A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



serjeanty and at fee farm ; and Aintree, Garston, and Aigburth in thegnage 

 or free alms; whilst the preconquest thegnlands of Toxteth, Smithdown (or 

 Smeedon) and a portion of Knowsley, called Croxteth, 1 were afforested and 

 put into the forest created by Roger of Poitou, or by Henry I. 2 At the 

 same time the whole of the parishes of Childwall, Huyton, Walton, Sefton, 

 and Aughton, all Prescot parish except the vills of Penketh, Windle, and 

 Rainford, and all Halsall parish except the vills of Barton and Halsall, were 

 put within the metes of the forest. 3 



The demesne land and forest gave to the castle and manor of West 

 Derby an importance, as a centre of administration in Lancashire south 

 of the Ribble, equal to that held by Lancaster, the nominal caput of 

 the county and honour, in the northern part of the county. This 

 importance was increased by the proximity of the port of Liverpool, founded 

 by King John, and the intercourse with Cheshire by sea and by the passage 

 or ferry between Liverpool and Birkenhead. A court leet with view of 

 frankpledge for the hundred of West Derby, called the Wapentake Court> 

 was held every three weeks 4 before the steward of the hundred, having 

 jurisdiction over the greater part of the hundred, the only exceptions being 

 the demesne lands of the barony of Warrington and lordship of Widnes. 5 

 The proceedings consisted of the presentment of minor offences, the breach 

 of by-laws, small personal actions usual to a hundred court, and the recovery 

 of debts amounting to less than 40^. Halmote courts were also held for the 

 demesne manors of West Derby, Wavertree, and Great Crosby. 6 



The king, or the lord of the honour and county, had his own bailiff of 

 the king's bailiwick of West Derby, who accounted for the perquisites of 

 all county courts and sheriffs tourns held within the hundred, and for ward- 

 ships, reliefs, and other casual feudal issues. The office of bailiff of the 

 wapentake was quite distinct ; this bailiff was the principal officer of the 

 sheriff, and his duties were to guard the peace of the hundred, make attach- 

 ments, collect the socage and fee-farm rents of the hundred, castle-guard rents, 

 and perquisites of the wapentake courts, levy amercements and take distresses, 

 and render every year an account of the issues of his bailiwick. 7 From the 



1 Coucher of Whalley (Chet. Soc.), i, 372. ' Ibid. 



' Duchy of Lane. Forest Proc. bdle. I, No. 17,111. 9. 



4 In 5-6 Hen. VIII (1513-14) thirteen courts were held: the first on Tuesday after the feast of 

 St. Michael (4 Oct. 1513), the last on Tuesday in the feast of the Decollation of St. John (29 Aug. 1524) ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Court Rolls, bdle. 79, No. 1030. 



5 Duchy of Lane. Court Rolls, bdle. 79, No. 1038. Court Rolls or the wapentake of West Derby 

 from 36 Hen. VIII to 16 Chas. I are preserved in the Muniment-room at Croxteth ; CC, bdle. iii. 



6 Duchy of Lane. Court Rolls, bdle. 79, Nos. 1030-1. Several halmote rolls for 17 and 

 18 Edw. II are preserved in the P.R.O. Rentals and Surveys, No. 379, m. 7; Court Rolls, portf. 183, No. 14, 

 m. 3 ; printed by the Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches. xlii, 96-107, 123-32. 



7 Duchy of Lane. Mins. Accts. bdle. 100, No. 1796, m. 7 ; Recs. Accts. 11987^0. 728 for 23 Ric. II 

 -I Hen. IV. The office of the king's bailiwick of West Derby was then worth 10, in farm of the 

 bailiwick, perquisites of county courts 9 4;., of tourns 42*. 8</. ; total 2 1 6s. 8</. The issues of the 

 bailiwick of the wapentake were 19 5;. 5^.; perquisites 20 i8/. 3^. ; estrays 6s. SJ. ; total 40 los. 4^. 

 The issues of the office of master forester of West Derby included for herbage, turbary, pannage, honey, 

 wax, stone, and brushwood sold in Croxteth, Toxteth, and Simonswood, 25 os. 6d. ; swainmotes and 

 woodmotes, 3i/. io<^. ; total, 26 I2/. \d. 



The bailiffs seem to have been unfortunate in collecting the dues. William Gregory died in 1424-5 in 

 prison, owing over 80 arrears of his account, and his successors were frequently in trouble for a like cause. 

 Charges of extortion were from time to time made against them, as in the case of William del Burgh in 1343 ; 

 Assize R. 430, m. 28 d. The misdoings of Henry de Chatherton, who had been bailiff for twenty years, are 

 detailed in Coram Rege R. 454 (i 374), m. 1 3, &c. Among other acts of extortion and concealment of crime 



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