forfeiture was reversed by Edward the Third in 1228, but in the October following, Sir Robert was murdered by certain followers of Henry of Lancaster, who regarded his alleged cowardice as responsible in part for the failure of the plot against Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer. His eldest son, another Sir Robert, distinguished himself in the French war, and was the ancestor of Lord Lovel, one of the favourites of Richard the Third, and of the Hollands, Dukes of Exeter. Another son, William, was the father of Thurstan Holland of Denton, by Margaret de Shoresworth. His youngest son was Sir Thomas Holland, a soldier of great repute, who married Joan, the daughter of Edmund, Earl of Kent, and was summoned to Parliament as Lord Holland in 1353. Seven years later he was created Earl of Kent and died in Normandy on the 28th December in the same year (1360). His widow, the 'Fair Maid if Kent,' then married Edward, the Black Prince, and was the mother of Richard the Second
By her first husband, Sir Hugh Dutton, Joan Holland had a son, Sir Thomas Dutton, who was Seneschal and Receiver of the Castle of Halton in Cheshire, and Sheriff of Cheshire, 1356-59. One of his descendants was Sir Ralph Dutton, the prominent Royalist, and another was created Baron Sherborne of Sherborne in 1784. After the death of Sir John, Lady Joan married a third husband in Sir Thomas Talbot of Bashall
When Sir John was securely settled in the occupation of Ordsall, he commenced the rebuilding of the manor house, and the main portion of the existing Ordsall Hall is a tangible link between the present day and the gallant and illustrious begetter of the Ordsall Radclyffes
In 1341 John de Radclyffe acquired from John de Belshaw the latter's interest in the bailiwick of the serjeancy of Rochdale, 'with all its rights to be held of the chief lord of the fee by accustomed service.' The charter is dated at Whalley 18th November 1341, and was witnessed by Richard de Radclyffe, Robert de Radclyffe, John de Clitherowe, and Richard ffyshwycke, Clerk.
Under date of 13th August 1344, John de Radclyffe in named as party to an indenture, with Henry de Haydock and John de Belshaw, as bound by a recognisance of the Statute Merchant to the Earl of Derby in the sum of one hundred pounds, which John de Kynewell, general attorney to the Earl, agreed to commute the payment of fifty two pounds, sixteen shillings and threepence to be paid to him at Michaelmas at the house of John le Fleming in Fridaistrete in London. Presumably this was in connection with the settlement of the Flemish workers in England
At the April Assize held at Preston in 1353, Sir John, as Bailiff of Rochdale, was in dispute with John, the Abbot of Whalley, regarding Puture in Spotland and Castleton. John de Radclyffe claimed for his sub-bailiffs a Puture a day every week of the year, and on two days of the year, a nine o'clock and at supper at the Abbot's table. At the September Assize in the same year, Sir John was called upon to show cause why he had taken two bullocks at Marland in Castleton, belonging to the Abbot, and had detained them until a fine was paid. Sir John's case was that Adam, a former Abbot, held the manor of Marland from Henry de Lacy, Constable of Chester (from whom the Duke inherited), for six shillings per year, but the rent was four years in arrear. The jury eventually found that the Duke was not entitled to rent, and the Abbot did not owe it. The Puture question was not settled until November 1360 when Sir John, as Bailiff, released to the Abbot and Convent his right to Puture in all the will of Castleton and the grange of Whitworth in Spotland for a consideration of twelve shillings per year to himself and his heirs
In 1356 Sir John was in dispute with Richard de Langley and Joan, his wife, regarding certain lands in Salford and Pendleton, and in 1358 he was sued in conjunction with Sir Henry de Trafford, John le Bold of Whittleswick, and Katherine, his wife, respecting an annuity of thirteen shillings and fourpence in Ordsall, which Thomas de Goosnargh alleged had been granted to him by Richard de Hulton
The period of Sir John's settling at Ordsall was the time of the Black Death, and an interesting sidelight is thrown on his character when, at a time lands were going out of cultivation for want of labourers and many men were realising their properties and fleeing with their capital abroad, Sir John chose that time to forsake military distinction and apply himself to the illustrious but no less worthy duty of a landed proprietor, the stay of simple men and a helper of the distressed, ministering to the needs of his neighbours and assisting the prosperity of the commonwealth
Shortly after his settlement at Ordsall Sir John added to his possessions the manor of Moston. For some reason not disclosed Emma, the only daughter of Richard de Moston, granted to Sir John in 1353 her life-interest in the manor of Moston and the rights in the inheritance which her brothers had given to her in 1325. She had previously to her grant to Sir John bestowed these on John de Moston, son of her youngest brother Hugh, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Richard de Tyldesley. After John's death Margaret was married to a second husband in Robert de Bolton. Robert de Moston, Emma's third brother, had a reversion in the lands, and this was claimed by his daughter and heir, Alice, the wife of Hugh de Toft, whose son, Robert de Toft, in 1404, recovered the manor of Moston against Hugh de Moston, son of John and Margaret, and Alice, his wife. After the death of her nephew, John, Emma reclaimed possession of the manor against Robert de Bolton and Margaret, his wife, William, son of Robert de Radclyffe, Alice, daughter of Robert de Radclyffe, and James, son of Henry de Tyldesley, and thereupon regranted it to Sir John de Radclyffe of Ordsall. Emma appears to have died shortly afterwards, and Sir John thereupon confirmed his possession be securing from Hugh de Toft and Alice, his wife, the reversion of a messuage and 40 acres of land
William de Moston, another heir, who held lands in the manor for life after the death of Emma, was present in court and did fealty to Sir John de Radclyffe. The manor of Moston was held by the Radclyffes of Ordsall until 1394, when Sir John of Ordsall, grandson of the original Sir John, gave his lands at Moston, presumably for life, to Henry de Strangeways. After this Sir John's death in 1422, a dispute arose regarding the possession of Moston, and in 1425 a settlement was arrived at whereby his son and heir, another Sir John, was to hold the Moston lands for life, with the remainder to James, the son of Richard de Radclyffe of Radclyffe. The estate remained in the possession of the Tower family until the death of their last heir without issue caused them to pass to the FitzWalter Radclyffes under settlement, and in 1543 Henry, Earl of Sussex, sold Moston Hall to John Reddish. The Ordsall family did, however, retain a portion of the lands in Moston, since Sir William Radclyffe is shown in possession of them at his death in 1568
There was a virulent outbreak of the pestilence in the winter of 1361. It lasted for none months, and in the spring of 1362 Sir John de Radclyffe died, a victim perhaps of the sickness that decimated his tenantry. The postmortem inquisition shows him holding Ordsall by knight's service and a rent of six shillings and eightpence, as well as lands in Flixton and elsewhere, including 40 acres in Salford held by knight's service and twenty shillings rent. The Ordsall estate is therein described as including a hall with 5 chambers, kitchen, chapel, 2 stables, 3 granges, 2 shippons, garner, dovecoat, orchard, a windmill, 80 acres of arable land, and 6 acres of meadow. Eight years before, the manor was described as 'a messuage, 120 acres of land, 12 acres of meadow, and 12 acres of wood.'
Sir John had issue of two sons and three daughters: