WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



It does not appear that this revelation made any 

 difference ; the manor was in the king's hands, and in 

 the next reign was restored to Maud de Holand, 

 widow of Sir Robert; and in 1330 the prior took 

 action against her in regard to it. 1 



In 1324 Roger son of John le Walker, of Tarbock, 

 and Avice his wife secured by fine three messuages, 

 80 acres of land, and 1 2 acres of meadow, which in 

 default of heirs of Avice were to remain to William de 

 Huyton and his heirs. The story is not clear,* but 

 the disputes are of interest as introducing the Brettarghs 

 of Brettargh Holt. William de Stockleigh, in 1355, 

 surrendered to Avice de Brettargh apparently the 

 daughter of Avice, who was the wife of Roger le 

 Walker his life interest in a third part of the manor 

 of Huyton, and in 1358 an agreement as to a third 

 part of this manor was made between William de 

 Walton and Avice and William de Brettargh, the 

 latter renouncing their title in favour of Walton. 3 



From 1358 onwards several persons bearing the 

 name of William de Brettargh occur as witnesses to 

 charters and in other ways. 4 In 1398-9 William de 

 Brettargh the elder and William de Brettargh the 

 younger claimed from Alan le Norreys and Alice his 

 wife a messuage and 1 20 acres in Little Woolton, in 

 which the latter acknowledged the claimants' right, 

 receiving 20 marks. The land was to descend to the 

 heirs of William Brettargh the younger. 5 



In 1502 William Brettargh was one of the justices 

 of the quorum, and in 1514 a commissioner of the 

 subsidy. 6 The earliest Brettargh inquisition is that of 

 William Brettargh, who died in 1527; he had a 



CHILDWALL 



cottage, a dovecote, and 100 acres of land in Little 

 Woolton, held of the prior of St. John by fealty and 

 a rent of i8</., the value 



being 5 ; his son and heir __^_____^ 

 William was eleven years of 

 age. 7 This son died in 1585, 

 having acquired by his marriage 

 with Anne, a daughter and 

 coheir of John Toxteth, an 

 estate in Aigburth. At his 

 death he held a capital mes- 

 suage called the Holt, a dove- 

 cote, a water-mill, &c.,in Much 

 and Little Woolton of the 

 queen (as of the dissolved 

 priory) by a rent of 1 8</. and 

 other land by a rent of \d. ; 



a windmill in Little Woolton held of Sir William 

 Norris of Speke ; also the capital messuage called 

 Aigburth and other lands there and in Garston, by 

 reason of the dissolution of the hospital of St. John 

 outside the Northgate of Chester. 8 His grandson 

 William, son of William, was the heir, and aged 

 fourteen years. 9 



The grandson married Katherine, sister of John 

 Bruen of Stapleford, a famous Puritan. 10 There was 

 only one child, Anne, of this marriage." William 

 Brettargh married secondly Anne, daughter of William 

 Hyde of Urmston, 1 * by whom he had a son Nehemiah, 

 who took part in the defence of Lathom House with 

 the rank of lieutenant. Nehemiah had paid 10 in 

 1631 as composition on refusing knighthood. 13 



KTTARGH OF BRKT- 



TARGH HOLT. Argent, 

 a fret gules; on a chief or 

 a lion passant of the second. 



