[Illustration] Gamel de Pennington, ancestor of this ancient family,
was seated at Pennington at the period of the Conquest. But, as
early as the reign of Henry II., Muncaster, in Cumberland, belonged
to the Penningtons, and afterwards became their residence; and here
King Henry VI. was concealed by Sir John Pennington in his flight
from his enemies. There is a tradition that, on quitting Muncaster,
the king presented his host with a small glass vessel, still
possessed by the family, and called "THE LUCK OF MUNCASTER:" to the
preservation of which a considerable degree of superstition was
attached.
See Baines's History of the County of Lancaster, iv. 669; Lysons's
Cumberland, 139; Wotton's Baronetage, iii. 602.
ARMS.--_Or, five fusils in fess azure_.
Present Representative, Josslyn Francis Pennington, 5th Baron
Muncaster.
MOLYNEUX OF SEFTON, EARL OF SEFTON IN IRELAND 1771 VISCOUNT MOLYNEUX
IN IRELAND 1628; BARON SEFTON 1831; BARONET 1611.
[Illustration] An ancient Norman family, who have been possessed of
the manor of Sefton, in this county, from the period of the
Conquest, or very soon afterwards: it was held as a knight's fee, as
of the Castle of Lancaster.
William de Molines is the first recorded ancestor, and from him the
pedigree is very regularly deduced to the present day. This truly
noble family have been greatly distinguished in the field, witness
Agincourt and Flodden. Thrice has the honour of the banner been
conferred on a Molyneux. The second occasion was in Spain in 1367,
from the hands of the Black Prince himself. In the seventeenth
century, the family proved themselves right loyal to the crown, and
suffered accordingly.
Sir Archdall's Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, iii. 239; Brydges's
Biographical Peerage, iv. 93; and Baines's Lancashire, iv. 276.
Younger Branch. Molyneux, of Castle Dillon, co. Armagh, Baronet
1730, descended from Thomas Molyneux, born at Calais in 1531, for
whom see "An Account of the Family and Descendants of Sir Thomas
Molyneux, Knight, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland to Queen
Elizabeth." Evesham, sm. 4to. 1820.
For Molyneux of Teversal, co. Notts, Baronet 1611, extinct 1812,
descended from the second son of Sir Richard Molyneux, the hero of
Agincourt, see Thoroton's Nottinghamshire, p. 269; and Wotton's
Baronetage, i. 141.
ARMS.--_Azure, a cross moline or_. The Irish branch bears a
_fleur-de-lis or_ in the dexter quarter.
Present Representative, William Philip Molyneux, 4th Earl of Sefton.