WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



has been described as extra-parochial, it belonged 

 ecclesiastically to Childwall and paid tithes as part of it. 

 For parochial purposes it was at one time included 

 in the township of Much Woolton, but has since 

 1877 been attached to Huyton-with-Roby. 1 There 

 was no separate return of the population in 1901. 

 It consists of the estate known as Thingwall Hall, 

 standing on a hill, rising to an elevation of 166 ft. 

 above mean sea-level, in the centre of the township, 

 with the old manor house, now a farm house, and 

 a few other dwellings. The London and North- 

 Western Company's railway from Liverpool to Man- 

 chester crosses it. The geological formation consists 

 of the upper mottled sandstone of the new red 

 sandstone or trias. 



Among the field-names on the tithe map of 1849 

 are White meadow, Hargreaves meadow, Legons croft, 

 Starch field, Copper flat, and Spake croft. 



THINGW4LL first appears upon 



MANOR record in 1177, when it was tallaged 

 half a mark with the other members 

 of the royal demesne of West Derby. 2 King John 

 gave it to Richard son of Thurstan in exchange for 

 his thegnage estate of Smithdown, 3 from which time 

 the tenure of this hamlet, assessed as one plough-land, 

 was described as thegnage. One moiety, however, 

 had been given to the ancestor of Henry de Walton. 

 In 1 21 2 Richard son of Thurstan apparently held 

 one oxgang in demesne ; of him Henry de Walton 

 held four oxgangs, Alan held two oxgangs for ^.oj. 

 rent, and William the remaining oxgang for zoj. The 

 tenant of the Walton moiety was Hugh de Thingwall. 4 



The descent of the superior lordship from Richard 

 son of Thurstan to the family bearing the local name 

 has not been traced. The Walton moiety descended 

 with the other estates of the family until 1489, when 

 it passed out of sight. 5 



Hugh de Thingwall and his descendants became 

 the chief personages in the manor. 6 Richard, the 

 son of Hugh, about 1250 held three oxgangs here, 

 another in Walton, and other land in Knowsley ; he 

 gave his estates to Roger his son, who married Alice 

 daughter of Adam de Aigburth. 7 In 1 298 William 

 the son of Roger held de antiquo conquestu eight 

 oxgangs of land i.e., the whole of the manor 



CHILDWALL 



rendering one mark a year. 8 He held the moiety of 

 the vill in 1324 for 6s. %d. a year; 9 and his son 

 Roger in 1 346 held three oxgangs for the twentieth 

 part of a knight's fee and 5*. rent. 10 Thomas 

 Anderton of Ince in Makerfield died in 1529 seised 

 of three oxgangs in Thingwall and Walton, held of 

 the king in chief as the twentieth of a knight's fee." 



The two oxgangs held by Alan in 1212 do not 

 appear again. 



The single oxgang then held by William was in 

 1346 held by William son ot John de Thingwall ; " 

 a John son of John de Thingwall was admitted to 

 land in West Derby in 1323." Later this portion was 

 acquired by the Mossocks of Bickerstaffe, descending 

 with their estates to the end of the seventeenth 

 century." 



William Boulton held a messuage and lands here 

 at his death, 6 September, 1632.* In 1725 there 

 was a suit between John Tutt and John Mercer as 

 to the latter's lands in Thingwall and West Derby. 

 Thomas Crowther, a Liverpool merchant, was living 

 at the hall, then called Summerhill, in 1824. 

 Twenty-one years later Thingwall was purchased 

 from the executors of Thomas Case by Samuel 

 Thompson, descending to his son and grandson, 

 Samuel Henry Thompson and Henry Yates Thomp- 

 son. 16 At the beginning of 1899 Miss Annie 

 Thompson sold it to Sir David Radcliffe, who in 

 1903 sold it to a land company. 17 The mansion 

 house with ten acres of land became the property of 

 a Belgian religious order, the Brothers of Charity, 

 and is used as a poor-law school, known as St. 

 Edward's Home. 



