WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



family troubles recommenced. Adhering unflinch- 

 ingly to the ancient faith, he incurred the penalties 

 imposed by the laws, and died in Lancaster Castle, 

 19 March, 1591-2, having been convicted of har- 

 bouring a seminary priest. 1 His son and heir William, 

 who was sharing the same imprisonment, was after- 

 wards released, only to be arrested again and imprisoned 

 in London for two years. After his return to Crosby 

 the hall was again searched, but he escaped by flight ; 

 his wife, however, was taken and imprisoned at 

 Chester for some time. The old Lancaster indict- 

 ment was revived, and husband and wife lived in 

 hiding until the accession of James I, when a full 

 pardon was obtained. 1 Afterwards he incurred a 

 heavy fine on account of a rescue from the sheriff and 

 the Harkirk burial ground. He died at Little Crosby, 

 2 July, 1638.' 



His grandson William, son of Nicholas, succeeded. 

 He attained his majority just about the outbreak of 

 the Civil War. 4 Zealously espousing the king's side, 

 he obtained a captain's commission in Sir Thomas 

 Tyldesley's dragoons in December, 1642, and raised 



SEFTON 



a troop of men ; but being wounded at Lancaster in 

 the following March and lamed for life, had to retire 

 from active participation in hostilities. 5 He was four 

 times imprisoned by the Parliamentarians, and his 

 lands were sequestered for seven years, after which he 

 was able to repurchase them through the intervention 

 of Protestant friends. 6 After this he went abroad, 

 ultimately returning to England in the same ship with 

 Charles II. In the reign of James II he drew up a 

 petition for compensation for various losses sustained 

 by his loyalty and religion, but it was never presented ; 

 in it he described Little Crosby as a ' small lordship 

 or manor, consisting of forty houses or thereabouts," 

 and for many years remarkable ' that it had not a 

 beggar ; that it had not an alehouse ; that it had not 

 a Protestant in it.' ' The last statement seems justi- 

 fied by the recusant roll of 1 64 1. 8 In 1689 he was 

 imprisoned at Manchester for some weeks on the 

 order of the lord-lieutenant, and was accused of 

 complicity in the ' plot ' of 1 694.' He died 

 24 May, 1698, and was buried in the Blundell 

 chapel in Sefton church. His son William, who in 



of Morleys mentions ' Anne Blundell, my 

 sister, widow,' so that Henry Blundell 

 had died before this ; Piccope, Wills 

 (Chet. Soc.), i, 162; Richard Blun- 

 dell was in possession early in 1561 ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 23, 



Fro 



I this time the pedigrees recorded 

 at the Visits, of 1567 and 1664, printed 

 by the Chet. Soc., can be used. 



dell's cattle, but they were rescued ; 

 * whereupon he caused a privy sessions 

 and indicted a great many to the number 

 of seventy persons intending to make a 

 Star Chamber matter of it but in the 

 meantime he was proved to exceed his 

 commission and take bribes, and thereby 

 was driven the country'; ibid. 31-3. 

 Little Crosby Hall 'was once for four- 

 teen days together [beset by pursuivants] 

 upon the report of a wicked priest 

 that fell and became a minister, discover- 



garet, Anne, Winifred, and Frances. 

 Jane the widow of Nicholas was still 

 living in 1638. Nicholas Blundell seems 

 to have lixed at Ditton, paying double to 



sant ; Norris D. (B. M.). 



Richard Blundell, after studying at St. 

 Omer's, went to the English College, 

 Rome, where he died 22 July, 1649, 

 having previously been received into the 

 Society of Jesus; Foley, Rec. S. J. i, 



