WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



The office of keeper of this chase was united with 

 that of keeper of Toxteth Park. 1 In 1 507 the king 

 granted ' a waste ground ' called Simonswood to 

 William Molyneux,' one of the 



esquires of his body, at a yearly f ^ mf ^^ __ _^ ^ 

 rent, according to the custom 

 of the manor of West Derby. 3 

 The township has since con- 

 tinued in the possession of the 

 Molyneux family.' 



It appears to have been cus- 

 tomary for the landowners of 

 the district to obtain wood here 

 for fencing their properties. 

 Edward Moore of Bankhall 

 describes how his great-grand- 

 father in the time of Elizabeth 

 used to keep two strong ox teams, with two men and 

 two boys, employed during the greater part of the 

 winter carrying hedging wood from Simonswood for 



^ ^ 



MOLYNEUX, 

 Sefton. Azu, 

 moline or. 



WALTON 



the fencing of his demesne lands. 5 Some idea of the 

 recent progress of agriculture may be gathered from 

 the scanty amount of ' corn rent ' or tithe due to the 

 rector or farmer of the tithes of Walton in 1658 ; the 

 total was 2 js. 6d, 6 



William Johnson of West Derby, and William 

 Fleetwood 'as papists' registered estates in Simons- 

 wood in 1717.' 



In 1571 there was a dispute as to the boundary 

 between Simonswood and Cunscough in Melling. 8 



There was an ancient rent called the Priest Rent, 

 paid by fourteen messuages in Simonswood to the 

 curate of Kirkby; it amounted only to 8/. 44'. in all. 9 



In the eighteenth century the justices began to 

 appoint overseers of the poor instead of the inhabi- 

 tants, who had formerly appointed them. There were 

 no churchwardens (or church tax), constable, or high- 

 way surveyor. Collectors of the land tax were ap- 

 pointed as elsewhere, and the assessor of this tax also 

 the poor-rate. 10 



57 



