WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



no perambulations of boundaries made. Lord Sefton 

 has claimed wreck. 1 



The offices of forester and keeper of Toxteth park 

 and of the park of Croxteth and chase of Simonswood 

 were of some importance. They were usually held 

 for life, the wages of the former being 2 per annum 

 with some small perquisites. Robert de Sankey, the 

 Terderer, was incapacitated in 1330;' Roger de 

 Moreton was succeeded in 1360 by Roger de 

 Ditton ; 3 Sir John le Boteler was master forester in 

 '379-* James Harebrown and Sir Thomas Stanley 

 had a grant of the office of parker in 1440, to be 

 held for their lives or in survivorship. 5 The master 

 forestership of West Derbyshire had four years earlier 

 been conferred on Sir Richard Molyneux, 6 but this 

 grant, though confirmed in 1461 and 1483,' was 

 revoked by Henry VII, who appointed Thomas 

 Scarisbrick, servant of Sir Edward Stanley, to the 

 office. 8 In 1505, however, the former grant was 

 revived, 9 which confirmation was enrolled in 1706 in 

 the office of the auditor of the duchy. 10 



SMITHDOWN " has been merged in Toxteth Park 

 for 700 years. The area is not definitely known, though 

 the name continued in use down to the sixteenth 

 century or later, but it is believed to have extended 

 from Lodge Lane eastwards to the boundary." Ethel- 

 mund held it as a separate manor in 1066, when it 

 was assessed as one plough-land, and its value, beyond 

 the customary rent, was the normal 32<^. 13 King John, 

 desiring to add it to the park of Toxteth, took it from 

 its owner, a poor man, and gave him Thingwall for it. 

 The perambulators of the forest in 1228 seem to have 

 considered the exchange equitable, for they conclude 

 their reference to Smithdown with the words : 

 'Therefore let the king do his will therewith." 4 

 From that time onward the vill was involved with 

 Toxteth, but a strip on the side of Liverpool, after- 

 wards known as Smithdown Moss, was granted at 

 various times in parcels for turbary. 15 



The prior of St. John's Hospital, Chester, at one 



WALTON 



time held 26 acres of waste in the hills by Smithdown 

 by the grant of Henry, earl of Lancaster. 16 



In consequence of the change to a thickly populated 

 urban district, there have been erected in recent times 

 a large number of places of worship. The earliest 

 in connexion with the Established Church was 

 St. James's, on the border of Liverpool, built in 1774 

 under an Act of Parliament ; the money was raised 

 by shares, Lord Sefton giving the land. 17 A burial 

 ground surrounds it. A district was assigned in 

 1 844- 18 The rector of Walton presents to the per- 

 petual curacy. St. Michael's was built in 1817, from 

 Rickman's designs, being one of the iron churches of 

 the time. There is a monument to commemorate 

 Jeremiah Horrocks. The present patron is Mrs. W. 

 Jones. 19 The more recent churches, with the dates of 

 erection, are as follows : St. John the Baptist's, near 

 the top of the hill, 1832 ; 20 St. Paul's, Prince's Park, 

 1 848 ;" St. Thomas's, near the docks, 1 840 ; 22 St. Barna- 

 bas's was built in 1841, and demolished in 1893 ;** 

 St. Clement's, Windsor, 1841 ; St. Matthew's, Hill 

 Street, 1847 ; 84 St. Silas's, High Park Street, 1865 ;" 

 Holy Trinity, Parliament Street, 1858;" St. Mar- 

 garet's, Prince's Road, 1869 ;"' St. Cleopas's, 1866 ;" 

 Christ Church, Sefton Park, 1870 ; >9 St. Philemon's, 

 Windsor Street, 1874 ; M All Saints', Prince's Park 

 entrance, i884; 31 St. Gabriel's, 1884; St. Bede's, 

 Hartington Road, 1886 ; St. Agnes's, Ullet Road, 

 1884 ; 3J and St. Andrew's, Aigburth Road, l893. M 

 The patronage is vested in various bodies of trustees, 

 except where otherwise stated in the notes. St. 

 Deniol's, Windsor, was built as a place of worship for 

 Welsh-speaking Anglicans. After difficulties which 

 kept it closed for some years it was licensed for service 

 in 1 90 1. 3 * 



The Wesleyan Methodists have many churches in 

 Toxteth. The earliest is Wesley chapel, Stanhope 

 Street, built in 1827. St. John's, Prince's Park, was 

 built in 1862 ; St. Peter's, High Park Street, in 

 1878; and Wesley, Lodge Lane, in 1883. Smith- 



43 



