 He married Anne Banastre, the daughter and heiress of Christopher Banastre of Bank Hall, Lancashire, he purchased from the Mainwarings, about 1690, the manor of Marton Grange, or Marton Sands, in the same county.His land adjoined a large lake called Martin Mere, occupying an area of 3,132 acres, with a circumference of about eighteen miles which he resolved to drain.Having first obtained from the neighbouring landowners a lease of their rights in the mere for the duration of three lifetimes and 31 years, he obtained an act of parliament in 1692 and began work the following year.