A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



and serjeanty to Gilbert, to hold by the yearly service 

 of 2 marks. 1 Gilbert had two sons, Henry and 

 Richard. To the former in 1199 King John con- 

 firmed the fourteen oxgangs;' 

 to the latter, known as Richard 

 de Meath, he gave in 1 200 

 ' the whole town of Walton with 

 all its appurtenances,' which 

 used to render 4.0*. farm, for 

 the increased rent of 6o/. 3 

 Richard de Meath soon after- 

 wards gave four oxgangs here to 

 Richard son of Robert de Wal- 

 ton to be held by a rent of 

 5/. 6</., which gift was con- 

 firmed in 1 204 by the king. 4 

 For some reason not known 



Walton was resumed by the crown, so that the grant 

 to Richard de Meath does not appear in the survey 

 of 1 2 1 2, which recites the minor holding of Henry de 

 Walton, who had made grants in alms to the priory of 

 Birkenhead and to the hospital of St. John at Chester ; 

 Hugh son of Gilbert held one oxgang for half a 

 pound of pepper. 5 



In 1215, however, Richard de Meath proffered 

 four palfreys for seisin of his land of Walton, Formby, 



and Hale, and the offer being accepted the sheriff of 

 Lancaster was directed to take security for the pay- 

 ment.' This was confirmed by Henry III in 1227. 

 The succession to Richard de Meath's lands is stated 

 more fully under Hale, which passed to his natural 

 children. Walton was given by him to his brother 

 Henry, whom he made his heir. 7 Henry de Walton, 

 who thus became lord of the whole manor, died in 

 1241, when his widow Juliana received dower in his 

 lands from his son William; 8 she failed in a claim 

 against Richard son of Henry in 1246,' but partly 

 succeeded in another against William de Walton for 

 an oxgang and 20 acres of land and %d. rent in 

 Walton. 10 



William gave lands in the Breck to Burscough 

 Priory, 11 and was still living in 1 26 1. 11 Some of his 

 grants have been preserved, including one for the 

 maintenance of a chaplain in Walton church. 13 He 

 died before 1 266, for Robert de Ferrers, earl of 

 Derby, gave the wardship of the heir, Richard, son of 

 William, son of William de Walton, to Nicholas de la 

 Hose, who assigned it to Robert de Holand. 11 The 

 latter was afterwards charged with having permitted 

 waste. 15 Richard died early, between 1295 and 

 1298, leaving as heir a son William, a minor." 

 Subsequently Thomas, earl of Lancaster, granted 