MUCH WOOLTON 



Ulventune, Uvetone, Dom. Bk. ; Wlvinton, 1 1 88 ; 

 Wolventon, 1305, &c. ; Wolvinton, 1341. The 

 commoner form is Wolveton, with variants Wolfeton 

 (1347) disclosing the local pronunciation, Mikel 

 Wolveton, 1301 ; also Wlvetun, 1220, &c. ; Wolton 

 occurs from 1345 ; Wollouton, 1345 ; Woleton, 1350 ; 

 Wlton, 1380 ; Miche Wolleton, 1429. Other D.B. 

 name : Wibaldeslei. Brettargh appears as Bretharue 

 and Bretarwe in the Whalley Coucher. 



1 Loc. Gov. Bd. Order 7403. 



4 Farrer, Lanes. Fife R. 35. 



8 Ibid. 421 ; see the account of Toxteth. 



* Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 21. The origin of the 

 Walton holding is unknown. The 1 31. $d. 

 thegnage rent was paid in 1226; Ibid. 



6 See the account of Walton. Simon 

 de Walton held three oxgangs in 1346, 

 paying 6s. 8</. ; Survey of 1 346 (Chet. 

 Soc.), 30. 



'Richard son of Richard de Meath 

 granted land in Hale to his uncle Hugh 

 de Thingwall ; Norris D. (B.M.), n. 126. 



7 Dods. Roger son of Richard de 

 Thingwall released his right to land in 

 Hale in 1292 ; Norris D. (B.M.), n. 132. 



8 Inq. and Extents, 287. He was thus 

 in the same position as Richard son of 

 Thurstan in 1212. An offshoot of the 

 family held lands in Wavertree. 



Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 3 6A. 

 Survey of 1346 (Chet. Soc.), 34. 



the division of Thingwall in this extent ; 

 only seven oxgangs are accounted for, so 

 that there is probably some error. Roger 

 son of William de Thingwall held land 



in West Derby in 1325; Lanes. Court 

 R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 102. 

 William son of William also occurs; 

 Ibid. 105. 



In an aid apparently of 1378, Simon 

 de Walton is stated to hold the twentieth 

 part of a knight's fee in Thingwall, 

 another twentieth being held by William 

 and Roger de Thingwall; Harl. MS. 

 2085, fol. 421. 



Another plea may be referred to, in 

 which Margery, widow of Roger son and 

 heir of Robert de Thingwall, and wife of 

 Henry son of John de Blackburn, claimed 

 dower in messuages, mill, &c., at Thing- 

 wall, against Richard son of Robert de 

 Thingwall, in 1339; De Bane. R. 318, 

 m. 164. Margery was a daughter of 

 William de Winwick. For a different 

 suit see R. 320, m. I 7 6</. 



11 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, n. 30. 

 His three oxgangs were in Thingwall 

 and Walton. He left as heirs three 

 daughters-Ellen, aged 7, Margaret, 5, 

 and Cecily, 2. 

 >Sur 

 1 Lanes. 



In the Mossock deeds preserved by 

 Kuerden (vol. ii, fol. 230) are several 



"3 



relating to Thingwall, but they do not 

 show how the estate was acquired. The 

 earliest is dated 1393-4; by it, Joan 

 daughter of William de Childwall granted 

 lands to Richard de Thingwall ; n. 30. In 

 1419 Richard de Thingwall gave land 

 here to Robert de Wiswall ; n. 38. Other 

 deeds relate to feoffments of her property 

 by Cecily, widow of Adam the Salter, be- 

 tween 1409 and 1417 ; n. 29-36. 



The Thingwall estate is recorded in 

 the Mossock inquisitions of 1593 and 

 i 598 ; Duchy of Lane Inq. p.m. xvi, n. 28 ; 

 xvii, n. 87. The estate is not described 

 as an oxgang, but the rent payable to 

 the crown was 2O</., the proportion 

 due from an oxgang. It was sold by 

 the Parliament in 1653 ; Cal. of Com. for 

 Camp, iv, 2729. 



is Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, 

 n. 12 ; his son and heir was John Boulton. 



The following were the Thingwall rents 

 in 1780 : Edward Lyon, 2s. lod. ; W. 

 Longworth, 2s. a., and W. Carr, is. 6d. ; 

 John Seth, is.^d. ; Widow Lyon, 31. $d. ; 

 Duchy of Lanes. Rentals & Surv. 5/13. 



16 Baines, Lanes, (ed. Croston), v, 214, 

 215 ; Baines, Lanes. Dir. of 1825. 



V Information of Sir D. Radcliffe. 



15 



