A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Peter Halewood's gift of 100 in 1815, afterwards 

 augmented by 200 bequeathed by his daughter 

 Margaret ; the interest, 10 ijs. 6J. net, is distri- 

 buted by trustees appointed by the parish council. 1 

 James Holland Lancaster desired 100 to be given as 

 a prize for St. Philip's National School, Litherland ; 

 and in 1886 his representatives carried out his wish. 2 



For Great Crosby the 10 left by John Lurting 

 and James Rice had been gradually augmented, and 

 in 1 898 was supposed to be represented by 44 ; 

 formerly the interest was applied to apprenticing poor 

 boys, but now is handed to the vicar of Great Crosby 

 to be used for the poor at his discretion. 1 Over 

 1,000 has in more recent times been given by the 

 brothers John and Samuel Bradshaw. 4 Thomas 

 Fowler's bequest of 20 for binding poor children to 

 trades appears to have been lost, 5 but the interest on 

 Anne Molyneux's 10 provides a junior prize in 

 divinity for Merchant Taylors' School. 8 George 

 Blinkhorn of Great Crosby, by his will dated 1820, 

 charged his lands with 4 a year for the benefit of 

 the poor ; this continues in force. 7 



At Little Crosby in 1828 the poor received 

 2 is. 6d. a year, and a small portion of this is still 

 paid, a voluntary rate being levied. 8 Various sums 

 have been given for the school at Ince Blundell, 9 and 

 $ los. is still paid to the priest in charge of the 

 mission there for the benefit of the poor ; but as the 

 ' constable's levy ' can no longer be enforced, various 

 sums charged upon it for the poor have ceased to be 

 paid. 10 Edward Holme in 1695 left the residue of 

 his estate as a poor's stock for Thornton ; it realized 

 100, now said to be represented by a field in 

 Holmer Green, let at los. a year. The parish 

 council has charge of this charity. 11 



SEFTON 



Sextone, Dom. Bk. ; Ceffton, 1242 ; Sefton, 1292, 

 and afterwards general; but Shefton (1300) appears 

 at times. Sephton became a common spelling in the 

 xvii cent. 



This township has an area of 1,233$ acres," with 

 a population of 343 in 1901. The eastern boundary 

 is formed by the River Alt, except where the present 

 course of the stream has been restricted to the centre 

 of Sefton meadows, the whole of these lying within 

 the township. In time of frost they are flooded for 

 the amusement of skaters. The church and the mill 

 stand at the western edge. A few dwellings amid a 

 clump of trees cluster round the church ; there are 

 also hamlets called Sefton Town, Buckley Hill, and 

 Windle's Green. The moated site of the ancient 

 house of the Molyneux family 13 lies to the south-east 

 of the church, but nothing remains above the ground 

 of the buildings finally dismantled in 1720. Part of 

 it was standing till 1817. Close to the site, on the 

 south, is a farmhouse, known as The Grange, retaining 

 some seventeenth-century details, and a barn of late 

 sixteenth-century date, though much patched with 

 later work. The mill over the Alt is said to have 

 been built in 1595, and has a four-centred doorway 

 and chimney-piece which may well be of that 

 date. 



The geological formation consists of the lower 

 keuper sandstone of the new red sandstone or 

 trias, overlaid by sand and thick boulder clay and by 

 alluvial deposit between the village and the River 

 Alt. The soil varies ; the subsoil is sand and clay. 

 Wheat, barley, oats, and rye are grown, as well as 

 potatoes ; but cabbages are now the chief crop. 



The principal road is that from Liverpool to 

 Ormskirk ; at Sefton Town the road to Thornton 

 and Great Crosby branches off". The Leeds and 

 Liverpool Canal crosses the southern part of the 

 township. 



Thomas Pennant, who visited the place in 1773, 

 appears to have been pleased with its aspect, ' placed 

 on a vast range of fine meadows, that reach almost to 

 the sea and in a great measure supply Liverpool with 

 hay. It is watered by the Alt, a small trout stream ; 

 but after the first winter flood is covered with water 

 the whole season, by reason of want of fall to carry it 

 away.' " 





