WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



Simon, still living in 1242-3,' was a little later 

 succeeded by his son Gilbert, who in 1256 acknow- 

 ledged the suit he owed to William le Boteler's court 

 of Warrington, promising that he would do suit there 

 from three weeks to three 

 weeks. William, on the other 

 hand, remitted all right to 

 claim from Gilbert or his heirs 

 'bode' or 'witness' or puture 

 for any of his Serjeants.* Gil- 

 bert's name occurs as a witness 

 and otherwise," but he seems 

 to have been very soon suc- 

 ceeded by his son Richard de 

 Halsall, who is frequently men- 

 tioned about the end of the 



reign of Henry III. 4 



Richard died about 1275, 

 in which year his son Gilbert 



had to answer Robert de Vilers respecting his tenure 

 of a messuage and plough-land in Halsall ; the ser- 

 vices due from Gilbert were alleged to be homage, 

 doing suit for Robert at the Warrington court, and 

 paying I mark a year, and they had been rendered in 

 the late king's reign by Gilbert's father Richard to 

 Robert's father Robert. 5 Gilbert denied that he held 

 land of Robert; and in reply to a later suit (1278) 

 he showed that there was an error in the writ ; 

 for he had only two-thirds of the tenement, Denise, 

 widow of Richard, having the other third in dower. 6 

 She afterwards married Hugh de Worthington, and in 

 1280 the suit by Robert de Vilers was continued, 

 Gilbert de Halsall warranting the third part to her 



HALSALL 



and her husband. The dispute ended by Robert's 

 acknowledging the manor to be Gilbert's right and 

 quitclaiming to him and his heirs in perpetuity ; for 

 which release Gilbert gave him 10 marks of silver/ 

 From this time no more is heard of the mesne lordship 

 of Vilers. 8 



Gilbert's wife was another Denise ; by her he 

 had a son Gilbert, who succeeded to Halsall some 

 time before 1 296, in which year, as Gilbert son of 

 Gilbert de Halsall he received from William de 

 Cowdray, rector, all the meadow by the mill which 

 had been in the possession of Robert de Halsall. 9 

 Two years later he came to an agreement with 

 Sir William le Boteler of Warrington and others as 

 to a diversion of the watercourse in Lydiate near 

 Eggergarth mill. 10 The succession had been rapid, 

 and Gilbert was no doubt very young at this time ; 

 he was still in possession in I 346." He secured the 

 land called the Edge in Halsall from its owners, 

 Robert and his son Richard, in 131 7," and acquired 

 Ainsdale from Nicholas Blundell of Crosby." As 

 early as 1325 he made an agreement with Henry de 

 Atherton as to the marriage of his son Otes '* with 

 Henry's sister Margaret, and settled upon this son and 

 his wife lands in Halsall and Barton ; and Robert de 

 Parr granted them an annual rent of 4O/. 15 



Otes succeeded his father about I346. 16 The 

 marriage arranged for him in infancy did not prove 

 altogether satisfactory ; and his wife Margaret after- 

 wards sought maintenance before the bishop of Lich- 

 field, her husband having unlawfully allied himself 

 with Katherine de Cowdray. Katherine was the name 

 of his wife in 1354." 



Dods. MSS. xxxix, fol. 141 b, n. 36, and 

 143, n. 66. 



'DeBanc. R. I4,m. 45 </. 



De Bane. R. 27, m. 16; 30, m. 6 



3 



a moiety of the thirteenth part of the 

 same, and the advowson of Halsall 

 church, except 8 messuages, &c. After- 

 wards (1328) Gilbert acknowledged them 



'93 



the stocks at Ormskirk ; Assize R. 43 2_ 

 m. I </. ; Exch. Misc. xc, 1 3. Afterwards,, 

 however, he appears to have reformed. 

 He might have pleaded that his neigh- 



25 



