The family which inhabited the ancient mansion of Fox Hall in the time of Charles II., and for many subsequent years, sprang originally from the small village of Tyldesley, near Bolton-le-moors. When or how they first became associated with the latter place is impossible to determine, as no authentic documents bearing on the subject can be discovered; but that they must have been established in or connected with the neighbourhood at an early epoch is shown by the fact that Henry de Tyldesley held the tenth part of a Knight’s fee in Tyldesley during the reign of Edward I., 1272-1307. A Richard de Tyldesley was lord of the manor of Tyldesley towards the close of the sovereignty of this monarch, and there is sufficient evidence to warrant the assumption that he was the son and heir of Henry de Tyldesley. At a later period Thurstan de Tyldesley, a lineal descendant, who is accredited with having done much to improve his native village, and having built Wardley Hall, near Manchester, about 1547, was a justice of the peace for the county of Lancaster, and Receiver-General for the Isle of Man in 1532. He was on intimate and friendly terms with the earl of Derby, and we may safely conjecture that the members of the two houses had for long been familiarly known to each other, as we read that in 1405 Henry IV. granted a letter of protection to William de Stanley, knt., John de Tyldesley, and several more, when they set out to take possession of the Isle of Man and Peel Castle. In 1417, when Sir John de Stanley, lord of the same island, was summoned to England, he left Thurston de Tyldesley, a magistrate, to officiate as governor during his absence. The Tyldesleys held extensive lands in Wardley, Morleys, Myerscough, and Tyldesley, having seats at the three first-named manors. Thurstan de Tyldesley, who erected Wardley Hall, was twice married and had issue by each wife. To the offspring of the first, Parnell, daughter of Geoffrey Shakerley, of Shakerley, he left Tyldesley and Wardley; and to those of his second, Jane, daughter of Ralph Langton, baron of Newton, he bequeathed Myerscough, and some minor property. There is nothing calling for special notice concerning any, except two, of the descendants from the first marriage—Sir Thomas Tyldesley, a great-grandson, attorney-general for Lancashire in the reign of James I.; and his son, who did not survive him many months, and terminated the elder branch. In consequence of this failure of issue the Tyldesley estate, but not Wardley, which had been sold, passed to the representatives of Thurstan’s children by his second wife. The eldest son of the second alliance, Edward, had espoused Anne, the daughter and heiress of Thomas Leyland, of Morleys, and, subsequently, inherited the manor and Hall of Morleys. The grandson and namesake of Edward Tyldesley, of Morleys and Tyldesley, who was born in 1585, and died in 1618, entertained James I. for three days at his seat, Myerscough Lodge, in 1617.