WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



1783 Nicholas Rigbye Baldwin, M.A. (fellow 



of Peterhouse, Camb.) 

 1817 Jacob Hodgson 

 1840 Edmund Boteler Chalmer, M.A. 



(T.C.D.) 



1844 Richard Walker 

 1855 Joseph Clark 

 1870 Robert Love, M.A. (T.C.D.) 

 1902 Frederic Arthur Bartlett, M.A. (Pem- 

 broke Coll. Oxf.) 



Modern churches connected with the Establish- 

 ment are those of St. Nicholas, Blundellsands, and 

 St. Faith, Great Crosby. The former was built in 

 1874,' the latter in 1900. The incumbents are pre- 

 sented by bodies of trustees. 



The Presbyterian Church ot England built a chapel 

 at Blundellsands in 1898. There is a Wesleyan 

 Methodist church at Blundellsands, built in 1891 ; it 

 has a tall and graceful spire. The Congregationalists 

 have a school church near the village, built in 1884. * 

 The Roman Catholic church of SS. Peter and 

 Paul, Great Crosby, was opened in 1894. The 

 mission was inaugurated in 1825. There are con- 

 vents of the Sisters of Nazareth and the Sisters of 

 St. Paul, the former occupying Crosby House. At 

 Blundellsands the church of St. Joseph was opened in 

 i886. 3 



The grammar school was founded in 1619 by the 

 will of John Harrison, citizen and merchant tailor of 

 London, whose father had been born in Great Crosby. 4 

 Another school, at first called the Mistress's School, 

 was founded by the will of Catherine Halsall, 1758.* 



LITHERLAND 



Liderlant, Dom. Bk. ; Litherland, 1212. Generally 

 Down Litherland. 



Litherland forms an uninteresting link between 

 the busy environs of Bootle and the more open 

 country towards Sefton township, since there are both 

 dwelling-houses and warehouses, streets, and shops, as 

 well as open spaces. It lies on a slightly higher level 

 than its seaward neighbour, Seaforth. The soil is for 

 the most part sandy, with a subsoil of clay. The 

 geological formation of the north-eastern half of the 

 township consists of lower keuper sandstones of the 

 new red sandstone or triassic formation ; that of 

 the south-western of the waterstones of the same 

 series. The strata are concealed by alluvial deposits 

 along the course of the Rimrose Brook, and by a 

 broad stretch of blown sand adjoining the coast. 



SEFTON 



The ancient township, from which Seaforth has now 

 been carved out, contains 1,205 acres. 6 It was formerly 

 called Down Litherland to distinguish it from the 

 hamlet of Up-Litherland in Aughton. The roads 

 from Liverpool to Southport, and to Sefton and 

 Ormskirk, were the principal ones, but the township 

 has become a residential district with numerous roads 

 and streets. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway 

 Company has a station at Seaforth on its Southport 

 line, and the Fazakerley branch of the same company 

 passes through the township. The Leeds and Liver- 

 pool Canal also passes through it. 



The population in 1901 numbered 10,592, while 

 that of Seaforth was 13,263. 



The Diamond Match Factory is the most promi- 

 nent industry in Litherland. 



The field names in a map of 1769' show that the 

 Marsh was the district between Rimrose Brook and 

 the shore ; the Bullcroft was here. East of the 

 present Seaforth Station was the Holme, and to the 

 north Such Field and Whabs. The moss occupied 

 the north-eastern part of the township ; the moor 

 adjoined it on the borders of Orrell. The Church 

 Field was north of the old village, on the borders of 

 Ford ; the reason for this name, an ancient one, is 

 unknown. Aynard Hey was a strip lying between 

 the village and Church Field. 



A local board was formed in 1863 for the part not 

 in the Waterloo-with-Seaforth district 8 ; in 1894 

 this part was constituted the township of Litherland ; 

 it is governed by an urban district council of twelve 

 members. 



At the death of Edward the Confessor 

 M4NOR Elmaer held LITHERLAND for a manor 

 assessed at half a hide, or three plough-lands, 

 and its value beyond the customary rent was the nor- 

 mal 8/. 9 Within sixty years the whole had come into 

 the possession of the Molyneux family, and has since 

 descended with Sefton. It was, however, acquired in 

 moieties by different titles. One moiety is supposed 

 to have been part of the original Sefton fee ; the 

 other was granted in exchange for Toxteth, and for 

 this part a thegnage rent of 2Os. was paid, the under- 

 tenants in 12 1 2 being Robert de Walton and Richard 

 son of Siward, each holding one-half. 10 About the 

 year 1125 Stephen, count of Boulogne and Mortain, 

 had assured to Robert de Molyneux and his heir his 

 land in Litherland for i^s. a year apparently the 

 thegnage moiety." In 1324 the two portions are 

 clearly distinguished, Richard de Molyneux holding 

 one half by the service of 2O/., and the other half in 

 conjunction with Sefton. 12 



1 A school chapel, called St. Barnabas' s, 

 licensed in 1864, now the day school, was 

 the origin of this church and parish. 



Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. vi, 223. 

 The congregation works and maintains a 

 mission at Sandhills, Liverpool. 



8 Liver fool Catb. Ann. 1901 ; Gillow, 

 Haydock Papers, 132. 



For the list of recusants in 1641 see 

 Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xiv, 237. 



* In 1 570 Thomas Harrison and other 

 inhabitants of Great Crosby had a dispute 

 with the people of Litherland as to pasture 

 of Great Crosby Marsh ; Ducatus Lane. 

 (Rec.Com.), iii, 393. 



6 See the End. Char. Ref. for Sef- 

 ton, 1899, and the Educational Section 

 of this work for these schools ; also 

 Tram. Hist. Sec. (New Ser.), xviii, 131- 

 7*- 



6 857 acres, including 9 of inland 

 water ; Census Rep. of 1901. 



7 Preserved at Croxteth. 



8 Land Gax. 24 April and 16 June, 

 1863. y.C.H. Lanes, i, 284*. 



10 Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 12, 14. The exchange is 

 also mentioned in the Red Book of the 

 Excheq. (Rolls Ser.), 572. 



11 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 427. Although 

 the land is called 'his (Robert's) land,' 

 the word used is concede, as if it were a 

 fresh grant. The service of 141. does not 

 appear again, so that it was soon raised to 



l Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 34. The por- 

 tion held with Sefton is not usually men- 

 seems in the end to have been regarded 

 as due for the whole of Litherland. 



95 



In 1226 Adam de Molyneux paid 201. 

 of thegnage in Litherland; and in 1297 

 Richard de Molyneux rendered zo,. for 

 Down Litherland, and two tenants did 

 suit ; Inq. and Extents, 136, 288. These 

 tenants in 1324 were named as Adam 

 and William the Demands ; they did the 

 suit to county and wapentake. 



The fusion or confusion of the two 

 moieties was complete by 1346, when 

 Richard de Molyneux held 'three plough- 

 lands' here, paying 20*. ; Survey of 1346 

 (Chet. Soc.), 34. 



Richard de Molyneux, who died in 

 1363, was found to have held the manor 

 of Down Litherland of the duke of Lan- 

 caster, by homage and the service of 201. 

 yearly, and performing suit at the wapen- 

 take of West Derby; it had a capital 

 messuage, 30 acres of land each worth I zd. 



