A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



were accused of having wounded Hugh and Thomas, 

 sons of Adam de Hake, in the market at Roby on the 

 Friday after St. James, in the year named. 1 



The place had already appeared on these rolls in 

 1246, for Hawe del Moor of Roby having been found 

 burnt in her own house there, her son Adam, the first 

 finder, was attached by Roger del Moor and Adam de 

 Knowsley, to give evidence.* 



A suit brought by Sir Thomas de Lathom against 

 William son of Roger the Walker, concerning a mes- 

 suage and 1 8 acres in Roby, introduces the question- 

 able title of the Huyton family to their lands. Sir 

 Thomas asserted that the defendant had no right 

 except by the disseisin wrongfully made by Henry de 

 Huyton in the time of Edward I against his father, 

 Robert de Lathom. The defendant, however, asserted 

 that the premises were in Woolton, and not in Roby. 3 

 In another case William de Whethill charged Roger 

 son of Adam de Longworth with taking a horse 

 belonging to him. 4 



Richard son of Robert gave to Burscough Priory 

 land between four crosses in Roby, with mast in 

 Roby and Huyton. 5 The Hospitallers had land here, 

 which about 1540 was held by the earl of Derby for 

 a rent of I id!" 



A ' manor ' of Roby is mentioned in a fine of 1552 

 as held by Robert Knowl and his wife Joan, from 

 whom it was claimed by Henry Bury. 7 From the 

 latter, ' the capital messuage called Roby Hall ' was in 

 turn claimed, perhaps as trustees, by Richard Sander- 

 son and William Spencer in I568. 8 In 1569 John 

 and Elizabeth Bury, claiming by descent, sought a 

 messuage, &c., in Roby, from George Stockley, who 

 alleged a conveyance from William Bury. 9 



The present Roby Hall was built by John William- 

 son of Liverpool (mayor 1761), who left three 

 daughters coheirs. One of these, Mary, in 1 794 

 married General Isaac Gascoyne, for many years a 

 member for Liverpool, and they resided here. 10 After- 

 wards William Leigh, a Liverpool merchant, son of 

 William Leigh of Lymm, purchased it. 11 



George Childwall of Roby, gentleman, who died 

 in 1593, had held of the earl of Derby a messuage 

 and 8 acres by fealty and ^s. ^d. rent. Edward his 

 son sold this in 161 1 to Thomas Wolfall, who resold 

 it to Henry Johnson of Roby." 



Hugh Holland of Roby registered an estate in 

 1717." The land-tax returns of 1785 show the 

 principal owners to have been the earl of Derby, 

 Madame Stanley, and Madame Williamson. 



Roby is called Comberley in 1328, perhaps by 

 some mistake of the clerk." 



For the adherents of the Established Church 



St. Bartholomew's was built in 1850, and rebuilt in 

 1875. There is a burial-ground attached. An 

 ecclesiastical parish was formed in 1853." The earl 

 of Derby is patron. 



TARROCK 



Torboc, Dom. Bk. ; the regular spelling (with variants 

 like Torbok or Torbock) till the xvii cent., when the 

 present spelling appears, and has gradually prevailed. 

 Turboc, 1245 ; Terbok, 1327. 



The south-western boundary of Tarbock is formed 

 principally by the old course of the Ditton Brook and 

 its affluent the Netherley Brook. The northern 

 boundary is in a great measure formed by two little 

 brooks which divide it from Whiston, running one 

 east and the other west, and uniting about the centre 

 to form the Ochre Brook, which flows south and 

 south-west through the township. Tarbock Green is 

 near the centre of the township ; Coney Green is a 

 hamlet in the northern corner. 



The area of the township is 2,446^ acres. 16 In 

 1901 the population was 590. 



The flat country is divided into pastures and culti- 

 vated fields, where crops of potatoes, turnips, oats and 

 wheat thrive in a loamy soil. It is not at all pictur- 

 esque owing to its level nature and the absence of 

 woods, excepting those of Halsnead Park, which fringe 

 the township on the north. A little relief is given to 

 the otherwise uninteresting landscape by the Ditton 

 Brook, which is rather a pretty stream. With the ex- 

 ception of an area one mile square of the coal measures 

 in the north part of the township the new red sand- 

 stone is elsewhere represented by the three beds of 

 the bunter series, the lowest in the centre, the pebble 

 beds in the south and east, and the upper bed in the 

 western part. 



Two principal roads cross Tarbock east and west ; 

 one near the northern boundary going from Huyton 

 to Cronton and to Warrington ; the other through 

 the centre from Little Woolton to Ditton, crossing 

 Ochre Brook at Millbridge and going through Tar- 

 bock Green. There are several cross-roads, including 

 one from Prescot and Whiston to Halewood, passing 

 Tarbock Hall and crossing Ditton Brook by Green 

 Bridge. The Cheshire Lines Committee's railway 

 from Liverpool to Manchester cuts through the 

 southern corner of the township. 



The principal industry is agriculture. There is also 

 a brewery. 



In 1 824 there were several collieries at the northern 

 end of the township, but they have now been worked 

 out. 



Tarbock is governed by a parish council. 



1 Assize R. 428, m. 3. 



3 Ibid. 404, m. 1 8 d. The Moor family 

 occur later, Augustine son of John del 



the second part of the thirteenth century, 

 and being also defendant in suits in 1292 

 concerning tenements in Roby brought by 

 Ellis de Entwisle, and Richard and Pat- 

 rick sons of Robert de Prescot ; Assize 



8 De Bane. R. 287, m. 402 d. ; 292, 

 m. 294. See the account ot Huyton. 

 The disseisin was afterwards attributed to 

 Adam de Knowsley, Henry's father. 



4 Ibid. 456, m. 44</. ; 457, m. 95 d. 

 * Burscough Reg. fol. 45. 



6 Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84. 



J Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 



32. ' Henry son of Ralph Bury of Roby ' 

 occurs 1528-9 ; Towneley MS. GG. 



In 1552-3 Ralph Bury complained that 

 his house called Roby Hall in Roby, with 

 its lands, had been occupied by Hamlet 

 Stockley of Huyton and Robert William- 

 son of Wolfall, who had refused to sur- 

 render ; Duchy of Lane. Pleadings, 

 Edw. VI,xxxi, B. 15. 



Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdlc 30, m. 



5 ' Dueatu, Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 374. 

 10 Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 



' For his son William Leigh (1802-73) 

 see Gillow, Bibl. Diet. o f Engl. Catb. iv, 



18 Lanes. Inj. f.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanc. 

 and Ches.), i, 263. 



18 Engl. Catb. Non-jurors, 119. 



"Inq. p.m. 2 Edw. Ill (ist Nos.), 

 n. 6 1. There was a Combral about 

 two miles away on the borders of Cron- 

 ton ; Wballey Couctir (Chet. Soc.), iii, 

 117. 



13 Lond. Gaz. 9 Aug. 1853. 



16 This includes the detached triangular 

 plot to the south-east, known as Little 

 Tarbock, 39 acres, which has since 1877 

 been included in Ditton. At the same 

 time a small detached portion of Cronton, 

 called Cronton Heys, was united to Tar- 

 bock. The Census Report of 1901 gives 

 the area as 2,413 acres, including 9 of in- 

 land water. 



I 7 6 



