A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The patron has in recent times not only built the 

 vicarage but given 100 tithe rent-charge ; and this 

 has been supplemented by Queen Anne's Bounty, the 

 total income being now about 240. 



There are a few charities, the 



CHARITIES most considerable being tha 



founded by Peter Darwin, who 



about twenty years ago left 400 for the poor. 5 



NORTH MEOLS 



NORTH MEOLS 



BIRKDALE 



There is little to state regarding the history of the 

 parish apart from what is recorded under the town- 

 ships and the church. An isolated patch of land fit 

 for cultivation lying between the sea and the sand- 

 hills on one side and Martin Mere and the mosses of 

 Scarisbrick and Halsall on the other, it was not an 

 attractive place of residence in former times, and the 

 sweeping away of Argar Meols by the sea cannot have 

 added to its charms. In more modern times the 

 draining of mere and mosses and the growth of South- 

 port have wholly transformed it, and it has become 

 one of the favourite health resorts of the country. 

 The agricultural land of the parish is thus occupied : 

 Arable land, 5,166 acres ; permanent grass, 1,449 5 

 woods and plantations, 38. The surface of the 

 L nderlying rock, the red keuper marl of the new red 

 sandstone, or trias, is completely obscured by blown 

 sand for a width inland from the shore of one and a 

 half to two miles, by tidal alluvium at Crossens, and 

 on the landward side by glacial deposits. 



To the county lay the parish used to pay the same 

 amount as Aughton, viz. 2 is. SJ. towards ,100 

 for the hundred ; North Meols with Crossens paid 

 five-sixths, and Birkdale only a sixth. To the fifteenth 

 it paid 22s. of 1 06 paid by the hundred. 1 



In 1628 the only landowners contributing to the 

 subsidy were Thomas Hesketh, Richard Bold, and 

 Jane Bold, widow.' The hearth tax of 1666 shows 

 a total of in householders with 138 hearths; the 

 only considerable houses were the two halls North 

 Meols Hall with twelve hearths, and Bold House with 

 eight : the parsonage at Crossens had three, and no 

 other house had more than two. 3 Bishop Gastrell 

 about 1725 records 200 families, including five of 

 'Papists.' 4 In 1901 the population numbered 64,105. 



Crossens was in 1715 the scene of a skirmish 

 between the royal troops and the Highlanders ; small 

 cannon balls, bayonets, and other relics have frequently 

 been dug up, some being preserved in the vestry of 

 .the church. 



The church of St. Cuthbert is a p'ain 

 CHURCH edifice, built in 1730 on the site of th 

 older building, which had been burn 

 down. 6 It cost 1,292. It is almost square in plan 

 with a short western tower and spire erected in I 

 In 1836 it was 'a small building without side aisles 

 having nave, chancel, and north transept : lighted b 

 three windows on the south side, and two semicircula 

 ones in the chancel.' 7 In 1860 it was to som 

 extent rebuilt and enlarged, the north aisle and par 

 of the chancel being of this date, and now consists o 

 chancel, nave with north aisle, and west tower wit 

 spire. It is faced with wrought stone throughout 

 and has a slate roof of low pitch over nave am 

 chancel. The chancel has diagonal angle buttr 

 of pseudo-Gothic design added in 1860, surmountec 

 by plain octagonal pinnacles without finials. Th 

 east window is of three lights, divided by tw 

 columns, with Ionic capitals and bases, carrying arch 

 trave, frieze, and cornice over the side-lights ; th 

 central light has a semicircular head with keyec 

 voussoirs springing from the level of the cornice ove 

 the side-lights ; the sill projects on brackets. Th 

 side windows of the chancel are single lights, wid 

 and tall, with semicircular heads, of plain sqvj 

 section, with a projecting keystone. The nave ha 

 precisely similar windows and a plain south doorway 

 over which are inscriptions as to the building anc 

 enlargement. Above is a sun-dial. The roof is o 

 one span over nave and north aisle, its centre li 

 being consequently some way north of that of th 

 chancel roof ; all gables have plain copings and sma 

 gable crosses of poor design. The tower is of thre 

 stages with an octagonal stone spire, with a vane, bu 

 no finial ; and having two tiers of spire lights an 

 three plain strings. It rises from within a parape 

 with shallow pilasters at the middle and angles of eac 

 face. The belfry stage is surmounted by a heav 

 cornice, and has on each of its four sides a single 

 light window with semicircular head and projectin 



1 Gregson, Fragments (cd. Harland), 

 1 6, 1 8. 



> Norris D. (B.M.). 



8 Addl. Lay Subsidy, bdle. 250, . 9. 

 Two old cottages are described in S. O. 

 Addy's Evolution of the Home, 43, 



5 '< Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 194. 



5 The following details are from the 

 End. Char. Rep. for Altcar, issued in 

 1898; it includes a reprint of the re- 

 port of 1828. 



Peter Darwin, of Altcar, by his will 



189$ the annuity was transferred into the 

 name of the Official Trustees. 



Jane Liptrot, of Altcar, wished 50 to 

 be given to the incumbent and church- 

 wardens for the benefit of the poor, and 

 19 191. to the churchwardens and over- 

 seers for the master of 'the day school 

 recently erected.' Her will was dictated 

 the day before her death (July, 1841), but 

 was never executed ; but her brother, 

 Samuel Liptrot, paid the money, which is 

 now deposited in the Liverpool Savings 



Ellen Goore, who died in 1789, l 

 ,40 to the poor, the interest to 

 divided among poor women attending 



money was taken by the parish, 401. bei 

 paid out of the rates as interest. It 



(dated 1884 and proved 1888) left 400 

 to the minister and churchwardens, the 

 interest to be laid out in bread, coals, and 

 clothing, and distributed twice a year to 

 the deserving poor. The sum actually 

 received was 359 101, and being in- 

 vested in a Mersey Dock annuity, pro- 

 duces 13 os. 8</. a year, distributed in 

 accordance with the testator's wish. In 



trustees appointed by the parish council. 

 The schoolmaster receives 1 2s. a year, 

 and the parish clothing club 23!., the 



paid 



unknown origin was 3 10. 

 18 to the incumbent from the rate 

 supposed to be the interest on 7 

 an endowment of the church. Thi 



but was discontinued for some 



William Wilson, in 1665, gave 

 for the poor, which in Bishop Gastrel 

 time was upon bond ; Notitia Cestr. 

 ,64. He gave zo in all, the interest 

 be divided equally between Altcar a 

 Lydiate. In 1828 nothing was kno 



6 The churchwardens' seat has the A.. 

 1683 : and the gallery has the date i;c 

 Thus the destruction by the fire was i 

 complete. 



' Baines's Lanes, iv, 270. A view of I 

 church is given in Farrer's North Meol:. 



226 



