patrimony, embracing the manor of Weever and the lands in Over and Nether Alderley, &c.. Weever remained in their possession until 1710, when it passed by sale to the Wilbrahams of Townsend, now represented by George Fortescue Wilbraham, Esq., of Delamere House, but Alderley was retained and still continues the chief residence of the family, who have held it in continuous succession for a period of more than four hundred years. It is not our purpose to trace the descent of the Stanleys through successive generations, we therefore pass over the history of the ancient house to the time of Sir Thomas Stanley, the sixth in direct descent from John Stanley, who married the heiress of Weever, and the one who added a baronetcy to the honours of the Alderley line--an interval of nearly two centuries, during which time the family estates had been largely increased, partly from the possessions of the dissolved abbey of Dieulacres, and partly from lands acquired at different times through prudent marriages, as evidenced by the Inquisition taken in 1606, after the death of Sir Thomas Stanley, Knight, who had married the heiress of Sir Peter Warburton of Grafton, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and which shows that at his decease he held the manors of Weever, Over Alderley, Nether Alderley, Clive, Little Meols, and Pulton Launcelyn; and lands in those and the following places: Barretspool, Wimbaldesley, Stanthorne, Spittle, Middlewich, Rushton, Bredbury, Upton near Macclesfield, Chorley, Hough, Warford, Chelford, Astle, Birtles, Mobberley, Ollerton, Torkington, Offerton, Norbury, Occleston, Sutton, &c., all in the county of Chester. This Thomas, who had been knighted by James I. while at Worksop Manor on his progress towards London, after the death of Elizabeth, a journey during which he shed the honours of knighthood on no less than two hundred and thirty-seven gentlemen who were presented to him, was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas Stanley, who was only eight years of age at the time of the father's death.