WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



manor descended in the latter family for about sixty 

 years, 1 passing to the Hulmes of Maghull.* 



David de Hulme died in 1418 seised of lands 

 called Ainsdale, worth 40;. yearly, which he held of 

 the king, as duke of Lancaster, in socage." In 

 1483 lands and fishings here were settled upon 

 Lawrence Hulme for life, and descended to his great- 

 grandson Richard, who died in 1539 seised of four 

 messuages, &c. 4 Edmund, his son and heir, was in 

 1555 defendant in a suit brought by Henry Halsall 

 for trespass in Meandale within the manor of Birkdale. 

 The former alleged that he was lord of the manor of 

 Ainsdale and had certain fishyards and lands adjacent 

 to Birkdale. The plaintiff denied that there was any 

 manor of Ainsdale; he had 

 heard that a township so named 

 had once existed, but it had 

 been overflowed by the sea, and 

 no trace of it was left. 5 In 

 July, 1555, Edmund Hulme 

 released to Henry Halsall all 

 his right to the manors of 

 Halsall and Ainsdale, various 

 lands there, and a fishery. 6 

 The Halsalls thus regained Ains- 

 dale ; but in 1630 the manors 

 of Birkdale, Meandale, and Ains- 

 dale were sold by Sir Cuthbert 

 Halsall to Robert Blundell of 

 Ince Blundell, 7 and they have since descended like 

 Ince. 8 



The parochial chapel appears to 



CHURCH have stood originally in Raven Meols, 9 

 but the site of the modern St. Luke's 

 Church, with its ancient burial ground, 10 is now 

 within the limits of Formby. Little is known of its 

 history. In 1334 a settlement was made of a dispute 

 as to the tithes of the fishery at Raven Meols between 



WALTON 



the rectors of Walton and Sefton. 11 The patronage 

 is attributed to the Halsalls " in the sixteenth century, 

 and the Formbys in the next. 13 The rector of Walton 

 has, however, from 1723 presented the curate in 

 charge, as he does the vicars now. 



Its fate after the Reformation is not known. As it 

 was far distant from the parish church and the people 

 adhered to the old religion, it is probable that 

 services were not very regularly held ; in I 590 it was 

 not mentioned, while about 1612 it was reported 

 that only <a reading minister ' served this chapel." 

 The Commonwealth Surveyors of 1650 described the 

 chapel as ancient and parochial, and recommended 

 that the township be formed into one independent 

 parish. 15 



At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the 

 chief resident family having conformed to the Estab- 

 lished religion, and the old chapel having become 

 almost overwhelmed by the sand and otherwise unfit 

 for service, 16 the church of St. Peter was in 1736 

 erected upon a piece of waste land in a central posi- 

 tion," some of the material of the old chapel being 

 used. This church, enlarged in 1830, is a plain 

 brick building, with a campanile containing one bell ; 

 the chancel was enlarged and a side chapel built in 

 1873- 



The following have been among the curates and 

 vicars : 



1558-63 Thomas Wolfall 18 

 1604 Henry Hammond " 

 1622 Thomas Lydiate M 

 1626 Roger Wright 

 1650 John Wai ton 31 

 1657 Peter Aspinwall " 

 101662 William Aspinwall * 

 oc. 1665 Edward Birchall " 4 

 101698 George Birchall * 5 

 to 1702 Coulborn 



