Manor of Rivington

The Manor of Rivington was a manorial estate in Rivington, Lancashire, England that possibly predates the Domesday survey. Before 1212 the Pilkington family owned six oxgangs of land. Over time it became separated in moieties and by the 16th century the Pilkingtons of Rivington Hall owned a 5/8 share. In 1605 the Lathoms of Irlam owned a quarter share and the Shaws 1/8.

The Rivington Hall estate was purchased by William Lever in 1900 and compulsorily purchased by Liverpool Corporation Waterworks in 1902, the current owner is United Utilities. Rivington Hall has been leased to the Salmon family since 1953

Thomas de Rivington who held land under the Pilkingtons of Pilkington was recorded in a grant of land in 1202. Irvine, who wrote a history of the village in 1904, speculates that the Rivingtons may have been the pre-Conquest owners and were dispossessed in Norman times by the Pilkingtons, possibly by marriage. In 1212 Alexander de Pilkington held in thanage, six oxgangs of land at a rent of 10s payable to King John, and the land was divided between the sons of his uncle or stepfather. Thanage, an Anglo Saxon term, indicates the manor may predate the Domesday survey.

Rivington continued to held by the Pilkingtons from the township of the same name until 1290 when Sir Alexander de Pilkington (1225–1291) of gave his lands at Rivington to his second son, Richard as a gift on his marriage to Ellen, daughter of William de Anderton, of Rumworth and Anderton. From then until 1605, Rivington was held by the junior branch of the family. The change of ownership saved the Rivington estate after the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 when Sir Thomas Pilkington of the senior branch lost his estates by royal attainder, after which the thanage rents were collected directly from the tenants by the crown.

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