A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



1694 had been imprisoned and tried in his father's 

 place, succeeded and lived for about eight years, 1 

 when he was followed by his son 



Nicholas Blundell, the last of the male line.* He 

 does not appear to have taken much interest in the 

 politics of the time, but his house was searched in 

 1715, and he had to use the hiding place, 'a strait 

 place for a fat man ' ; 3 and found it convenient to go 

 abroad for a year or two. On his return he regis- 

 tered his estate as a ' Papist,' its annual value being 

 .482 izs. zW. 4 He died 21 April, 1737, leaving 

 two daughters, the younger of whom, Frances, even- 

 tually sole heiress, married Henry Peppard, a wealthy 

 Liverpool merchant of Irish descent. 5 Their son 

 Nicholas in 1772 took Blundell as his surname ;" and 

 was in turn followed by his son William, 7 his grand- 

 son Nicholas, 8 and his great-grandson William Joseph, 

 the present lord of the manor. 



An oxgang of land granted about 1270 by Sir 

 Robert de Crosby to his sister Anabel and her hus- 

 band Ralph de Greenhol 9 appears to have descended to 



the Anyon family, 10 and was eventually sold in 1501 

 to William Moore of Kirkdale, 11 with whose descen- 

 dants it remained for over two hundred years, being 

 described as the twenty-fourth 

 part of the manor. 18 On the 

 sale of the Moore estates it 

 was purchased by the earl of 

 Derby, 13 but has since been sold 

 to the Blundells of Crosby. 



Other families here were 

 surnamed Moorhouses, 14 Light- 

 foot, 15 Langback, 16 and Liver- 

 pool." 



The hospital of St. John at 

 Chester also had a small piece 

 of land here. 18 



A number of ' Papists ' regis- 

 tered estates in I7I7- 19 



The lord of the manor and most of the people 

 having adhered to the Roman Catholic faith, mass has 

 probably been said here almost continuously in spite 



MOORE or K.IRKDAL*. 

 Argent, three greyhounds 

 courant in pale table 

 collared or. 



