The Banastres were a family long connected with the Fylde through landed property which they held in the neighbourhood; originally they are stated to have come over from Normandy with William the Conqueror, and to have settled at Newton in the Willows. On their frequent journeys to and from Thornton, Singleton, and Staining, the tenants of the priory of St. Mary were in the habit of crossing over the lands of the Banastres, by whom their intrusions were deeply resented, which led to constant feuds between them and the head of the Lancaster monastery. In 1276, as we learn from the “Regist. S. Mariæ de Lanc.,” Sir Adam Banastre with several of his friends and retainers, amongst whom were John Wenne, Richard le Demande (the collector), William de Thorneton, Richard de Brockholes, Geoffrey le Procuratoure (the proctor), and Adam le Reve (the reeve), attacked the prior, Ralph de Truno, and his train of attendants, when on their way to Poulton. They seized and carried off both him and his retinue to Thornton, where, after treating them with great indignity, they chastised and imprisoned them. Edward I., on hearing of the disgraceful outrage, appointed John Travers, William de Tatham, and John de Horneby to investigate the matter and ascertain the cause, if possible; but no paper is now to be found revealing the result of the examination or hinting at the provocation, although a surmise may be hazarded that it was no new quarrel, but simply the old feud, which had at last culminated in a cowardly assault on a defenseless ecclesiastic.