A HISTORY OF 



NORTH MEOLS 



LANCASHIRE 



Otegrimele, Otringemele, Dom. Bk. ; Northmeles, 

 IZ32; Nordmele, 1237. 



The land in this most northern township in the 

 hundred is very flat, so much so that it is protected 

 from the inroads of the waters of the Kibble estuary 

 by high embankments, and the force of the tide is 

 broken by piles driven at high-water mark along the 

 muddy shore. Within the shelter of these banks the 

 marshy land has been reclaimed and turned to good 

 account ; the soil, a rich peat mixed with sand, proves 

 very fertile. Thus a large area of country is occupied 

 by market gardens and fields, where crops of clover, 

 hay, potatoes, corn, &c. flourish. The fields are 

 divided by ditches which serve the double purpose of 

 division and drainage, whilst low hawthorn hedges 



form part of the demesne of the barons until Jc 

 count of Mortain, held the honour of Lanca.l^ 

 (1189-94), w ^en Hugh Bussel gave it to Richa 

 son of Ughtred, lord of Broughton and Little Sing 

 ton, master serjeant of Amounderness. The superi 

 lordship passed in 1 204, with the rest of 

 barony, to Roger de Lacy, constable of Chester. 6 

 1243 the tenure was described as the fourth part of 

 knight's fee; 7 but in 1323 it was recorded th 

 ' Thomas late earl of Lancaster and Alesia his wife 

 of her right) held the manor of North Meol; 

 homage, the service of 34*. 8^. yearly, and the four 

 part and the sixteenth part of a knight's fee.' 8 T 

 superior lordship continued to be held by the ea 

 and dukes of Lancaster. 



The grant to St. Werburgh's appears to have bee 

 surrendered or repurchased, for in 1 3 1 1 Thoma 



form the divisions in the more sheltered portions of Sutton held the three oxgangs. 9 The grant of t 



the township. A wide and deep sluice and several 

 large drains carrying oft" the water from the district 

 about the site of Martin Mere empty themselves into 

 the sea ; constant pumping and draining operations 

 are necessary to prevent this portion reverting to its 

 original state of inundation. There are but few 

 plantations to break the monotony of the level surface 

 of the country, and these are strictly preserved as 

 cover for game. 



The area is 8,467 acres. 1 The population in 

 1901 was 49,908, of whom 1,825 belonged to the 

 part of the township outside Southport. Half the 

 area of the township has by degrees been included 

 within the borough. The remainder, known by the 

 old name, is governed by a parish council ; it contains 

 the hamlet of Banks. 



In 1066 five thcgns held OTEGRI- 

 MjJNOR MELE 1 for five manors, the whole being 

 assessed as half a hide, or three plough- 

 lands ; the value was lo/. It formed part of the 

 privileged three-hide area, and from the second men- 

 tion of the place in Domesday Book it appears that it 

 was the head of a district. 3 



In Stephen's reign it was a member of the barony 

 of Penwortham, held by the Bussels. 4 Richard 

 Bussel gave three oxgangs of land to St. Werburgh's 

 Abbey at Chester ; and Richard's brother and suc- 

 cessor, Albert, confirmed the gift.* It continued to 



manor to Richard de Singleton 10 was likewise tr 

 tory. Alan his son succeeded in 1211, but it see: 

 as if the grant had lapsed with the transfer of 

 barony in 1 204 from the Bussels to the Lacys, 1 

 another lord of the manor soon appears in the pers 

 of Robert de Cowdray. In 1232 Alan claimed t 

 land from Cowdray, but probably made a com 

 promise with the new lord, as the latter alone 

 recognized in the inquest of 1243." Yet in t 

 latter part of Edward I's reign (between 1 294 an 

 1303) the monks of Sawley deemed it advisable 

 have from Thomas son of Sir Alan de Singleton 

 release of any claim upon their lands in Nort 

 Meols. 11 



The new lord, Robert de Cowdray, or 

 in the service of John and Henry III." The gra 

 to him was made between 1213 and 1222 by John 

 Lacy, 14 and the grantee subsequently obtained fro 

 the king leave to have a market on Wednesdays, 

 a fair on the eve and day of St. Cuthbert at 1 

 manor of North Meols. 15 He died in 1222, 

 within two years this leave was withdrawn, as it w 

 found that the new market would be to the injury 

 others in the neighbourhood." 



William Russel was Robert's nephew (nepos) an 

 heir. In 1232 he was in Normandy in the 

 Ranulf Blundeville, earl of Chester. 18 He is call 

 William de Cowdray in the survey of 1243." 



