A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Molyneux; 1 and in 1623, at the inquisition after 

 Sir Richard's death, he was said to have held the 

 ' manor ' of Lydiate and various lands there, but the 

 jury did not know by what services.* It remained in 

 the possession of the family till the end of the 

 eighteenth century, when it was sold as 'the moiety 

 of the manor,' to Henry Blundell of Ince, who thus 

 became sole lord ; the price paid was 460. 



neux of Sefton, out of his covetous mind and mali 

 towards Sir Henry Halsall, had caused Katheri 

 Male to claim them in the wapentake court, where 

 William Molyneux was steward, and the twelve 

 suitors who tried the case were his tenants and forced 

 to do as he told them." A little later Sir Henry 

 Halsall made further complaint as to this aggression. 13 

 It was in respect of Eggergarth that Sir Thomas 





EGGERGARTH is not mentioned by name in Butler early in the reign of Henry VIII claimed the 



wardship of Thomas son and heir of Gilbert Scaris- 

 brick from the earl of Derby ; by the first award the 



In the survey of 1212 it is custody of the manor was allowed, but about 1517 

 le Boteler had given the two the wardship of the heir was confirmed to the earl, 

 and the custody of the manor was transferred to him, 

 Sir Thomas receiving 40 



Domesday Book, being at that time probably included 

 in Halsall. Like Halsall and Lydiate it formed part of 

 the Warrington fee. In the survey of 

 stated that Richard 



oxgangs in Eggergarth to Matthew de Walton by 

 knight's service (one-fortieth of a fee), and that Henry 

 son of Gilbert was holding it at the date mentioned. 3 

 Henry de Walton granted to the monks of Cocker- 

 sand a ridding in Eggergarth.' 



William de Walton and William de Lydiate held 

 Eggergarth and Lydiate of the heir of Emery le 

 Boteler in 1 242 for the tenth part of a knight's fee. 5 

 In 1355 Gilbert de Scarisbrick was holding it of the 

 lord of Warrington, 6 and it continued in this family 

 until, as stated above, it was purchased about 1 546 by 

 Lawrence Ireland from James Scarisbrick, possession 

 being given in I547- 7 The delay in payment of the 

 purchase money caused much disputing, the matter 

 remaining unsettled for twenty years. 8 From this 

 time Eggergarth has descended with Lydiate, in 

 which it has become merged, though mentioned 

 separately in inquisitions and settlements. 



It seems to have possessed a mill from early times, 

 situated on the brook dividing it from Lydiate proper. 

 William son of Benedict de Lydiate in 1296 granted 

 \s. of annual rent from the mill to Gilbert son of 

 Richard de Halsall ; 9 and four years later contention 

 having arisen between Sir William le Boteler, Adam 

 de Pulle and Alice his wife on the one part, and Gil- 

 bert son of Gilbert de Halsall on the other, respecting 

 the diversion of the course of the Alt, 10 which flowed 

 to the injury of a certain mill in Eggergarth and 

 Lydinte, an agreement was in June, 1298, made for 

 a diversion of the course. 11 The Halsall lands in 

 Lydiate adjoining the brook were in dispute early in 

 the reign of Henry VIII, when Nicholas Longback, 

 tenant of Sudell Close, complained that William Moly- 



compensation." 



Robert Blundell in 1598 asserted that from time 

 immemorial the lord of Ince Blundell and his ser- 

 vants and tenants and all the people of the manor 

 had had a right of way from Ince, over Alt Bridge 

 and through Altcar, and thence ' through Lydiate to 

 certain lands called Eggergarth, and thence to 

 Aughton, and so to Ormskirk church and the market, 

 and back again the same way by and near to a water- 

 mill in Eggergarth.' Of late the tenant of Lawrence 

 Ireland had stopped plaintiff's servants and tenants 

 near the mill, on their way to the market, and told 

 them that in future they would not be allowed to pass 

 through Eggergarth. 15 



The Orshaw family appears from time to time. 

 In 1529 Henry son and heir of Richard Orshaw, 

 deceased, complained that Thomas Halsall and others 

 had ousted him from his free holding in Lydiate. It 

 appeared that the lands had been bought in 1520 by 

 Sir Henry Halsall and given to found a chantry in 

 Halsall church. 16 



Families in the neighbouring townships also held 

 lands in Lydiate, as the Maghulls, Molyneuxes, and 

 Walshes, but the only freeholders recorded in 1600 

 were Lawrence Ireland and Lydiate. 17 Descen- 

 dants of the Molyneuxes of Melling were settled here 

 in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 18 



James Dennett of Lydiate registered in 1717 a 

 small estate in Cunscough and Sutton ; his son James 

 became a Jesuit. 19 Among the returns of ' Papists' 

 Estates ' at the same time occurs the name of James 

 Pye of Lydiate, yeoman. 20 



