WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



along it from the Liverpool boundary to St. Helens 

 and beyond. The principal road for Huyton, 

 however, is that from Liverpool through Broadgreen 

 and Roby. The London and North-Western com- 

 pany's line from Liverpool to Manchester passes through 

 the centre, and just to the eastward of the village a 

 line branches off towards Prescot and St. Helens ; 

 there are stations at the western and eastern ends ot 

 the village called Huyton and Huyton Quarry respec- 

 tively. 



The Hazels or Red Hazels and Hurst House are 

 in the north-eastern corner of the township ; Wolfall 

 Hall near the northern boundary, Dam House on the 

 border of Roby, and Huyton Hey to the south of the 

 railway near the station. 



A local board was formed in 1877, and now the 

 united townships of Huyton, Roby, and Thingwall ' are 

 governed by an urban district council of twelve mem- 

 bers under the Act of 1 894. 



About 1830 wire-drawing for the watch-making 

 industry was engaged in, and there was a colliery.* 

 The flagstone quarry at the south-east of the township 

 is now closed. There is a brewery. 



A cross on the village green near the church was 

 erected about 1820 from a design by Rickman. 3 It 

 was replaced in 1897 by the present cross. 4 



A halfpenny token was issued by Thomas Hodgson 

 of Huyton in i666. 5 



At the death of Edward the Confessor, 

 MANORS the manors of HUTTON and Tarbock 

 were held by Dot. The assessment was 

 one hide, quit of all customs except the geld ; there was 

 land for four ploughs, and the value beyond the 

 customary rent was 2Os." Afterwards it became 

 part of the fee of Widnes, and was reckoned as a 

 member of Knowsley, with the Lathom family as 

 lords. 



A subordinate manor was created or grew up about 

 the beginning of the thirteenth century. Robert 

 son of Henry de Lathom took to his second wife 

 Amabel, daughter of Simon, who was known as the 

 canon of Burscough. Robert died about 1198, leav- 

 ing three sons by this marriage, Richard, Adam, 7 and 

 William, who took their surname from Knowsley or 

 Huyton indifferently. 8 



The eldest brother 9 seems to have settled at Wol- 



HUYTON 



fall, and his descendants took their name from it, 

 while Adam, though usually called ' de Knowsley,' 

 became possessed of Huyton proper unjustly as was 

 afterwards alleged 10 and his descendants were accord- 

 ingly 'de Huyton.' 



In 1258 Richard de Huyton " claimed from Adam 

 de Knowsley one-third of the manor of Huyton ; 

 except the advowson of one-third of the church, and 

 a third of the mill, and of two oxgangs of land which 

 Richard when under age demised to him. When 

 Adam appeared, the justices found that he was not of 

 sound mind or good memory and could not speak, 

 and adjourned the matter. 18 Three years later Henry 

 de Knowsley, as assignee of Adam de Knowsley 

 probably his son and heir demanded from Nicholas, 

 then prior of Burscough, that he observe the covenant 

 regarding the mill at Huyton which his predecessor 

 Prior William had made with Adam." 



In 1252 Adam and his wife Godith, probably a 

 relative of the lords of Billinge, 14 sought from Adam 

 de Winstanley l^ oxgang of land in Winstanley. 15 



The next step in the pedigree is not clear. It 

 would appear that Adam had several sons Henry, 16 

 Robert, and William, whose descendants held or 

 claimed the manor on a title said to be derived from 

 Adam de Knowsley. Henry de Huyton, if identical 

 with Henry de Knowsley, has been mentioned already 

 as the assignee of Adam in 1258. In 1292 he claimed 

 an acre of meadow from the prior of ' Burcho,' and the 

 person summoned triumphantly replied that he was 

 prior of ' Burscho.' " Henry was still living in I 307 

 when the prior of the Hospitallers complained of 

 his felling trees in Little Woolton. 18 In Billinge 

 he and Adam de Billinge were chief lords in 1291, in 

 right either of his wife or his mother ; here his manor 

 descended to his son Robert, among whose daughters 

 or grand-daughters it was divided, 19 but Huyton went 

 to another son William,* who in 1306 had also been 

 summoned for cutting trees and doing other damage 

 in Little Woolton.' 1 William de Huyton died about 

 1328, leaving a son and heir Robert, who being a 

 minor became the ward of Sir Thomas de Lathom as 

 lord of Knowsley. 2 * He died about 1345, and his 

 daughter Katherine similarly became the ward of 

 Katherine, formerly wife of Sir Robert de Lathom, 

 and their son Sir Thomas. 



169 



15 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.),!, ,14. 



Adam de Knowsley granted to Robert 

 del Birches land within Huyton within 

 the following bounds : In length from 

 the ridding which Christiana, sister of the 

 said Robert, formerly held of Adam to 

 Stainulf 's ridding, also held of Adam; and 

 in width from Robert's other boundary to 

 the hurst, and so as the hurst and the 

 carr divide from Christiana's ridding to 

 Stainulf s ridding; Norris D. (B.M.), 

 980. 'Richard lord of Huyton' was a 

 witness as was John dc Wolfall. 



16 Henry ' son of Adam de Knowsley ' 

 is one grantor in a deed preserved by 

 Kuerden ; ii, fol. 270, n. 138. 



17 Assize R. 408, m. 44. 



18 De Bane. R. 163, m. 219. 

 M See the account of Billinge. 



*> Probably Henry was twice married. 



De Bane. R. 161, m. 473 d. 



M Ibid. 275, m. 7 d. Robert de Huy- 

 ton and his wife Mary were defendants, 

 in 1325, in a claim by Thomas de Beetham 

 concerning land in Kirkby ; ibid. 259, 



22 



